History of French and is a lingua franca in some regions, notably in Africa. The legacy of French as a living language outside Europe is mixed: it is nearly extinct in some former French colonies (Southeast Asia), while the language has changed to creoles, dialects or pidgins in the French departments in the West Indies, even though people there are still educated in standard French. On the other hand, many former French colonies have adopted French as an official language, and the total number of French speakers has increased, especially in Africa. In the Canadian province of Quebec, different laws have promoted the
French Language Services Act French Language Services Act The French Language Services Act () (the "Act") is a law in the province of Ontario, Canada which is intended to protect the rights of Franco-Ontarians, or French-speaking people, in the province. The "Act" does not give the French language full official language status in the province, which has no official language defined in law but is primarily an English-speaking province in practice. The "Act", however, ensures that provincial government services are offered in French in 25 designated areas across the province with significant numbers of Franco-Ontarian residents. "Whereas the French language is a historic and