Quebec Anglophones
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English-speaking Quebecers, also known as Anglo-Quebecers, English Quebecers, or Anglophone Quebecers (all alternately spelt Quebeckers; in French ''Anglo-Québécois'', ''Québécois Anglophone'') or simply Anglos in a Quebec context, are a
linguistic minority A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory. Such people are termed linguistic minorities or language minorities. With a total number of 196 sovereign states recognized internationally (as of 2019) and ...
in the Francophonic province of
Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
. According to the 2011 Canadian census, 599,225 people (around 7.7% of the population) in Quebec declare English as a
mother tongue A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongue'' refers ...
. When asked, 834,950 people (about 10.7% of the population) reported using English the most at home. The origins of English-speaking Quebecers include immigration from both English-speaking and non English-speaking countries, migration from other Canadian provinces, and strong
English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...
education programs in Quebecois schools. This makes estimating the population of those who identify as English-speaking Quebecers difficult.


Population

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...
uses census data to keep track of minority language communities in Canada. It has recorded ''
mother tongue A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongue'' refers ...
'' (the first language learned as a child and still spoken) since 1921, ''
home language A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongue'' refers ...
'' (language spoken at home) since 1971, and ''first official language learned'' (English or French) since 1991. In addition, conversational knowledge of English and French is documented. A considerable number of census respondents in each category cite equal proficiency, knowledge, and use of different languages. In this case, census respondents are divided evenly among the language groups involved. As allophone immigrants (mother tongue other than English or French) generally arrive with knowledge of either English or French and eventually integrate into these two linguistic groups, ''first official language learned'' is used to determine the Official Language minority population. It is used by the federal government and Quebec anglophone community organizations to determine the demand for minority language services. Specifically, it classifies members of immigrant groups who learn English before French as English-speaking. Half of the people equally proficient since childhood in both English and French are placed into each linguistic community. The English-speaking population has shown an accelerated decline in population between 1971 and 2001. During this interval, the number of mother tongue anglophones decreased from 788,830 to 591,365, representing a drop in its share of the Quebec population from 13.1% to 8.3%. This is attributed primarily to an exodus of anglophones to other provinces and raised questions about the sustainability of the community. Immigration from other countries and integration of allophones helped to partially alleviate the impact of this trend. In 2001, one in three immigrants to Quebec was English-speaking and settled in Montreal. This made the decrease in home-language anglophones less pronounced, particularly in the Montreal area. This situation is rapidly changing as the vast majority of immigrants now adopt French as their first language: three quarters of linguistic transfers of allophones arriving between 2001 and 2006 allophones arriving have been towards French instead of English. The 2006 census showed an increase of the Anglophone population in Quebec. The rise of 16,000 people (from 591,000 in 2001 to 607,000 in 2006) represents a growth rate of +2.7%, which is higher than that for the Francophone population (+2.0%) for the same period. This increase is attributed to a much reduced net outmigration of Anglophones, with some 34,000 departures vs 26,000 arrivals (primarily from Ontario). Emigration to other Canadian provinces was perceived as the biggest challenge facing the continued presence of English-language communities in Quebec, particularly outside Montreal, during the 1976 to 2001 period. English-speakers accounted for half the out-migrants from Quebec as they are extremely mobile compared to their francophone neighbours because they share a language and cultural identity with most other Canadians and North Americans. In a survey on the matter, English-speaking Quebecers cited limited economic prospects and politics ( Quebec's language policies and the
Quebec independence The Quebec sovereignty movement (French: ''mouvement souverainiste du Québec'', ) is a political movement advocating for Quebec's independence from Canada. Proponents argue that Quebecers form a distinct nation with a unique culture, language, ...
) as primary reasons for leaving. These political factors are also cited as having led to fewer Canadians from other provinces settling in Quebec. Anglophones are also less likely to migrate within the province than Francophones and Allophones. This is due to a strong sense of belonging among those in the Montreal area, the relative lack of English-language services and institutions outside Montreal, and a weak sense of identification with Quebec. Despite a lull in this outflux during an economic boom and break from separatist governments in 2003, this outmigration had returned to established levels by 2006 and is projected to continue at these rates over the next five years. At the time, this forecast made researcher Jack Jedwab predict a continued long term decline of the community.


