Natacha Bouchart

Maire de Calais Senateur du Pas-de-Clalais

Proportion of Quebecers who speak French at home on the decline: StatsCan

by



This article presents the current language demographics of the Canadian province of Quebec.

Contents

Demographic terms[edit]

The complex nature of Quebec’s linguistic situation, with individuals who are often bilingual or multilingual, requires the use of multiple terms in order to describe the languages which people speak.

Francophone
Speaking French as a first language.
Anglophone
Speaking English as a first language.
Allophone
Having a mother tongue other than English or French.
Mother tongue
The first language learned by a person, which may or may not still be used by that individual in adulthood, is a basic measure of a population’s language. However, with the high number of mixed francophone-anglophone marriages and the reality of multilingualism in Montreal, this description does not give a true linguistic portrait of Quebec. It is, however, still essential, for example in order to calculate the assimilation rate. Statistics Canada defines mother tongue as the first language learned in childhood and still spoken; it does not presuppose literacy in that or any language.
Home language
This is the language most often spoken at home and is currently preferred to identify francophones, anglophones, and allophones. This descriptor has the advantage of pointing out the current usage of languages. However, it fails to describe the language that is most used at work, which may be different.
Knowledge of official languages
This measure describes which of the two official languages of Canada a person can speak informally. This relies on the person’s own evaluation of his/her linguistic competence and can prove misleading.
First official language learned
Measures whether English or French are the first of the two official languages learned; it places allophones into English or French linguistic communities.
Official language minority
Based on first official language learned, but placing half of the people equally proficient since childhood in both English and French into each linguistic community; it is used by the Canadian government to determine the demand for minority language services in a region

Current demographics[edit]

Knowledge of languages[edit]

Knowledge of official languages of Canada in Quebec (2016)
Language Percent
English only 4.62%
French only 49.99%
English and French 44.46%
Neither English nor French 0.93%

The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses. The following figures are from the 2021 Canadian Census and the 2016 Canadian Census, and lists languages that were selected by at least one per cent of respondents.

Knowledge of Languages in Quebec
Language Population (2021)[1] Percentage (2021) Population (2016) Percentage (2016)
French 7,786,735 93.72% 7,522,350 94.43%
English 4,317,180 51.96% 3,930,690 49.35%
Spanish 453,905 5.46% 390,355 4.90%
Arabic 343,675 4.14% 267,965 3.37%
Italian 168,040 2.02% 173,710 2.18%
Haitian Creole 118,010 1.42% 108,315 1.36%
Mandarin 80,520 0.97% N/A

Overview as of the 2016 census[edit]

In Quebec, 94.5% of the population reported being able to conduct a conversation in French in 2016.[2]

Among the ten provinces of Canada, Quebec is the only one whose majority is francophone. Quebec’s population accounts for 23.9% of the Canadian population, and Quebec’s francophones account for about 90% of Canada’s French-speaking population.

English-speaking Quebecers are a large population in the Greater Montreal Area, where they have built a well-established network of educational, social, economic, and cultural institutions. There are also historical English-speaking communities in the Eastern Townships, the Ottawa Valley, the Laurentians (such as Ste. Agathe des Monts, Ste. Adolphe de Howard, Arundel, Lachute, Mont Tremblant) and the Gaspé Peninsula.[4] By contrast, the population of Quebec City, the second-largest city in the province, is almost exclusively francophone. Overall in the province the proportion of native English speakers dropped significantly between 1951 and 2001, from 13.8% to 8% in 2001, while it has since stabilized.

The remaining 13% of the population, known as allophones, are native speakers of more than 30 different languages. With the exception of Aboriginal peoples in Quebec (the Inuit, Huron, Mohawks, Iroquois, Abenaki, Montagnais, Cree, Innu, Ojibway etc.), the majority are products of recent immigration and often come to adopt either English or French as home languages.

Numbers of native speakers[edit]

Of the population of 7,903,001 counted by the 2011 census, 7,815,955 completed the section about language. Of these, 7,663,120 gave singular responses to the question regarding their first language. The languages most commonly reported were the following:

Language Number of
native speakers 		Percentage of
singular responses
French 6,102,210 78.1%
English 1,103,475 13.7%
Arabic 164,390 2.1%
Spanish 141,000 1.8%
Italian 121,720 1.6%
Chinese 64,760 0.8%
Haitian Creole 49,745 0.6%
Greek 39,825 0.5%
Portuguese 34,270 0.4%
Romanian 31,245 0.4%
Vietnamese 26,560 0.3%
Russian 24,085 0.3%
Persian 19,835 0.3%
Polish 15,250 0.2%
Cree 15,135 0.2%
Armenian 15,035 0.2%
German 15,025 0.2%
Tagalog (Filipino) 13,745 0.18%
Tamil 13,240 0.17%
Panjabi (Punjabi) 11,150 0.15%
Inuktitut 10,920 0.14%
Bengali 10,405 0.14%
Urdu 9,800 0.13%
Yiddish 9,035 0.12%
Innu (Montagnais) 8,710 0.11%
Khmer (Cambodian) 8,615 0.11%
Oromo 7,035 0.09%
Turkish 6,915 0.09%
Hungarian (Magyar) 6,680 0.09%
Bulgarian 6,500 0.08%
Gujarati 5,940 0.08%
Atikamekw 5,820 0.08%
Ukrainian 4,785 0.06%
Lao 4,185 0.05%
Korean 4,085 0.05%
Hebrew 3,975 0.05%
Dutch 3,245 0.04%
Serbian 2,955 0.04%
Hindi 2,745 0.04%
Albanian 2,410 0.03%
Croatian 2,380 0.03%
Kirundi 2,375 0.03%
Japanese 2,180 0.03%
Swahili 2,065 0.03%
Lingala 2,050 0.03%
Kinyarwanda 2,010 0.03%

Numerous other languages were also counted, but only languages with more than 2,000 native speakers are shown.
(Percentages shown are the ratio between the number of singular responses and the number of total responses.)[5]

