Why Do Canadians Speak French?

Why does Canada speak French and not English?

Why do we speak French in Canada? A brief history for kids – Have you ever wondered why you have to learn French in Canadian schools, or why it’s one of our official languages? And why does the entire province of Quebec seem to speak French? Canada has a rich and complex history with the French language, and we will try and explain it to you in this brief summary.

• Everything begins back in 1534, the year that Jacques Cartier (also the name of a famous bridge in Montreal) set sail across the Atlantic, as he looked for a new passage to reach Asia.
• He arrived in Newfoundland, and tried to claim the region in the name of France.
• The name “Canada” is actually a misinterpretation of the indigenous word “kanata” which means “village.” By the mid 1630’s, Quebec had gained more and more French settlers, many of whom worked in the fur trade.

The French colony there began to grow larger, until the 18th century when the British arrived. During this period of history, the British deemed that French was an inferior language. However, in order to encourage the co-existence of both English and French-speaking groups the 1774 Quebec Act was passed, which restored French civil laws.

Only 17 years later, this law was repealed when the King decided to divide Canada into two provinces: Upper Canada, which became Ontario, and Lower Canada, which became Quebec. In 1867, Canada became a federal state and was divided into four provinces: Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. French became the official language of Quebec, and through the 1969 Official Languages Act, both English and French are recognized as official languages of Canada.

Even though French is an official language, there are still various dialects between different provinces, regions and communities. For instance, Quebec French differs from Acadian French, which differs from Metis French, and so on. There are also French dialects that exist outside of Canada, for example Missouri and Louisiana French.

How did Canada become French?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Canada
1535–1763
The Royal Banner of early modern France or “Bourbon Flag” was the most commonly used flag in New France The lesser coat of arms of France as used by the Government
Map of Canada after 1713. At its fullest extent, Canada extended from south of the Great Lakes to the Gulf of St Lawrence,
Status	Colony of France within New France
Capital	Quebec
Common languages	French
Religion	Catholic Church (state religion)
Government	Monarchy
King
Governor
History
• French territorial possession	1535
• Founding of Quebec	1608
• Founding of Trois-Rivières	1634
• Founding of Montreal	1642
• Ceded to Britain	1763
Currency	New France livre
ISO 3166 code	CA
Preceded by Succeeded by Aboriginal peoples in Canada /td>	Province of Quebec (1763–1791)

/td>

/td> Today part of Canada United States

The colony of Canada was a French colony within the larger territory of New France, It was claimed by France in 1535 during the second voyage of Jacques Cartier, in the name of the French king, Francis I, The colony remained a French territory until 1763, when it became a British colony known as the Province of Quebec,

• In the 16th century the word “Canada” could refer to the territory along the Saint Lawrence River (then known as the Canada River) from Grosse Isle to a point between Québec and Trois-Rivières,
• The terms “Canada” and “New France” were also used interchangeably.
• French explorations continued west “unto the Countreys of Canada, Hochelaga, and Saguenay” before any permanent settlements were established.

In 1600 a permanent trading post and habitation was established at Tadoussac at the confluence of the Saguenay and Saint Lawrence rivers. However, because this trading post was under a trade monopoly, it was not constituted as an official French colonial settlement.

The first official settlement of Canada was Québec, founded by Samuel de Champlain in 1608. The other four colonies within New France were Hudson’s Bay to the north, Acadia and Newfoundland to the east, and Louisiana far to the south. Canada became the most developed of the five colonies of New France.

It was divided into three districts, Québec, Trois-Rivières, and Montreal, each with its own government. The governor of the District of Quebec also served as the governor-general for all of New France. The Seven Years’ War of 1756–1763 saw Great Britain defeat the French and their allies, and take possession of Canada.

Do Canadians mostly speak French?

The Canadian Francophonie by the numbers –

Canada has a population of nearly 35 million people. French is the first official language spoken for 22.8% of the population. The majority of Francophones (85.4%) live in Quebec and over 1 million live in other regions of the country. Almost 10.4 million Canadians can carry on a conversation in French.

