06-11-2012
A Canadian newspaper recently reported that the census in 2011 revealed that French is on the decline in Montreal, a city in the province of Quebec. However, what the census results actually reveal is almost the very opposite, in fact an increasing number of immigrants are speaking French.
While the population of native French speakers has gone down from 65.7% to 64.5% in the province of Quebec more and more immigrants are starting to speak French at home. An incredible 80% of new immigrants to Quebec report speaking French either at home or in the workplace, even if their native tongue is their primary language.
The Quebec government has announced that they are going to attempt to strengthen Bill 101 in order to better protect the French language, which it claims is significantly on the decline. The government seems to be overlooking how well Bill 101 is helping them achieve their objectives. The census says that more than 25% of immigrants who speak Arabic, Creole, Spanish and Portuguese speak French at home.
The only demographic that shows that French is on the decline in Quebec is among native French speakers who speak only French at home. It is important to remember that it can take years and generations for newly arriving immigrants to be completely assimilated into the culture of the majority and these days young immigrants are more likely to speak French at home than their older counterparts.
If you are under 35 and have a certain ability or willingness to learn French the Quebec Skilled Worker program may be for you,click here to take our assessment and find out if you are eligible.
