French is the mother
tongue of about 7.3 million
Canadians (22 % of the Canadian population, second to English at 58.4%) according to Census Canada 2011. Most native French speakers in
Canada live in
Quebec, where French is the majority official language. About 80% 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 are also French-speaking communities in
Manitoba and
Ontario, where francophones make up about 10-15 percent of the population , as well as significantly smaller communities in
Alberta,
Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and
Saskatchewan around 5-10% . Many, but not all of these communities are supported by French-language institutions.