French language in Canada French language in Canada French is the mother tongue of about 7.2 million Canadians (20.6% of the Canadian population, second to English at 56%) according to Census Canada 2016. Most native speakers of the French language in Canada live in Quebec, where French is the majority official language. 77% of Quebec's population are native francophones, and 95% of the population speak French as their first or second language. Additionally, about one million native francophones live in other provinces, forming a sizable minority in New Brunswick, which is officially a bilingual province, where about one-third of the population are francophone. There
Section 16 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms itself to be officially bilingual, New Brunswick is the only province to have its bilingualism guaranteed by section 16. When Manitoba's laws declaring English to be the only official language of the province were found to be invalid in "Re Manitoba Language Rights" (1985), this was due to its contradictions with the "Manitoba Act". Subsection 16(3) provides that a Parliament or provincial government may strive for progress in official bilingualism. This reflects a 1975 court decision, "Jones v. Attorney General of New Brunswick", in which it was found governments may do this. Thus, the Supreme Court in "Société des Acadiens"