Canada Census Mother Tongue – Province of Québec
Mother tongue language
Census Total

French

English

French & English

Other
Year Responses Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop %

2021

8,406,905

 6,291,440 Increase 1.15% 74.8% 639,365 Increase 6.32% 7.6% 126,405 Increase 75% 1.5% 1,167,550 Increase 10.09% 13.88%

2016

8,066,560

 6,219,665 Increase 1.92% 77.1% 601,155 Increase 0.33% 7.45% 72,395 Increase 1.74% 0.89% 1,060,030 Increase 10.3% 13.14%

2011

7,815,950

 6,102,210 Increase 3.8% 78.08% 599,225 Increase 4.17% 7.66% 71,555 Increase 65.12% 0.91% 961,700 Increase 2.34% 12.29%

2006

7,435,905

 5,877,660 Increase 2.0% 79.04% 575,555 Increase 3.2% 7.73% 43,335 Decrease 13.43% 0.58% 939,350 Increase 24.2% 12.69%

2001

7,125,580

 5,761,765 Increase 1.07% 80.85% 557,040 Decrease 4.9% 7.81% 50,060 Decrease 1.04% 0.7% 756,710 Increase 15.07% 10.61%

1996

7,045,080

 5,700,150 n/a 80.9% 586,435 n/a 8.3% 50,585 n/a 0.72% 657,580 n/a 9.3%

Cities[edit]

2011 Mother tongue by census metropolitan areas (CMAs), census subdivisions (CSDs) or census divisions (CDs)
City Mother tongue(s)
Only French Only English English & French Other
Island of Montreal (CD) 46.96% 16.64% 1.17% 35.24%
City of Montreal (CSD) 50.31% 12.67% 1.07% 35.96%
Greater Montreal Area (CMA) 63.27% 11.62% 1.07% 24.04%
Quebec City (CMA) 94.89% 1.43% 0.44% 3.24%
Gatineau (CSD) 77.25% 11.04% 1.68% 10.04%
Sherbrooke (CMA) 89.38% 4.89% 0.78% 4.95%
Saguenay (CMA) 98.25% 0.78% 0.24% 0.73%
Trois-Rivières (CMA) 96.55% 1.11% 0.39% 1.96%

All figures are rounded to 0.01%.[7]

Montreal[edit]

Language demographics of the municipalities of the Island of Montreal. In blue, the municipalities where the main language is French; in pink, the municipalities where the most used language is English

There are today three distinct territories in the Greater Montreal Area: the metropolitan region, Montreal Island, and Montreal, the city. (The island and the city were coterminous for a time between the municipal merger of 2002 and the “demerger” which occurred in January 2006.)

Quebec allophones account for 9% of the population of Quebec. The vast majority of them (88%) reside in Greater Montreal. Anglophones are also concentrated in the region of Montreal (80% of their numbers).

Francophones account for 65% of the total population of Greater Montreal, anglophones 12.6% and allophones 20.4%. On the island of Montreal, the francophone majority dropped to 46.96% by 2011,[8] a net decline since the 1970s owing to francophone outmigration to more affluent suburbs in Laval and the South Shore (fr. Rive-Sud) and an influx of allophone immigrants. The anglophones account for 16.64% of the population and the allophones 35.24%.

Bilingualism[edit]

According to the 2016 census, the rate of bilingualism in English and French is at 44.5 percent, a figure which continues to grow at a much faster rate in Quebec than in the rest of Canada.[9] Bilingual speakers represented 42.6 percent in 2011, and 40.6 percent in 2006 (in 2016, it was 17.9 percent in Canada overall, up from just at 17.5 percent in 2011).

While 44.5 percent of the total population of Quebec reported being bilingual in 2016, this figure rose to 70 percent for those aged 14 to 17.[10]

Almost 90 cities, towns or boroughs in Quebec are considered officially bilingual, a designation allowing them to offer services, post signage and mail communications in the country’s two official languages.[11][12]

Birth rate[edit]

At 1.74 children per woman, Quebec’s 2008 fertility rate was above the Canada-wide rate of 1.59, and had increased for five consecutive years. However, it remained below the replacement fertility rate of 2.1. This contrasts with its fertility rates before 1960, which were among the highest of any industrialized society. Although Quebec is home to only 23.9% of the population of Canada, the number of international adoptions in Quebec is the highest of all provinces of Canada. In 2001, 42% of international adoptions in Canada were carried out in Quebec.

Immigration[edit]

In 2003, Quebec accepted some 37,619 immigrants. A large proportion of these immigrants originated from francophone countries and countries that are former French colonies. Countries from which significant numbers of people immigrate include Haiti, Congo-Brazzaville, Lebanon, Morocco, Rwanda, Syria, Algeria, France and Belgium. Under the Canada-Quebec Accord, Quebec has sole responsibility for selecting most immigrants destined to the province (see related article, Immigration to Canada).

Interprovincial migration[edit]

Interprovincial Migration Between Quebec and Other Provinces and Territories by Mother Tongue
Source: Statistics Canada[13]
Mother Tongue / Year 1971–1976 1976–1981 1981–1986 1986–1991 1991–1996 1996–2001 Total
French -4,100 -18,000 -12,900 5,200 1,200 -8,900 -37,500
English -52,200 -106,300 -41,600 -22,200 -24,500 -29,200 -276,000
Other -5,700 -17,400 -8,700 -8,600 -14,100 -19,100 -73,600

Interprovincial migration, especially to Ontario, results in a net loss of population in Quebec. The numbers of French-speaking Quebecers leaving the province tend to be similar to the number entering, while immigrants to Quebec are more likely to leave. Outmigration has most affected the English-speaking minority in Quebec, accounting for its population being significantly reduced since the 1970s.

Legislation[edit]

There are two sets of language laws in Quebec, which overlap and in various areas conflict or compete with each other: the laws passed by the Parliament of Canada and the laws passed by the National Assembly of Quebec.

