QUICK FACTS
Created Jan 0001
Status Verified Sarcastic
Type Existential Dread
Keywords
french canadians, canadian francophones, saskatchewan, 2016 canadian census, mother tongue, saskatoon, regina, prince albert, northern saskatchewan, canadian french

Fransaskois

“The Fransaskois, also known as Franco-Saskatchewanais or Franco-Saskatchewanians, are French Canadians or Canadian francophones residing in the province of...”

Contents
  • 1. Overview
  • 2. Etymology
  • 3. Cultural Impact

Francophone Residents of Saskatchewan, Canada

Ethnic Group

The Fransaskois, also known as Franco-Saskatchewanais or Franco-Saskatchewanians, are French Canadians or Canadian francophones residing in the province of Saskatchewan . This vibrant community has a rich history and cultural heritage that continues to shape the province’s identity.

Population and Demographics

According to the 2016 Canadian Census , approximately 17,735 residents of Saskatchewan stated that French was their mother tongue . This figure represents about 1.6 percent of the province’s total population. In the same census, 125,810 Saskatchewanians claimed full or partial French ancestry, highlighting the significant French influence in the region.

Regional Distribution

Francophones in Saskatchewan are primarily concentrated in three main areas:

  • Central Saskatchewan: 5,225 francophones (2016)
  • Southern Saskatchewan: 4,290 francophones (2016)
  • Urban Centers:

Languages

The primary languages spoken by the Fransaskois community include:

The Fransaskois are part of a broader network of French Canadian communities across Canada, including:

History

Early Settlement

The first francophones to enter the region were French Canadian coureurs des bois employed in the North American fur trade during the 18th century. These early explorers and traders laid the groundwork for future French settlement in the area.

In 1752, Louis de la Corne, Chevalier de la Corne was appointed commandant of New France ’s poste de l’Ouest. He embarked on an expedition along the northern coast of Lake Superior, through Fort Paskoya (Le Pas, Manitoba), and into what is today the province of Saskatchewan, establishing Fort Saint-Louis, or what became known as Fort-Ă -la-Corne , near the forks of the Saskatchewan River.

19th Century

French Canadian coureurs de bois continued to utilize the territory after the British conquest of New France , in their pursuit of furs to trade with the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) and the North-West Company . A number of French fur traders often had local First Nations women as their companions, and the offspring that they produced often carried the French names of their fathers. Names like Dumont, Cardinal, Breland, and Vandal are often associated with the French MĂ©tis .

Between 1840 and 1880, several MĂ©tis communities developed in Batoche , Île-Ă -la-Crosse , St. Laurent de Grandin , and Willow Bunch .

In addition to French Canadian fur traders and the MĂ©tis, Roman Catholic missionaries were among the first francophone settlers into the region, with several French missionaries dispatched to the Qu’Appelle River valley (near present-day Fort Qu’Appelle in the early 19th century.

20th Century

The early 20th century saw efforts to curtail French language education, in an effort to assimilate the francophone minority with the anglophone majority. In 1916, several provincial organizations like the Saskatchewan Grain Growers , the Saskatchewan School Trustees’ Association, and the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities resolved to forbid the use of foreign languages in Saskatchewan’s schools. Premier William Martin drafted an amendment to Section 177 of the School Act which limited French instruction to one hour a day.

In response to the loss of the right to teach French in a public school in 1918, Franco-Catholic school trustees formed the Association des commissaries d’écoles franco-canadiens (ACEFC). In 1918, Monsignor Mathieu Regina opened College Mathieu in Gravelbourg, a private institution that offered classical education in French. College Mathieu remained the only option for a French education in Saskatchewan for the next 75 years.

21st Century

In 2003, the provincial government introduced its first policy on French-language support for certain provincial services. The year 2012 was proclaimed the Year of the Fransaskois Community in Saskatchewan by Minister Donna Harpauer in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the ACF.

Demographics

Population Statistics

According to the 2016 Canadian Census , the number of people that reported French was their mother tongue in Saskatchewan was 17,735, or approximately 1.6 per cent of the population. French is the most common mother tongue in the province after English, Tagalog , German, and Cree (including Cree languages not otherwise specified).

