More immigrants on P.E.I. learning English or French

P.E.I. appears to be having more success in teaching immigrants in the provinceto speak one of Canada's official languages.

Statistics Canada compared information from the 2011 National Household Survey and the 2016 Census and released a report on immigrants and the two official languages Monday.

It found in2011 74.2 per cent of recent immigrants on P.E.I. reported being able to conduct a conversation in English or French. In 2016 that rose to 82.6 per cent. That is still well below the national average of 90 per cent.

A recent immigrant is defined as someone who obtained landed immigrant or permanent resident status in the previous five years.

The report also found the number of immigrants who are choosing French as their first official language spoken, while still very small, is growing.

The share rose from 0.6 per cent in 2011 to 1.8 per cent in 2016.

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