Demographics of Quebec

{{section update|date=January 2023}}

While Quebec's fertility rate is higher than the Canadian average, it has been sharply decreasing in the past 15 years. At 1.38 children per woman in 2008,{{Cite web |title=Québec demographic overview for 2023: sharp decline in fertility, life expectancy stays at pre-pandemic level |url=https://statistique.quebec.ca/en/communique/quebec-population-report-2023-sharp-decline-fertility-life-expectancy-pre-pandemic-level |url-status=live |access-date=2025-02-25}} it is above the Canada-wide rate of 1.26, and is just above the historic low of 1.36 in 1987. This contrasts with its fertility rates before 1960, which were among the highest of any industrialized society. For example, between 1951 and 1961, the population grew nearly 30% with only small net migration (large number of international migrants had settled in Quebec in the preceding period but large numbers of Quebec residents had emigrated to other provinces as well as New England), a natural growth rate matched today only by some African countries.

Although Quebec is home to only 22.0% of the population of Canada, the number of international adoptions in Quebec is the highest of all provinces of Canada. In 2001, 42% of international adoptions in Canada were carried out in Quebec.

Population growth rate: 2.5% (2023)

Birth rate: 8.8‰ (2023)

Synthetic fertility index: 1.38 (2023)

Death rate: 7.0‰ (2023)

Permanent immigration rate: 6.0‰ (2003)

Infant mortality rate: 0.46% (2023)

Life expectancy: In 2002, life expectancy was 80.7 years for males and 84.1 years for females.{{Cite web |title=Le bilan démographique du Québec. Édition 2024 |url=https://statistique.quebec.ca/fr/fichier/bilan-demographique-quebec-edition-2024.pdf |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20240508131928/https://statistique.quebec.ca/fr/fichier/bilan-demographique-quebec-edition-2024.pdf |archive-date=2024-05-08 |access-date=2025-02-25 |website=statistique.quebec.ca |language=fr}}

Urbanisation: In 2001, 80.4% of Quebecers lived in urban areas.

Marriages: In 2019, 22,250 marriages were celebrated, about 600 less than in 2017 and 2018. These numbers illustrate a continuing trend where marriages are becoming less numerous; in 1970, the number of marriages hit a peak with more than 50,000 celebrations and the number has been slowly decreasing ever since. The average age for marriage is now 33.5 for men and 32.1 for women, an increase of 8.0 and 8.5 years respectively since 1970. 72% of marriages occur on a Saturday. Half of all marriages unite a man and woman with an age gap of 3 years or less. Though they are still uncommon, civil unions are becoming more and more popular.{{cite web |title=Bilan demographique du Québec |edition=2020 |language=fr |url=https://statistique.quebec.ca/fr/fichier/bilan-demographique-du-quebec-edition-2020.pdf |publisher=Institut de la statistique du Québec |access-date=August 14, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201209220654/https://statistique.quebec.ca/fr/fichier/bilan-demographique-du-quebec-edition-2020.pdf |archive-date=2020-12-09}}

Demographic growth: In 2019, Quebec registered the highest rate of population growth since 1972 (when quality data began to be recorded), with an increase of 110,000 people, mostly because of the arrival of a high number of non-permanent residents. The number of non-permanent residents has recently sky-rocketed from a little over 100,000 in 2014 to 260,000 in 2019. Quebec's population growth is usually middle-of-the-pack compared to other provinces and very high compared to other developed countries (ex. United States, France, Germany, etc.) because of the federal government of Canada's aggressive immigration policies. Since the 1970s, Quebec has always had more immigrants than emigrants. This can be attributed to international immigration as the number of people moving to Quebec from another province is always lower than the other way around. As of 2019, most international immigrants come from China, India or France.

Education and work: In 2016, 3 out of 10 people in Quebec possessed a postsecondary degree or diploma. While women were more likely to have a university degree (33% vs 26%) or college degree (21% vs 11%), men were more numerous in having received vocational training.{{cite web |title=Niveau de scolarité et domaine d'études en 2016 selon le sexe, le groupe d'âge et la région administrative |url=https://statistique.quebec.ca/fr/document/niveau-de-scolarite-et-domaine-detudes-en-2016-selon-le-sexe-le-groupe-dage-et-la-region-administrative |publisher=Institut de la statistique du Québec |language=fr |access-date=August 14, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302050245/https://statistique.quebec.ca/fr/document/niveau-de-scolarite-et-domaine-detudes-en-2016-selon-le-sexe-le-groupe-dage-et-la-region-administrative |archive-date=2021-03-02}} In Quebec, couples where both parents work are far more likely to have children than couples where only one parent works or none of them do.{{cite web |title=Couples selon le type de revenu et la présence d'enfant, 1976-2020, Québec, Ontario et Canada |url=https://statistique.quebec.ca/fr/document/responsabilites-familiales-et-travail/tableau/couples-selon-le-type-de-revenu-et-la-presence-denfant-quebec-ontario-et-canada#tri_regn=17637 |publisher=Institut de la statistique du Québec |language=fr |access-date=August 14, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227011451/https://statistique.quebec.ca/fr/document/responsabilites-familiales-et-travail/tableau/couples-selon-le-type-de-revenu-et-la-presence-denfant-quebec-ontario-et-canada |archive-date=2021-02-27}}

Households: In Quebec, most people are owners of the property that they live in. The vast majority of couples with or without children are property owners. Most one-person households, however, are renters. Single-parent homes are equally divided between being property owners or renters. From 1996 to 2016, the number of people per household has decreased from an average of 2.5 to 2.25. In 2016, the vast majority of low income households were one-person households. In 2016, 80% of both property owners and renters considered their housing to be "unaffordable".

{{Main|List of population centres in Quebec}}

Age structure{{cite web |title=Census Profile, 2016 Census |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=24&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&SearchText=24&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&TABID=3&type=0 |publisher=Statistics Canada |date=August 9, 2019 |access-date=January 13, 2020}}: (2016 census)

In 2016, Quebec's median age was 41.2 years old. According to Quebec's age pyramid, the most numerous generation is the baby-boomers that are between 54 and 74 years of age. There are a few other less pronounced peaks, namely in the 1980s, and the one around 2010. A noticeable crater can be observed around the year 2000 because of a record-low amount of births. In 2020, 20.8% of the population is less than 20 years old, 59.5% are aged between 20 and 64 years old, and 19.7% are 65 years old or older. In 2019, Quebec witnessed an increase in the number of births compared to the year before (84,200 vs 83,840) and had a replacement rate of about 1.6 per woman. Replacement rates being below 2.1 something that is the norm in industrialised regions like Quebec. Quebec has a higher replacement rate than the Canadian average (1,47). Quebec's rate can also be both higher (ex. Switzerland (1.48), Portugal (1.42), Japan (1.36), Italy (1.29), etc.) or lower (ex. United States (1.73), New Zealand (1.75), Sweden (1.70), England (1.65), etc.) than other industrialised regions'. In Quebec, a lowered rate of giving birth has been mostly observed in people in their 20s. From 30 years of age and onwards, the rate is either increasing or stable. This demonstrates a trend towards wanting to form a family later in life. As of 2020, the average lifespan is 82.3 years. Between 2010 and 2019, there were between 1000 and 1600 deaths every week, with deaths being at their highest levels in January and their lowest levels in July.{{cite web |title=Nombre hebdomadaire de décès au Québec, 2010-2021 |language=fr |url=https://statistique.quebec.ca/fr/document/nombre-hebdomadaire-de-deces-au-quebec |publisher=Institut de la statistique du Québec |access-date=August 14, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203052856/https://statistique.quebec.ca/fr/document/nombre-hebdomadaire-de-deces-au-quebec |archive-date=2020-12-03}} In 2021, the region's life expectancy increased after a decline amid the pandemic, reaching 83 years.{{Cite web |last=Québec |first=Institut de la statistique du |date=2022-05-04 |title=Life expectancy in Québec returns to its pre-pandemic level and reaches 83 years in 2021 |url=https://statistique.quebec.ca/en/communique/life-expectancy-quebec-returns-pre-pandemic-level-reaches-83-years-2021 |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=Institut de la Statistique du Québec |language=en}}

{{Main|Demographic history of Quebec}}

Population since 1824:

{{Graph:Chart

| width = 950

| height= 450

| type = line

| interpolate =

| xType = date

| xAxisAngle = -40

| yAxisTitle = Population

| yGrid =

| linewidth = 2

| x = 1822, 1831, 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911, 1921, 1931, 1941, 1951, 1956, 1961, 1966, 1971, 1975, 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016

| y = 427465, 553134, 650000, 892061, 1111566, 1191516, 1359027, 1488535, 1648898, 2005776, 2360510, 2874662, 3331882, 4055681, 4628378, 5259211, 5780845, 6027765, 6234445, 6438403, 6532460, 6895963, 7138795, 7237479, 7546131, 7903001, 8326100

| colors = #003da5

}}

Source: Statistics Canada [https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/98-187-x/4151287-eng.htm#10][https://web.archive.org/web/20080501112831/http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/demo62f.htm][http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/popdwell/Table.cfm?T=101] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080213160312/http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/popdwell/Table.cfm?T=101 |date=2008-02-13 }}[http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/demo02a-eng.htm]

{{note label|reference_name_A|a|a}} % Province of Canada population

{{clear|left}}

Percentages are calculated as a proportion of the total number of respondents (7,435,905) and may total more than 100 percent due to dual responses.
Only groups with 0.06 percent or more of respondents are shown.[http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/highlights/ethnic/pages/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo=PR&Code=24&Data=Count&Table=2&StartRec=1&Sort=3&Display=All&CSDFilter=5000 Ethnic origins, 2006 counts, for Canada, provinces and territories - 20% sample data].

Ethnicity according to the older more general system of classification is shown below:

{{clear|left}}

Percentages are calculated as a proportion of the total number of respondents (7,125,580) and may total more than 100% due to dual responses
Only groups of more than 0.02% are shown{{Cite web |url=http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/products/standard/themes/RetrieveProductTable.cfm?Temporal=2001&PID=62911&APATH=3&METH=1&PTYPE=55440&THEME=44&FOCUS=0&AID=0&PLACENAME=0&PROVINCE=0&SEARCH=0&GC=99&GK=NA&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=&FL=0&RL=0&FREE=0&GID=431540 |title=Ethnic Origin (232), Sex (3) and Single and Multiple Responses (3) (2001 Census) |access-date=2008-01-17 |archive-date=2008-02-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080212235500/http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/products/standard/themes/RetrieveProductTable.cfm?Temporal=2001&PID=62911&APATH=3&METH=1&PTYPE=55440&THEME=44&FOCUS=0&AID=0&PLACENAME=0&PROVINCE=0&SEARCH=0&GC=99&GK=NA&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=&FL=0&RL=0&FREE=0&GID=431540 |url-status=dead}}

The 2021 census counted a total Indigenous population of 205,010 (2.5%) including 116,550 First Nations (1.4%), 61,010 Métis (0.7%), and 15,800 Inuit (0.2%).{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=2022-10-26 |title=Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&GENDERlist=1,2,3&STATISTIClist=1&HEADERlist=0&DGUIDlist=2021A00051209034&SearchText=halifax |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}} The Indigenous population tends to be undercounted, as some Indian bands regularly refuse to participate in Canadian censuses for political reasons regarding the question of Indigenous sovereignty. In 2016, the Mohawk reserves of Kahnawake and Doncaster 17 along with the Indian settlement of Kanesatake and Lac-Rapide, a reserve of the Algonquins of Barriere Lake, were not counted.{{cite web |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/ref/dq-qd/iir-rii-eng.cfm |title=Incompletely enumerated Indian reserves and Indian settlements |access-date=September 4, 2021 |date=January 3, 2019}}{Percentages are calculated as a proportion of the total number of respondents (7,435,905)}{{Cite web |url=http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/profiles/aboriginal/Details/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=24&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&Data=Count&SearchText=Quebec&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&GeoLevel=&GeoCode=24 |title=Aboriginal Population Profile (2006 Census) |access-date=2008-01-19 |archive-date=2008-02-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080213000656/http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/profiles/aboriginal/Details/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=24&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&Data=Count&SearchText=Quebec&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&GeoLevel=&GeoCode=24 |url-status=dead}}

Approximately 16% of the population of Quebec belongs to a visible minority group, as of the 2021 Canadian census. This is a lower percentage than that of British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, and Manitoba but higher than that of the remaining five provinces. Most visible minorities in Quebec live in or near Montreal.

{{Main|Indigenous peoples in Quebec}}

File:Communautés_autochtones_du_Québec.png, settlements and northern villages.

{{legend table|#800080|Algonquins|#ffd42a|Attikameks|#c87137|Abenakis|#2affd5|Crees|#808080|Hurons-Wendat|#008000|Innus|#1a1a1a|Maliseets|#c83771|Micmacs|#800000|Mohawks|#88aa00|Naskapis|#0000ff|Inuit}}]]

The indigenous peoples of Quebec have inhabited the region for several millennia. Each community possesses its own social structure, culture and territorial entity. In 2016, the indigenous population of Quebec numbered 182,885 people.{{cite web |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=24&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&SearchText=Quebec&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&TABID=1&type=0 |title=Census Profile, 2016 Census Quebec [Province] and Canada [Country] |access-date=September 4, 2021 |date=August 9, 2019}} However, because federal law only recognized children of indigenous fathers until the 1980s, the actual number may be higher.

All the ethnicities living primarily south of the 55th parallel are collectively referred to in Quebec as "Amerindians", "Indians", "First Nations" or, obsolete, "Redskins". The ten First Nations ethnic groups in Quebec are linked to two linguistic groups. The Algonquian family is made up of eight ethnic groups: the Abenaki, the Algonquin, the Attikamek, the Cree, the Wolastoqiyik, the Mi'kmaq, the Innu and the Naskapis. These last two formed, until 1978, a single ethnic group: the Innu. The Iroquoian family is made up of the Huron-Wendat and the Mohawks. Only the Mohawks were part of the Iroquois Confederacy (Haudenosaunee), along with five other Indigenous groups from New York State and Ontario. The eleventh indigenous ethnic group in Quebec, the Inuit (or, obsolete, the Eskimos), belong to the Inuit–Aleut family. The Inuit live mainly in Nunavik, Nord-du-Québec (Nouveau Quebec) and make up the majority of the population living north of the 55th parallel.

Of these indigenous peoples, so-called "nomadic" tribes exist, specifically the tribes of Algonquian cultures (eg: the Algonquins, the Cree and the Innu), as well as more "sedentary" ones, specifically the tribes of Iroquoian traditions (eg: the Iroquois and the Hurons-Wendat). The more sedentary groups are the ones who developed more complex forms of social organization. Traditionally, nomadic tribes follow the migration of herds of animals that serve as prey, such as bison, moose or seals.Lacoursière, Provencher et Vaugeois (2000), op. cit., pp. 13-14. The way of life of the Algonquian and Inuit tribes is dictated by the obligations of hunting and fishing. The traditions of the Iroquoian tribes, producers of the Three Sisters (corn, beans and squash), are instead developed around a matriarchal structure derived from the "long cabin" called a longhouse which houses within it several families under the authority of one dean.

File:Inuksuk Quebec city.jpg at the {{ill|Place de l'Assemblée-Nationale|fr|Place de l'Assemblée-Nationale}} in front of the Parliament of Quebec.]]

Although they represent today approximately 3% of the Quebec population, the indigenous peoples of Quebec have contributed a lot to Quebec society thanks to their ideals of respect for flora, fauna, nature and the environment as well as thanks to their values of hospitality, generosity and sharing. Economically, through the fur trade and the development of relationships with settlers, including coureurs des bois, merchants, cartographers and Jesuit fathers. In addition to contributing to {{ill|Quebec toponymy|fr|Toponymie québécoise}}, indigenous peoples also contributed through their more advanced knowledge than settlers in the following areas: holistic medicine, the functioning of human biology, remedies for several diseases, curing scurvy at settlers' arrival (its thought this was done with a cure made from fir, white cedar or anneda), winter clothing (tanning), architecture that insulates against the cold, means of faster transport on snow (snowshoes and dogsled) and on water (canoes, kayaks and rabaskas), l'acériculture (the process of making maple syrup), sports (lacrosse and ice fishing), moose and caribou hunting, trapping, the territory and its components, watersheds and their watercourses and natural resources.Émission d'affaires publiques : Les Années lumière, émission spéciale : La Science en Nouvelle-France, présentée en rediffusion sur la chaîne d'information ICI Radio-Canada Première, le 28 juin 2009, de 12h15 à 14h00 (HAE)

When Europeans arrived in America in the 16th century, the Algonquian-speaking peoples and the St. Lawrence Iroquoians made allies with the French colonists for the purpose of trade. The first connection was made with the arrival of Jacques Cartier when he set foot in Gaspé and met Donnacona, chief of the village of Stadacona (Stadaconé, today, the city of Quebec), in 1534. Moreover, the legend of the Kingdom of Saguenay prompted King Francis I to finance new trips to the New World.

