Mandarin as a Heritage Language in Toronto

Demography
According to the 2011 Census on Toronto, 45% of residents in Toronto had a first language other than English or French. Among these people, 5% had Mandarin as a mother tongue. 28% of residents in Toronto had a different home language other than English or French. People who speak Chinese regularly at home, including Cantonese and Mandarin, make up 7% of Toronto's population. Among those who speak a Chinese language, 37% speak Cantonese, while 28% speak Mandarin. Since 2006, Mandarin as a home language increased by 32% while Cantonese as a home language decreased by 11%. This data shows that Mandarin is the fastest growing home language in Toronto. There are still more Cantonese speakers than Mandarin speakers in Toronto. However, the number of Mandarin speakers will soon surpass the number of Cantonese speakers. In Greater Toronto Area, York Region had the most people that speak Mandarin as their home language.
Furthermore, 33% immigrants in Toronto were newcomers, which means that they arrived in Toronto between 2001 and 2011. Mainland China was one of the most common countries of children of immigrants that are living in Toronto. 7% of all immigrants’ places of birth were China, which also made Chinese one of the three most visible minority groups in Toronto. The trend for people that are from Mainland China to concentrate in Toronto is likely to continue in the future as new immigrants tend to settle in this metropolitan area.
Institutional support
There are many institutions where Mandarin as a heritage language in Toronto can be developed, such as Mandarin schools and the Chinese student association in the University of
Toronto. There are some schools that has Mandarin courses, mainly located in Chinatown area. This is a great way to provide people an environment to learn Mandarin for all age group. Toronto Chinese Academy(TCA) is a language school that offers different levels of Mandarin classes located in Chinatown. There are many Chinese children who can speak no Chinese because they were born in Canada and a language school can help them pick up Mandarin. In particular, EAS100Y1 as a course in University of Toronto, which is a study of modern standard Chinese, is provided to students in UofT who has no background in Mandarin.
Clubs in university such as Chinese student associations is also a way where people can speak Mandarin with each other. There are UTCSSA(University of Toronto Chinese student association), UTCUA(University of Toronto Chinese undergraduate association) and other clubs that are free for students in UofT to join. Each club holds over 5 events every year and all strongly encourage people to speak Mandarin.
Status
Due to the rapidly increasing number of Mandarin speakers in Toronto, Mandarin speakers are greatly desirable and highly demanded in the job market in Toronto, specifically jobs such as interpreters, bank representatives, investment advisors, retail sales associates, etc. Oftentimes, these positions require bilingual or even trilingual skills - the ability to speak English, Mandarin/Cantonese, and French. Usually, there is a “Mandarin Chinese” language option on the display screens of bank ATMs and other customer service devices in Toronto. In 2009, Interac has signed a deal with China Unionpay, the dominant Chinese bank card network whose members have issued nearly 2 billion cards, that will make it easier for the card holders of those cards to take money out of bank machines in Canada with their Chinese debit cards, and of course, all of the services will be displayed in Mandarin.
A lot of banking, service and retail industries have added a mandarin touch to their advertisement campaigns. It is easily spotted in Toronto that there is often a Mandarin translation under advertisements of various products and services, such as cosmetics, auto industries, insurance companies, etc. A lot of companies also offer a mandarin version of their official webpage, a new shift from the English/French language option.

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