The majority of francophone Saskatchewanians are bilingual in English and French, with only 530 Fransaskois reporting they only had proficiency in French. There were 51,355 Saskatchewanians, approximately 4.7 per cent of the population, that reported being bilingual in both English and French; although the following figure includes francophone residents of the province, and Saskatchewanian who speak French as a second language .

Birthplace and Ancestry

Approximately 56 per cent of Fransaskois were born in Saskatchewan, with 29 per cent of francophones in the province born in another province or territory of Canada. Approximately 16 per cent of all francophones in Saskatchewan were born outside Canada. Among the Fransaskois that were born outside Canada, approximately 57 per cent originated from Africa, 22 per cent from Europe, 18 per cent from Asia, and 6 per cent from all other countries in the Americas.

In the 2016 census, 125,810 Saskatchewanians reported having partial or full French ancestry. French is the seventh most commonly reported ethnic group in Saskatchewan, after German, Canadian, English, Scottish, Irish, and Ukrainian.

Communities

Francophones in Saskatchewan are concentrated along three main areas of the province, the North and South Saskatchewan River , and in southern Saskatchewan. The majority of Fransaskois reside around the province’s largest cities, with three out of four Fransaskois’ residing in Saskatoon , Regina , and Prince Albert . However, smaller communities of Fransaskois are also based in Gravelbourg , Albertville , Duck Lake , Zenon Park , Bellegarde , and St. Isidore-de-Bellevue .

Culture

Flag of the Fransaskois

The Fransaskois flag was created in 1979 to represent the community. The flag features a green cross on a field of yellow, with a red fleur-de-lis on the bottom right of the flag. The green represents both the boreal forest and the historic role of the Roman Catholic Church within the community; the yellow representing the Canadian Prairies ; and the red fleur-de-lis representing Louis Riel’s struggle for francophone and MĂ©tis rights.

Media

Print

In 1910, a province-wide, French-language weekly “Le Patriote de l’Ouest” was established in the town of Duck Lake. In 1941, “Le Patriote de l’Ouest” merged with “La LibertĂ©” a French-language weekly newspaper based in Saint-Boniface Manitoba, becoming “La LibertĂ© et le Patriote”. In 1971, “L’Eau vive” became the new French-language weekly in Saskatchewan. L’Eau vive, is published in Regina.

Two community newspapers, Triangle News in Coronach and the Gravelbourg Tribune in Gravelbourg, publish content in both English and French.

Radio

The Fransaskois community is served primarily by the radio and television services of Radio-Canada , the country’s French language public broadcaster. Radio-Canada launched its French language first television station in Saskatchewan in 1976. Ici Radio-Canada TĂ©lĂ© ’s CBKFT-DT and Ici Radio-Canada PremiĂšre ’s CBKF-FM are based in Regina and have rebroadcasters throughout the province, while Regina and Saskatoon receive Ici Musique service from rebroadcasters of CKSB-FM in Winnipeg .

A privately owned bilingual community radio station, CKZP-FM , also operates in Zenon Park. In 2003, a privately owned community station, CFRG-FM , was launched in Gravelbourg by a new community group which has no ownership affiliation with the original CFRG. The original CFRG was one of two privately owned French language radio stations that operated in Saskatchewan prior to 1973. Programming at CFRG started in June 1952 at CFRG Gravelbourg; whereas the second station, CFNS , started broadcasting in November 1952 in Saskatoon. In 1973, Radio-Canada bought the two stations and has since taken a leading role in broadcasting French-language radio and French-language television across the province, featuring locally produced content in both mediums. The two radio stations became rebroadcasters of CBKF after their acquisition. Also included in this French language network are CBKF 860 kHz AM, Saskatoon, and CBKF-1 690 kHz AM Gravelbourg.

Notable Fransaskois

The most famous Fransaskoise, Jeanne SauvĂ© , born in Prud’Homme , served as a Liberal MP , Cabinet minister , Speaker of the House of Commons and ultimately Governor General of Canada . Another politician having Fransaskois heritage is Pierre Poilievre , who as of October 2023 is an MP serving as Leader of the Conservative Party and leader of the Official Opposition; Poilievre’s adoptive father Donald was Fransaskois and their household was bilingual.