Table 1: French-speaking population, provinces and territories, Canada (2016)

Province or territory	French-speaking population
Newfoundland-and-Labrador	2,428 (0.5%)
Prince Edward Island	4,665 (3.3%)
Nova Scotia	29,368 (3.2%)
New Brunswick	234,055 (31.8%)
Quebec	6,890,305 (85.4%)
Ontario	550,595 (4.1%)
Manitoba	40,978 (3.2%)
Saskatchewan	14,440 (1.3%)
Alberta	79,838 (2%)
British Columbia	64,323 (1.4%)
Yukon	1,635 (4.6%)
Northwest Territories	1,240 (3%)
Nunavut	630 (1.8%)
Total	7,914,498 (22.8%)
Total Canadian population	34,767,250

Source : Official Languages Branch of Canadian Heritage, February 2018, based on data from the 2016 Census of Canada, Statistics Canada, 100% sample

Why is Quebec so French?

The Citadel, Quebec.1901. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. The Library of Congress holds thousands of items about and from Québec. This guide offers links to diverse resources on Québec from across the Library including digitized primary sources, books, online resources, as well as overviews on a variety of topics concerning Québécois history and culture.

1. Québec is a culturally-rich and distinct Canadian province that borders Ontario, New Brunswick, Labrador and Newfoundland, and the U.S.
2. States Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York.
3. It is also close to the small island of St.
4. Pierre and Miquelon, a French collective territory.
5. Québec is the largest province in terms of geographic size — about the size of Mongolia.

Québec has a sizable coastline on the Atlantic Ocean and is divided into three geographic regions: the Canadian Shield in the north, the Saint-Lawrence Lowlands in the south, and the Appalachian Region in the west. The vast majority of the province’s population lives by the Saint-Lawrence River in cities such as Montréal, Gatineau, and Québec City.

1. The Québecois government is classified as a liberal democracy with a parliamentary system led by François Legault, the current Premier.
2. As a result of their connections to the United Kingdom, they also have a vice-regal representative, called the Lieutenant Governor.
3. Québec City, the de jure capital, houses the provincial government and world-famous Old Québec (Vieux Québec) District, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Québec has had a profound cultural influence on the rest of Canada and the larger francophone world. Canadian French is French as spoken by Canadians, and includes the variants of Québécois, Acadian, and Michif (the language of the Metis). Métis French and Michif share a common phonology but have linguistic differences.

• Québécois French remains the largest of these Canadian variants.
• For many people, Québec brings to mind culinary staples such as poutine, tourtières, and pâté chinois or perhaps maple syrup which has a significant culinary and commercial value.
• Québécois are known for their passionate love of ice hockey and comedy, and their historically-rooted folk music.

Less known is the complicated role of the French language in Québec and the political and cultural evolution of this Francophone region in the 21st century. The history of Québec did not start with the European explorers. There was, and continues to be, a large population of indigenous peoples, called First Nations, as well as Inuit peoples.

The largest of the First Nations groups is the Cree. There are also many indigenous people who identify as Métis, and have mixed French and Cree ancestry. While the French engaged in trade with the Native peoples via the Coureurs des bois, (French fur traders) the relationships were in many ways strategic — depending on profit and trade.

In 1534, during the first of three expeditions, Jacques Cartier, a trader and explorer from Brittany, laid French claim to the lands of Canada (using the St. Lawrence Iroquoians’ word for settlement “kanata”). The struggles between European powers for control of North American territories resulted in a series of wars and treaties.

The savage battles that characterize the American confrontations of Native Americans was less of a hallmark in Canada. The push in Canada — however cruel — was for assimilation rather than outright elimination. Most of Québec was part of New France until that area was ceded to Great Britain after the Seven Year’s War (1756-1763).

