this post was submitted on 03 Dec 2025
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Disclaimer: This post is not an argument for nor against the separation of Quebec from Canada ^[1]^, nor the upholding of bilingualism in Canada ^[2]^.


For context, approximately 88% of French speaking Canadians are located in Quebec ^[3]^. Of the approximately 12% of French speaking Canadians who are not located in Quebec ^[6]^, 85% of them are bilingual ^[4.2]^. Approximately 1.8% of French speaking Canadians outside of Quebec don't also speak English ^[7]^.

References

  1. Type: Article. Title: "Learn about Quebec". Publisher: "Government of Canada". Published (Edited): 2025-02-06. Accessed: 2025-12-03T01:12Z. URI: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/settle-canada/provinces-territories/quebec.html.
    • Type: Text. Location: ¶1.

      Quebec is a French speaking province in north eastern Canada. It’s the largest of the 10 Canadian provinces. […]

  2. Type: Document. Title: "CONSTITUTION ACT, 1982". Publisher: "Government of Canada". Accessed: 202512030102Z. URI: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-12.html.
    • Type: Text. Location: §16>§1.

      English and French are the official languages of Canada and have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and government of Canada.

  3. Type: Meta. Published 202512030119Z.
    • There are 7 074 328 French speaking Canadians located in Quebec ^[4.1.1]^, and 8 066 633 French speaking Canadians in total ^[4.1.2]^. Therefore, the percentage of French speaking Canadians who are located in Quebec is 7074328/8066633*100% ^[5]^, which is approximately 88%.
  4. Type: Website. Title: "Statistics on official languages in Canada". Publisher: "Government of Canada". Published (Edited): 20240814. Accessed: 202512030122Z. URI: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/official-languages-bilingualism/publications/statistics.html.
    1. Type: Table. Location: Table 1.
      1. French-speaking population in Quebec: 7 074 328.
      2. Total French-speaking population: 8 066 633.
    2. Type: Table. Location: Table 5.
      • In 2021, 85% of Canadians whose mother tongue was French were bilingual.
  5. Type: Article: Title: "Percentage". Publisher: "Wikipedia". Published (Edited): 2025-08-13T15:45Z. Accessed: 2025-12-03T01:30Z. URI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percentage.
  6. Type: Meta. Published: 2025-12-03T01:31Z.
    • Approximately 88% of French-speaking Canadians are located in Quebec ^[3]^. Therefore, of the 100% of French speaking Canadians in total, there would approximately be 12% (ie 100% - 12%) Canadians outside of Quebec who speak French.
  7. Type: Meta. Published: 2025-12-03T01:43Z.
    • Approximately 12% of French-speaking Canadians are located outside of Quebec ^[6]^. 85% of them are bilingual ^[4.2]^, therefore 15% of them (100%-85%=15%) are not bilingual. Therefore, 1.8% (12*15%=1.8%) of French-speaking Canadians don't also speak English.
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[–] TribblesBestFriend@startrek.website 24 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

You know that New Brunswick and Ontario have a bunch of francophone right ?

[–] Reannlegge@lemmy.ca 19 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Manitoba and Saskatchewan as well.

[–] Tiger666@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 months ago

And Alberta!

[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

You know that New Brunswick and Ontario have a bunch of francophone right ?

Yes: 30.3% of New Brunswickers are French-speaking ^[1.1.1]^ (34.0% bilingual ^[1.1.3]^), which is 0.6% of the Canadian population ^[3]^, and 3.8% of Ontarians are French-speaking ^[1.1.2]^ (10.8% bilingual ^[1.1.4]^), which is 1.3% of the total Canadian population ^[4]^.