{{Quote|Rather than by conquest and by force, it is by promoting commercial and military alliances, and by concluding numerous peace and friendship treaties that relations between the two peoples solidified.Guide officiel de la Société touristique des autochtones du Québec (STAQ) : La Nouvelle-France, un vaste réseau d'alliances en Amérique du Nord}}

File:Nemiscau_QC_2006.jpg: the village in Nord-du-Québec home to the Grand Council of the Crees.]]

In the Royal Proclamation of 1763, issued by King George III, the indigenous peoples were stated to have an indisputable right to their lands. However, quickly following the proclamation and after the peace treaties with New France and France concluded, the British Crown decided to institute territorial treaties which allowed British authorities to proceed with the total extinction of the land titles of the Indigenous groups.Guide officiel de la Société touristique des autochtones du Québec (STAQ) : Conclure des traités ou la recherche de bonne entente.

Entirely under federal tutelage and direction, indigenous rights were enunciated in the Indian Act and adopted at the end of the 19th century. This act confines First Nations within the Indian reserves created for them. The Indian Act is still in effect today.{{cite web |date=30 July 2019 |title=Loi sur les Indiens |url=http://lois.justice.gc.ca/PDF/Loi/I/I-5.pdf |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20110706182157/http://laws%2Dlois.justice.gc.ca/PDF/I%2D5.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 July 2011 |publisher=justice.gc.ca |access-date=11 September 2021 }}

In 1975, the Cree, Inuit and the Quebec government agreed to an agreement called the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement that would extended Indigenous rights beyond Indian reserves, and to over two-thirds of Quebec's territory. Because this extension was enacted without the participation of the federal government, the extended Indigenous rights only exist in Quebec. In 1978, the Naskapis joined the agreement when the Northeastern Quebec Agreement was signed. As a result, these three ethnic groups were able to break away from their subjugation to the Indian Act.

In recent times, discussions have been underway for several years with the Montagnais of the Côte-Nord and Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean for the potential creation of a similar autonomy in two new distinct territories that would be called Innu Assi and Nitassinan.{{cite web |date=15 April 2009 |title=Entente Québec-Innus |url=http://www.versuntraite.com/accueil.htm |publisher=Secrétariat aux Affaires intergouvernementales}} Moreover, in January 2010, an agreement between Quebec City and Montagnais granted the Mashteuiatsh Band Council the ability to plan out development in the entire Ashuapmushuan Wildlife Reserve, which is located on the Nitassinan of the community of the Pekuakamiulnuatsh.{{cite web |date=6 January 2010 |title=La planification viendra de Mashteuiatsh |url=http://ici.radio-canada.ca/regions/saguenay-lac/2010/01/05/003-ashuapmushuan-innus.shtml |publisher=Radio-Canada Nouvelles}}{{cite web |date=8 January 2010 |title=Nitassinan de la première nation des Pekuakamiulnuatsh |url=http://www.mashteuiatsh.ca/carte.php |publisher=Conseil des Montagnais du Lac-Saint-Jean |access-date=11 September 2021 |archive-date=8 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090408062934/http://www.mashteuiatsh.ca/carte.php |url-status=dead }}

A few political institutions have also been created over time:

• The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador{{cite web |title=APNQL |url=https://apnql.com/fr/ |access-date=29 July 2019 |archive-date=31 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331200331/http://apnql.com/fr/ |url-status=dead }}
• The Grand Council of the Crees{{cite web |title=Grand Conseil des Cris (Eeyou Istchee)/Gouvernement de la Nation Crie |url=https://www.cngov.ca/fr/gouvernance-et-structure/gcc-ei-gnc-role-mission-vision/ |access-date=29 July 2019 |publisher=The Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee)}}
• The Makivik Corporation{{cite web |title=Bienvenue sur le site Internet de la Société MakivikAu service des Inuit du Nunavik depuis 1978 |url=https://www.makivik.org/fr/ |access-date=29 July 2019 |publisher=Makivik Corporation |archive-date=15 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190515210120/https://www.makivik.org/fr/ |url-status=dead }}

The following table shows the traditional territories of the First Nations and Inuit peoples who live in Quebec, including the basins of the St. Lawrence Valley and James Bay, as well as on the Labrador peninsula.{{cite web |url=https://mern.gouv.qc.ca/documents/ministere/rn98-2015.pdf |title=Localisation des Nations Autochtones au Québec |publisher=Government of Quebec |access-date=August 16, 2021 |url-status=live |language=fr |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602231657/https://mern.gouv.qc.ca/documents/ministere/rn98-2015.pdf |archive-date=2021-06-02}}

File:Aire_co-territoriale_abénaki.png, which overlaps between Quebec and Massachusetts.]]

{{clr}}

File:Bassin-marina-fete-acadie-idlm2006.jpgs.]]

The subject of Acadians in Quebec is an important one as more than a million people in Quebec are of Acadian ascent, with roughly 4.8 million possessing one or multiple Acadian ancestors in their genealogy tree. Furthermore, more than a million people wear a patronym of Acadian origin. All of this is because a large number of Acadians had fled Acadia to take refuge in Quebec during the Great Upheaval.{{Cite web |title=Québec |url=http://snacadie.org/content/view/106/130/ |access-date=7 December 2009 |publisher=Société nationale de l'Acadie}}{{Cite web |year=1998 |title=L'Acadie du Québec - Du 29 mars au 31 mai 1998 |url=http://www.teleco.org/museeacadien/francais/expopre2.html |access-date=7 December 2009 |publisher=Télécommunauté insulaire francophone}}{{Cite web |author=Adrien Bergeron |year=2000 |title=HÉBERT, ÉTIENNE |url=http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-f.php?&id_nbr=2928&&PHPSESSID=ychzfqkvzape |access-date=7 December 2009 |publisher=Dictionnaire biographique du Canada en ligne en collaboration avec l'Université de Toronto et l'Université Laval}}{{cite book |last1=Hébert |first1=Pierre-Maurice |title=Les Acadiens du Québec |date=1994 |publisher=Éditions de L'Écho |isbn=2-920312-32-4 |volume=427 |language=fr}}

Quebec houses an Acadian community spread out across several regions. Nowadays, Acadians mainly live on the Magdalen Islands and in Gaspesia, but about thirty other communities are present elsewhere in Quebec, mostly in the Côte-Nord and Centre-du-Québec regions. An Acadian community in Quebec can be called a "Cadie" or "Petite Cadie", and some cities and villages use the demonym "Cadien".{{cite book |last1=Arsenault |first1=Samuel |title=L'Acadie des Maritimes : études thématiques des débuts à nos jours |last2=Lamarche |first2=Rodolphe |last3=Daigle |first3=Jean |date=1993 |publisher=Centre d'études acadiennes, Université de Moncton |isbn=2921166062 |volume=Les géographes et l'aménagement des structures spatiales}}

The Festival Acadien des Îles-de-la-Madeleine is a festival which occurs every year in memory of the founders of the first villages on the Magdalen Islands. The festival is held in Havre Aubert for about two weeks. There, Québécois and Acadians from all corners of Quebec and other neighbouring lands mingle to celebrate Acadian culture.{{Cite web |url=http://www.tourismeilesdelamadeleine.com/magdalen-islands/evenements-14-festival-acadien-a-havre-aubert.cfm |title=Festival Acadien des Îles-de-la-Madeleine |publisher=tourismeilesdelamadeleine.com |access-date=30 July 2019 |archive-date=17 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717083002/http://www.tourismeilesdelamadeleine.com/magdalen-islands/evenements-14-festival-acadien-a-havre-aubert.cfm |url-status=dead }} The town of Bonaventure, in Gaspesia, also houses the Musé Acadien du Québec which features permanent exhibitions on Acadians in Quebec, like Une Acadie québécoise and Secrets d'Acadiens, les coulisses de la rue Grand-Pré.{{Cite web |url=http://www.museeacadien.com/ |title=Musée acadien du Québec à Bonaventure : Une culture bien vivante! |publisher=Musée acadien du Québec à Bonaventure, Gaspésie, Québec, Canada | access-date=30 July 2019}} In 2002, on National Acadian Day, the Commission de la capitale nationale du Québec unveiled a monument to Acadians entitled "Towards the Light". The monument symbolizes and explains the predominant role that the Acadians and their descendants played in the history of Quebec. The Premier of Quebec, Bernard Landry, declared at this unveiling that: {{Quote|Between the Québécois people and the Acadian people, there is more than friendship, there is kinship.{{cite web |url=https://www.capitale.gouv.qc.ca/realisations/commemoration-et-art-public/monuments/monument-aux-acadiens |title=Monument aux Acadiens |publisher=Commission de la capitale nationale du Québec |access-date=30 July 2019 |archive-date=30 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190730161848/https://www.capitale.gouv.qc.ca/realisations/commemoration-et-art-public/monuments/monument-aux-acadiens |url-status=dead }}}}