Since 1982, both parliaments have had to comply with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which constitutionalized a number of fundamental human rights and educational rights of minorities in all provinces (education is a provincial jurisdiction in Canada). Prior to this, Quebec was effectively the sole province required constitutionally to finance the educational needs of its linguistic minority. Ontario and Quebec are both required to finance schools for their principal religious minorities (Roman Catholic in Ontario, Protestant in Quebec), but only in Quebec is the minority almost completely composed of speakers of the minority language. (Quebec also provided English schools for anglophone Roman Catholics.) In 1997, an amendment to the constitution allowed for Quebec to replace its system of denominational school boards with a system of linguistic school boards.

The federal language law and regulations seek to make it possible for all Canadian anglophone and francophone citizens to obtain services in the language of their choice from the federal government. Ottawa promotes the adoption of bilingualism by the population and especially among the employees in the public service.

In contrast, the Quebec language law and regulations promote French exclusively as the common public language of all Quebecers. Although Quebec currently respects most of the constitutional rights of its anglophone minority, it took a series of court challenges to enforce. The government of Quebec promotes the adoption and the use of French and limits the presence of English. This is to counteract the trend towards the anglicization of the population of Quebec.

In May 2022, The CAQ Quebec government of François Legault passed Bill 96, with 78 MNAs in favour (from the CAQ and Québec solidaire) and 29 against (from the Liberal Party and Parti Québécois).[14] The bill strengthen the 1970s Charter of the French Language stronger. in that year François Legault coursed some controversy when he said that Quebec risked being a Louisiana (which used to be French speaking but longer) if Quebec doesn’t have more control over immigration policy.[15][16][17]

Anglicization and Francization[edit]

(see: Language contact, Stratum (linguistics), Linguistic description, Sociolinguistics)

The following table[18] shows summary data on the language shifts which have occurred in Quebec between 1971, year of the first Canadian census asking questions about home language, and 2001 :

1971–2001
Language Speakers according to Linguistic persistence
and attraction		 Linguistic
vitality indicator
Mother language Home language
French 5,787,012 5,897,610 110,598 1.019
English 582,564 733,643 151,079 1.259
Others 681,224 419,548 -261,676 0.616

The second column starting on the left shows the number of native speakers of each language, the third shows the number of speakers using it at home.

The fourth column shows the difference between the number of speakers according to home language and those who speak it as mother tongue.

The fifth column shows the quotient of the division between the number of home language speakers and the native speakers.

Until the 1960s, the francophone majority of Quebec had only very weak assimilation power and, indeed, did not seek to assimilate non-francophones. Although the quantity of non-francophones adopted French throughout history, the pressure and, indeed, consensus from French-language and English-language institutions was historically towards the anglicization, not francization, of allophones in Quebec. Only a high fertility rate allowed the francophone population to keep increasing in absolute numbers in spite of assimilation and emigration. In the early 1960s, with the rise of irreligion, the fertility rate of the Quebecois began declining in a manner consistent with most developed societies, and some in Quebec’s francophone majority feared the beginning of a demographic collapse:[19] unlike the anglophone sphere, the francophone sphere was not assimilating allophones, and lower fertility rates were therefore much more determinative.

Quebec’s language legislation has tried to address this since the 1960s when, as part of the Quiet Revolution, French Canadians chose to move away from Church domination and towards a stronger identification with state institutions as development instruments for their community. Instead of repelling non-Catholic immigrants from the French-language public school system and towards the Protestant-run English system, for instance, immigrants would now be encouraged to attend French-language schools. The ultimate quantifiable goal of Quebec’s language policy is to establish French as Quebec’s common public language.

Recent census data show that goal has not been reached as successfully as hoped. After almost 30 years of enforcement of the Charter of the French Language, approximately 49% of allophone immigrants – including those who arrived before the Charter’s adoption in 1977 – had assimilated to English, down from 71% in 1971, but still considerably more than anglophones’ overall share of the province’s population.[20] This leads some Quebecers, particularly those who support the continued role of French as the province’s common public language, to question whether the policy is being implemented successfully. The phenomenon is linked to the linguistic environments which cohabit Montreal – Quebec’s largest city, Canada’s second-largest metropolitan area, and home to a number of communities, neighbourhoods, and even municipalities in which English is the de facto common language. The anglophone minority’s capacity to assimilate allophones and even francophones has therefore compensated to a large extent for the outmigration of anglophones to other provinces and even to the United States.

A number of socio-economic factors are thought to be responsible for this reality. They include: the historic role of the English language in Canada and the U.S.; its growing influence in the business and scientific world; the perceived advantages of learning English that result from this prominence and which are particularly appealing to allophones who have yet to make a linguistic commitment; the historic association of English with immigrant Quebecers and French with ethnic French-Canadian Québécois, which plays into linguistic and identity politics; and the post-industrial clustering of anglophones into Montreal and away from regional communities[citation needed]. These factors go not only to allophone immigrants’ direct linguistic assimilation, but also their indirect assimilation through contact with the private sector[citation needed]. Although the Charter of the French language makes French the official language of the workplace, the socio-economic factors cited here also often make English a requirement for employment, especially in Montreal, and to a lesser extent outside of it, notably in Canada’s National Capital Region, bordering Ontario, and in the Eastern Townships, particularly Sherbrooke.

The result is a largely bilingual workforce. Francophones are often compelled to learn English to find employment (particularly in the Montreal area), while anglophones in the province are pressured to do the same with French, and allophones are asked to learn both.[21] Census data adjusted for education and professional experience show that bilingual francophones had a greater income than bilingual anglophones by the year 2000.[22]

In 2001, 29% of Quebec workers declared using English, either solely (193,320), mostly (293,320), equally with French (212,545) or regularly (857,420). The proportion rose to 37% in the Montreal metropolitan area, where bilingualism is common. Outside Montreal, on the other hand, the proportion of anglophones has shrunk to 3% of the population and, except on the Ontario and U.S. borders, struggles to maintain a critical mass to support educational and health institutions – a reality that only immigrants and francophones usually experience in the other provinces. Unilingual anglophones are however still on the decline because of the higher English-French bilingualism of the community’s younger generations.

