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.
  • rekabis@lemmy.ca
    8·
    7 days ago

    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.worksOP
      1·
      19 hours ago

      […] 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·
        18 hours 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.

    • Kalcifer@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      83·
      8 days ago

      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·
        7 days ago

        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.

  • wretched@lemmy.ca
    242·
    8 days ago

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

  • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.ca
    19·
    7 days ago

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

  • HellsBelle@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    10·
    8 days ago

    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.

  • betanumerus@lemmy.caEnglish
    9·
    7 days ago

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

    • Kalcifer@sh.itjust.worksOP
      1·
      19 hours 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.

  • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
    4·
    7 days ago

    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.worksOP
      1·
      19 hours ago

      […] 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·
        2 hours 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
        11·
        7 days ago

        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.worksOPEnglish
          1·
          19 hours 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.worksOP
          11·
          19 hours ago

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

          What’s driving this assumption of yours?

            • Kalcifer@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
              1·
              17 hours ago

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

              What argument was I making?

  • leastaction@lemmy.ca
    53·
    8 days ago

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

  • velindora@lemmy.cafeEnglish
    31·
    7 days ago

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