Locations


Montreal

Most of Quebec's English-speaking population resides in the Montreal region on the
Island of Montreal The Island of Montreal (, ) is an island in southwestern Quebec, Canada, which is the site of a number of municipalities, including most of the city of Montreal, and is the most populous island in Canada. It is the main island of the Hochelag ...
. The population is concentrated in the
West Island The West Island (, ) is the unofficial name given to the city, towns and boroughs at the western end of the Island of Montreal, in Quebec, Canada. It is generally considered to consist of the Lakeshore municipalities of Lachine (specific ...
and in the western half of
Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
's urban core, where there is a large network of English-language educational, social, cultural, economic, and medical institutions. However, there are smaller English-speaking communities in the east end as well, notably Saint-Leonard and Rivière-des-Prairies. The earliest English-speaking people arrived in Montreal at the beginning of the British regime in the second half of the 18th century. By 1831 the majority of the population were of British origin. American merchants,
United Empire Loyalists United Empire Loyalist (UEL; or simply Loyalist) is an honorific title which was first given by Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, the 1st Lord Dorchester, the governor of Province of Quebec (1763–1791), Quebec and Governor General, governor ...
and Anglo-Scot
Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
founded Quebec's public and private English-language institutions and would represent Quebec's elite merchant and financial classes up until the 1960s; the heritage of this era remains in neighbourhoods such as
Westmount Westmount () is a city on the Island of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is an enclave of the city of Montreal, with a population of 19,658 as of the 2021 Canadian census. Westmount is home to schools, an arena, a pool, a public li ...
and the
Golden Square Mile The Golden Square Mile (, ), also known as the Square Mile, is the nostalgic name given to an urban neighbourhood developed principally between 1850 and 1930 at the foot of Mount Royal, in the west-central section of downtown Montreal in Quebec, Ca ...
.
Irish Quebecers Irish Quebecers (, ) are residents of the Canadian province of Quebec who have Irish ancestry. In 2016, there were 446,215 Quebecers who identified themselves as having partial or exclusive Irish descent in Quebec, representing 5.46% of the popul ...
established their schools, churches and hospitals in the mid-19th century in traditionally working-class neighbourhoods such as Point St. Charles and
Griffintown Griffintown is a historic neighbourhood of Montreal, Quebec, southwest of downtown. The area existed as a functional neighbourhood from the 1820s until the 1960s and was mainly populated by Irish immigrants and their descendants. Mostly depopulate ...
. Separate English-language confessional (Protestant and Catholic) school systems emerged, in the religious-based
Montreal Catholic School Commission The Montreal Catholic School Commission (Commission des écoles catholiques de Montréal, CECM) was a Roman Catholic school district in Montreal, Quebec, Canada which operated both French-language and English-language schools. It was the largest s ...
and
Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal The Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal (PSBGM, Commission des écoles protestantes du Grand Montréal, CEPGM) was a Protestant and predominantly English-language school district in Montreal, Quebec, Canada which was founded in 1951 as a ...
, and would be guaranteed in the
British North America Act 1867 The ''Constitution Act, 1867'' (30 & 31 Vict. c. 3) (),''The Constitution Act, 1867'', 30 & 31 Victoria (U.K.), c. 3, http://canlii.ca/t/ldsw retrieved on 2019-03-14. originally enacted as the ''British North America Act, 1867'' (BNA Act), ...
thanks to D'Arcy McGee, a prominent Irish Montrealer. Prior 2000, these school systems were merged into linguistic English-language boards. An English-speaking
Black Canadian Black Canadians () are Canadians of full or partial Afro-Caribbean or sub-Saharan African descent. Black Canadian settlement and immigration patterns can be categorized into two distinct groups. The majority of Black Canadians are descendants ...
community grew in the 1860s with the coming of the railway industry centred in Montreal, settling in
Little Burgundy Little Burgundy (, ) is a neighbourhood in the Le Sud-Ouest, South West Boroughs of Montreal, borough of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Geography Its approximate boundaries are Atwater Avenue to the west, Saint Antoine Street, Saint-An ...
and
Saint-Henri Saint-Henri () is a neighbourhood in southwestern Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in the Montreal borough, borough of Le Sud-Ouest. Saint-Henri is bounded to the east by Atwater Avenue, to the west by the town of Montreal West, Quebec, Montreal West, ...
. The first school built by the new Protestant Board of School Commissioners of Montreal was the Royal Arthur School which opened in 1870. The early 1900s brought waves of settlers from all over Europe. Jews from Poland, Romania and Russia established a large Jewish community, and integrated into the English-speaking "Protestant" schools and businesses. Italian immigrants would adopt the Catholic institutions of either the Irish or francophone community. These and many other immigrant communities would initially settle along Saint Lawrence Boulevard (nicknamed "The Main"), before moving on to more prosperous suburbs such as Côte-Saint-Luc and Saint-Léonard. In the 1950s, more immigration from Europe again changed the face of Montreal. Immigrants flocked to Montreal from all across Europe, bolstering the numbers of established cultural communities, with a
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
community planting strong roots in the English-speaking community. Immigrants of today come from all over the world (some have argued that they are largely more secular than members of the established English-speaking communities). Also, a larger proportion are French-speaking than before. However, immigrants from English-speaking countries such as Britain, the United States, and
Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
usually come with a knowledge of English;
Asians "Asian people" (sometimes "Asiatic people")United States National Library of Medicine. Medical Subject Headings. 2004. November 17, 200Nlm.nih.gov: ''Asian Continental Ancestry Group'' is also used for categorical purposes. is an umbrella term ...
account for the fastest growing segment of the population, with over 26,000 Asians coming to Quebec between 1996 and 2001 and having English as their first official language spoken in 2001; as a result, over a quarter of anglophones now come from
visible minority In Canada, a visible minority () is defined by the Government of Canada as "persons, other than aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour". The term is used primarily as a demographic category by Statistics Canada ...
groups. Some First Nation peoples such as the Mohawk, the Cree, and Inuit also use English in their day-to-day lives. These groups blend in easily in a community that defines itself increasingly as
multicultural Multiculturalism is the coexistence of multiple cultures. The word is used in sociology, in political philosophy, and colloquially. In sociology and everyday usage, it is usually a synonym for ''ethnic'' or cultural pluralism in which various e ...
and
bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...
. Its large diversity, mobility and access to mainstream North American society means that most anglophones in Quebec will identify themselves as Canadian or by their cultural group, and identify as "anglophone" only in the context of Quebec's
French-speaking French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-Romance, a descendant of the Latin spoken in ...
majority.