Not all analysts[23] are entirely comfortable with this picture of the status of the English language in Quebec. For example, a more refined analysis of the Census data[23] shows that a great deal of anglicization continues to occur in the communities traditionally associated with the English-language group, e.g., the Chinese, Italian, Greek and Indo-Pakistani groups[citation needed]. Nevertheless, a majority of new immigrants in every census since 1971 have chosen French more often than English as their adopted language. Statistics Canada’s 2011 National Household Survey of Canada reported that for the first time in modern history, the first official language of more than half of Quebec immigrants was French.[24] Those who spoke French as their first official language formed 51.1% of all immigrants to the province, while an additional 16.3% spoke both French and English; among those who immigrated to the province between 2006 and 2011, the proportion who spoke French as their first official language was 58.8%.[24]

Aboriginal peoples[edit]

Aboriginal peoples in Quebec are a heterogeneous group of about 71,000 individuals, who account for 9% of the total population of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. Approximately 60% of those are officially recognized as “Indians” under the federal Indian Act. Nearly half (47%) of this population in Quebec reported an Aboriginal language as mother tongue, the highest proportion of any province. The following table[25] shows the demographic situations of Aboriginal peoples in Quebec:

People Number Language family Region of Quebec Language of use Second language
Abenakis 2,000 Algonquian Mauricie French Abenaki
Algonquins 9,000 Algonquian North East Algonquin French or English
Atikameks 6,000 Algonquian North Cree (Atikamek) French
Crees 14,800 Algonquian North Cree (East Cree) English
Malecites 764 Algonquian St. Lawrence South shore French English
Micmacs 4,900 Algonquian Gaspésie Micmac French or English
Montagnais 15,600 Algonquian North Coast Cree (Innu-Aimun) French
Naskapis 600 Algonquian North East Cree (iiyuw-iyimuuun) English
Hurons 3,000 Iroquoian near Quebec City French English
Mohawks 11,400 Iroquoian near Montreal English Mohawk
Inuit 10,000 Eskimo–Aleut Arctic Inuktitut English

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2022-08-17). “Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population Profile table Quebec [Province]”. www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
  2. ^ English, French and official language minorities in Canada, 2016, Statistics Canada.
  3. ^ “Census Profile, 2016 Census – Quebec [Province] and Canada [Country]”. Statistics Canada. 2017-08-02. Retrieved 2017-09-09.
  4. ^ Claude Belanger. “Anglophone population of Quebec, Percentage of regional population, 1861–1981”. Marionapolis College. Retrieved 2007-03-01.
  5. ^ “2011 Census of Canada: Topic-based tabulations – Detailed Mother Tongue (232), Knowledge of Official Languages (5) and Sex (3) for the Population Excluding Institutional Residents of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Divisions, Census Subdivisions and Dissemination Areas, 2011 Census”. Statistics Canada. 2017-02-14. Retrieved 2017-09-09.
  6. ^ Statistics Canada: 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, 2021 census
  7. ^ “2011 Census Profile”. Statistics Canada. 8 February 2012. Retrieved 2017-05-20.
  8. ^ “Montréal (equivalent territory), Quebec and Canada- Census Profile. 2011 Census”. Statistics Canada. 2012-10-24. Retrieved 2017-09-07.
  9. ^ Statistics Canada (8 February 2017). “Census Profile, 2016 Census”. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  10. ^ Statistics Canada (3 October 2019). “Results from the 2016 Census: English–French bilingualism among Canadian children and youth”. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  11. ^ “Quebec municipalities protecting right to serve residents in English”.
  12. ^ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/language-law-bilingual-status-quebec-resolutions-1.6550915[bare URL]
  13. ^ “Factors Affecting the Evolution of Language Groups”. Statistics Canada. Archived from the original on 2008-06-12. Retrieved 2006-10-27.
  14. ^ “Language law Bill 96 adopted, promising sweeping changes for Quebec”. Montreal. 2022-05-24. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
  15. ^ Lowrie, Morgan (June 2022). “Quebec Premier Francois Legault accused of stoking immigration fears after speech at CAQ convention”. The Globe and Mail.
  16. ^ “Quebec is no Louisiana, experts say as premier accused of stoking immigration fears | Globalnews.ca”.
  17. ^ “Quebec is no Louisiana, experts say, as premier accused of stoking immigration fears”. June 2022.
  18. ^ Charles Castonguay, Les indicateurs généraux de la vitalité des langues au Québec : comparabilité et tendances 1971–2001, 2005
  19. ^ Charles Castonguay, Getting the facts straight on French : Reflections following the 1996 Census Archived 2008-04-10 at the Wayback Machine, in Inroads Journal, volume 8, 1999, pages 61/64
  20. ^ Charles Castonguay, Les indicateurs généraux de vitalité des langues au Québec : comparabilité et tendances 1971–2001 (Étude 1) Archived 2008-04-10 at the Wayback Machine, Office québécois de la langue française, 26 mai, 2005, page 17
  21. ^ Virginie Moffet, Langue du travail : indicateurs relatifs à l’évolution de la population active et à l’utilisation des langues au travail en 2001, Office québécois de la langue française, page 57
  22. ^ “Canada.Com | Homepage | Canada.Com”.
  23. ^ a b Veltman, Calvin (1995). “The English Language in Quebec, 1940–1990”. In Fishman, Joshua A.; Conrad, Andrew W.; Rubal-Lopez, Alma (eds.). Post-imperial English: Status Change in Former British and American Colonies, 1940-1990. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 205–235. ISBN 978-3-11-014754-4.
  24. ^ a b Scott, Marian. “French Gains Ground Among Newcomers”. Montreal Gazette. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 2017-05-20.
  25. ^ “Aboriginal Peoples in Quebec”. Archived from the original on 2008-02-26. Retrieved 2008-06-23.