This conflict was known to Americans as the French and Indian War, and to French Canadians as the Guerre de la Conquête or War of the Conquest. Throughout this time, the French relied on alliances with the Native tribes including the Wabanaki Confederacy member tribes, Abenaki and Mi’kmaq, and the Algonquin, Lenape, Ojibwa, Ottawa, Shawnee, and Wyandot (Huron) tribes.

• The British were allied at different intervals with the Iroquois, Catawba and Cherokee tribes.
• Many European countries were involved in this bid for power in North America, but in 1758-1760 it was the British who fought to capture French Canada.
• They captured the city of Québec in 1759, and in 1763, with the Treaty of Paris, the French ceded Canada to the British.

One of the lingering consequences of these conquests is the power struggle over a dominant language. Before 1763, most of Québec was part of New France and as a result the common language was French. The French colonists who came to New France were generally from the north (Brittany, Normandy, Ile-de-France) so the language was influenced by the dialects from these regions.

1. As happens in any community, words were borrowed from nearby cultures and this explains the use of loan words that were adopted from the First Nations — especially words describing nature and the environment.
2. After France ceded Québec to Great Britain it became a British colony but inhabitants (including Acadians and First Nations) were granted some degree of rights over their language and religion (Catholicism in the case of the French Canadians).

The British wanted to appease most factions in these capitulations so they could focus their attention further south at the growing discontent that would eventually lead to the American Revolution. The Canadian confederation was formed in 1867 and thus began a steady path towards industrialization and modernization.

The majority of business and government transactions were in English and after WWII Québec saw a rise in non-French-speaking immigrants. A movement began in the 1960s —often called the Quiet Revolution — that sought to preserve and protect what was a minority language in Canada. The Office québécois de la langue française was established in 1961 in order to keep English from dominating the cultural climate of Québec.

This period also sees the beginning of the French Canadian Nationalist Movement where stirrings from “Separatists” allude to the threat of succession from Canada. In 1977 the Charter of the French Language (Bill 101) made French the official language.

• While it protected the indigenous languages of Québec, its mandates lay the groundwork for what is viewed by many today as too restrictive.
• While this “language planning” or deliberate effort to influence the language used by a community — has come under increased scrutiny by the allophone and anglophone communities (called simply Quebeckers) in Québec, it also created something of a Renaissance in the cultural spheres of French-language music and literature in Québec.

However, more recently Bills 21 (dubbed the “Secularism Law”) and 96 (a law to preserve French language) have proved to be somewhat contentious. Thus the debate over language and cultural hegemony continues to playout in this Canadian province.

Why did France lose Canada?

New France Was Conquered, But Also Abandoned – Abandonment occurred as well as conquest. France could have tried to win Canada back through diplomatic negotiations. After all, it had done so following Sir David Kirke ‘s conquest of Quebec in 1629, even though this involved giving up its West Indian colonies.

1. But with the Treaty of Paris in 1763, France chose to abandon Canada.
2. This was mainly because the colony had cost more than it had returned.
3. France also made no subsequent attempt to regain Canada.
4. Even at the height of his power, Napoleon shed the last piece of the French Empire in America by selling it to the Americans in the form of the Louisiana Purchase.

This total retreat by France was emotionally difficult for its colonial subjects to accept. It forced Canadians to come to terms with the existing balance of power.

Was Canada French or British first?

Canada’s conscious and successful striving after unity should be borne in mind as we examine another great and permanent problem of the country: preserving and encouraging harmonious relations between French Canada and English Canada. In this connection “English” Canada means all the population, whether of British or other origin, that speaks English.

1. Though it is focused in Quebec and Ontario, the problem is Dominion-wide.
2. A considerable minority in Quebec, nearly 20 percent of the 3.3 million in that province, are English Canadians.
3. French Canadians form considerable minorities in every other province except British Columbia.
4. French is the native tongue of three out of every ten Canadians.

