Black Loyalists were people of African descent who sided with Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War . In particular, the term referred to men enslaved by Patriots who served on the Loyalist side because of the Crown 's guarantee of freedom.
186-636: Black Canadians ( French : Canadiens Noirs ), also known as African Canadians (French: Canadiens Africains ) or Afro-Canadians (French: Afro-Canadiens ), are Canadians of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean and African origin, though the Black Canadian population also consists of African Americans in Canada and their descendants (including Black Nova Scotians ). Black Canadians have contributed to many areas of Canadian culture . Many of
372-523: A Black Loyalist named Richard Pierpoint , who was born about 1744 in Senegal and who had settled near present-day St. Catharines , Ontario, offered to organize a Corps of Men of Colour to support the British war effort. This was refused but a white officer raised a small black corps. This "Coloured Corps" fought at Queenston Heights and the siege of Fort George , defending what would become Canada from
558-620: A "pioneer" was a soldier who built roads, dug trenches, and did other manual labor. These soldiers were typically divided into smaller corps and attached to larger armies. The Black Pioneers worked to build fortifications and other necessities, and they could be called upon to work under fire. They served under General Clinton in a support capacity in North Carolina, New York, Newport, Rhode Island , and Philadelphia . They did not sustain any casualties because they were never used in combat. In Philadelphia, their general orders were to "attend
744-744: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process
930-466: A black woman was founded in North Buxton by the free Black Mary Ann Shadd which pressed for Black emigration to Canada as the best option for fleeing African Americans. The settlement of Elgin was formed in 1849 with the royal assent of Governor-General of the time James Bruce as a settlement for Black Canadians and escaped slaves based upon social welfare and the prevention of moral decay among
1116-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,
1302-450: A description which could only match Mink at the time. Aytoun used the trope of the tragic mulatto and others in his book to degrade the Mink family and successful free black Canadians in general. The myth of Mary Mink remains to this day, and was even made into 1996 TV movie called Captive Heart: The James Mink Story , which bills itself as "based on a true story". In 1858, James Douglas ,
1488-451: A distinct cultural group, some of whom can trace their Canadian ancestry back to the 1700s, use both "African Canadian" and "Black Canadian" to describe themselves. For example, there is an Office of African Nova Scotian Affairs and a Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia . Black Canadians often draw a distinction between those of Afro-Caribbean ancestry and those of other African roots. Many Black people of Caribbean origin in Canada reject
1674-555: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
1860-465: A group of blacks working for a Pittsburgh hotel had armed themselves with handguns before heading for Canada saying they were "... determined to die rather be captured". The Toronto Colonist newspaper on 17 June 1852 noted that almost every ship or boat coming into Toronto harbour from the American side of Lake Ontario seemed to be carrying a run-away slave. One of the more active "conductors" on
2046-562: A mixed union with a non-Black person. Black and non-Black couples represented 40.6% of pairings involving a Black person. Among native-born Black Canadians in couples, 63% of them were in a mixed union. About 17% of Black Canadians born in the Caribbean and in Bermuda were in a mixed relationship, compared to 13% of African-born Black Canadians. Furthermore, 30% of Black men in unions were in mixed unions, compared to 20% of Black women. There
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#17327795147562232-705: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on
2418-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in
2604-728: A result of usually working in the home rather than the fields or mines, enslaved Africans typically lived longer than Aboriginal enslaved people: an average 25.2 years instead of 17.7. As in France's colonies in the West Indies, slavery in New France was governed by the Code Noir ("Black Code") issued by King Louis XIV in 1685 which stated that only Catholics could own slaves; required that all slaves be converted to Roman Catholicism upon their purchase; recognized slave marriages as legal; and forbade masters from selling slave children under
2790-587: A second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as a working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and
2976-526: A second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only
3162-941: A second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as
3348-451: A tavern that was famous for the quality of its food and brandy all over the island. When she died in 1757, her will and inventory of her possessions showed that she owned expensive clothing imported from France, and like many other women from 18th century west Africa had a fondness for brightly coloured dresses. When New France was ceded to England in 1763, French colonists were assured that they could retain their human property. In 1790, when
3534-547: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in
3720-534: Is Harry Washington , likely born about 1740 in The Gambia , enslaved as a young man and shipped to Virginia. He was purchased by George Washington in 1763; he escaped about 1776 in Virginia to British lines, eventually making his way to New York. He was among free blacks evacuated to Nova Scotia by the British following the war. He later took the opportunity to migrate to Freetown in Africa. By 1800, he became
3906-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French
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#17327795147564092-779: 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 Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French
4278-472: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English
4464-489: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given
4650-430: Is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including
4836-462: Is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in the world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share
5022-457: Is compared to 53.3%, 4.9%, and 34.6%, respectively, of Canadians as a whole. Among first-generation Black Canadian immigrants, 74.2% are Christian, 13.3% are Muslim, and 11.4% are irreligious. A small amount of Black Canadians (0.6%) also have some Indigenous heritage, due to historical intermarriage between Black and First Nations or Métis communities. Historically little known, this aspect of Black Canadian cultural history began to emerge in
5208-533: Is considered derogatory. Quebec film director Robert Morin faced controversy in 2002 when he chose the title Le Nèg' for a film about anti-Black racism, and in 2015 five placenames containing Nègre (as well as six that contained the English term nigger ) were changed after the Commission de toponymie du Québec ruled the terms no longer acceptable for use in geographic names. The Black presence in Canada
