Canadian French

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French is one of Canada's two official languages; the other is English which is the language of the majority (see Canadian English). According to the Canada 2001 Census, Canada has seen a rise in number of francophones outside Quebec (but a decrease as percentage of the total population) — about 4.4 percent of Canadians outside Quebec are francophones.[1] About 17.7 percent of Canadians are English-French bilingual.[2]

1 Quebec
2 Atlantic Canada
3 Ontario
4 Prairies
5 Northern Territories
6 See also
7 External links

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Quebec

Quebec is the only province whose sole official language is French. However, many of the services it provides are available in English for the important anglophone population of the province (i.e. Montréal). Quebec French is noticeably different in pronunciation and vocabulary, though easily mutually comprehensible, with Metropolitan French in France. This is due to the long history of French in North America and the fact that French immigrants to New France kept speaking the French of the Ancien régime while in France the French Revolution led to the standardization of bourgeois Parisian French. Today, 81.4 percent of Quebecers or Québécois are francophone.[3]

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Atlantic Canada

French is one of the two official languages of the province of New Brunswick. Apart from Québec, this is the only other Canadian province that recognizes French as an official language. Approximately one-third of New Brunswickers are francophone [4], the largest Acadian population in Canada. Most commonly known as Acadian French, the variety of French spoken in Atlantic Canada possesses features different from Québécois French. It also has speakers in the provinces of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Acadian French is historically related to Cajun French.

Although not traditionally associated with Acadia, the Magdalen Islands, an archipelago of 9 small islands belonging to Québec, also have historical ties with Acadian French.

In Acadia, French is a minority language. In some communities, it is an endangered language.

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Ontario

Although French is the native language of just over half a million Canadians in Ontario, francophone Ontarians represent only 4.4 percent of the province's population and are concentrated near the border with Québec (Eastern Ontario) and in Sudbury. Nonetheless, they are also present in smaller numbers throughout the province as well. However, a third of Franco-Ontarians no longer speak the language at home.

The province has no official language, although it is a largely English-speaking province. Ontario law requires that the provincial Legislative Assembly operate in both English and French (individuals can speak in the Assembly in the official language of their choice), and requires that all provincial statutes and bills be made available in English and French. Furthermore, an individual is entitled to communicate with the head or central office of any provincial government department or agency in French, and an individual is entitled to receive all government services in French in 23 designated areas in the province. The provincial government of Ontario's website is bilingual.

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Prairies

Manitoba also has a significant Franco-Manitoban community, centred especially in the St. Boniface area of Winnipeg, but also in many surrounding villages. The provincial government of Manitoba boasts the only bilingual website of the Prairies. Saskatchewan also has a Fransaskois community, as does Alberta with its Franco-Albertans. British-Columbia, on the other hand, hosts only a small francophone population, the Franco-Columbians.

Although not a dialect of French, Michif, a unique mixed language based on Cree and French, is spoken by a small number of Métis living mostly in the province of Manitoba.

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