Mother tongue refers to the first language learned at home in childhood and still understood by the individual at the time of the Census. In 2016, there was a higher percentage of people living in Simcoe Muskoka (88.4% or 471,745) who reported English as their mother tongue compared to 69.5% (or 9,255,660) in Ontario overall. A smaller percentage of Simcoe Muskoka residents (2.5% or 13,285) reported French as their mother tongue compared to Ontario residents (4.3% or 568,335).
Just over 50,500 people (9.5%) in Simcoe Muskoka reported a non-official language as their only mother tongue, a lower proportion than the provincial rate of 26.7%. The top three of these non-official languages were Italian, German and Portuguese. Bradford West Gwillimbury had the largest percentage of persons (28%) with a non-official language as their only mother tongue. Among this percentage, 22% were Portuguese, 12% Italian, and 9% Spanish.
Nearly 290 people (or 1%) that reported having a non-official language as their only mother tongue in Simcoe Muskoka reported having an Indigenous mother tongue, mainly Ojibway. In particular, 19% (or 125 persons) of the population of Christian Island, a First Nations reserve, reported an Aboriginal mother tongue (mostly Ojibway) as their only mother tongue. In addition, 5.7% (or 50 persons) of the population in Mnjikaning First Nation 32 reported Ojibway as their only mother tongue.
European languages topped the list of non-official mother tongue languages in Simcoe Muskoka. In comparison, Asian and Southeast Asian languages were more common non-official mother tongue languages across Ontario.
Top 5 Non-Official Mother Tongue Languages*i
Simcoe Muskoka and Ontario, 2016
| Simcoe Muskoka, % (pop.) | Ontario, % (pop.) |
| Italian, 12% (5,920) | Mandarin, 8% (283,735) |
| German, 11% (5,435) | Cantonese, 8% (275,315) |
| Portuguese, 9% (4,655) | Italian, 7% (231,040) |
| Spanish, 8% (3,835) | Punjabi, 6% (197,060) |
| Polish, 7% (3,475) | Spanish, 5% (191,025) |
| Data Source: Statistics Canada, 2016 Census of Population. * Data is based on “Single Responses” only from the “Most Often” Census question and excludes English and French.
iProportion of the population that has a non-official language as their sole mother tongue. |
Note: For the official languages of English and French, the calculations presented here include both single and multiple responses to the question: What is the language that this person first learned at home in childhood and still understands? Totals may not equal 100% due to this and also due to rounding. Non-official languages are based on single responses only, that is, those who report a non-official language as their sole mother tongue.