About how many Canadians have French as their first official language?
- About 1 million
- About 15 million
- About 28 million
- About 7.8 million
Answer: About 7.8 million
In the 2021 Census, French was the first official language of more than 7.8 million Canadians (21.4%), most of them in Quebec. English was the first official language of about 75.5%. Discover Canada gives older figures of seven million Francophones and 18 million Anglophones.
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.