{{Main|Language demographics of Quebec}}

File:Quebec_langues.png

Quebec differs from other Canadian provinces in that French is the only official and preponderant language, while English predominates in the rest of Canada.{{cite web |year=2006 |editor=Commissariat aux langues officielles du Canada |title=Les langues officielles au Canada |url=http://www.ocol-clo.gc.ca/docs/f/Carte2006.pdf |access-date=29 January 2013 |publisher=Government of Canada |archive-date=16 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016235448/http://www.ocol-clo.gc.ca/docs/f/Carte2006.pdf |url-status=dead }} French is the common language, understood and spoken by 94.46% of the population.{{cite web |date=30 October 2009 |title=Tableau statistique canadien - Chapitre 3 |url=http://www.stat.gouv.qc.ca/donstat/econm_finnc/conjn_econm/TSC/pdf/chap3.pdf |access-date=8 January 2010 |website=stat.gouv.qc.ca |publisher=Institut de la statistique du Québec |archive-date=3 October 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031003191239/http://www.stat.gouv.qc.ca/donstat/econm_finnc/conjn_econm/TSC/pdf/CHAP3.PDF |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |title=Statistiques du Québec |url=http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/ressources/sociolinguistique/2005/f1_indic_16_pres.pdf |website=olf.gouv.qc.ca |access-date=2021-09-11 |archive-date=2006-07-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060701153513/http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/ressources/sociolinguistique/2005/f1_indic_16_pres.pdf |url-status=dead}} Quebec is the only Canadian province whose population is mainly Francophone; 6,102,210 people (78.1% of the population) recorded it as their sole native language in the 2011 Census, and 6,249,085 (80.0%) recorded that they spoke it most often at home.{{cite web |date=February 8, 2012 |title=Focus on Geography Series, 2011 Census – Province of Quebec |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/as-sa/fogs-spg/Facts-pr-eng.cfm?Lang=eng&GK=PR&GC=24 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002124017/https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/as-sa/fogs-spg/Facts-pr-eng.cfm?Lang=eng&GK=PR&GC=24 |archive-date=October 2, 2013 |access-date=September 29, 2013 |publisher=2.statcan.gc.ca}} Knowledge of French is widespread even among those who do not speak it natively; in 2011, about 94.4% of the total population reported being able to speak French, alone or in combination with other languages.

A considerable number of Quebec residents consider themselves to be bilingual in French and English. In Quebec, about 42.6% of the population (3,328,725 people) report knowing both languages; this is the highest proportion of bilinguals in any Canadian province. The federal electoral district of Lac-Saint-Louis, located in the Bilingual Belt, is the most bilingual area in the province with 72.8% of its residents claiming to know English and French, according to the 2011 census.{{Cite web |date=February 8, 2012 |title=Statistics Canada: 2011 Census Profile |url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=FED2013&Code1=24036&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&Data=Count&SearchText=Lac%20Saint-Louis&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=24&B1=All&Custom=&TABID=1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220125126/http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=FED2013&Code1=24036&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&Data=Count&SearchText=Lac%20Saint-Louis&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=24&B1=All&Custom=&TABID=1 |archive-date=December 20, 2016 |access-date=December 10, 2016 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}} In contrast, in the rest of Canada, in 2006, only about 10.2 percent (2,430,990) of the population had a knowledge of both of the country's official languages.

The Quebec government defends the French language and the Francophonie in the face of the mostly English-dominated rest of North America. The Gendron Commission report of 1968 established the foundations for the white book of the government of Quebec' linguistic policy. Dependent on commissions of inquiry, this policy statement is also accompanied the Charter of the French language -or "Bill 101"- since 1977. {{Quote|"The campaign of systematic disinformation waged by English-language newspapers about Quebec began with the Charter and has never ceased to draw on the Charter; it gave rise to stubborn prejudices and maintains a profound ignorance of the reality of Quebec."{{cite book |first1=Michel |last1=Plourde |first2=Pierre |last2=Georgeault |title=Le français au Québec : 400 ans d'histoire et de vie, nouvelle édition |editor=Conseil supérieur de la langue française, Éditions Fides |date=2008 |pages=351 |publisher=Les Editions Fides |isbn=978-2-7621-2813-0}}}}

{{Main|Quebec French}}

French is the official language of Quebec. Québécois French is the most widely used variant. The {{lang|fr|Office québécois de la langue française|italic=no}} oversees the application of the linguistic policy on the territory jointly with the Superior Council of the French Language and the Commission de toponymie du Québec. Their recommendations then become part of the debate on the standard for Quebec French and are represented in Le Grand Dictionnaire terminologique (GDT), the {{ill|Banque de dépannage linguistique|fr|Banque de dépannage linguistique}} (BDL) and various other works. Through its linguistic recommendations, the GDT fights against the invasion of Frenglish into the French language. Since the 1970s, scientific research on the matter has been carried out by university organizations, including the Trésor de la langue française au Québec (TLFQ) and the {{ill|Franqus group|fr|Usito}}.

The French settlers who settled in New France came largely from the western and northern provinces of France. They generally spoke a variety of regional languages of the Oïl language family.{{cite web |date=14 February 2021 |title=Histoire du francais au Québec: colonie du Canada |url=https://www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca/francophonie/HISTfrQC_s1_Nlle-France.htm |publisher=University of Laval |access-date=August 16, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130416003034/http://www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca:80/francophonie/HISTfrQC_s1_Nlle-France.htm |archive-date=2013-04-16}} Thus, creating the need for the colonists to "unify their patois" ("unite their dialects") and creating Quebec French. Québécois French became the vernacular language of New France, and it remained as such until the British's conquest of New France.

File:Arrival_of_the_Brides_-_Eleanor_Fortescue-Brickdale.png were sent to the New World to fix the gender imbalance in the colonies and boost population growth.]]

Early on, colonists borrowed words from Algonquin, a language they frequently interacted with, often to name and describe new aspects of geography, temperature, fauna or flora not present in the Old World.{{Cite web |url=https://www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca/francophonie/HISTfrQC_s1_Nlle-France.html |title=L'implantation du français au Canada }}{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Then, Quebec French's evolution was affected by the French court due to the arrival of the King's daughters. These 800 women were mostly orphaned girls that had been adopted by the state as part of a program sponsored by King Louis XIV, and been educated in convents to become exemplary settlers and wives. Once their training was complete, between 1663 and 1673, they were sent to New France and married among the colonists, instilling the King's French into the population in the process.{{cite encyclopedia |title=Filles du roi, mères de la nation québécoise |url=http://www.ameriquefrancaise.org/fr/article-734/Filles_du_roi,_m%C3%A8res_de_la_nation_qu%C3%A9b%C3%A9coise.html |encyclopedia=Encyclopédie du patrimoine culturel de l'Amérique Française |language=fr |last=Sionneau |first=Yoann |access-date=August 16, 2021}}

In his 1757 Memoir on the State of New France, Bougainville writes: {{Quote|"Canadians have natural spirit; they speak with ease, they cannot write, their accent is as good as in Paris, their diction is full of vicious phrases, borrowed from the language of the Indians or from marine terms, applied in the ordinary style."{{cite book |title=Mémoire de Bougainville sur l'état de la Nouvelle-France à l'époque de la guerre de Sept ans |date=1757}}}}