5394-652: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in
5580-503: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English
5766-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from
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5952-606: Is no single generally-accepted name for Canadians of Black African descent. The term "African Canadian" is used by some Black Canadians who trace their heritage to enslaved peoples brought by British and French colonists to the North American mainland and to Black Loyalists . This group includes those who were promised freedom by the British during the American Revolutionary War ; thousands of Black Loyalists, including Thomas Peters , were resettled by
6138-743: Is now Sierra Leone , where they became the original settlers of Freetown . They, along with other groups of free transplanted people such as the Black Poor from England, became what is now the Sierra Leone Creole people , also known as the Krio . Although difficult to estimate due to the failure to differentiate enslaved African people and free Black populations, it is estimated that by 1784 there were around 40 enslaved Africans within Montreal, compared to around 304 enslaved Africans within
6324-469: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in
6510-549: Is often used by those of Caribbean ancestry, although the term is more of a cultural description than a racial one, and can equally be applied to groups of many different racial and ethnic backgrounds. More specific national terms such as Jamaican Canadian , Haitian Canadian , or Ghanaian Canadian are also used. No widely used alternative to "Black Canadian" is accepted by the Afro-Caribbean population, those of more recent African extraction, descendants of immigrants from
6696-828: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for
6882-622: Is rooted mostly in voluntary immigration. Despite the various dynamics that may complicate the personal and cultural interrelationships between descendants of the Black Loyalists in Nova Scotia, descendants of former American slaves who viewed Canada as the promise of freedom at the end of the Underground Railroad, and more recent immigrants from the Caribbean or Africa, one common element that unites all of these groups
7068-471: Is somewhat peculiar in many ways, anti-slavery is more popular there than in any city I know save Syracuse...I had good audiences in the towns of Vaughan, Markham, Pickering and in the village of Newmarket. Anti-slavery feeling is spreading and increasing in all these places. The public mind literally thirsts for the truth, and honest listeners and anxious inquirers will travel many miles, crowd our country chapels, and remain for hours eagerly and patiently seeking
7254-576: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,
7440-475: Is that they are in Canada because they or their ancestors actively chose of their own free will to settle there. The first recorded Black person to have potentially entered Canadian waters was an unnamed Black man on board the Jonas , which was bound for Port-Royal (Acadia). He died of scurvy either at Port Royal, or along the journey, in 1606. The first recorded Black person to set foot on land now known as Canada
7626-553: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure
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7812-483: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in
7998-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially
8184-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism
8370-673: The Dred Scott v. Sandford decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that black Americans were not and never could be U.S. citizens under any conditions, a ruling that appeared to suggest that laws prohibiting slavery in the northern states were unconstitutional. As a result of the Fugitive Slave Act and legal rulings to expand slavery in the United States, many free blacks living in the United States chose to seek sanctuary in Canada with one newspaper in 1850 mentioning that
8556-733: The Song of the Free had the lyrics: "I'm on my way to Canada, That cold and distant land, The dire effects of slavery, I can no longer stand, Farewell, old master, Don't come after me, I'm on my way to Canada, Where colored men are free!". In 1850, the United States Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act , which gave bounty hunters the right to recapture run-away slaves anywhere in the United States and ordered all federal, state and municipal law enforcement to co-operate with
8742-577: The 2016 census , the black population totalled 1,198,540, encompassing 3.5% of the country's population. The 10 largest sources of migration for Black Canadians are Jamaica (136,505), Haiti (110,920), Nigeria (109,240), Ethiopia (43,205), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (37,875), Cameroon (33,200), Somalia (32,285), Eritrea (31,500), Ghana (28,420), and the United States (27,055). 69.1% of Black Canadians are Christian , while 11.9% are Muslim and 18.2% are irreligious . This
8928-764: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of
9114-462: The Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as
9300-639: The Battle of Kemp's Landing . The Patriot militia at Kemp's Landing was unprepared for the attack and retreated. Next, Dunmore led the Royal Ethiopians into the Battle of Great Bridge ; Dunmore was overconfident and misinformed about the Patriot numbers; however, the Patriots overwhelmed the British troops. After the battle, Dunmore loaded his Black troops onto ships of the British fleet, hoping to take
9486-539: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of
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#17327795147569672-485: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains
9858-559: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,
10044-480: The French Army and Navy , though some were enslaved or indentured servants . About 1,000 enslaved people were brought to New France in the 17th and 18th centuries. By the time of the British conquest of New France in 1759–1760, about 3,604 enslaved people were in New France, of whom 1,132 were Black and the rest First Nations people. The majority of the slaves lived in Montreal, the largest city in New France and
10230-877: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It
10416-420: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It
10602-408: The Old Burying Ground (Halifax, Nova Scotia) . Among the descendants of the Black Loyalists are noted figures such as Rose Fortune , a Black woman living in Nova Scotia who became a police officer and a businesswoman. Measha Brueggergosman (née Gosman), the Canadian opera and concert singer, is a New Brunswick native and descendant of a Black Loyalist through her father. In the closing days of
10788-424: The Province of Quebec . By 1799, vital records note 75 entries regarding Black Canadians, a number that doubled by 1809. On 26 June 1796, Jamaican Maroons , numbering 543 men, women and children, were deported on board the three ships Dover , Mary and Anne from Jamaica, after being defeated in an uprising against the British colonial government. Their initial destination was Lower Canada, but on 21 and 23 July,