Bibliography[edit]

General Studies[edit]

Language shifts[edit]

In French[edit]

General Studies[edit]

Language at work[edit]

Language shifts[edit]

Demolinguistic forecast[edit]

  • Termote, Marc (2003). “La dynamique démolinguistique du Québec et de ses régions”, in Piché, Victor and Le Bourdais, Céline (eds.), La démographie québécoise. Enjeux du XXIe siècle. Montréal, Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, collection “Paramètres”, pages 264–299
  • Termote, Marc (2002). “L’évolution démolinguistique du Québec et du Canada”, in La mise à jour des études originalement préparées pour la Commission sur l’avenir politique et constitutionnel du Québec. Rapport soumis au ministre délégué aux affaires intergouvernementales canadiennes. Volume 2, livre 2. Québec, Conseil exécutif, Bureau de coordination des études, pages 161–244
  • Termote, Marc (1999). Perspectives démolinguistiques du Québec et de la région de Montréal à l’aube du XXIe siècle : implications pour le français langue d’usage public, Conseil de la langue française, Montréal, 15 September 1999

Aboriginal languages[edit]

External links[edit]

FAQs

What percent of Quebec speaks only French?

Quebec is the only province whose sole official language is French. Today, 71.2 percent of Quebecers are first language francophones. About 95 percent of Quebecers speak French.

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Is French declining in Quebec?

Proportion of French speakers declines in Quebec and nearly everywhere in Canada. The proportion of Canadians who mainly speak French at home continues to decline in nearly all provinces and territories, including Quebec, the latest census release shows

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Do 50% of people in Quebec speak French?

However, over the same period, the number of people who could conduct a conversation in French rose by 400,000 to nearly 10.4 million people in 2016. In Quebec, 94.5% of the population reported being able to conduct a conversation in French in 2016, which is similar to the proportion from the 2011 Census (94.4%)

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What percent of Quebec speaks French at home?

77.5%

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How common is English in Quebec?

Even though English is not the primary language in Quebec, 36.1 % of the population can communicate in English. On a national level, francophones are five times more likely than anglophones to speak English ? 44 % versus 9%, respectively.

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Do most Quebecois speak English?

Most of the country (around 21 million people) speaks English as a first language, and about seven million speak French as a first language, with a stark geographic and cultural divide between the two, sometimes called ?the two solitudes.? Those francophones are found mostly in the province of Quebec, where French is …

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Which province has the most bilingual in Canada?

Geographic concentration of bilingual people

However, most bilingual people live in Quebec. In 2016, Quebec was the province of residence of 57.7% of English?French bilingual people in Canada. In 2011, this proportion was 57.4%.

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Is French growing in Quebec?

Although the number of people speaking French at home has increased ? rising from 6.4 million in 2016 to 6.5 million in 2021 ? they now make up 77.5 per cent of Quebecers, falling 1.5 percentage points in five years.

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Is it hard to live in Quebec without speaking French?

It is not recommended to live in Quebec City without speaking French. Quebec City is a French-speaking society, and being an English speaker will make it difficult to shop, work, and socialize. Generally, Quebec is not a province for individuals that cannot speak French proficiently.

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Can you visit Quebec without speaking French?

One of the common misconceptions about visiting Québec City is that you need to speak French; and if you do not speak French, everyone will be rude to you. This, thankfully, is complete fiction.

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Is it rude to speak English in Quebec?

It is not rude to speak English in Quebec.

You’ll always be able to find information translated into English, and citizens will be happy to share their gorgeous city with you.

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Is speaking English in Quebec illegal?

The new law imposes strict requirements on language usage for small businesses and municipalities in the region of Quebec, home to 8.5million people. Called Bill 96, the law massively restricts the use of English.

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Do Quebecois consider themselves French?

As shown by the 2016 Statistics Canada census, 58.3% of residents of Quebec identify their ethnicity as Canadian, 23.5% as French and 0.4% as Acadian.

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Can I get a job in Quebec if I don’t speak French?

Finding Work In Quebec

Bill 101 states that employers can’t require workers to speak any language apart from French. While there are quite a few potential exceptions, the employer still has to prove that their staff really needs to speak English if anybody complains about it.

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Do Montreal police speak English?

No English-language requirement for dispatchers

“At the SQ, all our employees, in their work, speak French, because it’s the language of the province.

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Can you live in Montreal with only English?

You can live in Montreal without speaking French however your employment options will be very limited. Montreal is a bilingual city (French-English) and most employers require their staff to be either bilingual or French speaking. Very few hire English only speakers.

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Are 911 operators bilingual?

Buchholz said three of the 55 people on his staff who answer calls are certified bilingual – two in Spanish, one in Russian. In the Northwest, Spanish is by far the most common requested language for emergency translation, typically followed by Russian, Vietnamese, and Chinese in varying order.

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French language in Canada – Wikipedia

French language in Canada This article is about the historical and sociological aspects of the French language in Canada. For the variety of the French language in Canada, see Canadian French. French language distribution in Canada.   Regions where French is an official language (Quebec and New Brunswick)   Regions where French is an official language only at the federal level (rest of Canada) French is the mother tongue of approximately 7.2 million Canadians (20.6 per cent of the Canadian population, second to English at 56 per cent) according to the 2016 Canadian Census.[1] Most Canadian native speakers of French live in Quebec, the only province where French is the majority language and the only province in which it is the sole official language.[2] Of Quebec’s people, 71.2 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. 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. Whatever that status of the French or English languages in a province or territory, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms requires all provinces and territories to provide primary and secondary education to their official-language minorities. History and evolution[edit] 16th century[edit] In 1524, the Florentine navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano, working for Italian bankers in France, explored the American coast from Florida to Cape Breton Island. In 1529, Verrazzano mapped a part of the coastal region of the North American continent under the name Nova Gallia (New France). In 1534, King Francis I of France sent Jacques Cartier to explore previously unfamiliar lands. Cartier found the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, sealed an alliance with the local people and obtained passage to go farther. During his second expedition (1535–1536), Cartier came upon the Saint Lawrence River, a path into the heart of the continent. However, Cartier failed to establish a permanent colony in the area, and war in Europe kept France from further colonization through the end of the 16th century.[6][7] 17th century[edit] At the beginning of the 17th century, French settlements and private companies were established in the area that is now eastern Canada. In 1605, Samuel de Champlain founded Port Royal (Acadia), and in 1608 he founded Quebec City. In 1642, the foundation of Ville Marie, the settlement that would eventually become Montreal, completed the occupation of the territory. In 1634, Quebec contained 200 settlers who were principally involved in the fur trade. The trade was profit-making and the city was on the point of…

