Demographics
The mining boom of the early twentieth century attracted many francophones to Northeastern Ontario, and French is still widely spoken there. While the Canadian constitution never required the province of Ontario to recognize French as an official language, the government provides full services in the French language to any citizen, resident, or visitor wishing it including communications, schools, hospitals, social services, and in the courts, under the French Language Services Act of 1986. Bilingualism is higher than the Canadian average as 180,020 people, or 24.6% of the population, speak both English and French (as of 2011). As well, there are 8,910 people, or 1.2% of the population, who only speak French. All of Northeastern Ontario, with the sole exception of Manitoulin Island, is designated as a French language service area, as are a few individual municipalities in the Northwest. As well, the government of Canada provides French and English equally in all matters.
The 2011 Canadian Census found that the population of Northern Ontario was 732,914. However, this data does not include 17 incompletely enumerated Indian Reserves across the region. Four reserves were not counted due to permission not being given, and another 13 in Northwestern Ontario were not counted due to evacuations caused by forest fires. The latest census figures for these reserves show a total population of 11,435, which means that the total population for the region is closer to 744,349. The median age for Northern Ontario in 2011 was 43.9.
The region also has a significant First Nations population, primarily of the Ojibwe, Cree and Oji-Cree nations, with smaller communities of Nipissing, Algonquin, Odawa and Saulteaux.
| Canada 2006 Census | Population | % of total population | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visible minority group |
South Asian | 1,700 | 0.2 |
| Chinese | 2,685 | 0.4 | |
| Black | 2,700 | 0.4 | |
| Filipino | 1,055 | 0.1 | |
| Latin American | 850 | 0.1 | |
| Southeast Asian | 675 | 0.1 | |
| Other visible minority | 2,105 | 0.2 | |
| Total visible minority population | 11,850 | 1.5 | |
| Aboriginal group |
First Nations | 65,860 | 8.8 |
| Métis | 27,780 | 3.7 | |
| Inuit | 180 | 0 | |
| Total Aboriginal population | 95,645 | 12.8 | |
| White | 637,800 | 85.6 | |
| Total population | 745,320 | 100 | |
The languages that had at least 1,000 native speakers (single mother-tongue response) in Northern Ontario in 2006 were:
| 2011 | % | 2006 | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | English | 532,550 | 74.61% | 525,230 | 70.98% |
| 2. | French | 125,675 | 17.61% | 131,450 | 17.76% |
| 3. | Italian | 11,245 | 1.57% | 14,560 | 1.97% |
| 4. | Ojibwe | 6,915 | 0.97% | 10,655 | 1.44% |
| 5. | Finnish | 5,615 | 0.79% | 7,130 | 0.96% |
| 6. | German | 5,125 | 0.72% | 6,275 | 0.85% |
| 7. | Cree | 3,470 | 0.49% | 3,150 | 0.43% |
| 8. | Oji-Cree | 3,010 | 0.42% | 6,120 | 0.83% |
| 9. | Polish | 2,700 | 0.38% | 3,655 | 0.49% |
| 10. | Ukrainian | 2,475 | 0.35% | 3,950 | 0.53% |
| 11. | Chinese | 1,620 | 0.22% | 1,945 | 0.26% |
| 12. | Dutch | 1,400 | 0.20% | 1,790 | 0.24% |
| 13. | Spanish | 1,140 | 0.16% | 1,035 | 0.14% |
| 14. | Portuguese | 1,100 | 0.15% | 1,395 | 0.19% |
| 15. | Croatian | 945 | 0.13% | 1,160 | 0.16% |
Religion in Northern Ontario as of the 2001 census
| Religion | People | % |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 729,210 | 100 |
| Catholic | 370,305 | 50.8 |
| Protestant | 241,145 | 33.2 |
| No Religion | 95,610 | 13.2 |
| Other Christians | 11,825 | 1.6 |
| Other Religions* | 3,540 | 0.5 |
| Christian Orthodox | 3,425 | 0.5 |
| Muslim | 990 | 0.1 |
| Buddhist | 820 | 0.1 |
| Hindu | 535 | 0.1 |
| Jewish | 505 | 0.1 |
| Eastern Religions | 455 | 0.1 |
| Sikh | 65 | 0.0 |
Note: Other religions mostly native spirituality
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