References

  1. Type: Website. Title: "Statistics on official languages in Canada". Publisher: "Government of Canada". Published (Edited): 20240814. Accessed: 2025-12-03T02:10Z. URI: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/official-languages-bilingualism/publications/statistics.html.
    1. Type: Table. Location: Table 1.
      1. 30.3% (231 850 Canadians) of New Brunswickers are French-speaking.
      2. 3.8% (533 560 Canadians) of Ontarians are French-speaking.
      3. 34.0% (250 120 Canadians) of New Brunswickers are bilingual.
      4. 10.8% (1 519 365 Canadians) of Ontarians are bilingual.
  2. Type: Article. Title: "Canada's population clock (real-time model)". Publisher: "Statistics Canada". Accessed: 2025-12-03T02:16Z. URI: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-607-x/71-607-x2018005-eng.htm.
    • The population of Canada is 41 744 210.
  3. Type: Meta.
    • 231 850 New Brunswickers are French-speaking ^[1.1.1]^. The population of Canada is 41 744 210 ^[2]^. Therefore, French-speaking New Brunswickers account for approximately 0.6% ((231 850/41 744 210)×100 ~= 0.6%) of Canadians.
  4. Type: Meta.
    • 533 560 Ontarians are French-speaking ^[1.1.2]^. The population of Canada is 41 744 210 ^[2]^. Therefore, French-speaking Ontarians account for approximately 1.3% ((533 560/41 744 210)×100 ~= 1.3%) of Canadians.
[–] loonsun@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yes but those are specific ethnic populations with separate histories and cultures from Québec. Im an anglo Québécoise engaged to an Acadienne from New Brunswick. It's a completely different group.

[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago

I'm not sure that I understand your point. Could you elaborate? 🙂

[–] wretched@lemmy.ca 20 points 2 months ago

Hypothetically if Canada wasn't Canada, do you think Canada should Canada?

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 19 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yes. We need all the cultural separation from the US we can get. Add indigenous languages too.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 2 months ago

Yeah, we could go with the South Africa approach and just give a butt-ton of things official status.

[–] shapeofthings@piefed.ca 11 points 2 months ago

Being bilingual is a huge asset for a person and even more so for a country.

[–] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 months ago (4 children)

You will either need to be French/English bilingual or English/Cree-Ojibway-Saulteaux-Coast Salish/Haida, etc bilingual.

Why you ask? Because Canada has walked the official bilingual state status for far too long to give it up on a whim.

[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works -5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

[…] Why you ask? […]

Curiosity.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Sea lioning

Looks like you’re using a “just asking questions” approach to try to stir up frictions.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/sealioning-internet-trolling

[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago

Looks like you’re using a “just asking questions” approach to try to stir up frictions.

I'm not sealioning. Why do you construe "curiosity" as sealioning?

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[–] betanumerus@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Whether it "should" is irrelevant. It's always been multilingual, and expecting people to change is nonsense.

[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago

Whether it “should” is irrelevant. It’s always been multilingual, and expecting people to change is nonsense.

IMO, you can still voice your opinion without expectation of change.

[–] rekabis@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I would take the top-5 languages spoken in Canada and make the country multilingual based off of that.

If that just so happens to include Cantonese and Hindi, so be it.

If it includes Cree and/or Inuktitut, even better.

Sure, have English as the baseline. A baseline should always be the most spoken common language. But having an few other languages as “official” - and supporting numerous others in the way Europe does - would make Canada far more inclusive and intellectually robust.

[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

[…] Sure, have English as the baseline. A baseline should always be the most spoken common language. […]

For clarity, can you define what a "baseline" is in this context?

[–] rekabis@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 month ago

In this context I see a baseline as a language that

  1. A majority of the speakers have above-trivial skills in it, say above a sixth grade level in both written and spoken.
  2. More than one-fifth of the population has this ability.
  3. said language has extreme density in certain geographical regions, leading to dominance in those regions

And for some countries, there would be several that could fit both criteria. Switzerland would likely have French, German and Italian meeting all thresholds, allowing all three to be baseline languages.

Unfortunately, French does not meet the minimum-used criteria for Canada, as only 18% of citizens can speak it with any great skill. However, the geographical concentration criteria would likely overrule the usage criteria (via Québec), thereby allowing it to remain a baseline language.

Secondary languages would have similar criteria, only relaxed somewhat.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I suppose New Brunswick would still be bilingual, so why not. It would make sense to relax official language rights in the Charter a bit, though.

[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

[…] It would make sense to relax official language rights in the Charter a bit, though. […]

What changes are you suggesting?

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Like, every service by law being available in both seems like overkill. It's good to have services available in other languages than English, so there's no reason to shut it down proactively, but native languages, Mandarin and Punjabi seem like equally major priorities without Quebec.

I suppose French on every label would also be overdoing it, by that logic, although without that it would feel less like home.