The British conquest of 1759 turned the evolution of French in Quebec and North America upside down. By having ties severed with France, the French spoken in Quebec definitively separated from the French spoken in metropolitan France. Quebec French was then truly born, retaining the peculiarities of the old languages of Oïl (which were almost extinct in France at that point) and the King's French, and being both influenced and threatened by the language of the new English conquerors. Quebec's French continued to evolve in its own direction, retaining some aspects the non-isolated rest of the French-speaking world lost,{{cite web |url=https://ici.radio-canada.ca/ohdio/premiere/emissions/aujourd-hui-l-histoire/segments/entrevue/130123/francais-quebecois-nouvelle-france-soubresauts-historiques-bedard |title=Les soubresauts historiques qui ont façonné le français québécois |language=fr |work=Radio-Canada |date=August 30, 2019 |access-date=August 16, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515233507/https://ici.radio-canada.ca/ohdio/premiere/emissions/aujourd-hui-l-histoire/segments/entrevue/130123/francais-quebecois-nouvelle-france-soubresauts-historiques-bedard |archive-date=2021-05-15}} and, over time, new influences and remoteness formed the regional accents and different dialects of Quebec French.{{cite web |url=https://www6.umoncton.ca/trajet-acadie-quebec/wp-content/uploads/storylines/slsj-langue-dialectes-quebecois/story_html5.html |title=Différents accents à travers le Québec |website=umoncton.ca |language=fr |access-date=August 16, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605015347/https://www6.umoncton.ca/trajet-acadie-quebec/wp-content/uploads/storylines/slsj-langue-dialectes-quebecois/story_html5.html |archive-date=2021-06-05}}

Canada is estimated to be home to between 32 and 36 regional French accents,{{cite web |url=https://quebeccultureblog.com/2014/11/14/our-32-accents-series-post-3-88/ |title=Our-32 Accents |website=Quebec Culture Blog |date=14 November 2014 |access-date=February 26, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141202224637/http://quebeccultureblog.com/2014/11/14/our-32-accents-series-post-3-88/ |archive-date=2014-12-02}}{{cite web |url=https://www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca/fr/blogue-blog/francais-nouvelle-france-french-new-france-fra |title=Le francais parlé de la Nouvelle-France |language=fr |publisher=Government of Canada |date=April 27, 2020 |access-date=February 26, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923222258/https://www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca/fr/blogue-blog/francais-nouvelle-france-french-new-france-fra |archive-date=2020-09-23}} 17 of which can be found in Quebec.{{cite web |url=https://www.rcinet.ca/fr/2017/03/30/le-francais-dans-tous-ses-etats-au-quebec-et-au-canada/ |title=Le francais dans tous ses etats au quebec et au canada |work=Radio-Canada |last=Parent |first=Stéphane |date=March 30, 2017 |access-date=February 26, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331034721/http://www.rcinet.ca/fr/2017/03/30/le-francais-dans-tous-ses-etats-au-quebec-et-au-canada/ |archive-date=2017-03-31}} There are 11 accents exclusive to mainland Quebec; they are the regional accents of Gaspé (Gaspésien), Bas-Saint-Laurent, Saguenay-Lac Saint-Jean (Saguenéen), Quebec-Charlevoix, Beauce (Beauceron), the Eastern Townships, Mauricie-Haute-Mauricie (Magoua), Greater Montreal, Eastern Montreal-Laval, Rouyn-Noranda and Côte-Nord. There are 4 accents off the mainland, 1 on the Isle-aux-Coudres, and 3 on the Îles-de-la-Madeleine: the accents of Villages Medelinots, Havre-aux-Maisons, and Havre-Aubert.{{cite web |url=https://www.tourismeilesdelamadeleine.com/fr/decouvrir-les-iles/ |title=Découvrir les Îles de la Madeleine |website=tourismeilesdelamadeleine.com |language=fr |access-date=February 26, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130813221125/http://www.tourismeilesdelamadeleine.com/fr/decouvrir-les-iles/ |archive-date=2013-08-13}} Finally, there are 2 accents that cross provincial borders: the accents of Outaouais-Eastern Ontario (Outaouais) and Témiscouata-Madawaska (Brayon). There are also people in Quebec who will naturally speak using Standard Québécois or Joual, both of which are considered sociolects rather than regional accents.

{{expand section|date=June 2021}}File:Situation_Quebec.png

During the days of New France, there began to be an extremely pronounced demographic increase of anglophones versus francophones in North America, a trend which continues to this day. In 1700, for every 250,000 English-speakers, there was 16,500 French-speakers.{{cite web |url=http://www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca/francophonie/HISTfrQC_s1_Nlle-France.htm#7.1_Le_déficit_démographique_ |title=L'implantation du français au Canada |publisher=University of Laval |access-date=August 16, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130416003034/http://www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca:80/francophonie/HISTfrQC_s1_Nlle-France.htm |archive-date=2013-04-16}}

After the conquest of 1759, this reality became more brutal for Quebec, which now had to avoid assimilation by the British Empire's regime and survive culturally as well as linguistically.{{cite web |title=Histoire (2): Le Régime britannique (1760-1840) |url=http://www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca/francophonie/HISTfrQC_s2_Britannique.htm |access-date=30 July 2019 |website=axl.cefan.ulaval.ca}}

Still today, as French's demographic weight on the continent and in Canada continues to decline, Quebec faces the threat of assimilation. Since 2011, the population with French as their mother tongue on the Island of Montreal, Quebec's metropolis, has fallen below 50%, with only 49% of the population being francophone{{cite web |title=La question démographique (Québec) |url=http://www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca/amnord/Quebec-2demo.htm#1.7_Lassimilation_linguistique. |access-date=29 July 2019 |website=axl.cefan.ulaval.ca}} due to a sharp increase in the immigrant allophone population (whose mother tongue is neither French nor English).

Efforts have been made to preserve the primacy of the French language in Quebec. Such efforts include: instating the Charter of the French language,{{cite web |title=OQLF - Erreur |url=http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/Erreur.htm?aspxerrorpath=/charte/reperes/reperes.html. |access-date=29 July 2019 |website=www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca |archive-date=5 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205112542/http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/Erreur.htm?aspxerrorpath=%2Fcharte%2Freperes%2Freperes.html. |url-status=dead}} Quebec's participation in the Francophonie since 1971,{{cite web |title=Canada Québec - Organisation internationale de la Francophonie |url=https://www.francophonie.org/Canada-Quebec.html |access-date=30 July 2019 |website=francophonie.org |archive-date=25 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190625032821/https://www.francophonie.org/Canada-Quebec.html |url-status=dead }} French immigration to Quebec,{{cite web |url=http://www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca/amnord/Quebec-4immigration.htm#1.2_La_législation_québécoise_ |title=La question de l'immigration au Québec |publisher=University of Laval |access-date=August 16, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130610044109/http://www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca:80/amnord/Quebec-4immigration.htm |archive-date=2013-06-10}} etc. Several institutions seek to protect and promote French such as the {{lang|fr|Office québécois de la langue française|italic=no}}, the Superior Council of the French Language, the Commission de toponymie du Québec, etc.

As of 2011, English is the mother tongue of nearly 650,000 Quebecers (8% of the population).{{cite web |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/as-sa/98-314-x/98-314-x2011001-fra.cfm |title=Caractéristiques linguistiques des Canadiens |publisher=Statistics Canada |language=fr |access-date=August 16, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522194531/http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/as-sa/98-314-x/98-314-x2011001-fra.cfm |archive-date=2013-05-22}} Anglo-Quebecers constitute the second largest linguistic group in Quebec. In addition, in 2001, roughly 50,000 people (0.7% of the population) considered their mother tongue to be both French and English.{{cite web |date=2 April 2003 |title=Population n'ayant qu'une seule langue maternelle, régions administratives du Québec, 2001 |url=http://www.stat.gouv.qc.ca/regions/lequebec/langue_que/materuni20.htm |website=Institut de la statistique du Québec |publisher=Québec |access-date=11 September 2021 |archive-date=3 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090103071840/http://www.stat.gouv.qc.ca/regions/lequebec/langue_que/materuni20.htm |url-status=dead}} According to the latest censuses of 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016, the percentage of anglophones in the population has more or less stabilized, but in absolute numbers, they are constantly increasing. Allophones, on the other hand, are increasing sharply in absolute numbers as well as in percentage. According to the 2016 census, 49.1% of people living in Quebec say they can conduct a conversation in English (English as mother tongue or as a second language). As for French-English bilingualism, 44.5% of people in Quebec state that they are bilingual, that is to say, able to conduct a conversation in both French and English.{{cite web |title=Recensement en bref: Le français, l'anglais et les minorités de langue officielle au Canada |date=2 August 2017 |url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/as-sa/98-200-x/2016011/98-200-x2016011-fra.cfm |publisher=Statistics Canada |access-date=August 16, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809222411/http://www12.statcan.gc.ca:80/census-recensement/2016/as-sa/98-200-x/2016011/98-200-x2016011-fra.cfm |archive-date=2017-08-09}}

English made its first appearance in Quebec in 1760, when the British invaded and conquered Canada (New France). Shortly afterwards, the first English and Scottish merchants came to settle in the cities of Québec City and Montreal. In 1784, United Empire Loyalists flooded Quebec following their expulsion from the Thirteen Colonies during the United States' War of Independence. This dramatically increased the number of English speakers in Quebec. These Loyalists, avoiding the French-speaking and Catholic countryside, settled mainly in then underdeveloped regions, such as the Eastern Townships and the Outaouais. The proclamation of the Act of Union of 1840 caused massive immigration from the British Isles to Quebec, which introduced Celtic languages for the first time, and was aimed at the linguistic assimilation of the French-speaking population, which had a considerable impact on French-language culture in Quebec. Today, Anglo-Quebecers reside mainly in Montreal and the Pontiac region.

