Francophones

Of the 8.5 million Canadians who could speak French in 1991, 6.6 million can be called francophones - they declared French to be their mother tongue. Francophones live mostly in Quebec and in adjacent parts of Ontario and New Brunswick. However, there are small concentrations of francophones throughout the rest of Canada.

Even though the figures show an increase in their numbers in Canada as a whole, the proportion of francophones has declined from 29% to 24% between 1951 and 1991. This can be partly explained by the large immigration of individuals having a mother tongue other than French. Another reason is the decrease in the fertility rate of Quebec women since the early sixties. Before 1951, francophones represented an average of 30% of the total Canadian population.

By examining the map of mother tongue francophones, we observe that as we get further away from Southern Quebec, the proportion of francophones decreases. Northern Quebec, for example, has a large group of people who speak Aboriginal languages. In order to see the pattern for francophone minorities, we need a new map with a different scale of values ...