Many Americans wonder why the French in Canada have not been assimilated—swallowed up in the English majority. But assimilation was out of the question. The French did not go to Canada to be Anglicized. They went there to live as French men under the French flag. After the British conquest of this French colony in 1760, a quarter of a century elapsed before any real English-speaking population settled on the soil of old Canada (Quebec and Ontario). And three-quarters of a century passed before the English-speaking population was as numerous as the French.

There was little assimilation, and that little was mostly of English-speaking people by the French. There was no lack of attempts at assimilation the other way round, but they defeated their own end. The attempts promoted bitter racial strife, and only hardened the determination of the French to retain their separate identity.

The strife did not end until the middle of the nineteenth century. What stopped it was the establishment of colonial self-government on a basis of equality for French and English. That was an object lesson for all time to come.

Is Toronto a French-speaking city?

Generally, Toronto is considered an English-speaking city; however, there is a significant French-speaking population in the city. Toronto is an ideal location for immigrants looking for a bilingual province to stay in Canada.

Is Toronto French or English?

This article is about the capital of Ontario, Canada. For other uses, see Toronto (disambiguation),

Toronto
City ( single-tier )
City of Toronto
Skyline of Downtown Toronto and CN Tower Ontario Legislative Building Toronto Sign & City Hall Humber Bay Arch Bridge Casa Loma Royal Ontario Museum Scarborough Bluffs
Flag Coat of arms Logo
Etymology: From the Mohawk word tkaronto, the name of a channel between Lakes Simcoe and Couchiching
Nicknames: See list
Motto: Diversity Our Strength
OpenStreetMap
Toronto Location of Toronto in Ontario
Coordinates: 43°44′30″N 79°22′24″W  /  43.74167°N 79.37333°W
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
Established	August 27, 1793 ; 230 years ago (as York )
Incorporated	March 6, 1834 ; 189 years ago (as City of Toronto )
Amalgamated into division	January 20, 1953 ; 70 years ago (as Metropolitan Toronto )
Amalgamated	January 1, 1998 ; 25 years ago (as current City of Toronto)
Districts	East York Etobicoke North York Old Toronto Scarborough York
Government
• Type	Single-tier municipality with a mayor–council system
• Mayor	Olivia Chow
• Deputy Mayor	Ausma Malik
• Body	Toronto City Council
Area
• City	630.20 km 2 (243.32 sq mi)
• Urban	1,792.99 km 2 (692.28 sq mi)
• Metro	5,905.71 km 2 (2,280.21 sq mi)
Elevation	76.5 m (251.0 ft)
Population ( 2021 )
• City	2,794,356 ( 1st )
• Density	4,427.8/km 2 (11,468/sq mi)
• Metro	6,202,225 ( 1st )
• Region	9,765,188
Demonym	Torontonian
Time zone	UTC−05:00 ( EST )
• Summer ( DST )	UTC−04:00 ( EDT )
Postal code span	M
Area codes	416, 647, 437
GDP (Toronto CMA )	CA$ 442.2 billion (2019)
GDP per capita (Toronto CMA )	CA$62,873 (2019)
Website	www,toronto,ca

Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario, With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the fourth-most populous city in North America, The city is the anchor of the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration of 9,765,188 people (as of 2021) surrounding the western end of Lake Ontario, while the Greater Toronto Area proper had a 2021 population of 6,712,341.

• Toronto is an international centre of business, finance, arts, sports and culture, and is recognized as one of the most multicultural and cosmopolitan cities in the world.
• Indigenous peoples have travelled through and inhabited the Toronto area, located on a broad sloping plateau interspersed with rivers, deep ravines, and urban forest, for more than 10,000 years.

After the broadly disputed Toronto Purchase, when the Mississauga surrendered the area to the British Crown, the British established the town of York in 1793 and later designated it as the capital of Upper Canada, During the War of 1812, the town was the site of the Battle of York and suffered heavy damage by American troops,

1. York was renamed and incorporated in 1834 as the city of Toronto,
2. It was designated as the capital of the province of Ontario in 1867 during Canadian Confederation,
3. The city proper has since expanded past its original limits through both annexation and amalgamation to its current area of 630.2 km 2 (243.3 sq mi).