10974-410: The Shelburne Riots , the first recorded race riots in Canadian history. Crown officials granted lesser quality lands to the Black Loyalists, which were more rocky and less fertile than those given to White Loyalists. In 1792, the British government offered Black Loyalists the chance to resettle in a new colony in Sierra Leone . The Sierra Leone Company was established to manage its development. Half of
11160-420: The Sierra Leone Creole people and the founders of the nation of Sierra Leone. Thomas Jefferson referred to the Black Loyalists as "the fugitives from these States". Legal statutes had never authorized slavery in England. Villeinage , a form of semi-serfdom, was legally recognized but long obsolete. In 1772, an enslaved person threatened with being taken out of England and returned to the Caribbean challenged
11346-521: The Sierra Leone Creole people , or Krios . They live primarily in the Western Area of Freetown. Black Loyalists from the American South brought their languages to Freetown, such as Gullah from the Low Country and African American Vernacular English . Their lingua franca was a strong influence on the descendants of this community, who developed Krio as a language. Many Sierra Leone Creoles or Krios can trace their ancestry directly to their Black Loyalist ancestors. An example of such an ancestor
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#173277951475611532-414: The Underground Railroad to flee from the United States, seeking refuge and freedom in Canada. From the late 1820s, through the time that the United Kingdom itself forbade slavery in 1833 , until the American Civil War began in 1861, the Underground Railroad brought tens of thousands of fugitive slaves to Canada. In 1819, Sir John Robinson , the Attorney-General of Upper Canada, ruled: "Since freedom of
11718-520: The United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , the World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin
11904-417: The War of 1812 , primarily from the Chesapeake Bay and Georgia Sea Islands , fled the United States to settle in Hammonds Plains, Beechville, Lucasville , North Preston , East Preston , Africville and Elm Hill, New Brunswick . An April 1814 proclamation of Black freedom and settlement by British Vice-Admiral Alexander Cochrane led to an exodus of around 3,500 Black Americans by 1818. The settlement of
12090-408: The "most sacred" of all rights, and that even if white men took away everything from the black farmers in Colchester county, that would still be a lesser crime compared with losing the "right of a British vote". In 1840, Wilson Ruffin Abbott became the first black elected to any office in what became Canada when he was elected to the city council in Toronto. Unlike in the United States, in Canada after
12276-748: The "slave pens" of New Orleans as extremely dehumanizing and stated he would rather die than return to living as a slave. Alexander described life in the "slave pens" as a regime of daily whippings, beatings and rapes designed to cow the slaves into a state of utter submission. The confrontation ended with Alexander being freed and the crowd marching Wells and James to the railroad station, warning them to never return to Chatham. The refugee slaves who settled in Canada did so primarily in South Western Ontario , with significant concentrations being found in Amherstburg, Colchester, Chatham, Windsor, and Sandwich. Run-away slaves tended to concentrate, partly to provide mutual support, partly because of prejudices, and partly out of
12462-409: The 1860s, a false story was spread in multiple newspapers across the United States and Canada about the suffering and death of Mary Mink, daughter of James Mink , a wealthy and well-respected African-Canadian business man in Toronto. The story, reproduced many times with slightly different details, claimed that James Mink offered a hefty sum for any white man who would marry his daughter, after which she
12648-571: The 1860s. Gibbs returned to the United States with his family in the late 1860s after slavery had been abolished following the war; he settled in Little Rock, Arkansas , the capital of the state. He became an attorney and was elected as the first black judge in the US. He became a wealthy businessman who was involved with the Republican Party; in 1897 he was appointed by the President of the US as consul to Madagascar. French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] )
12834-455: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;
13020-488: The 2010s, most notably through the musical and documentary film project The Afro-Métis Nation . At times, Black Canadians are claimed to have been significantly undercounted in census data. Writer George Elliott Clarke has cited a McGill University study which found that fully 43% of all Black Canadians were not counted as Black in the 1991 Canadian census, because they had identified on census forms as British, French, or other cultural identities, which were not included in
13206-474: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed
13392-640: The American Revolution, Britain outlawed the slave trade in the British Isles followed by the Knight v. Wedderburn decision in Scotland in 1778. This decision, in turn, influenced the colony of Nova Scotia. In 1788, abolitionist James Drummond MacGregor from Pictou published the first anti-slavery literature in Canada and began purchasing slaves' freedom and chastising his colleagues in
13578-637: The American so-called Patriots. In 1779, Sir Henry Clinton issued the Philipsburg Proclamation , expanding Dunmore's Proclamation and promising freedom to any person enslaved by a Patriot. However, Clinton often ordered the returned escaped enslaved people to Loyalist enslavers, though he requested the owner to refrain from punishment. In 1778, the Patriots promised freedom to those enslaved by Loyalists. But as Boston King noted in his memoir, both Patriots and Loyalists who captured escaped enslaved people often sold them back into slavery. When
13764-463: The Black Brigade and led it through the end of the war. When peace negotiations began after the siege of Yorktown , a primary issue of debate was the fate of Black British soldiers. Loyalists who remained in the United States wanted Black soldiers returned so their chances of receiving reparations for the damaged property would be increased, but British military leaders fully intended to keep
13950-698: The Black Brigade were the most feared Loyalists in New Jersey, and he led them in several raids from 1778 at the Battle of Monmouth to defending the British in occupied New York in the winter of 1779. Beginning in June 1780, Tye led several actions against Patriots in Monmouth County, and he was wounded in the wrist during a raid on a Patriot militia leader in September. Within weeks, he died from gangrene, and Black Pioneer leader Stephen Blucke took over
14136-680: The Black Canadian community is now named the African and Caribbean Council on HIV/AIDS in Ontario, the Toronto publication Pride bills itself as an "African-Canadian and Caribbean-Canadian news magazine", and G98.7 , a Black-oriented community radio station in Toronto, was initially branded as the Caribbean African Radio Network. In French , the terms Noirs canadiens or Afro-Canadiens are used. Nègre (" Negro ")
