Language data tells part of story
Posted Oct 24, 2012 04:52:38 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
An official who works with the local immigrant community says the census data on language released Wednesday morning does not tell the full story.
According to the census, the top three “non-official” languages spoken in Waterloo Region are German, Portuguese, and one of the Chinese languages.
But Lucia Harrison of the K-W Multicultural Centre tells 570 News there are other languages that may have been under-reported.
“We provide interpretation services in the community, and what we’re seeing still is that the top languages would be Spanish, Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Serbo-Croatian.”
Harrison says the long-form census, which was eliminated by the Harper government a couple years ago, provided a more accurate snapshot of the ethnic fabric of the community.