Montérégie and Estrie

In the late 18th century and the early 19th century, the
Eastern Townships The Eastern Townships (, ) is a historical administrative region in southeastern Quebec, Canada. It lies between the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands, St. Lawrence Lowlands and the American border, and extends from Granby, Quebec, Granby in ...
and the Chateauguay Valley were pioneered by English-speaking settlers who moved north from the United States; the first were Loyalists (Tories in the U.S.) wishing to remain
British subjects The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...
after The American Revolution. Very few of these Loyalists were allowed to stay in the Eastern Townships and were in fact forced by the British to move from the lands that they were squatting on because the British desired to keep the Eastern Townships as an unpopulated buffer zone between the Canadians and the Americans. By the end of the 1790s, American homesteaders were allowed to come northward to settle lands across the border. Today, the southwestern portion of the Montérégie, notably the Chateauguay Valley and Vaudreuil-Soulanges, are home to a significant anglophone presence. The town of
Hudson Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Hudson (surname) * Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back * Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudson Rodrigues dos Santos, Brazilian f ...
, and the cities of Saint-Lazare and
Pincourt Pincourt () is a municipality on the island of Île Perrot, off the western tip of the island of Montreal, Quebec. The population as of the 2021 Canadian census was 14,751. The town shares the island with the three other municipalities of Notre ...
, have an anglophone majority and pluralities respectively.


Laval

In Laval, the neighbourhoods of Chomedey and Sainte-Dorothée have noticeable English-speaking communities, particularly of
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
and Greek descent.