Anglophones in Quebec have several institutions and infrastructural systems. At the school level, anglophones in Quebec have several school boards grouped together into the Association des commissions scolaire anglophones du Québec.{{cite web |url=http://www.qesba.qc.ca/ |title=Accueil |publisher=Association des commissions scolaire anglophones du Québec |access-date=August 16, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000115153200/http://www.qesba.qc.ca:80/ |archive-date=2000-01-15}} In terms of media, anglophones own, among others, the Montreal Gazette in Montreal, and the Chronicle-Telegraph in Quebec City.{{cite web |title=Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph Online - North America's Oldest Newspaper, Since 1764 |url=https://www.qctonline.com/ |access-date=29 July 2019 |website=qctonline.com}} Other organisations include the Quebec Writers' Federation, which is a group of English-speaking Quebec authors,{{cite web |url=http://www.qwf.org/ |title=Home |publisher=Quebec Writers' Federation |access-date=August 16, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991116081509/http://www.qwf.org:80/ |archive-date=1999-11-16}} and the Voice of English-speaking Quebec, which represents the interests of the English-speaking community in the Québec region.{{cite web |url=https://veq.ca/about-us/who-we-are/ |title=Who We Are |publisher=Voice of English-speaking Quebec |access-date=August 16, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210912230010/https://veq.ca/about-us/who-we-are/ |archive-date=2021-09-12}}

The term "allophone" is used to refer to people whose mother tongue is neither French nor English.{{cite web |title=allophone |url=http://gdt.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/ficheOqlf.aspx?Id_Fiche=8359640 |access-date=2018-10-18 |website=gdt.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca}} We can distinguish two groups of allophones: people who speak indigenous languages, and those who speak so-called immigrant languages.

In the 2016 census, where one could note more than one language as their mother tongue, Quebec had 1,171,045 people (14.5% of the population) who reported a mother tongue that was neither French nor English, and 1,060,830 people (13.2% of the population) who did not declare French or English as a mother tongue at all.{{cite web |title=Proportion de la population selon la langue maternelle déclarée, pour différentes régions au Canada, Recensement de 2016 |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dv-vd/lang/index-fra.cfm |access-date=2018-10-18 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca |date=4 August 2017 |publisher=Gouvernement du Canada, Statistique}} In this census, 47,025 (0.6% of the population) reported an aboriginal language as a mother tongue, while 1,124,020 (13.9% of the population) reported an immigrant language as a mother tongue.{{cite web |title=Langue – Faits saillants en tableaux, Recensement de 2016 - Langue maternelle selon l'âge (Total), chiffres de 2016 pour la population à l'exclusion des résidents d'un établissement institutionnel du Canada, provinces et territoires, Recensement de 2016 – Données intégrales (100 %) |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/hlt-fst/lang/Tableau.cfm?lang=E&T=11&Geo=00&SP=1&view=1&age=1 |access-date=2018-10-18 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca |date=2 August 2017 |publisher=Gouvernement du Canada, Statistique}}

Three families of aboriginal languages exist in Quebec, which encompass eleven languages. Each of these languages belong to and are spoken by members of a specific ethnic group. Sometimes, the language in question is spoken natively by all members of the group, sometimes they are spoken only by a few individuals. These languages are also sometimes sub-divided into different dialects in the indigenous communities.

File:Mistassini_roadsign.jpg, showing Cree, English and French.]]

• Algonquian language family
• Abenaki (spoken by the Abenakis of Centre-du-Québec)
• Algonquin (spoken by the Algonquins of the Outaouais)
• Maliseet-passamaquoddy (spoken by the Maliseet of Bas-Saint-Laurent)
• Mi'kmaq (spoken by the Micmacs of Gaspésie and the Magdalen Islands)
• the linguistic continuum of:
• Atikamekw (spoken by the Attikameks of Lanaudière and Mauricie)
• Cree (spoken by the Crees of Nord-du-Québec)
• Innu-aimun (spoken by the Innu-Montagnais of the Côte-Nord and Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean)
• Naskapi (spoken by the Innu-Naskapi of the Côte-Nord)
• Inuit-Aleut language family
• Nunavimmiutitut (Inuktitut dialect spoken by the Inuit of Nord-du-Québec)
• Iroquoian language family
• Mohawk, also known as "agnier" (spoken by the Iroquois-Mohawks of Montérégie and the Laurentides)
• Wendat (spoken by the Huron-Wendat of the Capitale-Nationale)

In the 2016 census, 50,895 people in Quebec said they knew at least one indigenous language.{{cite web |title=Knowledge of Aboriginal Languages (90), Knowledge of Languages: Single and Multiple Language Responses (3), Aboriginal Identity (9), Aboriginal Mother Tongue (11), Registered or Treaty Indian Status (3) and Age (12) for the Population in Private Households of Canada, Provinces and Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2016 Census - 25% Sample Data |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?TABID=2&LANG=E&A=R&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=01&GL=-1&GID=1341679&GK=1&GRP=1&O=D&PID=110449&PRID=10&PTYPE=109445&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2017&THEME=122&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=&D1=0&D2=0&D3=0&D4=0&D5=0&D6=0 |access-date=2018-10-19 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca |date=25 October 2017 |publisher=Gouvernement du Canada, Statistique |language=fr}} Furthermore, 45,570 people declared having an aboriginal language as their mother tongue. For 38,995 of them, it was the language most frequently spoken at home. Additionally, 1,195 people who did not have an aboriginal language as their mother tongue reported using an aboriginal language most often at home.{{cite web |title=Recensement du Canada de 2016 : Tableaux de données – Langue maternelle (10), langue parlée le plus souvent à la maison (10), autre(s) langue(s) parlée(s) régulièrement à la maison (11), connaissance des langues officielles (5), première langue officielle parlée (5), âge (7) et sexe (3) pour la population à l'exclusion des résidents d'un établissement institutionnel du Canada, provinces et territoires, régions métropolitaines de recensement et agglomérations de recensement, Recensement de 2016 - Données intégrales (100 %) |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-fra.cfm?LANG=F&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=110463&PRID=10&PTYPE=109445&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=888&Temporal=2016,2017&THEME=118&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF= |access-date=2018-10-19 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca |date=17 August 2017 |publisher=Gouvernment of Canada, Statistique}}

In Quebec, most indigenous languages are currently transmitted quite well from one generation to the next with a mother tongue retention rate of 92%.{{cite journal |author1=Marc Termote |author2=Normand Thibault |date=2008 |title=Nouvelles perspectives démolinguistiques du Québec et de la région de Montréal, 2001-2051 |url=https://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/ressources/sociolinguistique/2008/etude_08.pdf |page=45 |website=oqlf.gouv.qc.ca}}

In the 2016 census, 1,124,020 people declared having an immigrant language as their mother tongue in Quebec. The most cited languages are Arabic (2.5% of the total population), Spanish (1.9%), Italian (1.4%), Creole languages (mainly Haitian Creole) (0.8%) and Mandarin (0.6%).{{cite web |title=Proportion de la population selon la langue maternelle déclarée, pour différentes régions au Canada, Recensement de 2016 |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dv-vd/lang/index-fra.cfm |access-date=2018-10-19 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca |date=4 August 2017 |publisher=Gouvernement du Canada, Statistics}}

Both the number and proportion of allophones have been increasing in Quebec since the 1951 census.{{cite web |title=L'évolution des populations de langue maternelle au Canada, 1901 à 2016 |url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-630-x/11-630-x2018001-fra.htm |access-date=2018-10-18 |website=www150.statcan.gc.ca |date=21 February 2018 |publisher=Gouvernement du Canada, Statistique}}

In 2015, the vast majority (89%) of young allophone students in Quebec attended French-language schools.{{cite news |title=Les allophones fréquentent les écoles francophones au Québec |publisher=La Presse |url=https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/education/201703/31/01-5084210-les-allophones-frequentent-les-ecoles-francophones-au-quebec.php |access-date=2018-10-18}}{{cite news |author=Sarah-Maude |date=26 August 2014 |title=De plus en plus d'élèves parlent français |publisher=Le Journal de Montréal |url=https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2014/08/26/de-plus-en-plus-deleves-parlent-francais}}

{{bar box

|title=Knowledge of official languages of Canada in Quebec (2016)

|titlebar=#ddd

|left1=Language

|right1=Percent

|float=right

|bars=

{{bar percent|English only|red|4.62}}

{{bar percent|French only|blue|49.99}}

{{bar percent|English and French|purple|44.46}}

{{bar percent|Neither English nor French|green|0.93}}

}}

The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses. The following figures are from the 2021 Canadian Census and the 2016 Canadian Census, and lists languages that were selected by at least one per cent of respondents.

