Quebec

===Language===
{{Main|Language demographics of Quebec}}
[[File:Quebec_langues.png|thumb|{{legend-table|#008ECC|Francophone majority, less than 33% Anglophone|green|Francophone majority, more than 33% Anglophone|orange|Anglophone majority, more than 33% Francophone|red|Anglophone majority, less than 33% Francophone|grey|Data not available|lang=en|title=Linguistic map of the province of Quebec (source: Statistics Canada, 2006 census)}}]]Quebec differs from other Canadian provinces in that [[French language|French]] is the only [[Official language|official]] and preponderant language, while [[English language|English]] predominates in the [[rest of Canada]].<ref>{{cite web|year=2006|publisher=Commissariat aux langues officielles du Canada|title=Les langues officielles au Canada|url=http://www.ocol-clo.gc.ca/docs/f/Carte2006.pdf|accessdate=January 29, 2013|archive-date=October 16, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016235448/http://www.ocol-clo.gc.ca/docs/f/Carte2006.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> French is the [[common language]], understood and spoken by 94.4% of the population.<ref>{{cite web|date=October 30, 2009|title=Tableau statistique canadien - Chapitre 3|url=http://www.stat.gouv.qc.ca/donstat/econm_finnc/conjn_econm/TSC/pdf/chap3.pdf|publisher=[[Institut de la statistique du Québec]]|access-date=June 6, 2021|archive-date=October 3, 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031003191239/http://www.stat.gouv.qc.ca/donstat/econm_finnc/conjn_econm/TSC/pdf/CHAP3.PDF|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Statistiques du Québec|url=http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/ressources/sociolinguistique/2005/f1_indic_16_pres.pdf|publisher=Government of Quebec|access-date=June 6, 2021|archive-date=July 1, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060701153513/http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/ressources/sociolinguistique/2005/f1_indic_16_pres.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Quebec French|Québécois French]] is the local [[Variation (linguistics)|variant]] of the language. Canada is estimated to be home to roughly 30 regional French accents,<ref name="quebeccultureblog.com2">{{cite web |title=Our 32 Accents |url=https://quebeccultureblog.com/2014/11/14/our-32-accents-series-post-3-88/ |accessdate=February 26, 2021 |website=Quebec Culture Blog}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=April 27, 2020 |title=Le francais parlé de la Nouvelle-France |url=https://www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca/fr/blogue-blog/francais-nouvelle-france-french-new-france-fra |publisher=Government of Canada |language=fr}}</ref> 17 of which can be found in Quebec.<ref>{{cite web |last=Parent |first=Stéphane |date=March 30, 2017 |title=Le francais dans tous ses etats au quebec et au canada |url=https://www.rcinet.ca/fr/2017/03/30/le-francais-dans-tous-ses-etats-au-quebec-et-au-canada/ |work=Radio-Canada}}</ref> The {{Lang|fr|[[Office québécois de la langue française]]|italic=no}} oversees the application of linguistic policies respecting French on the territory, jointly with the [[Conseil supérieur de la langue française (Quebec)|Superior Council of the French Language]] and the [[Commission de toponymie du Québec]]. The foundation for these linguistic policies was created in 1968 by the [[Commission of Inquiry on the Situation of the French Language and Linguistic Rights in Quebec|Gendron Commission]] and they have been accompanied the [[Charter of the French language]] ("Bill 101") since 1977. The policies are in effect to protect Quebec from being assimilated by its English-speaking neighbours (the rest of Canada and the United States)<ref>{{Cite web |title=La Charte de la langue française au Québec ou Loi 101 - Le site de l'association Frontenac-Amériques |url=https://www.frontenac-ameriques.org/la-francophonie-en-amerique/article/la-charte-de-la-langue-francaise |access-date=2023-07-14 |website=www.frontenac-ameriques.org}}</ref><ref>https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/432/LANG/Brief/BR11249912/br-external/CastonguayCharles-f.pdf</ref> and were also created to rectify historical injustice between the Francophone majority and Anglophone minority, the latter of which were favoured since Quebec was a colony of the British Empire.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Relations francophones-anglophones {{!}} l'Encyclopédie Canadienne |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/fr/article/relations-francophones-anglophones |access-date=2023-07-14 |website=www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca}}</ref>

Quebec is the only Canadian province whose population is mainly [[Francophone]], meaning that French is their native language. In the [[2011 Canadian census|2011 Census]], 6,102,210 people (78.1% of the population) recorded French as their sole native language and 6,249,085 (80.0%) recorded that they spoke French most often at home.<ref name="www12.statcan.gc.ca2">{{cite web|date=February 8, 2012|title=Focus on Geography Series, 2011 Census – Province of Quebec|url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/as-sa/fogs-spg/Facts-pr-eng.cfm?Lang=eng&GK=PR&GC=24|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002124017/https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/as-sa/fogs-spg/Facts-pr-eng.cfm?Lang=eng&GK=PR&GC=24|archivedate=October 2, 2013|publisher=Statistics Canada}}</ref>

People with English as their native language, called [[Anglo-Quebecers]], constitute the second largest linguistic group in Quebec. In 2011, [[English language|English]] was the mother tongue of nearly 650,000 Quebecers (8% of the population).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/as-sa/98-314-x/98-314-x2011001-fra.cfm |title=Caractéristiques linguistiques des Canadiens |publisher=Statistics Canada |language=fr |accessdate=August 16, 2021}}</ref> Anglo-Quebecers reside mainly in the west of the island of Montreal ([[West Island]]), [[downtown Montreal]] and the [[Pontiac Regional County Municipality|Pontiac]].

