Demographics

Most of the National Capital Region is recognized as a bilingual region for federal language-of-work purposes.

In addition, the City of Ottawa has a Bilingualism Policy, but is not declared "officially bilingual" (which would require amendments to the provincial law). About 19% of the population of the City of Ottawa has French as their first language, while 40% of the total population of the city declares itself fluent in both languages.

The National Capital Region includes the English-speaking (Ottawa) and French-speaking (Gatineau) cores. The metro region has a bilingual population of 496,025, an English-only population of 507,175, and a French-only population of 102,375.

Ottawa-Gatineau CMA

Source: 2011 Census of Canada

Downtown Ottawa. Hull sector of Gatineau. City or Town Population Ontario Ottawa 883,391 Clarence-Rockland 23,185 Russell 15,247 Quebec Gatineau 265,349 Val-des-Monts 10,420 Cantley 9,888 La Pêche 7,619 Chelsea 6,977 Pontiac 5,681 L'Ange-Gardien 5,051 Other municipalities within National Capital Region Municipality Population Ontario Alfred and Plantagenet 8,654 Arnprior 7,158 Beckwith 6,387 Carleton Place 9,453 Casselman 3,294 Mississippi Mills 11,734 North Dundas 11,095 North Grenville 14,198 North Stormont 6,769 The Nation 10,643 Quebec Lochaber 456 Lochaber-Partie-Ouest 477 Low 852 Montebello 1,039 Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette 706 Papineauville 2,247 Plaisance 1,004 Thurso 2,436