Disclaimer: This post is not an argument for nor against the separation of Quebec from Canada [1], nor the upholding of bilingualism in Canada [2].

For context, approximately 88% of French speaking Canadians are located in Quebec [3]. Of the approximately 12% of French speaking Canadians who are not located in Quebec [6], 85% of them are bilingual [4.2]. Approximately 1.8% of French speaking Canadians outside of Quebec don’t also speak English [7].

References
  1. Type: Article. Title: “Learn about Quebec”. Publisher: “Government of Canada”. Published (Edited): 2025-02-06. Accessed: 2025-12-03T01:12Z. URI: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/settle-canada/provinces-territories/quebec.html.
    • Type: Text. Location: ¶1.

      Quebec is a French speaking province in north eastern Canada. It’s the largest of the 10 Canadian provinces. […]

  2. Type: Document. Title: “CONSTITUTION ACT, 1982”. Publisher: “Government of Canada”. Accessed: 202512030102Z. URI: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-12.html.
    • Type: Text. Location: §16>§1.

      English and French are the official languages of Canada and have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and government of Canada.

  3. Type: Meta. Published 202512030119Z.
    • There are 7 074 328 French speaking Canadians located in Quebec [4.1.1], and 8 066 633 French speaking Canadians in total [4.1.2]. Therefore, the percentage of French speaking Canadians who are located in Quebec is 7074328/8066633*100% [5], which is approximately 88%.
  4. Type: Website. Title: “Statistics on official languages in Canada”. Publisher: “Government of Canada”. Published (Edited): 20240814. Accessed: 202512030122Z. URI: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/official-languages-bilingualism/publications/statistics.html.
    1. Type: Table. Location: Table 1.
      1. French-speaking population in Quebec: 7 074 328.
      2. Total French-speaking population: 8 066 633.
    2. Type: Table. Location: Table 5.
      • In 2021, 85% of Canadians whose mother tongue was French were bilingual.
  5. Type: Article: Title: “Percentage”. Publisher: “Wikipedia”. Published (Edited): 2025-08-13T15:45Z. Accessed: 2025-12-03T01:30Z. URI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percentage.
  6. Type: Meta. Published: 2025-12-03T01:31Z.
    • Approximately 88% of French-speaking Canadians are located in Quebec [3]. Therefore, of the 100% of French speaking Canadians in total, there would approximately be 12% (ie 100% - 12%) Canadians outside of Quebec who speak French.
  7. Type: Meta. Published: 2025-12-03T01:43Z.
    • Approximately 12% of French-speaking Canadians are located outside of Quebec [6]. 85% of them are bilingual [4.2], therefore 15% of them (100%-85%=15%) are not bilingual. Therefore, 1.8% (12*15%=1.8%) of French-speaking Canadians don’t also speak English.
  • velindora@lemmy.cafeEnglish
    3·
    29 days ago

    But what percentage of the overall population of Quebec speaks French? Above a high school level?

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
        2·
        29 days ago

        Man, that 6% must have it rough. I’d rather not speak French living in France, because at least they aren’t worried about being erased.

        • HaustierElch@lemmy.ml
          1·
          28 days ago

          A lot of that 6% lives in Montreal and people speak both languages and French speaking people make efforts to make themselves understood by even sinply using English from the beginning if they hear the person is mainly speaking English even though the law states we should always be able to be served in French.

          Meanwhie, Quebecers speak French in France and they answer in English because they don’t make the effort to understand what we say.

          Edit: also, it looks to be 14.9% and not 6%

            • Kalcifer@sh.itjust.worksOP
              1·
              21 days ago

              I encourage you to examine the references section at the bottom of the post. The references correspond to their relevant citations in the post.

              • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
                1·
                20 days ago

                Does one of them have alsimoneau’s number in it (that’s who I meant)? You yourself gave a number closer to 15%.

                • Kalcifer@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
                  1·
                  4 days ago

                  Does one of them have alsimoneau’s number in it […]? […]

                  I’m not sure where they got their number from.

                • Kalcifer@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
                  1·
                  1 day ago

                  […] [alsimoneau is] who I meant […]

                  Oh! Aplogies! I thought you were referring to me when you said “OP” [1].

                  References
                  1. Type: Comment. Author: “@CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org”. Publisher: [Type: Post: Title: “Hypothetically, if Quebec were to separate from Canada, do you think that Canada should remain bilingual?”. Author: “Kalcifer”. (“@Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works”). Publisher: [“sh.itjust.works”>“Canada” (“!canada@lemmy.ca”)]. Published: [Created: 2025-12-03T01:37:48Z. Modified: 2025-12-03T02:06:27Z.]. Accessed: 2025-12-28T00:40Z. URI: https://sh.itjust.works/post/50891301.]. Published (Created): 2025-12-06T19:05:19Z. Accessed: 2025-12-28T00:40Z. URI: https://sh.itjust.works/post/50891301/22515743.

                    Hmm. I wonder where OP’s number came from.

    • Kalcifer@sh.itjust.worksOP
      1·
      22 days ago

      I’m not sure about “above a high school level” specifically, but the population of Quebec who spoke French as their first official language is 84.1%, as of 2021 [1].

      References
      1. Type: Article. Title: “Statistics on official languages in Canada”. Publisher: “Government of Canada”. Published: 2021. Accessed: 2025-12-09T23:19Z. URI: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/official-languages-bilingualism/publications/statistics.html.
        • Type: Table. Location: Table 1.