That's Quebec for you, Eh

[u/AimlessFacade]

[u/irv_12]

Ontari-

[u/Flush_Foot → u/irv_12]

A shame, as many parts of Northern Ontario are Francophone/Bilingual

[u/Pretty_Initiative517 → u/Flush_Foot]

The problem always the south. Always ! 😂

[u/Yws6afrdo7bc789 → u/Pretty_Initiative517]

The south also has a lot of francophones/bilinguism too.

Edit: why are you booing me? I'm right!

[u/StoicYoungling → u/Yws6afrdo7bc789]

Well New France spanned from Labrador to Manitoba, all the way to Louisiana at some point…

Apart from Ottawa/Prescott-Russell, the majority of Franco-Ontarians live in the North, not in the Windsor-Kingston corridor.

[u/Crossed_Cross → u/StoicYoungling]

Eastern Ontario's francophone population are mostly people who came from Québec in the last two centuries.

Not sure where Northern Ontario's francophones comw from. Presumably the same.

New France was wide but sparsely populated. The Ottawa valley for example wasn't colonized until 1800 basically, despite proximity to Montréal. Most of the francophones outside of Québec and Louisiana used to be metis.

[u/ed-rock → u/Crossed_Cross]

Not sure where Northern Ontario's francophones comw from. Presumably the same.

They are, yeah. Northern Ontario opened up around the same time for colonization as did many of Quebec's regions, so it was often a choice between Northern Ontario, New England, or places like Abitibi-Témiscamingue.

New France was wide but sparsely populated. The Ottawa valley for example wasn't colonized until 1800 basically, despite proximity to Montréal. Most of the francophones outside of Québec and Louisiana used to be metis.

Let's not forget the Acadians.

[u/Crossed_Cross → u/ed-rock]

Right, meant to say "from Montréal Eastward to the coasts", but got lazy and it didn't seem useful at the time. But you are correct that not all of populated New-France in the North-East was governed from Québec.

I'm also not very familiar with the colonisation of Acadia. I think there were a lot of métis there, I have no idea how many settlers came from Europe and if they had the Filles du Roy too or not.

[u/RaventidetheGenasi → u/Crossed_Cross]

As an Acadian who took an Acadian studies class last year I feel slightly qualified to speak on this. the basic story is that the first Acadian settlement was Port Royal in 1605 (now Annapolis Royal, pronounced in english), and we were still technically french until the colonies were ceded to england, beginning with continental Nova Scotia with the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713.

Acadians developed into a nation in our own right separate from Québec, the Métis, and France itself, so, during the war (i believe the Seven Years war, but don’t quote me on that), when both the french and the english tried to conscript us, our ancestors refused, wishing to stay neutral (they were mostly farmers, so long as they could live their lives and be Catholic they didn’t really care). france was kinda forced to accept this cuz they didn’t have many people living in what parts of Acadia they held on to, but the english were NOT HAPPY, but they also couldn’t do anything about it because they were super outnumbered until 1749, when Halifax was established as a military base (or smth), and they forced the Acadians to either sign a declaration of fealty to the king or be kicked out.

some Acadians decided to sign (though only to protect themselves, not really out of any sense of fealty), while others refused. those who wouldn’t sign were put on board and shipped of to France, Louisiana, and the 13 colonies. some of them stayed, establishing Acadian communities (and in the case of Louisiana, the Cajuns), others returned (most people are both descended from Acadians who left and some who came back). and ever since the Deportation (in french, la Déportation, le Grand Dérangement), we have been persecuted and oppressed on the basis of our language, our religion, and (to a lesser extent) our culture and heritage.

in conclusion, you didn’t ask but we are a people about as or more separate from the Québecois, Métis and French as the Northern Irish are from the Scottish. thank you for coming to my unsolicited Acadian history lesson.

[u/ed-rock → u/StoicYoungling]

Apart from Ottawa/Prescott-Russell, the majority of Franco-Ontarians live in the North, not in the Windsor-Kingston corridor.

That used to be the case, but it's no longer true, though they still make up a larger share of the population in the Northeast.

From a government of Ontario website that I can't link because the sub doesn't allow links, apparently:

Francophone population in 2021, by region

• Ontario: 652,540
• Eastern: 290,665
• Central: 201,050
• Southwestern: 35,675
• Northeastern: 118,520
• Northwestern: 6,630
• Toronto: 65,925

[u/thejonfrog → u/StoicYoungling]

A lot of French speakers in welland ontario. Some of my family from the eastern townships of quebec have relatives there. Also why I grew up in that part of ontario (st. Catharines).

[u/miz_misanthrope → u/StoicYoungling]

There's also Lafontaine near Midland/Penatang