What are the two official languages of Canada?
- English and French
- English and Inuktitut
- English and Mandarin
- French and Cree
Answer: English and French
English and French are Canada’s two official languages and important symbols of identity. The federal government is required by law to provide its services in both languages throughout Canada.
Learn more: English and French
- English and French are Canada’s two official languages and important symbols of identity.
- The federal government must by law provide services across Canada in English and French.
- An Anglophone is a person whose first language is English; a Francophone is a person whose first language is French.
- In the 2021 Census, English was the first official language of about 75% of Canadians and French of about 21% (more than 7.8 million people).
- Most Francophones live in Quebec. One million live in Ontario, New Brunswick and Manitoba, with a smaller presence in other provinces.
- New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province.
- Anglophones and Francophones have lived together in partnership and creative tension for more than 300 years.
- Life in English-speaking areas was shaped by hundreds of thousands of English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish settlers, soldiers and migrants from the 1600s to the 20th century.
- Because of these British roots, Anglophones are generally called English Canadians.