The diverse population of Toronto reflects its current and historical role as an important destination for immigrants to Canada, More than half of residents were born outside of Canada, more than half of residents belong to a visible minority group, and over 200 distinct ethnic origins are represented among its inhabitants.

1. While the majority of Torontonians speak English as their primary language, over 160 languages are spoken in the city.
2. The mayor of Toronto is elected by direct popular vote to serve as the chief executive of the city.
3. The Toronto City Council is a unicameral legislative body, comprising 25 councillors since the 2018 municipal election, representing geographical wards throughout the city.

Toronto is a prominent centre for music, theatre, motion picture production, and television production, and is home to the headquarters of Canada’s major national broadcast networks and media outlets. Its varied cultural institutions, which include numerous museums and galleries, festivals and public events, entertainment districts, national historic sites, and sports activities, attract over 43 million tourists each year.

Toronto is known for its many skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, in particular the tallest free-standing structure on land outside of Asia, the CN Tower, The city is home to the Toronto Stock Exchange, the headquarters of Canada’s five largest banks, and the headquarters of many large Canadian and multinational corporations.

Its economy is highly diversified with strengths in technology, design, financial services, life sciences, education, arts, fashion, aerospace, environmental innovation, food services, and tourism. Toronto is the third-largest tech hub in North America after Silicon Valley and New York City, and the fastest growing.

Why do Dutch people say eh?

By asking ‘hè?’, you’re telling the other person to repeat what they just said, or to explain themselves further. Partly due to these multiple ways of using the word, it’s deeply ingrained into Dutch speech and you will find Dutch people incorporating it into their English.

Why do Canadians say Zed?

Zed is the name of the letter Z. The pronunciation zed is more commonly used in Canadian English than zee. English speakers in other Commonwealth countries also prefer the pronunciation zed. As zed is the British pronunciation and zee is chiefly American, zed represents one of the rare occasions in which most Canadians prefer the British to the American pronunciation.

Why does Quebec look so European?

Founded by French explorer Samuel de Champlain, Québec City is full of cobblestone streets, European-inspired architecture, and a primarily French-speaking population, as Insider reported. These elements give the town a European feel, according to the same source. – Streets in Québec City. Joey Hadden/Insider Source: Insider

Why is Quebec like Europe?

5 Reasons Why Quebec City Might be the Most European City in North America Sitting on the edge of the St. Lawrence River, Québec City exudes a certain vibe or, maybe more aptly, a certain joie de vivre, The provincial capital of Québec, Canada is a thoroughly modern city, but it also has the beautifully preserved romance of a centuries-old European town.

Why is Quebec City so European?

Understand the history – Quebec City is one of the oldest European settlements in North America, and it immediately and impressively shows. Founded nearly 400 years ago and quickly minted as the “Capital of New France,” the city eventually fell under British rule before Canada declared independence in 1867.

What do Brits think of Canadians?

Opinion polls – In a 2019–2020 YouGov poll asking Britons their “favourite country”, 80 per cent of respondents said they held positive opinions about Canada; the most of any country listed in the poll besides New Zealand, which also had 80 per cent of Britons say they held positive opinions of.

A 2014 BBC World Service poll found that 85 per cent of Britons held a positive view on Canada’s influence in the world; while 80 per cent of Canadians held a positive view on the UK’s influence in the world. In a Nanos Research opinion poll taken in 2019, more than 80 per cent of Canadians viewed the UK as a positive or somewhat positive partner for Canada; higher than any other country asked in the poll.

Nanos Research conducted another survey asking the same question in 2021 and found similar results; with over 80 per cent of Canadians holding a positive or somewhat positive view of the UK, more than any other country asked in the poll. Other polling firms have also found Canadians viewed the UK positively.