14322-523: The Black Loyalists in Nova Scotia, nearly 1200, departed the country and moved permanently to Sierra Leone. They set up the community of " Freetown ". In 1793, the British transported another 3,000 Blacks to Florida , Nova Scotia, and England as free men and women. Their names were recorded in the Book of Negroes by Sir Carleton. Approximately 300 free Black people in Savannah refused to evacuate at
14508-595: The Black community there. Led by the Elgin Association and preacher William King, the settlement flourished as a model of a successful predominantly African settlement which held close to 200 families by 1859. Following the abolition of slavery in the British empire in 1834, any black man born a British subject or who became a British subject was allowed to vote and run for office, provided that they owned taxable property. The property requirement on voting in Canada
14694-610: The British evacuated their troops from Charleston and New York after the war, they made good on their promises and took thousands of freed people with them. They resettled the freedmen in colonies in the Caribbean, such as Jamaica , and in Nova Scotia and Upper Canada, as well as transporting some to London . The Canadian climate and other factors made Nova Scotia difficult. In addition, the Poor Blacks of London, many freed people, had trouble getting work. British abolitionists ultimately founded Freetown in what became Sierra Leone on
14880-608: The British occupation of Charleston, South Carolina . When the British evacuated, they took many with them. Many ended up among London's Black Poor , with 4,000 resettled by the Sierra Leone Company to Freetown in Africa in 1787. Five years later, another 1,192 Black Loyalists from Nova Scotia chose to emigrate to Sierra Leone, becoming known as the Nova Scotian Settlers in the new British colony of Sierra Leone . Both waves of settlers became part of
15066-526: The British wanted to encourage immigration, they included in law the right to free importation of "Negroes, household furniture, utensils of husbandary or clothing." Although enslaved African people were no longer legally allowed to be bought or sold in Canada, the practice remained legal, although it was increasingly unpopular and written against in local newspapers. By 1829, when the American Secretary of State requested Paul Vallard be extradited to
15252-490: The British, as stipulated by the Treaty of Paris of 1783 . Since Lieutenant General Guy Carleton intended to honor the promise of freedom, the British proposed a compromise that would compensate enslavers and provide certificates of freedom and the right to be evacuated to one of the British colonies to any Black person who could prove his service or status. The British transported more than 3,000 Black Loyalists to Nova Scotia,
15438-703: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French
15624-459: The Caribbean . However, many enslaved people were willing to risk their lives for a chance at freedom. Lord Dunmore's Proclamation was the first mass emancipation of enslaved people in America. The 1776 Declaration of Independence refers obliquely to the proclamation by citing it as one of its grievances, that King George III had "excited domestic Insurrections among us". An earlier version of
15810-860: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,
15996-698: The Crown in Canada after the war. In addition, an estimated 10,000-30,000 fugitive slaves reached freedom in Canada from the Southern United States during the years before the American Civil War , aided by people along the Underground Railroad . Starting in the 1970s, some persons with multi-generational Canadian ancestry began distinguishing themselves by identifying as Indigenous Black Canadians . Black Nova Scotians,
16182-525: The Declaration was more explicit, stating the following of King George III, but these controversial details were dropped during the final development of the document in Congress: He is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people on whom he has obtruded them: thus paying off former crimes committed again
16368-538: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of
16554-497: The European Loyalists who emigrated to Nova Scotia brought their enslaved servants with them, making for an uneasy society. One historian has argued that those enslaved people should not be regarded as Loyalists, as they had no choice in their fates. Other Black Loyalists were evacuated to London or the Caribbean colonies. Thousands of enslaved people escaped from plantations and fled to British lines, especially after
16740-484: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained
16926-542: The Halifax area, is the community with the highest percentage of Black people, with 69.4%; it was a settlement where the Crown provided land to Black Loyalists after the American Revolution. Brooks , a town in southeastern Alberta, is the census subdivision with the highest percentage of Black people, with 22.3%. The community there is mainly composed of East African immigrants. In the 2011 census , 945,665 Black Canadians were counted, making up 2.9% of Canada's population. In
17112-954: The Jersey Shore Volunteers, the Jamaica Rangers, the Mosquito Shore Volunteers, and the Black Dragoons of the South Carolina Royalists. It was also common for Black Loyalists to serve the military in non-combat positions, such as the Black Company of Pioneers. Lord Dunmore organized 800 Black Loyalist volunteers into the Royal Ethiopian Regiment . They trained in the rudiments of marching and shooting before engaging in their first conflict at
17298-595: The Liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another. Jamaican Governor John Dalling drafted a proposal in 1779 for the enlistment of a regiment of mulattoes and another regiment of free Negroes . With the arrival of 30,000 Hessian mercenary troops, the British did not have as much need for the formerly enslaved. Sir William Howe banned the formation of new Black regiments and disbanded his own. But freeing those enslaved by rebels still held value as economic warfare against
17484-728: The Presbyterian church who owned slaves. In 1790 John Burbidge , a member of Nova Scotia's House of Assembly , freed the African people he had enslaved, giving them two sets of clothes and arranging for their learning to read. Led by Richard John Uniacke , in 1787, 1789 and again on 11 January 1808, the Nova Scotian legislature refused to legalize slavery. Two chief justices, Thomas Andrew Lumisden Strange (1790–1796) and Sampson Salter Blowers (1797–1832) were instrumental in freeing enslaved Africans from their enslavers (owners) in Nova Scotia. These justices were held in high regard in
17670-579: The Revolution, along with British troops and other Black Loyalists, her paternal four-times-great-grandfather and grandmother left the colonies. They were resettled in Shelburne with their first child, born free behind British lines in New York. The Black Loyalist settlement of Birchtown, Nova Scotia was declared a National Historic Site in 1997. A seasonal museum commemorating the Black Loyalists
