Distribution of Franco- and Anglophones in Canada

Factual Questions
1

A common misperception among us Americans is that virtually all the Francophone Canadians are located in Quebec, while all the other provinces are strictly Anglophone. I had believed this until I had a Francophone coworker who hailed from Winnipeg. And even in Vancouver, when visiting there a month ago, several people who spoke to me seemed to be French speaking, judging by their accents.

So what I’m interested in knowing is

(1) Approximately how many Francophones are there, and how many of them live outside Quebec?

(2) Do the ‘outside’ Francophones tend to lose their language over time, and instead assimilate to the locally dominant language? Or are there viable Francophone communities in places like Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Nunavut?

(3) (Bonus) Are there any mostly monoglot FRancophone communities, in or out of Quebec?

2

Here’s a StatsCan site that goes into detail about Francophone population by province : http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/Products/Analytic/companion/lang/tables/growthrate.cfm As you can see, Quebec has by far the largest francophone population, although New Brunswick (the only officially bilingual province) has a considerable francophone minority.

As for hearing francophone accents in Vancouver, I believe most (if not all) of those would be the product of recent immigration from French-speaking areas. I can’t imagine someone growing up nowadays in BC with a French accent. My grandmother (she’s 82) grew up in Maillardville (part of Coquitlam, BC - near Vancouver), which at the time was a French-speaking community. Her first language was French, and she didn’t learn English until she went to school. Nowadays, though, this community has become anglophone, with a few French signs and remnants remaining. Also, my grandmother has forgotten almost all of her French, as she never uses it anymore.

3

Without checking out the StatsCan site, I can tell you that both Ontario and Manitoba have monoglot French-speaking communities as well. In northern Ontario, for instance, I suspect Francophones are the largest minority. To contrast, first-language French-speakers comprise less than 2% (82,000) of Toronto’s population, while Chinese* first-language speakers represent more than 7% (~350,000) and Italian first-language speakers represent more than 4% (~200,000).

  • Presumably considering all dialects/languages as one for the purposes of statistics.
4

And anecdotally, I can tell you that there’s a sizeable Francophone community in Iqaluit, Nunavut, although it’s almost entirely Quebecois who have moved up North to work.

5

Well, I was going to mention Maillardville (which, sad to say, didn’t get its proper French pronounciation–or at least didn’t when I grew up about 15 miles down the road 30 years ago); but I’ve been beaten to the punch.

There is also a small but significant Francophonie minority in Ontario, historically around Penetanguishene, and also North bay - Sudbury - Sault Ste Marie.

But another, often overlooked more recent diaspora of Francophonie is the Canadian Armed Forces; there is a disporortionate weight to Francophones in the Forces (though I would bet these are bilingual, as opposed to monolingual), and they tend to get send around the country with their families, so taking small enclaves of Quebec culture with them. (I just looked up the figure: “In the CF, 27.4% of military personnel are Francophone while 72.6% are Anglophone.” http://www.ocol-clo.gc.ca/archives/ar_ra/2004_05/dnd_mdn_e.htm)

Here’s a map of the main Canadian Forces Bases across the nation (and a link to those overseas) – aussi disponable en francais, naturellment! :

http://www.mfrc.mb.ca/english/move.htm

There are also many Francophones in the federal civil service (though not as many as some of the more redneck variety of conservative types would have you believe–and from my general unscientific personal observation, the Francophones I have come across in federal jobs tend towards those who support federalism, not separatistes!), and these are, perforce, scattered across the nation.

I suspect that those Armed Forces and civil service families speak French as their first language in the home, but English in the street; if there are several Francophone co-workers, then likely French in the office (although, by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, they may use either of the two Official Languages in their place of work–just as any Canadian may demand service in a federal office in either language, if they choose!) The Forces has a long way to go to meet the Office of Official Languages standards, however.

6

Growing up as an anglo in Winnipeg, I was certainly aware of the co-existence of a francophone culture. I went through French Immersion in junior high & high school, and more than one of my teachers were franco-manitobans for whom English was most definitely a second language (and, in some cases, not a particularly strong one.) In the French-speaking part of town (Saint Boniface), the majority of street signs, store signs, etc. are in both French and English; there’s a fair number of cultural institutions (e.g. theatres, festivals, etc.) that are francophone; there’s a community college that is French-speaking; many of the schools are French-only; etc.

That said, I moved away from Winnipeg for college when I was 18, so my perception of the vitality of Franco-Manitoban culture is that of an Anglo kid growing up in a different part of town. Caveat lector.

7

During my six years in Vancouver, every francophone I met was originally from Quebec. There’s a sizeable population of rural youth who head west to pick berries or plant trees, then keep coming back year after year.

8

There are also francophone communities in Alberta. My first french immersion teacher was originally from there, but I don’t have any other first-hand contact with francophones in that province.

9

Saskatchewan too, though they’re blending in as time goes by. Of course, the Prairies have areas that are mostly German, or Scandinavian of whatever sort, or Ukranian. The Canadian government encouraged settlers early on by surveying a bunch of land and recruiting people wherever there was a famine or political unrest.

10

Gravelbourg in particular, which still has a French language radio station. I grew up just a few miles away from a village in Saskatchewan that was culturally, although not particularly linguistically, French-Canadian. Not many of the kids in my generation knew much French beyond the swears they picked up from their grandparents.