Elsewhere in Quebec

Many American and
Anglo-Scottish Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term ''Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people of British de ...
merchants settled in
Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...
in the nineteenth century; however, the majority of anglophones were working-class
Irish immigrants The Irish diaspora () refers to ethnic Irish people and their descendants who live outside the island of Ireland. The phenomenon of migration from Ireland is recorded since the Early Middle Ages,Flechner, Roy; Meeder, Sven (2017). The Irish ...
. In the 1860s, the proportion of English-speakers reached a historic high of 40%. The population gradually dwindled as Montreal replaced Quebec City as a centre of commerce and industry. English-speakers now represent 1.9% of the total population in the Quebec metropolitan area. The
Morrin Centre The Morrin Centre is a cultural centre in the Old Quebec neighbourhood of Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. It is designed to educate the public about the historic contribution and present-day culture of local Anglo-Quebecer, English-speakers. The ce ...
is a cultural hub for Quebec City's English-speaking community, linked together by media institutions such as the ''
Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph The ''Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph'', founded by William Brown (journalist), William Brown (c. 1737–1789) as the ''Quebec Gazette'' on 21 June 1764, is the oldest running newspaper in North America. It is currently published as an English langu ...
'', CBC Radio One (
CBVE-FM CBVE-FM is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts the programming of the CBC Radio One network at 104.7 FM in Quebec City, Quebec. The station's main transmitter is located at Mount Bélair. Its studios are co-located with its francophone s ...
) in Quebec City, and the ''La Maison Anglaise'' bookstore All English-speaking communities outside the Montreal metropolitan area have been in decline for over a century. However, communities near Montreal, the border with Ontario, and the border with the United States are still large enough to constitute a sizeable yet shrinking minority in these regions. Immigrants from England, Scotland, and Ireland would further settle these regions in the mid 19th century, and pioneer the
Outaouais region Outaouais (, ; also commonly called The Outaouais) is a region of western Quebec, Canada. It includes the city of Gatineau, the municipality of Val-des-Monts, the municipality of Cantley and the Papineau region. Geographically, it is located on ...
(
Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, directly across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region of Quebec and is also p ...
and Pontiac region) and many Laurentian communities. By the end of the nineteenth century, many grew into thriving small cities: Shawville, Aylmer,
Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...
,
Lachute Lachute () is a town in southwest Quebec, Canada, northwest of Montreal, on the Rivière du Nord (Laurentides), Rivière du Nord, a tributary of the Ottawa River, and west of Mirabel International Airport, the Mirabel International Airport. It i ...
,
Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...
, St. Johns (now
Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu () is a city in eastern Montérégie in the Canadian province of Quebec, about southeast of Montreal, located roughly halfway between Montreal and the Canada–United States border with the state of Vermont. It is sit ...
), Granby,
Saint-Hyacinthe Saint-Hyacinthe ( , ) is a city in southwestern Quebec east of Montreal on the Yamaska River. The population as of the 2021 Canadian census was 57,239. The city is located in Les Maskoutains Regional County Municipality of the Montérégie regi ...
,
Victoriaville Victoriaville () is a town in south-central Quebec, Canada, on the Nicolet River. Victoriaville is the seat of Arthabaska Regional County Municipality and a part of the Centre-du-Québec (Bois-Francs) region. It is formed by the 1993 merger of ...
,
Drummondville Drummondville () is a city in the Centre-du-Québec region of Quebec, located east of Montreal on the Saint-François River. The population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 79,258. The mayor of Drummondville is Stéphanie Lacoste. Drummondville ...
, Magog,
Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( , ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François River, Saint-François and Magog River, Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territ ...
, Sawyerville. Migration to larger cities in Canada (including Montreal) has since reduced the English-speaking population in these regions, but sizeable English-speaking communities remain in
Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( , ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François River, Saint-François and Magog River, Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territ ...
(
Lennoxville Lennoxville () is an ''arrondissement'', or borough, of the city of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. Lennoxville is located at the confluence of the St. Francis and Massawippi Rivers approximately five kilometres south of downtown Sherbrooke. Lenn ...
), North Hatley,
Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...
, Ayer's Cliff,
Brome Lake Brome Lake () is a freshwater lake in the town of Brome Lake, in the Brome-Missisquoi regional county municipality of the Montérégie region of Quebec, Canada. It is the source of the Yamaska River. The name Brome Lake comes from Brome Towns ...
(Knowlton), and
Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...
. The English-speaking population is anchored by such institutions as
Bishop's University Bishop's University () is a small English-language Liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Lennoxville, a borough of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. The founder of the institution was the Anglican Diocese of Quebec, Anglican Bishop of Quebec ...
in Sherbrooke and the
Eastern Townships School Board The Eastern Townships School Board, also known as the Commission Scolaire Eastern Townships, is an anglophone school board covering the Eastern Townships in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of 2010, it over ...
. There has been English-speaking settlement or immigration to some degree in almost all areas of Quebec at one time or another. What remains today in many regions is only symbolic as anglophones have moved away, or assimilated into the French-speaking community (usually Catholics such as the Irish). English-speaking communities in the
Gaspé Peninsula The Gaspé Peninsula, also known as Gaspesia (, ; ), is a peninsula along the south shore of the St. Lawrence River that extends from the Matapedia Valley in Quebec, Canada, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is separated from New Brunswick on it ...
and the Lower North Shore remain, as well as a small community in the
Magdalen Islands The Magdalen Islands (, ) are a Canadian archipelago in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Since 2005, the 12-island archipelago is divided into two municipalities: the majority-francophone Municipality of Îles-de-la-Madeleine and the majority-angloph ...
.


Media

English-language media tend to come from outside the province. Most local English-language media are based in the Montreal area.