17856-801: The Sierra Leone Company in 1799 to send the Maroons to Sierra Leone . In 1796, the Jamaican government initially planned to send the Maroons to Sierra Leone but the Sierra Leone Company rejected the idea. The initial reaction in 1799 was the same, but the company was eventually persuaded to accept the Maroon settlers. On 6 August 1800, the Maroons departed Halifax, arriving on 1 October at Freetown, Sierra Leone. Upon their arrival in West Africa in 1800, they were used to quell an uprising among
18042-565: The U.S. customs, which under the Fugitive Slave Act had to co-operate with the bounty hunters, the customs authorities on the Canadian side of the border were far more helpful and "looked the other way" when Tubman entered Canada with her "passengers". During the course of one week in June 1854, 23 run-away slaves evaded the U.S. border patrols to cross the Detroit river to freedom in Windsor while 43 free people also crossed over to Windsor out of
18228-449: The Underground Railroad was Harriet Tubman , the "Black Moses" who made 11 trips to bring about 300 run-away slaves to Canada, most of whom settled in St. Catherines. Tubman guided her "passengers" on nocturnal journeys (travelling via day was too risky) through the forests and swamps, using as her compass the north-star and on cloudy nights seeing what side the moss was growing on trees, to find
18414-852: The United States for helping a slave to escape to Canada, the Executive Council of Lower Canada replied, "The state of slavery is not recognized by the Law of Canada. [...] Every Slave therefore who comes into the Province is immediately free whether he has been brought in by violence or has entered it of his own accord." The British formally outlawed slavery throughout the British Empire in 1833. The descendants of Black slaves from New France and Lower Canada are white-passing French Canadians. Their family names are Carbonneau, Charest, Johnson, Lafleur, Lemire, Lepage, Marois, Paradis, etc. At
18600-429: The United States, and other Canadians of Black African descent as an umbrella term for the whole group. One increasingly common practice, seen in academic usage and in the names and mission statements of some Black Canadian cultural and social organizations, is to always make reference to both the African and Caribbean communities. For example, one key health organization dedicated to HIV/AIDS education and prevention in
18786-523: The United States, part of a more extensive migration of about 34,000 Loyalist refugees. This massive influx of people increased the population by almost 60% and led to the establishment of New Brunswick as a colony in 1784. Most of the free Blacks settled at Birchtown , the most prominent Black township in North America at the time, next to the town of Shelburne , settled by Whites. There are also several Black loyalists buried in unmarked graves in
18972-527: The abolition of slavery in 1834, black Canadians were never stripped of their right to vote and hold office. Though often ignored, from time to time, black Canadians did receive notice. In 1857, William Hall of Horton, Nova Scotia, serving as a sailor in the Royal Navy, became the first black man to win the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for valor in the British empire, for his actions at
19158-474: The age of 14. Black slaves could also serve as witnesses at religious ceremonies, file legal complaints against free persons and be tried by a jury. Marie-Joseph Angélique , a black enslaved African from the Madeira islands who arrived in New France in 1725, was accused of setting the fire that burned down most of Montreal on 10 April 1734, for which she was executed. Angélique confessed under torture to setting
19344-535: The authorities. In 1857, an attempt by two American bounty hunters, T.G. James and John Wells, to kidnap Joseph Alexander, a 20-year-old run-away slave from New Orleans living in Chatham, was foiled when a large crowd of black people surrounded the bounty hunters as they were leaving the Royal Exchange Hotel in Chatham with Alexander who had gone there to confront them. Found on one of the bounty hunters
19530-464: The authority of his enslaver in the case of Somerset v Stewart . The Chief Justice , Lord Mansfield , ruled that slavery had no standing under common law and enslavers, therefore, were not permitted to transport enslaved people outside England and Wales against their will. Many observers took it to mean that slavery was ended in England. Lower courts often interpreted the ruling as determining that
19716-447: The best way to Canada.Such trips on the Underground Railroad involved much privation and suffering as Tubman and her "passengers" had to avoid both the bounty-hunters and law enforcement and could go for days without food as they travelled through the wilderness, always following the north-star. Tubman usually went to Rochester, New York, where Frederick Douglass would shelter the run-aways, and crossed over to Canada at Niagara Falls. Unlike
19902-664: The black settlers from Nova Scotia and London. After eight years, they were unhappy with their treatment by the Sierra Reynolds Company. The Canadian climate made it uneconomic to keep enslaved African people year-round, unlike the plantation agriculture practiced in the southern United States and Caribbean . Slavery within the colonial economy became increasingly rare. For example, the powerful Mohawk leader Joseph Brant purchased and enslaved an African American named Sophia Burthen Pooley, whom he kept for about 12 years before selling her for $ 100. In 1772, prior to
20088-669: The black veterans who had fought for the British stimulated support for the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor . This organization backed the resettlement of the black poor from London to a new British colony of Sierra Leone in West Africa . In addition, Black Loyalists in Nova Scotia were offered the opportunity to relocate, and about half chose to move to the new colony. Today, the descendants of these pioneers are known as
20274-428: The bounty hunters in seizing run-away slaves. Since the Fugitive Slave Act stripped accused fugitive slaves of any legal rights such as the right to testify in court that they were not run-away slaves, cases of freemen and freewomen being kidnapped off the streets to be sold into slavery became common. The U.S. justice system in the 1850s was hostile to black people, and little inclined to champion their rights. In 1857, in
20460-472: The census group of Black cultures. Although subsequent censuses have reported the population of Black Canadians to be much more consistent with the McGill study's revised 1991 estimate than with the official 1991 census data, no study has been conducted to determine whether some Black Canadians are still substantially missed by the self-identification method. In the 2006 census, 25.5% of Black Canadians were in
20646-504: The centre of the lucrative fur trade. The majority of the enslaved Africans in New France performed domestic work and were brought to New France to demonstrate the prestige of their wealthy owners, who viewed owning a "slave" as a way of showing off their status and wealth. The majority of the enslaved Africans brought to New France were female domestic servants, and were usually raped by their masters (enslavers), who tended to literally see their enslaved women and girls as their sex slaves. As
