How many Canadians speak French?
Canadian residents who speak French are referred to as French Canadians. The French Canadians are the descendents of those settlers who came from France. They immigrated to New France and Acadia colonies during the period 1604 – 1760. In accordance with the statistical findings and analysis of the Canadian census of 2006, the number of Canadians speaking French was approximately 6.7 million. This constituted 21.5% of the country’s population which was 32 million at that time.
High percentage of Canadians who speak French live in Quebec. There were greater than 5.8 million people speaking French among the 7.5 million citizens of the province. Approximately 79% of Quebec people chose to identify themselves as having the capacity to speak fluently in French. The legal procedure of Quebec is based on French civil law in contrast to the remaining part of Canada where it is dependent on English common law.
About 488,000 people in Ontario spoke French in 2006 forming the largest Francophone population outside Quebec. Acadians form one third percentage of the total population in New Brunswick.
The French speaking groups in Ontario and the Canadian western provinces have lesser economic and political power as compared to the Quebecois or Acadians. However they have successfully retained their French culture and language despite the English dominance.