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Language demographics of Quebec – Wikipedia

Language demographics of Quebec This article presents the current language demographics of the Canadian province of Quebec. Demographic terms[edit] The complex nature of Quebec’s linguistic situation, with individuals who are often bilingual or multilingual, requires the use of multiple terms in order to describe the languages which people speak. Francophone Speaking French as a first language. Anglophone Speaking English as a first language. Allophone Having a mother tongue other than English or French. Mother tongue The first language learned by a person, which may or may not still be used by that individual in adulthood, is a basic measure of a population’s language. However, with the high number of mixed francophone-anglophone marriages and the reality of multilingualism in Montreal, this description does not give a true linguistic portrait of Quebec. It is, however, still essential, for example in order to calculate the assimilation rate. Statistics Canada defines mother tongue as the first language learned in childhood and still spoken; it does not presuppose literacy in that or any language. Home language This is the language most often spoken at home and is currently preferred to identify francophones, anglophones, and allophones. This descriptor has the advantage of pointing out the current usage of languages. However, it fails to describe the language that is most used at work, which may be different. Knowledge of official languages This measure describes which of the two official languages of Canada a person can speak informally. This relies on the person’s own evaluation of his/her linguistic competence and can prove misleading. First official language learned Measures whether English or French are the first of the two official languages learned; it places allophones into English or French linguistic communities. Official language minority Based on first official language learned, but placing half of the people equally proficient since childhood in both English and French into each linguistic community; it is used by the Canadian government to determine the demand for minority language services in a region Current demographics[edit] Knowledge of languages[edit] Knowledge of official languages of Canada in Quebec (2016) Language Percent English only 4.62% French only 49.99% English and French 44.46% Neither English nor French 0.93% The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses. The following figures are from the 2021 Canadian Census and the 2016 Canadian Census, and lists languages that were selected by at least one per cent of respondents. Knowledge of Languages in Quebec Language Population (2021)[1] Percentage (2021) Population (2016) Percentage (2016) French 7,786,735 93.72% 7,522,350 94.43% English 4,317,180 51.96% 3,930,690 49.35% Spanish 453,905 5.46% 390,355 4.90% Arabic 343,675 4.14% 267,965 3.37% Italian 168,040 2.02% 173,710 2.18% Haitian Creole 118,010 1.42% 108,315 1.36% Mandarin 80,520 0.97% N/A

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English, French and official language minorities in Canada

English, French and official language minorities in Canada Release date: August 2, 2017 Updated on: August 31, 2017 Highlights There has been a decline in French as a mother tongue and a language spoken at home in Canada. In Canada outside Quebec, the French language minority, defined by first official language spoken, edged down from 4.0% in 2011 to 3.8% in 2016. The proportion of Canadians who reported speaking English at home increased by 0.5 percentage points, from 74.0% in 2011 to 74.5% in 2016. The relative weight of the English‑mother‑tongue population fell in Canada. The relative weight of the official language minority in Quebec was 13.7% in 2016, compared with 13.5% in 2011. Introduction In a context of large‑scale immigration and broad linguistic diversity, the relative weight of English and French is likely to decline, especially in the private sphere. According to data from the 2016 Census of Population, the number of people in the Canadian population with an “other” mother tongueNote 1 has increased, while the relative share of the population with English or French as a mother tongue has decreased. Nevertheless, English and French—the country’s two official languages—continue to play an important role in the lives of Canadians: they are the languages of convergence and integration into Canadian society. However, the situation of French differs from English. Data on knowledge of official languages, languages spoken at home and first official language spoken (FOLS) indicate a decline in the relative weight of French in Canadian society. Conversely, English is seeing a bit of an upswing, particularly in Quebec. The number of French speakers is on the rise In 2016, 29.8% of Canadians reported being able to conduct a conversation in French, which is down from 2011 (30.1%). However, over the same period, the number of people who could conduct a conversation in French rose by 400,000 to nearly 10.4 million people in 2016. In Quebec, 94.5% of the population reported being able to conduct a conversation in French in 2016, which is similar to the proportion from the 2011 Census (94.4%). In numbers, this represented just over 7.6 million individuals in 2016. Outside Quebec, the proportion of Canadians who reported being able to conduct a conversation in French remained relatively stable between 2011 and 2016, with an increase of 157,035 people. Table 1 Ability to conduct a conversation in French, Canada, Quebec, and Canada outside Quebec, 2011 and 2016 Table summary This table displays the results of Ability to conduct a conversation in French 2011 and 2016, calculated using number and percent units of measure (appearing as column headers). 2011 2016 number percent number percent Canada Knowledge of French 9,960,590 30.1 10,360,760 29.8 French only 4,165,015 12.6 4,144,690 11.9 English and French 5,795,575 17.5 6,216,070 17.9 Total 33,121,175 100.0 34,767,250 100.0 Quebec Knowledge of French 7,375,900 94.4 7,619,040 94.5 French only 4,047,175 51.8 4,032,635 50.0 English and French 3,328,725 42.6 3,586,405 44.5 Total 7,815,955 100.0 8,066,555 100.0 Canada outside Quebec Knowledge of French 2,584,690 10.2 2,741,720 10.3 French only 117,840 0.5 112,055 0.4 English and French 2,466,850 9.7 2,629,665 9.8 Total 25,305,220 100.0 26,700,695 100.0 Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Population, 2011 and 2016. A decline in French in the private sphere In 2016, close to 8.2 million Canadians, or 23.4% of the population, reported speaking French at home.Note 2 This proportion is down from 23.8% in 2011. Table 2 French spoken at home, Canada, Quebec, and Canada outside Quebec, 2011 and 2016 Table summary This table displays the results of French spoken at home 2011 and 2016, calculated using number and percent units of measure (appearing as column headers). 2011 2016 number percent number percent Canada Only 6,043,305 18.2 6,081,030 17.5 Mostly 784,560 2.4 862,775 2.5 Equally 287,230 0.9 378,415 1.1 Regularly 777,095 2.3 829,905 2.4 Total (French) 7,892,190 23.8 8,152,115 23.4 Total population 33,121,175 100.0 34,767,250 100.0 Quebec Only 5,687,005 72.8 5,741,620 71.2 Mostly 562,080 7.2 634,050 7.9 Equally 201,290 2.6 268,420 3.3 Regularly 351,520 4.5 381,495 4.7 Total (French) 6,801,895 87.0 7,025,580 87.1 Total population 7,815,950 100.0 8,066,560 100.0 Canada…