20832-527: The city. Funds had been provided by the Government of Jamaica to aid in the resettlement of the Maroons in Canada. Five thousand acres were purchased at Preston, Nova Scotia , at a cost of £3000. Small farm lots were provided to the Maroons and they attempted to farm the infertile land. Like the former tenants, they found the land at Preston to be unproductive; as a result they had little success. The Maroons also found farming in Nova Scotia difficult because
21018-525: The climate would not allow cultivation of familiar food crops, such as bananas , yams , pineapples , or cocoa . Small numbers of Maroons relocated from Preston to Boydville for better farming land. The British Lieutenant Governor Sir John Wentworth made an effort to change the Maroons' culture and beliefs by introducing them to Christianity . From the monies provided by the Jamaican Government, Wentworth procured an annual stipend of £240 for
21204-491: The coast of West Africa as a place to resettle Black Loyalists from London and Canada and Jamaican Maroons . Nearly 2,000 Black Loyalists left Nova Scotia to help found the new African colony. Their descendants are the Sierra Leone Creole people. Lord Dunmore's proclamation and others led to the formation of several Black regiments in the British army. The most notable were Dunmore's Royal Ethiopian Regiment and Clinton's Black Company of Pioneers . Other regiments included
21390-477: The colony. In 1793, John Graves Simcoe , the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada , attempted to abolish slavery. That same year, the new Legislative Assembly became the first entity in the British Empire to restrict slavery, confirming existing ownership but allowing for anyone born to an enslaved woman or girl after that date to be freed at the age of 25. Slavery was all but abolished throughout
21576-546: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Black Loyalist Some 3,000 Black Loyalists were evacuated from New York to Nova Scotia ; they were individually listed in the Book of Negroes as the British gave them certificates of freedom and arranged for their transportation. The Crown gave them land grants and supplies to help them resettle in Nova Scotia. Some of
21762-791: The defence of the colony, including enslaved people belonging to the Patriots. He promised such enslaved recruits freedom in exchange for service in the British Army: I do require every Person capable of bearing Arms, to resort to His MAJESTY'S STANDARD, or be looked upon as Traitors to His MAJESTY'S Crown and Government, and thereby become liable to the Penalty the Law inflicts upon such Offences; such as forfeiture of Life, confiscation of Lands, &c. &c. And I do hereby further declare all indented Servants, Negroes, or others, (appertaining to Rebels,) free that are able and willing to bear Arms, they joining His MAJESTY'S Troops as soon as may be, for
21948-519: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French
22134-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French
22320-594: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as
22506-404: The end of the war, fearing they would be re-enslaved once they arrived in the West Indies. They established an independent colony in swamps near Savannah River , though by 1786, most of them were discovered and re-enslaved, as Southern planters ignored the fact that the British had freed them during the war. When the British ceded the colonies of East Florida and West Florida back to Spain per
22692-558: The enslaved. Politically, the black Loyalist communities in both Nova Scotia and Upper Canada were characterized by what the historian James Walker called "a tradition of intense loyalty to Britain" for granting them freedom and Canadian Black people tended to be active in the militia, especially in Upper Canada during the War of 1812 as the possibility of an American victory would also mean the possibility of their re-enslavement. Militarily,
22878-435: The entire Canadian population. Of the black population, 10 per cent identified as mixed-race of "white and black". The five most black-populated provinces in 2021 were Ontario , Quebec , Alberta , British Columbia , and Manitoba . The 10 most black-populated census metropolitan areas were Toronto , Montreal , Ottawa , Edmonton , Calgary , Winnipeg , Vancouver , Hamilton , Oshawa , and Québec City . Preston , in
23064-457: The fear of American bounty hunters crossing the border. The run-away slaves usually arrived destitute and without any assets, had to work as labourers for others until they could save up enough money to buy their own farms. These settlements acted as centres of abolitionist thought, with Chatham being the location of abolitionist John Brown's constitutional convention which preceded the later raid on Harper's Ferry . The first newspaper published by
23250-595: The fear of the bounty hunters. The American-born Canadian sociologist Daniel G. Hill wrote this week in June 1854 appeared to be typical of the black exodus to Canada. Public opinion tended to be on the side of run-away slaves and against the slavers. On 26 February 1851, the Toronto chapter of the Anti-Slavery Society was founded with what was described by the Globe newspaper as "the largest and most enthusiastic meeting we have ever seen in Toronto" that issued
23436-436: The fire as a way of creating a diversion so she could escape as she did not wish to be separated from her lover, a white servant named Claude Thibault, as her master (enslaver) was going to sell her to the owner of a sugar plantation in the West Indies. Whether this confession was genuine or not continues to divide historians. Marie Marguerite Rose , a woman from what is now modern Guinea was sold into slavery in 1736 when she
23622-505: The first race riot in North America took place in Shelburne ; white veterans attacked African American settlers who were getting work that the former soldiers thought they should have. Due to the failure of the British government to support the settlement, the harsh weather, and discrimination on the part of white colonists, 1,192 Black Loyalist men, women and children left Nova Scotia for West Africa on 15 January 1792. They settled in what
23808-422: The first visible minorities to hold high public offices have been Black, including Michaëlle Jean , Donald Oliver , Stanley G. Grizzle , Rosemary Brown , and Lincoln Alexander . Black Canadians form the third-largest visible minority group in Canada, after South Asian and Chinese Canadians . According to the 2021 census by Statistics Canada , 1,547,870 Canadians identified as Black, constituting 4.3% of
23994-516: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of
24180-866: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,
24366-715: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being
24552-405: The governor of the British colony of Vancouver Island , replied to an inquiry from a group of black people in San Francisco about the possibilities of settling in his jurisdiction. They were angered that the California legislature had passed discriminatory laws to restrict black people in the state, preventing them from owning property and requiring them to wear badges. Governor Douglas, whose mother
24738-472: The greatest number of people of African descent to arrive there at any one time. One of their settlements, Birchtown, Nova Scotia was the largest free African community in North America for the first few years of its existence. Black Loyalists found the northern climate and frontier conditions in Nova Scotia difficult and were subject to discrimination by other Loyalist settlers, many of them enslavers. In July 1784, Black Loyalists in Shelburne were targeted in