In the arts, notable Fransaskois include sculptor Joe Fafard , folk music bands La Raquette Ă  Claquettes and Hart-Rouge , and children’s entertainer Carmen Campagne (from the town of Willow Bunch ). New upcoming artists such as Alexis Normand, VĂ©ronique Poulin and Shawn Jobin are becoming staples on the Fransaskois music scene, joining more established artists such as Annette Campagne, Chritianne Blondeau and Michel Lalonde. In sports, the most notable Fransaskois is NHL games-played record holder, Patrick Marleau , and Colorado Avalanche forward Blake Comeau of Meadow Lake . Comeau was a member of the 2004 Memorial Cup champion Kelowna Rockets and of two gold medal-winning World Junior Hockey championship teams.

See Also

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c “Census Profile, 2016 – Saskatchewan – Canada”. www12.statcan.gc.ca. Statistics Canada. 9 August 2019. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j “Focus on Geography Series, 2016 Census”. www12.statcan.gc.ca. Statistics Canada. 10 April 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i “Infographic: The French Presence in Saskatchewan”. Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages. Government of Canada. 13 September 2019. Archived from the original on 10 June 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Dupuis, Serge (6 October 2019). “Francophones of Saskatchewan (Fransaskois)”. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  5. ^ a b Russ, C. J. (1974). “La Corne, Louis de, Chevalier de La Corne”. In Halpenny, Francess G. (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography . Vol. III (1741–1770) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press .
  6. ^ Lapointe, Richard; Tessier, Lucille (1986). The Francophones of Saskatchewan: A History. Translated by Tessier, Lucille. Regina: Campion College, University of Regina. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-9692-6582-5.
  7. ^ a b c d Lapointe & Tessier (1986), p. 3.
  8. ^ a b Lapointe & Tessier (1986), p. 5.
  9. ^ Lapointe & Tessier (1986), p. 76.
  10. ^ Lapointe & Tessier (1986), p. 72.
  11. ^ a b c Lapointe & Tessier (1986), p. 101.
  12. ^ Lapointe & Tessier (1986), p. 127.
  13. ^ a b c Lapointe & Tessier (1986), p. 190.
  14. ^ a b Lapointe & Tessier (1986).
  15. ^ Lapointe & Tessier (1986), p. 201.
  16. ^ Lapointe & Tessier (1986), p. 200.
  17. ^ Lapointe & Tessier (1986), p. 254.
  18. ^ a b c “Conseil des Ă©coles fransaskoises – History”. Archived from the original on 23 March 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  19. ^ a b c d e “In the Mercure and Paquette cases, the Supreme Court of Canada confirms bilingualism in Saskatchewan and Alberta”. Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages. Government of Canada. 20 December 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  20. ^ Languages Act, RSA 2000, c. L-6.
  21. ^ The Language Act, SS 1988–89, c. L-6.1.
  22. ^ a b “Francophone Affairs Branch”. www.saskatchewan.ca . Government of Saskatchewan. 2020. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  23. ^ “ACF – AssemblĂ©e communautaire fransaskoise”. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  24. ^ “AndrĂ© Lalonde, “Association Culturelle Franco-Canadienne”, Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan, 2006 Canadian Plains Research Centre, University of Regina”.
  25. ^ “Saskatchewan adopts its Act Respecting the Use of the English and French Languages in Saskatchewan”. Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages. Government of Canada. 20 December 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  26. ^ “Study in French”. lacite.uregina.ca. University of Regina. 2020. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  27. ^ a b c d “Bilingualism”. The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. University of Regina. 2006. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  28. ^ “La Troupe du Jour”. fransaskois.net. Le Portail fransaskois. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  29. ^ VĂ©zina, Michel (25 May 2016). “Projection du “Projet Grasslands” Ă  Gravelbourg”. L’Eau vive (in French). Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  30. ^ Johns, Andrew (9 November 2020). “Pierre Poilievre | Conservative MP for Carleton”. YouTube. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  • AssemblĂ©e communautaire fransaskoise
  • Portail fransaskois
  • corridor canada

French Diaspora

By Country

Africa

Asia

Middle East

Europe

North America

Oceania

South America

See Also

1 Overseas parts of France proper Migration of minorities in France (i.e. Basques ) can be considered as separate (ethnically) or French migration (by nationality).