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A Bilingual Nation

Bilingualism Quick Facts French is spoken by over 8.5 million people in Canada 82% of Quebec's population is French Postage stamps in Canada became bilingual in 1927 Quick Links History of bilingualism in Canada

Canada is a bilingual, multicultural country with Aboriginal, English and French roots. Under the Official Languages Act, Canada has two official languages: English and French.

The Official Languages Act has 3 major objectives:

• to ensure respect for English and French as the official languages of Canada, and equal status, rights and privileges for these languages in federal institutions
• to support the development of the English and French linguistic minority communities and to encourage the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society
• to set out the powers and duties of federal institutions in the area of official languages.

The great majority of Francophones are concentrated in the province of Quebec, but there are also large French-speaking communities in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces, especially New Brunswick.