24924-418: The invading American army. Many of the refugees from America would later serve with distinction during the war in matters both strictly military, along with the use of freed African people in assisting in the further liberation of African Americans enslaved people. There is a sizeable community of Black Canadians in Nova Scotia and Southern Ontario who trace their ancestry to African-American slaves who used
25110-401: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French
25296-424: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon
25482-501: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,
25668-428: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what
25854-444: The light". Ward himself had been forced to flee to Canada West in 1851 for his role in the Jerry Rescue , leading to his indictment for violating the Fugitive Slave Act. Despite the support to run-away slaves, blacks in Canada West, which become Ontario in 1867, were confined to segregated schools. American bounty-hunters who crossed into Canada to kidnap black people to sell into slavery were prosecuted for kidnapping if apprehended by
26040-444: The more speedily reducing this Colony to a proper Sense of their Duty, to His MAJESTY'S Crown and Dignity. Within a month, about 800 enslaved or formerly enslaved people had fled to Norfolk, Virginia , to enlist. Outraged Virginia enslavers decreed that those fleeing eslavement would be executed. They also counteracted the promises of Lord Dunmore by claiming that those who escaped to Lord Dunmore would be sold to sugar plantations in
26226-420: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by
26412-465: The negro is as expert as the white man ". This article claimed to have received the story from papers in Toronto, but no mention of it can be found in any surviving Toronto papers of the time. The article was then used as inspiration for a section in Scottish poet William Edmondstoune Aytoun 's novel Norman Sinclair, which told the same story but made it about the mixed-race daughter of "a thriving horse-dealer, who had been located at Toronto some 30 years",
26598-460: The official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco;
26784-406: The opportunity to train them better. The cramped conditions led to the spread of smallpox . By the time Dunmore retreated to the Province of New York , only 300 of the original 800 soldiers had survived. The largest Black Loyalist regiment was the Black Company of Pioneers , better known as the "Black Pioneers" and later merged into the Guides and Pioneers. In the military terminology of the day,
26970-479: The other British North American colonies by 1800. The Slave Trade Act outlawed the slave trade in the British Empire in 1807 and the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 outlawed slave-holding altogether in the colonies (except for India). This made Canada an attractive destination for many African descendant refugees fleeing slavery in the United States, such as minister Boston King . The next major migration of Black people occurred between 1813 and 1815. Refugees from
27156-475: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of
27342-480: The person is the most important civil right protected by the law of England...the negroes are entitled to personal freedom through residence in Upper Canada and any attempt to infringe their rights will be resisted in the courts". After Robinson's ruling in 1819, judges in Upper Canada refused American requests to extradite run-away slaves who reached Upper Canada under the grounds "every man is free who reaches British ground". One song popular with African Americans called
27528-401: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French
27714-456: The promise of freedom made to Black soldiers despite the anger of the Americans. In the chaos as the British evacuated Loyalist refugees, mainly from New York and Charleston, American enslavers attempted to enslave and re-enslave many people. Some would kidnap any Black person, including those born free before the war, and enslave them. The U.S. Congress ordered George Washington to retrieve any American property, including enslaved people, from
27900-461: The refugees had been free black people prior to the war and fled with the other refugees to Nova Scotia, relying on British promises of equality. Under pressure of the new refugees, the city of Saint John amended its charter in 1785 specifically to exclude people of African descent from practicing a trade, selling goods, fishing in the harbour, or becoming freemen; these provisions stood until 1870, although by then they were largely ignored. In 1782,
28086-414: The refugees was initially seen as a means of creating prosperous agricultural communities; however, poor economic conditions following the war coupled with the granting of infertile farmland to refugees caused economic hardship. Social integration proved difficult in the early years, as the prevalence of enslaved Africans in the Maritimes caused the newly freed Black Canadians to be viewed on the same level of
28272-438: The resolution: "slavery is an outrage on the laws of humanity and its continued practice demands the best exertions for its extinction". The same meeting committed its members to help the many "houseless and homeless victims of slavery flying to our soil". The Congregationalist minister, the Reverend Samuel Ringgold Ward of New York, who had been born into slavery in Maryland, wrote about Canada West (modern Ontario) that: "Toronto
28458-407: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in
28644-489: The scavengers, assist in cleaning the streets & removing all newsiances being thrown into the streets". The "Black Brigade" was a small combat unit of 24 in New Jersey led by Colonel Tye , a former slave from Monmouth County, New Jersey who had escaped to British lines early in the war. The title of colonel was not an official military designation, as he was not formally commissioned as an officer. Still, such titles were permitted anyway in an unofficial capacity. Tye and
28830-406: The ships arrived in Nova Scotia. At this time Halifax was undergoing a major construction boom initiated by Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn 's efforts to modernize the city's defences. The many building projects had created a labour shortage. Edward was impressed by the Maroons and immediately put them to work at the Citadel in Halifax , Government House, and other defence works throughout
29016-418: The siege of Lucknow. Following the end of the American Civil War and subsequent emancipation of enslaved African Americans, a significant population remained, concentrated both within settlements established in the decades preceding the Civil War, and existing urban environments like Toronto. The Anti-Slavery Society of Canada estimated in its first report in 1852 that the "coloured population of Upper Canada"
