Francophone Canadians or
French-speaking Canadians are citizens of
Canada who speak
French, and sometimes refers only to those who speak it as their first language. In 2021, 10,669,575 people in Canada or 29.2% of the total population spoke French, including 7,651,360 people or 20.8% who declared French as their mother tongue.
Distribution : Six million French-speaking Canadians reside in
Quebec, where they constitute the main linguistic group, and another one million reside in other Canadian regions. The largest portion of
Francophones outside Quebec live in
Ontario, followed by
New Brunswick, but they can be found in all provinces and territories. The presence of French in Canada comes mainly from
French colonization in America that occurred in the 16th to 18th centuries. Francophones in Canada are not all of
French Canadian or
French descent, particularly in the English-speaking provinces of Ontario and
Western Canada. A few Canadians of French Canadian or French origin are also not Francophone. Unlike Francophones in Quebec, who generally identify simply as Québécois, Francophones outside Quebec generally identify as Francophone Canadians (e.g.
Franco-Ontarians,
Franco-Manitobans, etc.), the exception being
Acadians, who constitute their own cultural group and live in
Acadia, in the
Maritime provinces.
New Brunswick is Canada's only officially-bilingual province. All three territories (the
Yukon, the
Northwest Territories, and
Nunavut) include French among their official languages.
Quebec speaker, recorded in
Slovenia Quebec is the only province whose sole official language is French. As of 2011, 71.2 percent of Québécois people are first language francophones. About 95 percent of Quebecers speak French.
Ontario French is the native language of over 500,000 persons in
Ontario, representing 4.7 percent of the province's population. They are concentrated primarily in the
Eastern Ontario and
Northeastern Ontario regions, near the border with
Quebec, although they are also present in smaller numbers throughout the province. Francophone Ontarians form part of a larger cultural group known as
Franco-Ontarians, of whom only 60 percent still speak the language at home. The city of
Ottawa counts the greatest number of Franco-Ontarians in the province. Franco-Ontarians are originally from a first wave of immigration from
France, from a second wave from Quebec. The third wave comes from Quebec, but also from Haiti, Morocco, and Africa. The province has no official language defined in law, although it is a largely English-speaking province. Ontario law requires that the provincial
Legislative Assembly operate in both English and French (individuals can speak in the Assembly in the official language of their choice), and requires that all provincial statutes and bills be made available in both English and French. Furthermore, under the
French Language Services Act, individuals are entitled to communicate with the head or central office of any provincial government department or agency in French, as well as to receive all government services in French in 25 designated areas in the province, selected according to minority population criteria. The provincial government of Ontario's website is bilingual. Residents of
Ottawa,
Toronto,
Windsor,
Sudbury and
Timmins can receive services from their municipal government in the official language of their choice. There are also several French-speaking communities on military bases in Ontario, such as the one at
CFB Trenton. These communities have been founded by francophone Canadians in the
Canadian Forces who live together in military residences. The term
Franco-Ontarian accepts two interpretations. According to the first one, it includes all French speakers of Ontario, wherever they come from. According to second one, it includes all
French Canadians born in Ontario, whatever their level of French is. The use of French among Franco-Ontarians is in decline due to the omnipresence of the English language in a lot of fields.
Newfoundland The island was discovered by European powers by
John Cabot in 1497.
Newfoundland was annexed by England in 1583. It is the first British possession in
North America. In 1610, the Frenchmen became established in the
peninsula of Avalon and went to war against the Englishmen. In 1713, the
Treaty of Utrecht acknowledged the sovereignty of Great Britain. The origin of
Franco-Newfoundlanders is double: the first ones to arrive are especially of
Breton origin, attracted by the fishing possibilities. Then, from the 19th century, the Acadians who came from the
Cape Breton Island and from the
Magdalen Islands, an archipelago of nine small islands belonging to Quebec, become established. Up to the middle of the 20th century, Breton fishers, who had Breton as their mother tongue, but who had been educated in French came to settle. This Breton presence can explain differences between the Newfoundland French and the Acadian French. In the 1970s, the French language appears in the school of Cape St. George in the form of a bilingual education. In the 1980s, classes of French for native French speakers are organized there.
Western Canada Manitoba also has a significant
Franco-Manitoban community, centred especially in the
St. Boniface area of
Winnipeg, but also in numerous surrounding towns. The provincial government of
Manitoba boasts the only bilingual website of the Prairies; the Canadian constitution makes French an official language in Manitoba for the legislature and courts. Saskatchewan also has a
Fransaskois community, as does Alberta with its
Franco-Albertans, and British Columbia hosts the
Franco-Columbians.
Michif, a dialect of French originating in Western Canada, is a unique
mixed language derived from
Cree and French. It is spoken by a small number of
Métis living mostly in
Manitoba and in
North Dakota.
Northern Canada French is an official language in each of the three northern territories:
Yukon, the
Northwest Territories, and
Nunavut. Francophones in Yukon are called
Franco-Yukonnais, those from the Northwest Territories,
Franco-Ténois (from the French acronym for the Northwest Territories,
TN-O or ), and those in Nunavut,
Franco-Nunavois. ==French-speaking communities in Canada outside Quebec==