Why is French spoken in Canada?

French is spoken as a first language in many countries around the world and by more than 200 million people. Indeed, French is the official language in 29 countries including most of France's former colonies in North, West and Central Africa (countries such as Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, Niger, Mali, Congo, Cameroon, Central African Republic ...), but also in Haiti, Lebanon, Madagascar, Martinique, Vietnam and of course Canada.

In Canada, French is spoken primarily throughout the province of Québec, but also in New Brunswick, Ontario, and smaller communities throughout the country. Québec is Canada’s largest province by area and the country’s second most populous province with a population of over 8 million.

In 1534, the King Francis I of France commissioned an expedition lead by Jacques Cartier to find a western route to China. The French explorer sailed through the Gulf of St. Lawrence, came ashore on the Gaspe Peninsula, and claimed this land for France.

It was the first province of New France (French: Nouvelle-France), but initial French attempts at settling the region were unsuccessful because most of the early settlers did not survive through the harsh winter of the region. 

The land was full of unexploited and valuable natural resources, which eventually attracted all of Europe. By the 1580s, French trading companies had been set up, and the French colonization of North America began.  

In 1603, Samuel de Champlain, a French navigator and cartographer sailed down the St. Lawrence River. He founded Quebec during his follow-up visit in 1608. 

New France (French: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America.

At its peak in 1712, the territory of New France extended from Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains and from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, which is over half of present-day Canada and the U.S. combined. 

However, the population of New France was about 15 000 and lagged far behind that of the Thirteen British Colonies to the south east (U.S.), which counted more than 250 000, leaving New France vulnerable to attack.

From 1756 to 1763, France and Britain fought against each other in what is now known as The Seven Years War. They fought for supremacy over their colonial lands and trade control. France was eventually defeated and ceded most of its North American possessions to Great Britain through the Treaty of Paris (1763). The treaty was signed by Great Britain, France, Spain and Portugal settling claims over colonial lands in various parts of the world. In North America New France was turned over to British control.

From this time onwards, the French language and culture was suppressed, and Quebeckers suffered discrimination and repression from the then-ruling British colonists.

The Treaty of Paris put an end to France's first colonial empire, a period which began with Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ended with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763.