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Trudeau Worries French Fading, But Bill 96 Still Has Problems

According to census data released this week by Statistics Canada, the proportion of Quebec citizens who speak French at home is declining.

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La Presse Canadienne

La Presse Canadienne

Émilie Bergeron

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau outside the Basilica of Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré, east of Quebec City, during the visit of Pope Francis on Thursday, July 28, 2022.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau outside Sainte-Anne de Beaupré Cathedral Photo by Bernard Brault /The Canadian Press

Statistics Canada Report Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday that he still has reservations aboutBill 96, while the is "very distracted" by showing a decline in the French language in Quebec..

"Quebec takes its responsibility to protect the French very seriously, but Quebec is not the only province where people speak French. No," he said at a press conference on Isle de Madeleine.

"We must ensure that the protection of the French language in Quebec does not interfere with the protection of the French language in minority situations across the country." There are direct parallels between the protection of French-speaking minorities in the region and the Anglophone situation in Quebec, and he said he would always support language protection.

Prime Minister did not disclose whether his government plans to get involved in challenging Bill 96.

Statistics Canada said Wednesday that French-speaking demographic forces Continuing the decline from 2016 to 2021, Trudeau said many Quebecers and Canadians shared concerns about the decline.

"It was shocking to see the numbers, but not too surprising," he said, a trend that has been observed for years. I pointed out that

Trudeau took the opportunity to remind people that his government was the first to recognize the federal government's responsibility to protect the French in Quebec, as well as the rest of Canada.

"We understand the need for more coordinated and (targeted) measures and actions in that regard," he said.

Statistics Canada released new data from the 2021 Census on French, English and other language usage on Wednesday.

The proportion of Quebecers who speak predominantly French at home has fallen from 79% in 2016 to 77.5% in 2021, the agency said.

The proportion of Quebecers who speak only French as their main official language also decreased by 1.5 percentage points from 83.7% to 82.2% between 2016 and 2021.

During this time, the number of people with English as their primary official language has continued to grow from 12% to 13% in the state. This represents more than one million English speakers in Quebec and is the first time since Statistics Canada began compiling such data.

  1. A leading researcher noted that the new Statistics Canada report on language focuses heavily on the island of Montreal. In the past, the agency has acknowledged that focusing on the island distorts the real dynamics that prevail in the Montreal region.

    Percentage of Quebecers who speak French at home: StatsCan

  2. Unilingual workers in metropolitan Montreal have an average annual income of $43,280, compared with $60,650 for their bilingual neighbours.

    The price of bilingualism: English- and French-speaking Canadians earn more — Census

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