Indicators of Vitality and Its Evaluation

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Sets of Indicators Related to Linguistic Minorities

Several sets of indicators have been used in attempts to measure community vitality in the OLMC context.

Vision d'avenir (Bernard, 1991) develops an index of regional contact in the context of a national survey of the linguistic behaviour and awareness of young French Canadians. The index is a unit of measurement that combines several indicators to illustrate a trend. More than 4,000 young people were sampled in three "regional contact zones," characterized as having a high, medium or low degree of contact, depending on the proportion of Francophones per Census unit. Subsequently, this index was used in interpreting the linguistic behaviours and attitudes of the young people.

André Langlois (2000) proposes two indices to measure territorial concentration as a factor in vitality and to differentiate vitality in metropolitan and non-metropolitan environments:

  • The index of linguistic continuity compares the number of mother-tongue Francophones with those for whom French is the language of use.
  • The overall vitality index adds five indicators to the above index, reflecting the number of young people, the working age population, migrants and students, the level of employment, and average income. 6

The Community Health and Social Services Network Indicators (Pocock, 2004) develops regional profiles of Anglophone communities in Quebec in an approach based on determinants of health. The list of indicators below shows the data collected, which feed into two indices: one compares the Anglophone minority situation and the Francophone majority situation; the other compares the Anglophone minority situation in the region with the average situation of Quebec's Anglophone minority.

Community Health and Social Services Network Indicators

Income and Social Status Average income
Population over 15 with no income
Dependence on government transfers
Incidence of low income (under $20,000)
Incidence of high income (over $50,000)
Social Support Networks
Ages 0-14
Ages 15-24
Ages 25-44
Ages 45-64
Ages 65+
Caregiver-to-senior ratio
Education
Without high school-leaving certificate
With post-secondary qualifications
High school drop-out
College drop-out
University drop-out
Employment and Working Conditions
Unemployed
Not in workforce
Self-employed
15+ hours/week unpaid housework
15+ hours/week unpaid childcare
10+ hours/week unpaid care to seniors
Social Environment
Percentage of global population
Geographical mobility
Immigration rate and interprovincial
migration rate
Proportion of visible minority
Citizenship
Bilingualism rate
Number of social and health institutions
designated as English-speaking		 Use of English in Health Situations
Province
Doctor
Hospital
Community organization
Emergency room
Private facility
CHSLD (long-term health care facility)
CLSC (local community service centre)
Info-santé (health information line)
Private nurse
Overall
Rank among regions
Access to Health Services
Primary care (CLSCs)
General and specialized medical services
Long-term care
Youth protection
Rehabilitation
Interregional agreements
Designated institutions
Sum of indicators of level of access
Gender
Women's participation to rate of employment
Unemployment rate of Anglophone women
 (compared with Anglophone men and
 Francophone women)
Women in age structure
Ratio of women's unpaid work, compared
 with all women
Ratio of male's unpaid care to seniors
Government transfers as share of income
 of women
Ratio of widowed women to men and
 to Francophone women
Women's employment in social and health
 care services
Culture
Religious affiliation
Ethnic origin
Civil status
Aboriginal origins

 

Aunger (2005) uses data provided by an opinion survey and other sources to compare OLMCs across the major regions of Canada. To do this, he uses the following indicators:

  1. Demolinguistic situation
    1. level of local concentration (Census subdivisions)
    2. age structure (aging)
    3. migration (mobility)
  2. Socio-economic situation
    1. level of education
    2. job market sectors
    3. income level
    4. religious diversity
    5. ethnocultural diversity (ethnic visibility)
    6. level of bilingualism among individuals
    7. mother tongue (in relation to first official language spoken)
    8. language spoken at home
    9. language spoken at work
  3. Access to public services in the minority language
    1. proportion of bilingual offices providing federal services
      (per thousand minority members)
    2. proportion of bilingual positions in federal service (per thousand minority members)
    3. schools in the minority language (per thousand young minority members)
  4. Satisfaction with government services offered in both official languages
    1. perception of access to legal services
    2. perception of access to government services
    3. perception of the performance of the various levels of government
    4. perception of accessibility of government jobs
    5. satisfaction with government services

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