British Columbia

===Language===
[[File:Vancouver Welcome Sign 0139.jpg|thumb|A Vancouver [[welcome sign]] in both English and French]]
As of the [[2021 Canadian census|2021 Canadian Census]], the ten most spoken languages in the province included English (4,753,280 or 96.69%), French (327,350 or 6.66%), Punjabi (315,000 or 6.41%), Mandarin (312,625 or 6.36%), Cantonese (246,045 or 5.01%), Spanish (143,900 or 2.93%), Hindi (134,950 or 2.75%), Tagalog (133,780 or 2.72%), German (84,325 or 1.72%), and Korean (69,935 or 1.42%).<ref name="language2021">{{Cite web |date=August 17, 2022 |title=Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population Profile table British Columbia [Province] |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?LANG=E&GENDERlist=1,2,3&STATISTIClist=1,4&DGUIDlist=2021A000259&HEADERlist=,15,13,18,12,16,14,17&SearchText=British%20Columbia |access-date=August 17, 2022 |publisher=[[Statistics Canada]]}}</ref> The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses.

Of the 4,648,055 population counted by the 2016 census, 4,598,415 people completed the section about language. Of these, 4,494,995 gave singular responses to the question regarding their [[first language]]. The languages most commonly reported were the following:

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Most common reported mother tongue in BC (2016)<ref name="2016CensusBCLanguage" />
|-
!#
!Language
!Population
!Percent
|-
| 1
| [[English language|English]]
| 3,170,110
| 70.52%
|-
| 2
| [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]
| 198,805
| 4.42%
|-
| 3
| [[Cantonese language|Cantonese]]
| 193,530
| 4.31%
|-
| 4
| [[Mandarin language|Mandarin]]
| 186,325
| 4.15%
|-
| 5
| [[Tagalog language|Tagalog (Filipino)]]
| 78,770
| 1.75%
|-
| 6
| [[German language|German]]
| 66,885
| 1.49%
|-
| 7
| [[French language|French]]
| 55,325
| 1.23%
|-
| 8
| [[Korean language|Korean]]
| 52,160
| 1.17%
|-
| 9
| [[Spanish language|Spanish]]
| 47,010
| 1.05%
|-
| 10
| [[Persian language|Persian]]
| 43,470
| 0.97%
|}

While these languages all reflect the last centuries of colonialism and recent immigration, British Columbia is home to 34 [[Pacific Northwest languages|Indigenous languages]].<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://news.gov.bc.ca/19289 |title=Minister's statement on National Indigenous Languages Day |date=March 28, 2019 |access-date=December 25, 2020 |publisher=Government of British Columbia |archive-date=July 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716200018/https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2019IRR0027-000515 |url-status=live }}</ref> They are spoken by about 6000 people in total,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nelsonstar.com/news/60-per-cent-of-all-canadian-indigenous-languages-are-in-b-c/ |title=60 per cent of all Canadian Indigenous languages are in B.C. |work=Nelson Star |date=April 1, 2019 |access-date=December 25, 2020 |first=Nick |last=Murray |archive-date=May 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511160614/https://www.nelsonstar.com/news/60-per-cent-of-all-canadian-indigenous-languages-are-in-b-c/ |url-status=live }}</ref> with 4000 people fluent in their Indigenous languages. They are members of the province's [[#First Nations (Aboriginal) history|First Nations]]. One of the main Indigenous languages in BC is [[Kwakʼwala]], the language of the [[Kwakwakaʼwakw|Kwakwakaʼwakw First Nations]].