What do Canadians call the French and Indian war?

The French had also been active on the Ohio and had opened a line of communication from Lake Erie to the Forks. The rivals clashed on the Monongahela, and Washington was forced to surrender and retreat. This clash marked the beginning of the Anglo-French war known in America as the French and Indian War (1754–63) and in Europe and Canada as the Seven Years’ War (1756–63).

At the start of the war, the two sides seemed grossly mismatched. The English colonies contained more than 1,000,000 people, compared with the 70,000 of New France, and were prospering, with strong agricultural economies and growing trade ties with the West Indies and Britain, Their location along the Atlantic coast, the size of their population, and the large area they encompassed meant that the best France could hope for in the war was the maintenance of the status quo.

New France was economically weak, dependent on France for trade and defense, and strategically vulnerable, with but two seaward outlets to its continental empire, New Orleans and Quebec. Nonetheless, the French and the local militia were excellent soldiers, experienced in forest warfare and supported by several thousand men from their First Nations allies.

1. They also received military help from France in 1756 in the form of 12 battalions of regular troops (about 7,000 soldiers), a contingent of artillery, and the command of Louis-Joseph de Montcalm-Grozon, marquis de Montcalm, who was an excellent field general.
2. The conflict was pursued around the globe, with fighting in India, North America, Europe, and elsewhere as well as on the high seas,

Britain, which was primarily a sea power, initially did not have the land army resources to overwhelm the French in America, and instead it was forced to rely heavily on the colonial militia. However, the colonies were politically disunited, and their militia forces were neither as well organized nor as well trained as those of New France.

• Thus, early victories went to the French, who captured Fort Oswego and Fort William Henry in 1757 and sternly repulsed the British at Fort Carillon (Fort Ticonderoga) in 1758.
• Then greater numbers of troops and supplies and more skillful British generalship began to turn the tide.
• In 1758 the British captured and razed Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, and the following year Sir Jeffrey Amherst began a cautious but irresistible advance from Fort William Henry by way of Fort Carillon to Lake Champlain,

Also in 1759 an expedition under General James Wolfe sailed up the St. Lawrence and besieged Quebec, which fell to the British after the celebrated Battle of the Plains of Abraham, Sir William Johnson took Niagara, and John Forbes took the Forks of the Ohio.

1. New France was caught in cruelly closing pincers.
2. In 1760 Amherst closed in on Montreal, and New France capitulated,
3. By the terms of the Treaty of Paris in 1763, all of French North America east of the Mississippi River was ceded to Britain, with the exception of the tiny islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon off Newfoundland.

The British victory produced three major results. First, the danger from New France to the American colonies was ended, thus weakening their dependence on Britain. Second, the British (largely Scots with some Americans) took over and expanded the Canadian fur trade.

Do Quebecois consider themselves French?

Québécois as an ethnicity – 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, Roughly 2.3% of residents, or 184,005 people, describe their ethnicity as Québécois,

Number	Language	Beliefs	Related Groups
184,005	French, English	Roman Catholicism, Atheism, Agnosticism, Protestantism ( Huguenot )	Canadian, Canadien, French

Why does Canada speak both French and English?

The Constitution Act of 1867 (formerly known as the British North America Act) established English and French as legislative and judicial languages in federal and Québec institutions.

Why are both French and English languages of Canada?

Official languages in the 21st century: New challenges, new opportunities – In 1963, the Government of Canada created the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (the Laurendeau-Dunton Commission) to examine the state of bilingualism in the country and to respond to the preoccupations being increasingly voiced by French Canadians, particularly in Quebec, that the French language and Francophones were victims of unacceptable inequalities within the federal government.

• As early as their first report in 1965, the commissioners noted that Canada was going through, without always being aware of it, a major crisis in its history.
• Following the Commission’s recommendations, the first Official Languages Act was enacted in 1969.
• By making English and French the country’s two official languages, the Act profoundly impacted the evolution of Canada to the point that it became an emblem of Canadian identity.