Television

The province's English-language television stations are
CBMT CBMT-DT (channel 6) is a television station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, broadcasting the English-language service of CBC Television. It is owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation alongside Ici Radio-Canada Télé flagship ...
(
CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...
), CFCF ( CTV), CKMI (
Global Global may refer to: General *Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies *Earth, the third planet from the Sun Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...
) and
CJNT CJNT-DT (channel 62) is a television station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, part of the Citytv network. Owned and operated by network parent Rogers Sports & Media, the station maintains studios inside the Rogers Building at the corner of McGill C ...
(
Citytv Citytv (sometimes shortened to City, which was the network's official branding from 2012 to 2018) is a Television in Canada, Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The network consis ...
), all in Montreal. These stations are available on cable throughout the province and can also be received for free with the use of home TV antennas in cities located near television transmission towers. Anglophones in the Outaouais region are served by English stations from Ottawa. Southern Quebec is also served by American network affiliates from
Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...
and New York's North Country who actually depend on the Montreal market for most of their revenue. The
Burlington, VT Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the seat of Chittenden County. It is located south of the Canada–United States border and south of Montreal. As of the 2020 United ...
stations are
WCAX WCAX-TV (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Burlington, Vermont, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the Burlington, Vermont–Plattsburgh, New York market. It is owned by Gray Media alongside Saranac Lake, New York–li ...
(
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
),
WVNY WVNY (channel 22) is a television station licensed to Burlington, Vermont, United States, serving the Burlington, Vermont–Plattsburgh, New York market as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains a shared servic ...
(
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
), WFFF-TV (
Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...
), and Vermont Public Television (
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
). The
Plattsburgh, NY Plattsburgh is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, New York, United States, situated on the north-western shore of Lake Champlain. The population was 19,841 at the 2020 census. The population of the surrounding (and separately in ...
stations are
WPTZ WPTZ (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Plattsburgh, New York, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Burlington, Vermont–Plattsburgh, New York market. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside Montpelier, Vermo ...
(
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
) and
WCFE WCFE-TV (channel 57) is a PBS member television station licensed to Plattsburgh, New York, United States, serving the Champlain Valley and Greater Montreal areas. Owned by the Mountain Lake Public Telecommunications Council, the station maintains ...
(
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
). These stations are carried on Montreal-area cable networks, along with other English and French-language cable stations. (See
Multichannel television in Canada Canada is served by various multichannel television services, including cable television systems, two direct-broadcast satellite providers, and various other wireline IPTV and wireless MMDS video providers. Canadian multichannel television provi ...
.) Western Montreal carries more English-language programming to better serve the large English-speaking market.


Radio

English-language radio stations in Montreal include AM stations
CKGM CKGM (''TSN Radio, TSN 690 Montreal'') is an English language, English-language AM broadcasting, AM radio station in Montreal, Quebec, owned by Bell Media Radio. Formerly an network affiliate, affiliate of sports radio network "The Team (radio n ...
(sports),
CJAD CJAD (800 AM) is a commercial radio station operating in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The station has an English language news/talk radio format and identifies itself on-air as ''CJAD 800''. Owned and operated by Bell Media, it has a daytime power ...
(news/talk) and FM radio, FM outlets CBME-FM, CBME (CBC Radio One), CKUT-FM, CKUT (campus radio from McGill University), CFQR-FM, CFQR (''Q92'', adult contemporary), CJFM-FM, CJFM (''Virgin Radio 96'', hot AC), CBM-FM, CBM (CBC Radio 2) and CHOM-FM, CHOM (mainstream rock). The Montreal off-island suburbs of
Hudson Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Hudson (surname) * Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back * Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudson Rodrigues dos Santos, Brazilian f ...
/ Saint-Lazare has English-language FM outlet CHSV-FM, CHSV (''Jewel 106.7'', soft adult contemporary). CKON-FM, owned by and serving the Akwesasne, Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne, broadcasts in English and Mohawk language, Kanien'keha. Listeners in
Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( , ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François River, Saint-François and Magog River, Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territ ...
,
Lennoxville Lennoxville () is an ''arrondissement'', or borough, of the city of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. Lennoxville is located at the confluence of the St. Francis and Massawippi Rivers approximately five kilometres south of downtown Sherbrooke. Lenn ...
and the
Eastern Townships The Eastern Townships (, ) is a historical administrative region in southeastern Quebec, Canada. It lies between the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands, St. Lawrence Lowlands and the American border, and extends from Granby, Quebec, Granby in ...
are served by CBC Radio One and CBC Radio 2 and the community radio station CJMQ-FM, CJMQ. CBC Radio One is also available in many other Quebec communities. Parts of the province also receive English-language signals from Ontario, New Brunswick, New York (state), New York or New England, notably VPR and
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
. However, no community in the province besides Montreal and Hudson/Saint Lazare has an English commercial station.


Newspapers and periodicals

Quebec has two English-language daily newspapers: the large ''The Gazette (Montreal), Montreal Gazette'', and the small ''The Record (Sherbrooke), Sherbrooke Record'', a local newspaper for the Eastern Townships. Many smaller communities in Quebec also have English-language weekly papers, including ''The Equity'' in Shawville, ''The Pontiac Journal'', a bilingual and bimonthly paper, the ''Stanstead Journal'' in Stanstead, Quebec, Stanstead, ''The First Informer'' in the
Magdalen Islands The Magdalen Islands (, ) are a Canadian archipelago in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Since 2005, the 12-island archipelago is divided into two municipalities: the majority-francophone Municipality of Îles-de-la-Madeleine and the majority-angloph ...
, ''The Gleaner (Quebec), The Gleaner'' in
Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...
, the ''
Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph The ''Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph'', founded by William Brown (journalist), William Brown (c. 1737–1789) as the ''Quebec Gazette'' on 21 June 1764, is the oldest running newspaper in North America. It is currently published as an English langu ...
'' in Quebec City, ''SPEC (newspaper), SPEC'' in the Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Gaspé region, the ''West Quebec Post'' in Buckingham, Quebec, Buckingham, the ''Aylmer Bulletin'' in Aylmer, Quebec, Aylmer, the ''Townships Sun'' in Lennoxville, the ''Suburban, Montreal Island's Largest English Weekly'', the ''Chronicle'' and the ''West End Times'' in the West Island, West Island of Montreal, the ''Westmount Independent'' in
Westmount Westmount () is a city on the Island of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is an enclave of the city of Montreal, with a population of 19,658 as of the 2021 Canadian census. Westmount is home to schools, an arena, a pool, a public li ...
, and ''The LowDown to Hull and Back News'' in La Pêche. From the 1990s until 2012, Montreal also had two English alternative weeklies, ''Hour Community, Hour'' and ''Montreal Mirror, Mirror''. ''Maisonneuve (magazine), Maisonneuve'' is a culturally literate bimonthly general-interest English-language magazine published in Montreal.