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Proportion of Quebecers who speak French at home on the …

Proportion of Quebecers who speak French at home on the decline: StatsCan “I’m scratching my head,” says Jack Jedwab, president of the Association for Canadian Studies. He calls the report “misleading” and some of the analysis “amateurish.” Publishing date: Aug 17, 2022  •  August 17, 2022  •  6 minute read  •  226 Comments A leading researcher noted that the new Statistics Canada report on language focuses heavily on the island of Montreal. In the past, the agency has acknowledged that focusing on the island distorts the real dynamics that prevail in the Montreal region. Photo by Dave Sidaway /Montreal Gazette More Quebecers are speaking French at home, but their proportion of the overall provincial population is decreasing. For the first time, the number of people in Quebec whose “first official language spoken” is English topped one million, with their proportion of the population rising. Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Montreal Gazette, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300 Statistics Canada calculates first-official-language figures based on questions about knowledge of official languages, language spoken most often at home and mother tongue. The findings, published Wednesday by Statistics Canada, are based on responses to the 2021 census. In addition to providing a detailed portrait of how Canadians communicate, results are used by governments to administer the federal Official Languages Act and Quebec’s Charter of the French Language. The latest numbers will provide political fodder in the Oct. 3 Quebec general election, expected to be formally called at the end of August. Always a subject of intense debate in Quebec, the language issue is under the microscope because of the Coalition Avenir Québec’s Bill 96. Adopted in May, it was the biggest overhaul of Quebec language rules since the advent of Bill 101, the Charter of the French Language, in 1977. The Statistics Canada report generated mixed reactions. Language Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said it proves “beyond any reasonable doubt” that French is in danger in Quebec. The opposition Parti Québécois said it’s clear Premier François Legault isn’t doing enough to protect French. The Quebec Community Groups Network said it’s pleased the English community is growing, adding that more people speaking French at home is good news for the vitality of that language. A prominent researcher, meanwhile, described the Statistics Canada report as “misleading” and some of the analysis “amateurish.” In the report, the agency said the census found: The number of people who spoke mostly French at home increased from 6.4 million in 2016 to 6.5 million in 2021 in Quebec, but their proportion of the population fell from 79 per cent to 77.5 per cent. While the number of people in Quebec with French as their mother tongue rose between 2016 and 2021, their proportion in Quebec’s population decreased from 77.1 per cent to 74.8 per cent. The number of Quebecers whose first official…

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Canadian Provinces/Territories By Percentage Of French …

Canadian Provinces/Territories By Percentage Of French Speaking Population French signboards Montreal, Quebec. French is one of the two official languages in Canada. Although French can be spoken by a significant number of people in all the provinces and territories of Canada, Quebec is the only province where majority of the population speaks French. French is a mother tongue of about 7 million Canadians or 22% of the population. French is recognized as an official language alongside English in the Official Language Act of 1969 with both languages where recognized as having equal status in the government of Canada. History Of Canadian French French settlements and private companies were established in areas around present-day Eastern Canada in the early 17th century. Acadia and Quebec City were founded by Samuel de Chaplain in 1605 and 1608 respectively. By 1634, two hundred settlers who were mainly fur traders occupied Quebec. A secondary school was founded in Quebec in 1635 by Jesuit to offer education to the Children in the city. French became the language of the non-native people in Quebec by 1645. However, the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 led to the British dominating much of the Eastern Canada relegating French to second on trade and communication. Out of necessity, several schools adopted the teaching of English as the country became bilingual. The Anglicization of Canada was not successful because the French-speaking inhabitants continued to speak French only. In 1774, Quebec Act was passed by the parliament to restore French Civil laws. French As An Official Language French was declared an official language alongside English in the Official Languages Act of 1969. The Act requires that all government activities, court proceedings, and legislations be carried out in English, French or both. French is the official language in Quebec with most of the debates, legislation, and court proceedings conducted in French. However, the law also provides for the use of English in Quebec. Even in provinces and territories where English is the dominant language, French is normally used for the benefit of the public and in line with the Canadian laws. Two types of French are spoken in Canada, French spoken in Quebec and French spoken by Acadians. Popularity Of French In The Canadian Provinces Quebec has the highest number of French-speakers in Canada both by the proportion of the population in the province and the proportion of the entire population in the country. 79.95% of the population of Quebec speaks French as their first language while 95% of the Quebecers can speak French. In all the other provinces of Canada, the proportion of the people whose mother tongue is not French but have knowledge of French range between 28% and 0.22%. 28.36% of the population of New Brunswick speaks French as their mother tongue, the second highest in the country. Nunavut, Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbus, and Newfoundland have the smallest populations of French speakers with less than 1% of their population speaking French. On average 20.61% of the Canadian population speak French at home on a regular basis. However, the figures indicate a decline in the proportion of the Canadians who are using French as their mother tongue. Canadian Provinces/Territories By Percentage Of French Speaking…