The purpose of the Act of 1969 was to make Canada an officially bilingual country. It guaranteed the equality of status of English and French in Parliament, federal laws and courts, and gave Canadians the right to be served by and to communicate with federal institutions in the official language of their choice.

The Act also created the position of Commissioner of Official Languages (the Commissioner) to promote compliance with the Act and monitor its implementation. As well, the Government of Canada committed to deploying considerable efforts to promote the place of French as a language of service in federal institutions, but also to enable Francophones to occupy a greater place in the federal public service, in their language.

Over the years, the Act has become a key instrument for the vitality of official language minority communities (English-speaking communities in Quebec and French-language minority communities across the rest of the country) and for promoting official languages in Canadian society.

Is Canada more French or English?

English: 21,400,000 native speakers (55.9 percent of Canada’s total population) – If you travel to Canada with some working knowledge of English under your belt, you’ll probably do just fine. English is one of two official languages spoken in Canada, and with 86.2 percent of Canadians able to conduct a conversation in English (and 63.8 percent speaking English at home in 2021), it’s the overwhelming majority language among Canucks.

How many people in Canada speak French but not English?

In Quebec, 1 in 10 people speak predominantly English at home – English is one of Canada’s official languages, but in Quebec, it is a minority language. From 2016 to 2021, the proportion of Quebec’s population whose sole mother tongue is English was relatively stable (from 7.5% in 2016 to 7.6% in 2021), but the number of speakers rose (+38,000) to 639,000.

Accounting for all Quebeckers who have English as their sole mother tongue or together with another language, the gain is much bigger (+125,000). This is driven by an increase in the number of individuals who reported both English and French as their mother tongues. Almost one in five people in Quebec (19.2%) spoke English at home at least on a regular basis, more than half of whom spoke it along with French, another language, or French and another language.

The number of people who spoke predominantly English at home (874,000 in 2021) accounted for 10.4% of the Quebec population, up from 9.7% in 2016. The demographic weight of those who spoke English most often at home equally with another language also grew (from 2.3% in 2016 to 2.8% in 2021).

Furthermore, the proportion of people whose first official language spoken is English rose from 12.0% in 2016 to 13.0% in 2021, at about the same level as in 1981. For the first time since comparable data have been compiled, the number of people in Quebec with English as the first official language spoken topped the 1 million mark in 2021.

A number of factors explain the increase in the relative proportion of English speakers in Quebec, including the English-speaking population being younger on average (and therefore having proportionally fewer deaths) and specific recent migration trends.

Other data sources indicate that the number of non-permanent residents has risen considerably in Quebec since 2016 and that the province’s net interprovincial migratio n—t hough still in a defici t—i mproved over the recent period. Historically, English-speaking populations are overrepresented in Quebec’s interprovincial migratory movements.

Those with English as their first official language spoken were concentrated in certain areas of the province. For example, more than 7 in 10 speakers (71.7%) lived on Montréal Island or in Montérégie. The demographic weight of those with English as their first official language spoken was highest in the regions of Nord-du-Québec (54.4%), Montréal Island (30.6%), Outaouais (19.1%) and Laval (19.0%).

• These regions also saw this population’s demographic weight increase the most from 2016 to 2021 (+7.8 percentage points in Nord-du-Québec, +2.2 percentage points on Montréal Island, +1.7 percentage points in Laval and +1.7 percentage points in Outaouais).
• In contrast, English was the first official language spoken by less than 1% of the population of the regions of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean (0.7%) and Bas-Saint-Laurent (0.7%).

Finally, in 2021, more than one in two people in Quebec could have a conversation in English. This is the first time this level has been observed since the 1901 Census, when information on the knowledge of official languages began being collected. In 2021, the vast majority of these individuals could also conduct a conversation in French.