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French is the mother tongue of approximately 10 million Canadians (22 percent of the Canadian population, second to English at 56 percent) according to the 2021 Canadian Census.[1] Most Canadian native speakers of French live in Quebec, the only province where French is the majority and the sole official language.[2] Of Quebec's people, 85 percent are native francophones and 95 percent speak French as their first or second language.[3]
About one million native francophones live in other provinces, forming a sizable minority in New Brunswick, which is officially bilingual; about a third of New Brunswick's people are francophones. There are also French-speaking communities in Manitoba and Ontario, where francophones are about 4 percent of the population,[4] and smaller communities (about 1 to 2 percent of the population) in Alberta, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Saskatchewan.[4] Many of these communities are supported by French-language institutions. In 2016, 29.8 percent of Canadians reported being able to conduct a conversation in French.
By the 1969 Official Languages Act, both English and French are recognized as official languages in Canada and granted equal status by the Canadian government.[5] While French, with no specification as to dialect or variety, has the status of one of Canada's two official languages at the federal government level, English is the native language of most Canadians outside Quebec. The federal government provides services and operates in both languages.
The provincial governments of Ontario, New Brunswick, and Manitoba are required to provide services in French where provision is justified by the number of francophones. French is also an official language of all three Canadian territories: the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon. Regardless of the local status of French or English, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms requires all provinces and territories to provide primary and secondary education to their official-language minorities.
- ^ Canada, Government of Canada, Statistics. "Census Profile, 2021 Census – Canada [Country] and Canada [Country]". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ OLF Archived 22 August 2006(Date mismatch) at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Census Profile, 2016 Census". Statistics Canada. 2 August 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
- ^ a b "Population by language spoken most often at home and age groups, 2006 counts, for Canada, provinces and territories – 20% sample data". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
- ^ "Official Languages Act – 1985, c. 31 (4th Supp.)". Act current to July 11th, 2010. Department of Justice. Archived from the original on 5 January 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2010.