Infographic: The English Presence in Quebec
Text version: The English Presence in Quebec
- 44.5% of the population (3,586,410 people) can speak both English and French
- English is the mother tongue of 8.1% of the population (657,078 people)
- English is the first official language of 13.7% of the population (1,103,475 people)
Approximately 100,000 students are enrolled in 340 English-language public schools in Quebec.
Education
3 English-language universities
- McGill (Montréal)
- Concordia (Montréal)
- Bishop’s (Sherbrooke)
Where do English-speaking Quebecers live?
Economic Regions
- Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine: 0.8%
- Bas-Saint-Laurent: 0.1%
- Capitale-Nationale: 1.3%
- Chaudière-Appalaches: 0.4%
- Estrie: 2.1%
- Centre-du-Québec: 0.2%
- Montérégie: 15.5%
- Montréal: 56.7%
- Laval: 8.2%
- Lanaudière: 1.3%
- Laurentides: 3.4%
- Outaouais: 6.4%
- Abitibi-Témiscamingue: 0.5%
- Mauricie: 0.3%
- Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean: 0.2%
- Côte-Nord: 0.5%
- Nord-du-Québec: 2.1%
Where were English-speaking Quebecers born?
- In Quebec: 52%
- Elsewhere in Canada: 11%
- Abroad: 37%
Where were English-speaking immigrants born?
- Asia: 43%
- Europe: 29%
- Americas: 19%
- Africa: 8%
Media
- Newspaper: Montréal’s The Gazette and Sherbrooke’s The Record (dailies) as well as a variety of weekly publications and magazines
- Radio: 12 English-language radio stations and CBC Radio
- Television: CBC TV, CTV, Global and City (Montréal)
Celebrate!
September:
- The Voice of English-speaking Québec holds a Fall Fest in Québec City each year to bring together families, community organizations and cultural groups.
April:
- The Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival in Montréal brings people from different cultures and languages together to share the pleasures of reading and writing.
History
- Following the British conquest of New France, the Treaty of Paris ceded the French colony to the British in 1763. The number of English-speaking settlers increased after the American Revolution, first with the arrival of the Loyalists from the American colonies in the south and later with the arrival of European immigrants.
- Canada’s oldest newspaper was established in 1764 as a bilingual newspaper called the Quebec Gazette and is still publishing today as the English-language Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph. The 1841 School Act established a single educational system in Quebec and allowed minority groups to establish their own schools.
- The 1970s saw a language crisis in Quebec, as tensions over the status of French in the public and private sector came to a peak. In 1974, the Official Language Act (Bill 22) was passed, making French the official language of Quebec and restricting access to school in English. Three years later, the Charter of the French Language (Bill 101) became provincial law, introducing new restrictions on English, notably as a language of work. In the 1970s and 1980s, more than 300,000 English-speaking Quebecers left Quebec for Ontario and other provinces.
- The first English-speaking community regional association, Committee for Anglophone Social Action, was founded in 1975 on the Gaspé peninsula.
- Alliance Quebec was created in 1982 and the group lobbied on behalf of English-speaking Quebecers until its closure in 2005.
- Bill 142 was passed in 1986 and guaranteed access to health and social services in English. In 1996, the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN) was founded, bringing together 13 English-language regional and sectoral organizations. QCGN now has nearly 50 members.
Sources
- Statistics Canada, 2016 Census of Population
- Statistics Canada, 2011 National Household Survey
- Quebec English School Boards Association
- Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network
Date modified:
2020-09-18