French on decline among young Quebecers: OQLF report

A new report shows the use of French is on the decline among young people in Quebec.

The 152-page report by the OQLF, Quebec’s language watchdog, shows the level of French spoken outside the home is often below the provincial average among 18- to 34-year-olds, especially in Montreal.

CityNews spoke to young Montrealers downtown this weekend to get their thoughts on the report.

“There’s a lot of people in Montreal that speak more English,” one person said.

“For a time, it was 50/50, I think, between English and French,” said another. “I think now it’s getting more Anglophone, but I think a lot of people speak French. But in their home, they speak more English I think.”

“Downtown probably more English I think because it’s more diverse, but I do hear French a lot too,” added a third.

The report says young people are more likely to favour English or a mix of English and French at work and in shops. Fifty-eight per cent of Quebecers aged 18 to 34 used French almost exclusively at work in 2023, compared to 64 per cent in 2010.

The report also shows that enrollment in English CEGEPs is on the rise, and that more than half of young Quebecers prefer using English on social media platforms.

“Each person speaks the language they want to speak. The most important is what language you understand,” one Montrealer said.

“I think it depends on the area, here for example it’s more Anglophone but there’s still a lot of people who speak French,” said another.

In Montreal, the use of French outside the home drops to 60 per cent. In Gatineau, it drops to 63 per cent.

Jack Jedwab, the president and CEO of the Association for Canadian Studies and the Metropolis Institute, says the findings are not surprising.

“The fact that there’s just a lot more mixing and interaction between Anglophones, Francophones and Allophones in Montreal and Gatineau and that’s an inevitable reality,” said Jedwab.

Last month, the Quebec government announced it will be spending more than $600 million to promote the French language, with more than half the money going towards helping newcomers learn French.

“Immigration could have changed the demographics to the extent that the vast majority of immigrants coming to Quebec are persons whose first language is neither English nor French,” said Jedwab. “You’re seeing sort of a renewal of that phenomenon. And so over time, there’s going to be some stability, but Allophones speak French to a reasonably important degree, and so the real issue, I think, is the extent to which they speak both French and English.”

Jean-François Roberge, the province’s French language minister, says the report doesn’t take into account recent changes that strengthened the French Language Charter. But he added: “If we have to go further, we’ll do it.”