Franco-Columbian
| Franco-Colombiens | |
|---|---|
 Franco-Columbian flag |
|
    
|
|
| Total population | |
| (320,000) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| British Columbia | |
| Languages | |
| Canadian French · Canadian English | |
| Religion | |
| predominantly Christian (Roman Catholicism, other denominations) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Franco-Manitobans · Franco-Ontarians · Fransaskois · French Canadians · Québécois · Acadians · Cajuns · French Americans · Metis · French |
Franco-Columbians (French: Franco-Colombiens) are French Canadians or French-speaking Canadian (Francophones) living in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
British Columbia is, geographically, the farthest-removed province from Canada's historic francophone population, thus it is not surprising to find that francophone British Columbians are few in number. The 2001 census placed the number of British Columbians with French as a mother tongue at 57,280, 1.3% of BC's population, ranking seventh after English (3,062,430), 'other Chinese' (357,865), Cantonese (133,245), Punjabi (94,055), German (73,625), and Tagalog (66,120). A good number of these listed francophones would be European and African immigrants or migrants from eastern Canada making the Franco-Columbian community a diverse one encompassing many places of origin and differing roots in the province. The popularity of French immersion education programmes have also meant that the population of second-language French speakers outnumbers the francophone population.
While Francophones have a significant history in the province due to the founders of Hudson's Bay and North West companies, who were mostly Metis, and during the gold rushes of the 1860s, many from France and Belgium became notable in business and society, organized migration from Quebec did not happen until the early 19th Century, when the owners of Fraser Mills imported mill workers from that province, forming the community of Maillardville, a neighbourhood of Coquitlam in suburban Vancouver. In 1909 mill workers were brought from Quebec to Maillardville and their descendants constitute a small and proud community. Today Maillardville describes itself as "a community with a francophone heart" and is home to a number of francophone community organizations, schools, churches, a retirement home, the annual Festival du Bois, and an organization of francophone scouts and guides. Community organizations place the francophone population of the Coquitlam area at 13,000.
...
Wikipedia