{{Pie chart

|thumb = right

|caption = Religion in Quebec (2021 National Household Survey){{cite web |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?LANG=E&GENDERlist=1&STATISTIClist=1,4&DGUIDlist=2021A000224&HEADERlist=32&SearchText=Quebec |title=Profile table, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population - Quebec [Province] |date=9 February 2022}}

|label1 = Roman Catholicism

|value1 = 53.8

|color1 = DarkOrchid

|label2 = Other Christian

|value2 = 11.0

|color2 = DodgerBlue

|label3 = Non-religious

|value3 = 27.3

|color3 = Honeydew

|label4 = Islam

|value4 = 5.1

|color4 = Green

|label5 = Hinduism

|value5 = 0.6

|color5 = Orange

|label6 = Sikhism

|value6 = 0.3

|color6 = DarkKhaki

|label7 = Buddhism

|value7 = 0.6

|color7 = Yellow

|label8 = Judaism

|value8 = 1.0

|color8 = DarkBlue

|label9 = Other religions

|value9 = 0.3

|color9 = Chartreuse

}}

Religion, more precisely the Roman Catholic Church, has long occupied a central and integral place in Quebec society since the arrival of the first French settlers in New France. However, since the Quiet Revolution and the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, there has been a real separation between state and religion, and society in general sees religion as a private matter.

From the beginning of Canada, and throughout French-Canadian history, catholicism and the Catholic Church have played a preponderant role in the social and political development of Quebec.

The first mass in what would become Quebec was celebrated in 1535, by the priest accompanying Jacques Cartier on his voyage to the New World. Amerindians were evangelized by Catholic missionaries before the founding of parishes. In 1627, Cardinal Richelieu recited a royal proclamation by Louis XIII which banished all non-Catholics, including Huguenots, from New France. In 1658, the apostolic vicariate of Quebec was founded, followed by the Archdiocese of Quebec in 1674. The archbishop of Quebec, who today is the primate of the Catholic Church of Canada, was once part of the Sovereign Council of New France.{{cite web |date=15 February 2010 |title=Église catholique de Québec - Histoire |url=http://eglisecatholiquedequebec.org/ |website=Église catholique de Québec}}

The extraordinary power that the Catholic Church once had in Quebec is reflected in all areas of culture, from language to the fine arts, theater, literature and film. The golden age for ecclesiastics would come in the mid-nineteenth century (around 1840) as this was a period during which the Church, influenced by ultramontanism, concretized its influence (see Clericalism in Quebec). The influence of the Church began to wane a hundred years later, when, after the Grande Noirceur, Quebec society was profoundly transformed by the Quiet Revolution. Created in 1966, the {{ill|Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Quebec|lt=Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Quebec|fr|Assemblée des évêques catholiques du Québec}} deals with current issues concerning ethical and moral values (ex. gay marriage, euthanasia and abortion).

Several holy men and women from Quebec have been recognized for their venerable actions and canonized as saints:

• Saint Brother André Bessette canonized in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI.{{Cite web |url=http://www.saint-joseph.org/fr/le-sanctuaire/saint-frere-andre/biographie-de-saint-frere-andre |title=Biographie de Saint Frère André | Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal |access-date=2016-02-02 |archive-date=2016-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160330123821/http://www.saint-joseph.org/fr/le-sanctuaire/saint-frere-andre/biographie-de-saint-frere-andre |url-status=dead}}
• Saint Kateri Tekakwitha canonized on October 21, 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI.{{cite web |title=21 octobre 2012 : Messe et canonisation des bienheureux Jacques Berthieu, Pedro Calungsod, Giovanni Battista Piamarta, Maria Carmen Sallés y Barangueras, Marianne Cope, Kateri Tekakwitha, Anna Schäffer BENOÎT XVI |url=http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/fr/homilies/2012/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20121021_canonizzazioni.html |access-date=2019-01-17 |website=w2.vatican.va}}
• Saint Mary of the Incarnation canonized in 2014 by Pope François.{{cite web |title=Sainte Marine de l'Incarnation née Marie Guyart Ursuline Mystique Tours Quebec (1599-1672) |url=http://www.carrefourkairos.net/cmi.html |access-date=30 July 2019 |website=carrefourkairos.net}}
• Saint François de Laval canonized in 2014 by Pope François.{{cite web |title=François de Laval, pour mieux le connaître |url=http://www.francoisdelaval.com/ |access-date=29 July 2019 |website=francoisdelaval.com}}

File:Cathedral_of_the_Holy_Trinity,_Québec.jpg is an important symbol of the protestant religion in Quebec.]]

Protestantism, a practice consisting of reformed catholicism, has been present in Quebec for a long time. From the very beginning of Canada, several Huguenots of the calvinist religion were present in Quebec. Huguenots have been identified in almost all classes of society: settlers, fishermen, daughters of the king, etc. During the early French Regime, the number of protestant immigrants was estimated to be 1,450 people. In 1627, protestantism became no longer tolerated in New France.{{cite web |title=Protestantisme |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/fr/article/protestantisme |publisher=L'encyclopédie canadienne}} After Quebec was conquered by the British, the Protestant religion, more particularly of the Anglican faith, became tolerated again. This was because British immigrants who came to certain regions of Quebec followed this religion.

The {{ill|Religions of First Nations in Quebec|lt=Amerindian religions of Quebec|fr|Religions amérindiennes du Québec}} preceded Catholicism in Quebec.

While the first synagogue was established in Montreal in 1777, Jews remained a negligible religious group in Quebec until the early 20th century when a wave of Jewish immigrants settled in Montreal. The Jewish community of today, established mainly on the island of Montreal, now numbers about 120,000 people.{{cite web |date=30 July 2019 |title=Ville de Montréal, Annuaire statistique de l'agglomération de Montréal 2007 |url=http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/pls/portal/docs/page/mtl_stats_fr/media/documents/ANNUAIRE%20STATISTIQUE_SEPT07.PDF |website=montreal.qc.ca}} In 2010, this community was made up of 26.1% traditionalist Jews, 24.3% orthodox, 15.2% conservative, 9% reconstructionist and reformist, and 25.4% of Montreal Jews say they have no religious affiliation.[http://www.tikun.ca/fr/cat/federationcja/imagine-2020-survey-reveals-a-dynamic-diverse-and-committed-community/ Sondage et étude de la Fédération Juive de Montréal CJA] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706210159/http://www.tikun.ca/fr/cat/federationcja/imagine-2020-survey-reveals-a-dynamic-diverse-and-committed-community/ |date=2011-07-06 }}. In the 20th century, successive waves of immigrants from Africa, Asia, Greece, Ireland and Italy settled in Montreal, bringing their cultural and religious customs. Some religious communities, such as Eastern Christians, then established places of worship.

