Survey on the Official Language Minority Population (SOLMP)

Summary of changes

Activity on this program started: Autumn 2019

Reference period of change - 2022

These updates to the questionnaire respond to new data needs and provide a better understanding of official language minority populations in Canada. Examples include a module on immigrants' experience with services to facilitate integration and new questions covering topics such as discrimination and linguistic insecurity. Additionally, a new module on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic was created to assess the effect of the pandemic on activities and access to services in the minority official language.

The 2006 Census questionnaire was also reviewed with the aim of minimizing response burden. Approximately 80% of the questions and concepts from the 2006 questionnaire are included in the 2022 survey. For questions that were removed, some content can be derived, either partially or fully, through linkages with the census, thus reducing response burden.

Here are some examples of questions that were removed:
- education of parents in either official language, type of French program registered in, registration in an immersion program and number of years within a program;
- whether the child lives with both parents and, if not, the reasons and duration, and the frequency of stays in each house;
- grade of the child, registration date, mode of transportation to and from school, length of travel time, number of years in an immersion program, and reasons for changing programs;
- personal and household income.