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Proportion of French speakers declines in Quebec and nearly …

Proportion of French speakers declines in Quebec and nearly everywhere in Canada The proportion of Canadians who mainly speak French at home continues to decline in nearly all provinces and territories, including Quebec, the latest census release shows. Statistics Canada reported Wednesday that the percentage of Canadians who speak predominantly French at home fell to 19.2 per cent in 2021 from 20 per cent in 2016. All provinces and territories saw a drop other than Yukon, where the figure was up from 2.4 to 2.6 per cent.The federal agency also looks at the proportion of people whose first official language is English or French. It found more than three in four Canadians report English as their first official language, a figure that’s increased over the five-year period.That’s while the proportion of people who report French as their first official language declined.Eric Caron-Malenfant, deputy head of Statistics Canada’s Centre for Demography, said at a news conference that the latest census report shows a continuation of language trends in the country. Story continues below advertisement Jean-Pierre Corbeil, an associate professor of sociology at Laval University, said immigration plays a key role in the trends we see with languages in Canada.“We know that the composition of the population over time has an impact on … the numbers of people speak French or English or, if you will, a non-official language,” Corbeil said. 1:59 New Census data show Quebec’s Anglophone population making a recovery from the exodus of the 1970s and 80s New Census data show Quebec’s Anglophone population making a recovery from the exodus of the 1970s and 80s – Aug 17, 2022 The sociologist said the rise in temporary immigration might be having an impact on French in Quebec, given that temporary immigrants are less likely to speak the language.A recent study by the Institut du Québec found that while non-permanent residents represented nine per cent of international immigration to the province from 2012 to 2016, that number had climbed to 64 per cent by 2019. Trending Stories Story continues below advertisement In Quebec, the number of Canadians who reported English as their first official language topped one million, while one in 10 Quebecers report speaking predominantly English at home.As the country becomes more linguistically diverse, the percentage of Canadians who reported English or French as their mother tongue has also declined. 1:57 Quebec’s new language law, Bill 96, faces one of its first, big challenges in front of a judge Quebec’s new language law, Bill 96, faces one of its first, big challenges in front of a judge – Aug 5, 2022 The agency defines mother tongue as a citizen’s first language learned at home in childhood and still understood by the individual.Corbeil said that while some people put a lot of emphasis on French losing ground in Quebec, that phenomenon has already played for the English language in regions like Toronto, where nearly half of residents’ mother tongues are not English.Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced in 2019 its plan to boost francophone immigration to areas in Canada outside of Quebec. It’s hoping to increase the share of francophone immigrants to 4.4 per cent by 2023. Story continues below advertisement In 2021, 3.6 per cent of arrivals outside of…

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Census shows slight decline of French-speakers in Quebec …

Census shows slight decline of French-speakers in Quebec, reviving fears about the language’s survivalPeople walk by bilingual signs for a commercial space for lease in the city of Westmount, on the island of Montreal, on Aug. 5.Graham Hughes/The Canadian PressThe share of French-speakers in Quebec declined slightly in the last five years, a development Premier François Legault called “worrying” as the province heads into an October election that will be fought partly on language and identity issues.The shrinking proportion of francophones, highlighted by 2021 census figures released on Wednesday, has revived perennial fears in Quebec about the survival of a French-speaking society in North America and the census announcement quickly became a source of political contention.Minister of the French Language Simon Jolin-Barrette said the numbers show Quebec is at a linguistic “crossroads” that justifies the government’s recent controversial adoption of Bill 96, which limits the use of English in business, government and the courts.Linguistic diversity on the rise in Canada, census data showNumber of Indigenous-language speakers drops slightly in Canada, census data showThe latest census shows that by many metrics the use of French dropped in the province compared to other languages in recent years. The share of people with French as a mother tongue fell from 77.1 per cent to 74.8 per cent. Those who spoke predominantly French at home have been increasing in number but falling as a proportion of Quebec’s population since as far back as 2001, from 82.3 per cent to 77.5 per cent.Mr. Legault has made defending French a core part of his government’s mandate, recently demanding more powers over immigration from the federal government to halt Quebec’s transformation into another Louisiana, where French is all but extinct.The relative decline of French in Quebec can be explained partly by a younger anglophone population, immigration from non-Francophone countries, and Quebec losing fewer English speakers to other parts of the country, according to a Statistics Canada analysis of Wednesday’s data.Some Quebec demographers, meanwhile, said more information is needed about the causes of the decline and about language in the workplace to get an accurate picture of the status of French in Quebec.The trend captured in the 2021 census parallels the decline of French in Canada overall, where the share of people whose primary official language is French fell from 22.2 to 21.4 per cent since the last census. In response to the numbers, Bloc Québécois spokesperson Mario Beaulieu accused the federal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of failing to protect French.“This should be the final alarm bell for the Liberal government, which still refuses to grasp the urgency of the situation,” Mr. Beaulieu said in a statement.Stéphanie Chouinard, a professor of political science at Royal Military College, said that although the place of French in Canada was diminishing fairly slowly, the long-term trend was clear. She called on the federal government to take tougher measures to strengthen French across the country, including by increasing francophone immigration.“We see that despite the pretty words and the political intentions to give the two official languages equal footing, there’s one that continues to lose ground,” she said.Federal Minister of Official Languages Ginette Petitpas Taylor responded to the StatsCan release with a sharply worded statement reiterating the government’s promise to overhaul the Official Languages Act to strengthen the place of French.“The census data on official languages released this morning is troubling, and demonstrates what our government has always said: French is under threat in Quebec, as it is across the rest of…

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