{{Main|Clerico-nationalism}}

Many aspects of life for French-speaking Quebeckers remained dominated by the Catholic Church in the decades following 1867. The Church operated many of the institutions of the province, including most French-language schools,Linteau, Quebec, a History, 1867–1929 pp. 212–213 hospitals, and charitable organizations. The leader of the Catholic Church in Quebec was the Bishop of Montreal, and from 1840 to 1876 this was Ignace Bourget, an opponent of liberalism. Bourget eventually succeeded in gaining more influence than the liberal, reformist Institut Canadien. At his most extreme, Bourget went so far as to deny a Church burial to Joseph Guibord, a member of the Institut, in 1874. A court decision forced Bourget to allow Guibord to be buried in a Catholic cemetery, but Bourget deconsecrated the burial plot of ground, and Guibord was buried under army protection.Linteau, Quebec, a History, 1867–1929 pp. 203–204 The conservative approach of the Catholic Church was the major force in Quebec society until the reforms of the Quiet Revolution during the 1960s. In 1876, Pierre-Alexis Tremblay was defeated in a federal by-election because of pressure from the Church on voters, but succeeded in getting his loss annulled with the help of a new federal law. He quickly lost the subsequent election. In 1877, the Pope sent representatives to force the Quebec Churchto minimize its interventions in the electoral process.{{cite web |url=http://nuntiatura.ca/fr/history/ |title=Histoire |language=fr |publisher=Nonciature Apostolique au Canada |access-date=August 14, 2021}}

File:Visite, Hotel du Parlement du Quebec - 14.jpg from 1936 until It was removed on July 9, 2019.]]

Lionel Groulx wanted to build a nationalistic French-Canadian identity, in purpose to protect the power of the Church and dissuade the public from popular-rule and secularist views. Groulx propagated French-Canadian nationalism and argued that maintaining a Roman Catholic Quebec was the only means to 'emancipate the nation against English power.' He believed the powers of the provincial government of Quebec could and should be used within Confederation, to bolster provincial autonomy (and thus Church power), and advocated it would benefit the French-Canadian nation economically, socially, culturally and linguistically. Groulx successfully promoted Québécois nationalism and the ultra-conservative Catholic social doctrine, to which the Church would maintain dominance in political and social life in Quebec.Mason Wade, The French-Canadians 1760–1967, vol. 2, p. 894. In the 1920s–1950s, this form of traditionalist Catholic nationalism became known as clerico-nationalism.

In 1936, Maurice Duplessis hung a crucifix in the National Assembly of Quebec. It hung there for 83 years, until it was removed on 10 July 2019.{{Cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/crucifix-removed-national-assembly-from-blue-room-1.5205352|title=Crucifix removed from National Assembly's Blue Room|date=July 9, 2019|work=CBC News|access-date=2019-07-14}}

During the 1940s and 1950s Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis party, the Union Nationale, often had the active support of the Roman Catholic Church during political campaigns, using the slogan Le ciel est bleu; l'enfer est rouge ("Heaven is blue; hell is red"; red is the colour of the Liberal party, and blue was the colour of the Union Nationale).{{Cite journal |last=Bernier Arcand |first=Philippe |date=2018 |title=Bleu, histoire d'une couleur politique |url=https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/hq/2018-v23-n4-hq03653/88141ac/ |journal=Histoire Québec |language=fr |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=15–17 |issn=1201-4710}}

Sharia law is explicitly banned in Quebec, upheld by a unanimous vote against it in 2005 by the National Assembly.{{cite web| url = http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-gives-thumbs-down-to-shariah-law-1.535601| title = Quebec gives thumbs down to Shariah law {{!}} CBC News}}

File:Ste_Anne_de_Beaupré,_Québec.jpg.]]

The oldest parish church in North America is the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec. Its construction began in 1647, when it was then known under the name Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix, and it was finished in 1664.{{cite web |date=15 February 2010 |title=Basilique-cathédrale Notre-Dame de Québec |url=http://www.patrimoine-religieux.com/patrimoine_fr.asp?no=19036 |website=Corporation du patrimoine et du tourisme religieux de Québec |access-date=11 September 2021 |archive-date=19 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219093940/http://www.patrimoine-religieux.com/patrimoine_fr.asp?no=19036 |url-status=dead}} Its first mass was celebrated by Father Vimont on December 24, 1650. This church obtained the status of cathedral in 1674, when François de Laval became archbishop of Quebec, and then the status of minor basilica in 1874. It was also rebuilt twice after the siege of Quebec in 1759 and the fire of 1922.{{cite web |date=30 July 2019 |title=La Corporation du Patrimoine et du Tourisme Religieux de Québec (CPTRQ) |url=http://www.patrimoine-religieux.com/index.html?no=19036 |website=www.patrimoine-religieux.com}}

The most frequented place of worship in Quebec is the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré. This basilica welcomes millions of visitors each year, especially during the novena of Saint Anne, on July 26. The Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré basilica is recognized for its numerous miracles, which is why thousands of crutches can be found at its entrance.{{cite web |date=8 January 2010 |title=29 mars 1922 : Incendie de la basilique Sainte-Anne de Beaupré |url=http://bilan.usherbrooke.ca/bilan/pages/evenements/20412.html |website=Bilan du siècle |publisher=Université de Sherbrooke}}

Saint Joseph's Oratory is the largest place of worship in the world dedicated to Saint Joseph. Located beside Mount Royal, it is known for its 283 steps, which pilgrims come to climb on their knees every year, reciting a prayer on each of the steps.

Many pilgrimages include places such as Saint Benedict Abbey, {{ill|Sanctuaire Notre-Dame-du-Cap|lt=Sanctuaire Notre-Dame-du-Cap|fr|Sanctuaire Notre-Dame-du-Cap}}, Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, Marie-Reine-du-Monde de Montréal Basilica-Cathedral, Saint-Michel Basilica-Cathedral, Saint-Patrick's Basilica, etc.

Another important place of worship in Quebec is the anglican Holy Trinity Cathedral, which was erected between 1800 and 1804. It was the first anglican cathedral built outside the British Isles.{{cite web |date=29 July 2019 |title=The Cathedral – The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Quebec, Canada |url=http://www.cathedral.ca/the-cathedral/ |website=cathedral.ca}}

In August 2019, the Minister of Culture, Nathalie Roy, announced the allocation of $15 million to preserve the cultural heritage that the churches of Quebec embody, and $5 million for the requalification of places of worship.{{cite news |date=8 August 2019 |title=Au Québec, 20 millions de dollars canadiens pour la restauration du patrimoine religieux |url=https://www.la-croix.com/Religion/Catholicisme/Monde/Au-Quebec-20-millions-dollars-canadiens-restauration-patrimoine-religieux-2019-08-08-1201040103 |website=La Croix |language=fr}}

The 2021 census reported that immigrants (individuals born outside Canada) comprise 1,210,595 persons or 14.6 percent of the total population of Quebec.

The 2021 Canadian census counted a total of 202,740 people who immigrated to Quebec between 2016 and 2021.

Since it began being recorded in 1971 until 2018, each year Quebec has had negative interprovincial migration, and among the provinces it has experienced the largest net loss of people due to the effect.{{fact|date=July 2020}} Between 1981 and 2017, Quebec lost 229,700 people below the age of 45 to interprovincial migration.{{Cite web |url=https://montrealgazette.com/business/quebec-losing-young-people-to-interprovincial-migration-report-shows |title=Quebec losing young people to interprovincial migration, report shows |last=Serebrin |first=Jacob |publisher=Montreal Gazette |date=2018-07-26 |language=en |access-date=2018-12-28}} Per capita, Quebec has lost significantly fewer people than other provinces. This is due to the large population of the province and the very low migration rate of francophone Quebeckers.{{fact|date=July 2020}} However, Quebec receives much fewer than average in-migrants from other provinces.{{fact|date=July 2020}}

In Quebec, allophones are more likely to migrate out of the province than average: between 1996 and 2001, over 19,170 migrated to other provinces; 18,810 of whom migrated to Ontario.{{Cite web |url=http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/Products/Analytic/companion/lang/tables/migration.cfm |title=Net population gains or losses from interprovincial migration by language group, provinces and territories, 1991-1996 and 1996-2001 |access-date=2018-12-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080617104746/http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/products/analytic/companion/lang/tables/migration.cfm |archive-date=2008-06-17 |url-status=live}}

Source: Statistics CanadaStatistics Canada, table 051-0012: [https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/cv.action?pid=1710001501#timeframe Interprovincial migrants, by age group and sex, Canada, provinces and territories, annual.]

{{Canada provinces map|width=240px|prefix =Demographics of|map=QC-Canada-province.png|caption=Demographics of Canada's provinces and territories}}

• Demographics of Canada
• Demographic history of Quebec
• Demolinguistics of Quebec
• Demographics of Montreal
• Cahiers québécois de démographie academic journal
• Immigration to Quebec
• Immigration to Canada
• Population of Canada by province and territory

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• [http://www.stat.gouv.qc.ca/ Institut de la statistique du Québec]
• [http://www.statcan.ca Statistics Canada]
• [http://www.populationdata.net PopulationData.net]

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