[–] non_burglar@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Do you mind elaborating on your rationale? 🙂

[–] non_burglar@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I'm a bilingual french-english Canadian, raised outside of Quebec. French is my first language. Having access to both languages in school, at home, and in professional settings has created in me and my bilingual peers a strong sense of identity, a strong sense of empathy toward those who don't speak English as their first language, and it has allowed me to impart a sense of culture to my kids without anchoring it in religion.

That said, I have been through the 1995 separation referendum. I've also been harassed and mocked for speaking French. There are those who don't care about rich cultural lives, and they have no shame in asking brazen questions like this. Given the framing and feigned innocence of your question, I think you are one of those.

What is your motivation to stir such a sensitive question among Canadians?

[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago

[…] What is your motivation to stir such a sensitive question among Canadians?

I think it's important to understand the arguments of others before attempting to take a position.

[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

[…] Given the […] feigned innocence of your question […]

What's driving this assumption of yours?

[–] non_burglar@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Entendre les memes arguments contre le Français au Canada hors-Quebec pour 50 ans.

[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Entendre les memes arguments contre le Français au Canada hors-Quebec pour 50 ans.

What argument was I making?

[–] leastaction@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Hypothetically, if Martians were to land on Earth, do you think we should welcome them?

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 months ago

Depends; are they bilingual?

[–] velindora@lemmy.cafe 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

But what percentage of the overall population of Quebec speaks French? Above a high school level?

[–] alsimoneau@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 months ago (2 children)
[–] velindora@lemmy.cafe 1 points 2 months ago (2 children)
[–] Sylvartas@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Virtually everyone speaks french. I went there as a french and never had to speak another language. I'm surprised it's not a bit higher if anything

[–] velindora@lemmy.cafe 1 points 2 months ago

I mean like data that is real and not a person’s experience, no offense intended.

[–] alsimoneau@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] velindora@lemmy.cafe 2 points 2 months ago
[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org -1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Man, that 6% must have it rough. I'd rather not speak French living in France, because at least they aren't worried about being erased.

[–] HaustierElch@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

A lot of that 6% lives in Montreal and people speak both languages and French speaking people make efforts to make themselves understood by even sinply using English from the beginning if they hear the person is mainly speaking English even though the law states we should always be able to be served in French.

Meanwhie, Quebecers speak French in France and they answer in English because they don't make the effort to understand what we say.

Edit: also, it looks to be 14.9% and not 6%

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Hmm. I wonder where OP's number came from.

[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I encourage you to examine the references section at the bottom of the post. The references correspond to their relevant citations in the post.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Does one of them have alsimoneau's number in it (that's who I meant)? You yourself gave a number closer to 15%.

[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago

Does one of them have alsimoneau’s number in it […]? […]

I'm not sure where they got their number from.

[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

[…] [alsimoneau is] who I meant […]

Oh! Aplogies! I thought you were referring to me when you said "OP" ^[1]^.

References

  1. Type: Comment. Author: "@CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org". Publisher: [Type: Post: Title: "Hypothetically, if Quebec were to separate from Canada, do you think that Canada should remain bilingual?". Author: "Kalcifer". ("@Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works"). Publisher: ["sh.itjust.works">"Canada" ("!canada@lemmy.ca")]. Published: [Created: 2025-12-03T01:37:48Z. Modified: 2025-12-03T02:06:27Z.]. Accessed: 2025-12-28T00:40Z. URI: https://sh.itjust.works/post/50891301.]. Published (Created): 2025-12-06T19:05:19Z. Accessed: 2025-12-28T00:40Z. URI: https://sh.itjust.works/post/50891301/22515743.

    Hmm. I wonder where OP’s number came from.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Wow, that's quite the precision reference.

[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Ha, yeah. I think a precise reference is important — I want it to be easy for the reader to find the original source. My reference/citation format is under constant development tho. I'm always trying to improve it.

[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago

I'm not sure about "above a high school level" specifically, but the population of Quebec who spoke French as their first official language is 84.1%, as of 2021 ^[1]^.

References

  1. Type: Article. Title: "Statistics on official languages in Canada". Publisher: "Government of Canada". Published: 2021. Accessed: 2025-12-09T23:19Z. URI: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/official-languages-bilingualism/publications/statistics.html.
    • Type: Table. Location: Table 1.
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