Though the French lost its lands to the British, many of the 70,000 French colonists living in Canada at the time remained in a country. Today, the French-Canadian population makes up over 25% of the country’s population. French-speaking Canadians live primarily in the province of Québec.

Though they had won the war, the British Government passed laws to allow French-Canadians to maintain their language, laws, and culture. When Canada became its own country, the government upheld those laws to protect French-Canadians. In Canada today, both English and French are the official languages.

A storefront in Québec with signage in French. Just about 95% of the residents in the city of Québec speak French.

Even though the laws protect them from discrimination, many French-Canadians feel like they have a hard time in a country with an English-speaking majority. They feel that they are denied high-level jobs in government and business because of their French ancestry. The separation between the two groups is especially prevalent in Québec where, in the 1960s, the French speaking citizens wanted to separate and make Québec an independent country.

In 1974, French became the official language of the Québec province. As a result, many English-speaking Canadians and businesses left the area. In the mid 1990s, the citizens of Québec voted on whether to withdraw or secede from the rest of Canada. This vote was very close but ultimately did not pass. Today, Canada’s highest court has said it will not allow the province to withdraw from the country, even if the citizens vote that way.