Politics

The politics of language has always played against issues of Quebec nationalism and Quebec separatism. English-speaking Quebeckers maintain a strong Canadian identity, with about 99% opposing Quebec sovereignty movement, Quebec sovereignty in 1980 Quebec referendum, 1980 and 1995 Quebec referendum, 1995 referendums. Having no distinct political representation in Quebec, they tend to vote for the federalist Liberal Party of Canada federally and for the Quebec Liberal Party at the provincial level. In 2001, English-speaking Quebeckers viewed provincial Charter of the French Language, language legislation as the principal challenge facing their community and more generally look to the federal government to protect their individual and collective rights from provincial government limits on access to English education, health care, government services, and visibility on public signs. The Canadian constitution protects the language rights of English-speaking communities and individuals in Quebec; however, since 1867, the Quebec provincial government has had full jurisdiction over schools, with only section 93 of the British North America Act 1867 (the Constitution Act, 1867) guaranteeing Protestant confessional boards the right to administer most English schools. Section 133 still allows French and English to be used in the Parliament of Canada and the National Assembly of Quebec, Legislature of Quebec and makes both languages mandatory for the laws, records, and journals of those houses. It also gives any person the right to plead in either English or French in any of the Courts of Quebec. In 1982, Section 23 of the Constitution Act, 1982 guaranteed the right of Canadian citizens educated in English in Canada to attend English schools. This paved the way for the Constitutional Amendment, 1999 (Québec) which was passed unanimously by the federal Parliament and the National Assembly of Quebec that transformed Protestant confessional school boards into English linguistic school boards. The federal government also maintains the Official Languages Act (Canada), Official Languages Act of 1988 that ensures equality between English and French in the federal civil service and ensures that official minority language groups in Canada receive service in their language where numbers warrant and that supports the development of communities of speakers of official languages when they constitute a minority in a province or territory. Politics of Quebec, Provincial legislation has also delimited the language rights of English-speaking Quebeckers and the role of their institutions since the Quiet Revolution as French-speaking French-speaking Quebecer, Québécois sought to improve their economic prospects, assimilate immigrants into their community to maintain their population, and establish French as a language of business. Bill 63, introduced by the Union nationale (Quebec), Union nationale government in 1969, required that English schools provide all students with a working knowledge of French. In 1974, the Liberal government of Robert Bourassa passed Bill 22 and restricted access to English schools to children who could pass a language test. In 1977, the separatist Parti Québécois passed the more intensive Charter of the French Language (Bill 101). This law made French the sole language of the civil service and of business in private workplaces with over 50 employees and established the right of all Quebeckers to work solely in French, now the sole official language of the province; it also favoured a demographic shift towards more francophones in Quebec by restricting access to English-language schools to children whose parents had attended Quebec English grade schools or high schools. The Charter is generally seen as emancipatory and a protector of culture and is immensely popular among Quebeckers. Other Charter provisions, though, deeply alienated English-speaking Quebeckers. The Charter cut off access to English schools to all but children who had parents who had received their education in English in Quebec. The Charter also eliminated the Constitutional guarantee to English legal proceedings and eliminated English translations of Quebec laws. It banned all languages other than French on all public signs, both inside and outside. (The regulations for signs would be modified in 1988 and 1993.) The law has therefore polarized Quebec along linguistic lines to this day. Legal dispute over Quebec's language policy, Legal challenges by English-speaking Quebeckers using provisions of the Canadian constitution and international law overturned some of these provisions, forcing subsequent Quebec governments to blunt these Charter provisions many times. The Charter coupled with the looming 1980 Quebec referendum, 1980 Referendum on Sovereignty triggered an exodus of English-speaking Quebeckers between 1976 and 1980, exacerbating the already existing demographic decline. Head offices that employed anglophones moved mostly to Toronto, taking their employees with them. Structural unemployment in the private sector with the mass hiring of francophones in an expanding civil service limited the economic opportunities of especially young non-bilingual anglophones in Quebec leading them to search for work elsewhere. Young highly educated anglophones, despite high rates of bilingualism and increased contact and openness to francophones, cite limited economic prospects caused by linguistic discrimination and an unsatisfactory political climate as the major factors in their departure. By 2001, 50% of mother-tongue anglophones had left the province. Faced with increasing marginalization from the political process in Quebec, English-speaking community groups across the province banded together to form Alliance Quebec, a provincial lobby group that would advocate for English-language education, health, and social services. It was supported by the federal Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, Commissioner of Official Languages and members worked with provincial administrations to maintain and increase access to English government services across the province. Sign laws governing language are a particular irritant to English-speaking Quebeckers. When the original Charter provision requiring French only on commercial signs and in trade names was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1988, the Liberal government of Robert Bourassa passed Bill 178 that made French the only language that could be used on outdoor commercial signs. This required invoking the Section Thirty-three of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, notwithstanding clause in the Canadian Constitution, which overrode the Supreme Court decision. Discontent with the Liberals led anglophones in Western Montreal to form the Equality Party (Quebec), Equality Party in protest, which surprised many by electing 4 candidates in the 1989 provincial election. As the sign law would have to be renewed in 1993, the Liberal government passed a law that mandated French on signs. As recommended by the Supreme Court, this law allowed other languages on the sign, as long as French was predominant. Although this law stands up to Supreme Court challenges, many anglophones refer to the Office québécois de la langue française, inspectorate that enforces the law as "tongue troopers" and "language cops". In addition to the rights guaranteed by the constitution of Canada, the various regulations outside the Charter recognise other linguistic rights of Quebec anglophones. Quebeckers have the right to receive services in English from all public health care and social service institutions in Quebec. The charter also permits bilingual status to cities, but only those with a majority of English mother-tongue residents; other cities are not required to provide services in English but usually do if a significant minority of the population is English-speaking. Ninety-three municipalities offer bilingual services in Quebec. In 2002, Quebec's French Language Charter was amended with ''Bill 104'', which aims to prevent education received in fully private English schools or through temporary certificates from producing constitutional education rights. Several court cases are still pending. After the 2022 Quebec general election, political leaders and commentators of the province issued growing concerns about the political weight of the English speaking Quebeckers in Quebec's democracy. The Quebec Liberal Party did indeed win the second place in parliament having 21 seats while having 14.37% of the popular vote, behind Québec Solidaire and the Parti Québécois, respectively in third and fourth place with 11 and 3 seats. It is generally understood that this happened because of the concentration of the Liberal vote in the Centre and Western part of Montreal, where English speakers are often a majority.


