Franco-Albertan
| Franco-Albertains | |
|---|---|
 Franco-Albertan flag |
|
| Total population | |
| (225,500) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Alberta | |
| Languages | |
| Canadian French, Canadian English | |
| Religion | |
| Mainly Roman Catholic | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| French Canadians Métis Acadians French |
Franco-Albertans (French: Franco-Albertains) are an extended community of French Canadians or French-speaking people living in the Canadian province of Alberta.
French history in Alberta goes back to the fur trade in North America when voyageurs (travelling traders) with the Montreal-based North-West Company arrived in the late 1780s. These explorers mingled with the local First Nations (often Cree) and give rise to the Métis in Alberta. At home and with each other many Métis families spoke a language that developed out of French and Cree called Mitchif, but they were generally also fluent in both French and Cree (Mitchif’s complex grammar suggests it was not a pidgin but the product of mixing by fluent speakers). Along with new arrivals from Canada East, continued to make up a large percentage of the workforce in the Hudson’s Bay Company after it took over the NWCo. in 1821, and French was the primary European language spoken in what later became Alberta until the 1870s.
After Canada acquired Rupert’s Land (which included the future Alberta) from the HBCo., more francophones arrived from Eastern Canada, the United States, and Europe, this time to settle and found agricultural communities. They were later joined by urban migrants, and there are now French quarters in both Calgary and Edmonton.
However, in 1892, the Northwest Territories (which at the time covered the Canadian Prairies west of Southern Manitoba) abolished French as an official language. In 1984, its status as an official languages was restored in the Canadian territories, but not in the prairie provinces.
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Wikipedia