Franco-Columbian

Franco-Columbians () are French Canadians or Canadian francophones living in the province of British Columbia. According to the 2016 Canadian Census, 71,705 residents of the province stated that French is their mother tongue. In the same census, 388,815 British Columbians claimed full or partial French ancestry.

The first francophones to enter the region were French Canadian voyageurs employed with the North West Company during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. French fur traders continued to visit the region in the early 19th century, with the French language serving as a lingua franca for the regional fur trade. Franco-Columbians formed the majority of Europeans in the region until the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush in 1858, which saw anglophone settlers become the predominant group in the area. Franco-Columbians began to lobby for French language rights within the province in the mid 20th century, which led to the public funding of francophone classes in 1978, and an independent public school board in 1995.

There are several Franco-Columbian communities throughout British Columbia; although most are based in the Lower Mainland, with the largest francophone community in that region being Maillardville, a community settled by forty French Canadian families in 1909. The province's francophone community has become diversified since the mid-20th century, with migrants from Africa, Asia, and Europe settling in the province. Radio-Canada, the country's French-language public broadcaster, serves as the main French-language media outlet in the province.

Demographics

In the 2016 Canadian Census, the number of British Columbians with French as a mother tongue was at 71,705, or 1.6 per cent of the province's population. Today Maillardville describes itself as "a community with a francophone heart" and is home to several francophone community organizations, schools, churches, a retirement home, and an organization of francophone LEVII and guides. Community organizations place the francophone population of the Coquitlam area at 13,000. Additional francophone community centres and resources in the Lower Mainland are situated in Vancouver. In addition to the Lower Mainland, francophone community centres and resources can also be found in Kamloops, Nanaimo Nelson, Kelowna, Penticton, Prince George, and Victoria.

History

Early settlers

upright|thumb|Depiction of [[Voyageurs along the Fraser River in 1808 by Charles William Jefferys]]

The first French Canadians documented in the region was in 1793; they worked as guides, interpreters, and voyageurs for the North West Company's expedition through the Rocky Mountains. Francophones made up six of the ten members of the initial 1793 expedition led by Scottish-born explorer, Alexander Mackenzie. The majority of the francophones hired for the expedition originated from Montreal, and included French Canadians as well as the Metis.

thumb|upright|Prospectors on the way to the [[Fraser Canyon during the 1858 gold rush. The influx of settlers displaced the French as the major European group in the area.]]

Although the influx in migrants from the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush in 1858 occurred for only a brief period, it caused a significant shift in the demographics of the newly established Colony of British Columbia; it caused French to be displaced as the dominant European language in the region. In addition to facilitating relations between the government and Franco-Columbians, the program also provides funding for francophone programs and services. Practically speaking, access to francophone court proceedings in British Columbia was only provided for criminal cases, as mandated by section 530 of the Criminal Code, a federal statute.

In 2019, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Bessette v British Columbia that individuals charged with a provincial offence in British Columbia have a right to a trial in either English or French.

Education

Elementary and secondary

thumb|[[L'Anse-au-sable|École L'Anse-au-sable is one of 40 French-language public schools in the province]]

French language schools were first established by Roman Catholic missionaries in the mid-19th century, although they were later displaced by English-language schools in the 1850s. Most schools operated by the school board are housed in their own facilities, although several schools share facilities with their English-language counterparts. During the 2016–17 academic year, there were nearly 6,000 students enrolled in British Columbia's public francophone elementary and secondary school system.

Post-secondary

British Columbia has one French-language post-secondary college, Educacentre College. The private college operates campuses in Prince George, Victoria, and Vancouver. although the university as a whole is considered an anglophone institution.

Culture

The francophone community and culture in British Columbia has historically been associated with French Canadians and Catholicism, although secularization of society, and francophone migrants from Africa, and Asia in the latter half of the 20th century led to a diversification of the community. Canadian Parents for French host an annual French Celebration Week, Francapalooza, a French film festival and French-language youth camps targeting both Francophone and French immersion students. L'Association des Ecrivains de la Colombie Britannique publishes a monthly youth magazine called La Moustique. as well as the dance troupes Danseurs du Pacifique and Les Cornouillers, and the annual BC Francophone Games. The Calendrier francophone de la Colombie-Britannique is the province's online french-language event calendar, which was founded in 2016 by Ashton Ramsay.

Media

Broadcast

thumb|[[CBC Regional Broadcast Centre Vancouver houses the studios for Radio-Canada, a federal French language public broadcaster]]

Vancouver-based television station CBUFT-DT broadcasts throughout the province via cable, satellite and IPTV, as do French-language radio stations CBUF-FM (Première Chaîne) and, to a lesser extent, CBUX-FM (Espace musique). Other French-language media such as CBC's Ici RDI, TV5 and MusiquePlus are also available but not locally based. TVA's owned-and-operated station in Montreal (CFTM-DT) is also available on basic cable.

The Société radio communautaire Victoria, started in 1999 as an offshoot of the Société francophone de Victoria, was incorporated in 2004 and started on-air FM radio programming on 7 November 2007 non-stop as CILS-FM at 107.9 MHz and 250 watts.

Print

Between 1968 and 1998, the province had a newspaper called Le Soleil de la Colombie-Britannique. A digitized version of the complete run of the newspaper is available online. There is now a newspaper published out of Vancouver called L'Express du Pacifique.

Notable Franco-Columbians

Richard Stewart, mayor of the city of Coquitlam and former minister.
Jean-Luc Bilodeau, actor (born 1990)
Sébastien Bordeleau, hockey player (born 1975)
Modeste Demers, Canadian missionary and first Bishop of Vancouver Island (1809-1871)
Grimes, musician (born 1988)
Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière, premier of Québec and later Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia (1829-1908)
Georges Payrastre, television producer
El Phantasmo (born 1986), professional wrestler
Marguerite-A. Primeau, Franco-Albertan writer who spent most of her writing career in Vancouver (born 1914)
Denise Savoie, politician (born 1943)
Lucille Starr, Franco-Manitoban and resident of Maillardville (1938-2020)
Emmanuelle Vaugier, actress (born 1976)
Françoise Yip, comedian (born 1972 to a Chinese-Canadian father and a Québécois mother)

Notes

References

External links

Francophone Affairs Program, Government of British Columbia
Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique
Le Centre culturel francophone Vancouver
Société francophone de Maillardville