Education

In 2001, Quebec had 340 primary and secondary English-language schools administered by nine English-language school boards. As in French-language schools, elementary education goes from Kindergarten to Elementary 6 (K-6), while high school goes from Secondary 1 to 5 (grades 7-11). The curriculum is strictly controlled by the Ministère de l'Education, Quebec's provincial education ministry, and is generally identical to that offered in the French-language public school system. The exception is language education. French is taught as a second language in English schools from Grade 1 onwards, and English is symmetrically taught as a second language in French schools from grade 1 onwards. English schools in the Montreal area were pioneers in French immersion and Bilingual Education, bilingual education starting in the late 1960s. As a result, they offer a range of established bilingual and short- and long-immersion programs. Programs offering both French and English curricula as a first language have recently been approved by the Minister of Education and are increasingly popular. English immersion programs are not common in French-language public schools. Some English-speaking Quebecers also opt to send their children to French-language schools. As a result, programs to integrate English-speaking children into a French-speaking milieu (particularly in English-speaking areas on the West Island) are increasingly popular in French school boards, and have used in French-language private school for years. In an addition to the public system, many private schools provide instruction in English, including schools serving religious and cultural communities. Quebec subsidizes a large portion of the tuition on the condition that they teach the provincial curriculum; almost all private schools accept these conditions and the accompanying subsidy. Access to English-language public and semi-private education is restricted by provincial law to children who have at least one parent educated in English in Canada. Temporary residents of Quebec and English-speaking immigrants whose children have special learning needs may apply to the Ministère de l'Education for permission to enter these schools. (see Charter of the French Language). Access to private schools is open to anyone who can afford the tuition. College education in Quebec, Colleges provide 3-year career certification programs or 2-year pre-University curricula following Grade 11 (Secondary 5) high school. Most are CEGEP, public colleges and have very low tuition fees; a few are subsidized private institutions. Core courses in English literature, humanities, and French represent about 25% of the curriculum. There are eight English-language Colleges, open to all Quebec residents. English is also the language of instruction at three Quebec universities (McGill University, Concordia University (Montreal), Concordia University and
Bishop's University Bishop's University () is a small English-language Liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Lennoxville, a borough of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. The founder of the institution was the Anglican Diocese of Quebec, Anglican Bishop of Quebec ...
) that offer 3-year undergraduate programs for Quebec students graduating from college. They also offer standard 4-year programs to students from all over Canada, North America, and the world. For Quebec residents, 85% of tuition is subsidized by the provincial government. Canadian students pay differential tuition fees based on the Canadian average. Foreign students pay the full cost of their tuition, although Quebec has signed reciprocal agreements with some jurisdictions such as France, Belgium, Bavaria, and Catalonia allowing students to pay local Quebec tuition rates. McGill and Concordia offer some instruction in French, and exams and assignments may be done in French at all universities, as long as the goal of the course is not to learn or improve the mastery of a language.