Three families of Indigenous languages encompassing eleven languages exist in Quebec: the [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian language family]] ([[Abenaki language|Abenaki]], [[Algonquin language|Algonquin]], [[Malecite-Passamaquoddy language|Maliseet-passamaquoddy]], [[Mi'kmaq language|Mi'kmaq]], and the [[linguistic continuum]] of [[Atikamekw language|Atikamekw]], [[Cree language|Cree]], [[Innu language|Innu-aimun]], and [[Naskapi language|Naskapi]]), the [[Eskimo–Aleut languages|Inuit–Aleut language family]] (Nunavimmiutitut, an [[Inuit grammar|Inuktitut dialect]] spoken by the [[Inuit]] of [[Nord-du-Québec]]), and the [[Iroquoian languages|Iroquoian language family]] ([[Mohawk language|Mohawk]] and [[Wendat language|Wendat]]). In the 2016 census, 50,895 people said they knew at least one Indigenous language<ref>{{cite web|title=Knowledge of Aboriginal Languages (90), Knowledge of Languages: Single and Multiple Language Responses (3), Aboriginal Identity (9), Aboriginal Mother Tongue (11), Registered or Treaty Indian Status (3) and Age (12) for the Population in Private Households of Canada, Provinces and Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2016 Census - 25% Sample Data|url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?TABID=2&LANG=E&A=R&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=01&GL=-1&GID=1341679&GK=1&GRP=1&O=D&PID=110449&PRID=10&PTYPE=109445&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2017&THEME=122&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=&D1=0&D2=0&D3=0&D4=0&D5=0&D6=0|publisher=Statistics Canada|language=fr}}</ref> and 45,570 people declared having an Indigenous language as their mother tongue.<ref>{{cite web|title=Recensement du Canada de 2016 : Tableaux de données – Langue maternelle (10), langue parlée le plus souvent à la maison (10), autre(s) langue(s) parlée(s) régulièrement à la maison (11), connaissance des langues officielles (5), première langue officielle parlée (5), âge (7) et sexe (3) pour la population à l'exclusion des résidents d'un établissement institutionnel du Canada, provinces et territoires, régions métropolitaines de recensement et agglomérations de recensement, Recensement de 2016 - Données intégrales (100 %)|url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-fra.cfm?LANG=F&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=110463&PRID=10&PTYPE=109445&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=888&Temporal=2016,2017&THEME=118&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=|publisher=Statistics Canada}}</ref> In Quebec, most Indigenous languages are transmitted quite well from one generation to the next with a mother tongue retention rate of 92%.<ref>{{cite report |first1=Marc|last1=Termote|first2=Normand|last2=Thibault|date=2008|title=Nouvelles perspectives démolinguistiques du Québec et de la région de Montréal, 2001-2051|url=https://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/ressources/sociolinguistique/2008/etude_08.pdf|page=45|publisher=Government of Quebec}}</ref>

As of the [[2016 Canadian census|2016 census]], the most common immigrant languages claimed as a native language were [[Arabic language|Arabic]] (2.5% of the total population), [[Spanish language|Spanish]] (1.9%), [[Italian language|Italian]] (1.4%), Creole languages (mainly [[Haitian Creole]]) (0.8%), and [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]] (0.6%).<ref>{{cite web|title=Proportion de la population selon la langue maternelle déclarée, pour différentes régions au Canada, Recensement de 2016|url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dv-vd/lang/index-fra.cfm|publisher=Statistics Canada}}</ref>

As of the [[2021 Canadian census|2021 Canadian Census]], the ten most spoken languages in the province were [[French language|French]] (spoken by 7,786,735 people, or 93.72% of the population), [[English language|English]] (4,317,180 or 51.96%), [[Spanish language|Spanish]] (453,905 or 5.46%), [[Arabic language|Arabic]] (343,675 or 4.14%), [[Italian language|Italian]] (168,040 or 2.02%), [[Haitian Creole]] (118,010 or 1.42%), [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]] (80,520 or 0.97%), [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] (65,605 or 0.8%), [[Russian language|Russian]] (55,485 or 0.7%), and [[Greek language|Greek]] (50,375 or 0.6%).<ref name="language2021">{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=August 17, 2022 |title=Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population Profile table Quebec [Province] |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?LANG=E&GENDERlist=1,2,3&STATISTIClist=1,4&DGUIDlist=2021A000224&HEADERlist=,15,13,18,12,16,14,17&SearchText=Quebec |access-date=August 17, 2022 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}</ref> The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses.