Introduction

Vibrant, complex and changing, this community in Ontario is comprised of Francophones born in Ontario, other parts of Canada, and increasingly, around the world. While they all share French as a common language, each group contributes to the unique heritage, cultural practices and settlement history of the Province of Ontario.

Better understanding the Francophone community and helping to ensure its well-being and success is of great importance to both the Office of Francophone Affairs (OFA) and the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) who are undertaking this joint venture.

To better grasp the trends at play within Ontario’s Francophone communities, our organizations have asked Statistics Canada to use its most recent census information to produce this provincial profile of the Francophone population.

This report, the first to use the new inclusive definition of Francophone, provides a closer look at the demographic, economic and social trends in the Francophone population in Ontario between 2001 and 2006.

The OFA and OTF are pleased to share this recent information with the general public. We believe that it has relevance for and can be of benefit to Ontario’s Francophone community and the province at large, as well as community organizations, the not-for-profit sector, colleges and universities, and anyone interested in Francophones of Ontario.

Inclusive Definition of Francophone

On June 4, 2009, the Government of Ontario introduced a new, broader definition of the Francophone population to better reflect the changing face and diversity of Ontario's Francophone community.

This report uses this more inclusive definition and the numbers may, therefore, differ from those recorded in the 2001 Census, and previous OTF and OFA reports.

Francophones were previously defined as those whose mother tongue is French. The mother tongue category identifies Francophones solely on the basis of French as the first language learned at home in childhood and still understood at the time of the census.

The new Inclusive Definition of Francophone (IDF)¹ is based on three questions in the census concerning mother tongue, the language spoken at home, and knowledge of official languages.

A note about additional publications

Additionally, the OFA and OTF will each separately build upon this provincial profile for future publications.

For the Office of Francophone Affairs, this report is the first in a series of five profiles. Four other statistical reports dealing with Francophone women, youth, seniors and visible minorities will be produced to complement this general report. They will provide a closer examination of data related to specific segments of Ontario’s Francophone community.

For Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Profile of Ontario’s Francophone Community – 2009 will be followed by profiles of the Francophone community in:

• Champlain
• Toronto
• Algoma, Cochrane, Manitoulin, Sudbury (ACMS)
• Muskoka, Nipissing, Parry Sound, Timiskaming (MNPST)
• Essex, Kent, Lambton (EKL)

These reports will add to the OTF analysis series Your Community in Profile, customized reports on economic, social and demographic trends for Ontario and 16 regions across the province.

Next page >