Health care

Montreal has several English-language hospitals that offer multilingual services, including service in French: *McGill University Health Centre **Montreal General Hospital **Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Royal Victoria Hospital **Montreal Children's Hospital **Montreal Neurological Institute **Montreal Chest Institute **Lachine Hospital **Allan Memorial Institute *Douglas Mental Health University Institute (Montreal) *Lakeshore General Hospital (Pointe-Claire) *Jewish General Hospital (Montreal) *St. Mary's Hospital (Montreal), Saint Mary's Hospital (Montreal) *Queen Elizabeth Health Centre, formerly the Queen Elizabeth hospital Outside Montreal, some hospitals also provide services in English. *Brome-Missisquoi-Perkins Hospital (Eastern Townships) *Pontiac Community Hospital (Shawville) *Jeffery Hale Hospital (Quebec City) *Barrie Memorial Hospital (Ormstown)


Symbols of English-speaking Quebecers

Jacques Viger, the first mayor of Montreal, created the city's first coat of arms in 1833. The arms consisted of a red saltire surrounded by heraldic symbols to represent the cultural makeup of the municipality at the time. While a beaver represented the French community, he added a rose to represent those of English descent, a shamrock for the Irish, and a thistle for the Scottish. Current and former towns with sizeable Anglophone populations such as Sherbrooke, Lachine, Saint Michel, and Sainte-Cunégonde (now called Little Burgundy) also incorporated some or all of these same Anglophone symbols into their own respective arms. Subsequently, the beaver has usually been replaced by the fleur-de-lis to represent French-speakers. While Viger's selection of heraldic symbols aptly represented Quebec's Anglophone population, the charges themselves were not unique Quebec inventions since they were borrowed from British heraldry. Over the years, without a truly unique symbol of their own, Quebec's Anglophones tended to gravitate towards British icons such as the Union Jack, the Red Ensign and then later on Canada's Maple Leaf. The flag of Montreal, where many Anglophones live, is also popular, as it resembles the flags of both Flag of Quebec, Quebec and Flag of England, England. In Spring 2007, an article was published in Flagscan (Issue 83 – ) suggesting that Quebec's Anglophone population should adopt its own flag. The article noted that Francophone minority populations outside Quebec in the rest of Canada all had their own unique cultural identity flags and that the English-speaking community of Quebec should do the same. A number of possible designs were also presented. A variant of the same article was also posted over the internet.Anglo-Quebec Flag
, Flags and Coats of Arms from the Island of Montreal. Retrieved 2011-11-24.
Other than British heraldic charges, Quebec's Anglophone community still has no unique emblem representing itself that is officially recognized at any government level. File:Armoiries Montreal 1833.jpg, Coat of arms of Montreal, original version of 1833 File:Coat of Arms of some former cities in Montreal.jpg, Coat of Arms of former cities in Montreal File:Coat of arms Sherbrooke.svg, Sherbrooke Coat of arms File:Flag of Montreal.svg, Flag of Montreal


See also

*English Canadian *Franco-Ontarian *List of English-speaking Quebecers *List of anglophone communities in Québec *List of Anglo-Quebecer musicians *Scots-Quebecer *
Irish Quebecers Irish Quebecers (, ) are residents of the Canadian province of Quebec who have Irish ancestry. In 2016, there were 446,215 Quebecers who identified themselves as having partial or exclusive Irish descent in Quebec, representing 5.46% of the popul ...
*French-speaking Quebecer, Québécois *Acadians *Métis people (Canada), Métis *Official bilingualism in Canada *''The Rise and Fall of English Montreal''


Notes


References

;Communities * * ;Population * * * * * * ;Politics * * * * ;Education * * * ;Health Care * * *


External links


Bill 199
Charter of the French and English Languages (1992) {{DEFAULTSORT:English-Speaking Quebecer Anglophone Quebec people, English language in Canada Quebec Anglophone culture, * Bilingualism in Canada Canadian English Culture of Montreal Culture of Quebec Ethnic groups in Canada Linguistic minorities Society of Canada Quebec society