29202-496: The status of slavery did not exist in England and Wales, but Mansfield ruled more narrowly. The decision did not apply to the North American and Caribbean colonies, where local legislatures had passed laws to institutionalize slavery. Many cases were presented to the English courts for the emancipation of enslaved people residing in England, and numerous American runaways hoped to reach England, where they expected to gain freedom. Enslaved Americans began to believe that King George III
29388-407: The story of a black man who sold his black wife into slavery. The purpose of the article was to justify the actions of a prominent white Canadian, Harvey Smith, who was accused of selling two black Canadian youths into slavery. The Spectator article read, " when such acts are perpetrated by colored people themselves, we cease to wonder at Mr Harvey Smith attempting to make money by an operation in which
29574-407: The support of a school and religious education. After suffering through the harsh winter of 1796–1797, Wentworth reported the Maroons expressed a desire that "they wish to be sent to India or somewhere in the east, to be landed with arms in some country with a climate like that they left, where they may take possession with a strong hand". The British Government and Wentworth opened discussions with
29760-450: The term "African Canadian" as an elision of the uniquely Caribbean aspects of their heritage, instead identifying as "Caribbean Canadian". However, this usage can be problematic because the Caribbean is not populated only by people of African origin, but also by large groups of Indo-Caribbean people , Chinese Caribbean people , European Caribbean people, Syrian or Lebanese Caribbean people, Latinos, and Amerindians . The term West Indian
29946-423: The terms of the Treaty of Paris, hundreds of free Black people who had been transported there from the South were left behind as British forces pulled out of the region. Many descendants of Black loyalists have been able to track their ancestry by using General Carleton's Book of Negroes . The number of these descendants is unknown. Between 1776 and 1785, around 3,500 Blacks were transported to Nova Scotia from
30132-509: The time of the American Revolution , inhabitants of the British colonies in North America had to decide where their future lay. Those from the Thirteen Colonies loyal to the British Crown were called United Empire Loyalists and came north. Many White American Loyalists brought their enslaved African people with them, numbering between 1,500 and 2,500 individuals. During the war, the British had promised freedom and land to enslaved African people who left rebel masters and worked for them; this
30318-414: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In
30504-619: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French
30690-508: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by
30876-425: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of
31062-481: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of
31248-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as
31434-416: Was a " free coloured " person of mixed black and white ancestry from the Caribbean, replied favourably. Later that year, an estimated 600 to 800 black Americans migrated to Victoria , settling on Vancouver Island and Salt Spring Island. At least two became successful merchants there: Peter Lester and Mifflin Wistar Gibbs . The latter also entered politics, being elected to the newly established City Council in
31620-406: Was a free man named Mathieu da Costa . Travelling with navigator Samuel de Champlain , da Costa arrived in Nova Scotia some time between 1603 and 1608 as a translator for the French explorer Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts . The first known Black person to live in what would become Canada was an enslaved man from Madagascar named Olivier Le Jeune , who may have been of partial Malay ancestry. He
31806-417: Was a letter from Alexander's former master describing him as a slave of "saucy" disposition who had smashed the master's carriage and freed a span of his horses before running away, adding that he was keen to get Alexander back so he could castrate him. Castration was the normal punishment for a male run-away slave. Alexander gave a speech to the assembled by-standers watching the confrontation denouncing life in
31992-455: Was about 19 and arrived in Louisbourg on Île Royale (modern Cape Breton Island ) the same year as the property of Jean Chrysostome Loppinot, a French naval officer stationed at Louisbourg, who fathered a son by her in 1738. In 1755, she was freed and married a Miꞌkmaq Indian who upon his conversion to Roman Catholicism had taken the name Jean-Baptist Laurent. Rose, an excellent cook, became the most successful businesswomen on Île Royale, opening up
32178-420: Was about 30,000, of whom almost all adults were "fugitive slaves" from the United States. St. Catharines , Ontario had a population of 6,000 at that time; 800 of its residents were "of African descent". Many slaves sought refuge in Toronto which was known as a tolerant city. Black Canadians integrated in many areas of society, but the influence of slavery in the south still impacted these citizens. For example, in
32364-417: Was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French
32550-546: Was announced in Virginia through Lord Dunmore's Proclamation . Enslaved African people also escaped to British lines in New pork City and Charleston, and their forces evacuated thousands after the war. They transported 3,000 people to Nova Scotia. This latter group was largely made up of merchants and labourers, and many set up home in Birchtown near Shelburne . Some settled in New Brunswick . Both groups suffered from discriminatory treatment by white settlers and prominent landowners who still held enslaved African people. Some of
32736-531: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but
32922-443: Was first given to one of the Kirke brothers, likely David Kirke , before being sold as a young child to a French clerk and then later given to Guillaume Couillard, a friend of Champlain's. Le Jeune apparently was set free before his death in 1654, because his death certificate lists him as a domestique rather than a slave. As a group, Black people arrived in Canada in several waves. The first of these came as free persons serving in
33108-427: Was for them and against their enslavers as tensions increased before the American Revolution. Colonial enslavers feared a British-inspired slave rebellion , and Lord Dunmore wrote to Lord Dartmouth in early 1775 of his intention to take advantage of the situation. In November 1775, Lord Dunmore issued a controversial proclamation . As Virginia 's royal governor, he called on all able-bodied men to assist him in
33294-400: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul
33480-469: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates
33666-411: Was not ended until 1920. Black Canadian women like all other Canadian women were not granted the right to vote until partially in 1917 ( when wives, daughters, sisters and mothers of servicemen were granted the right to vote) and fully in 1918 (when all women were granted the right to vote). In 1850, Canadian black women together with all other women were granted the right to vote for school trustees, which
33852-508: Was opened in that year by the Black Loyalist Heritage Society. A memorial has been established at the Black Loyalist Burying Ground. Built around the historic Birchtown school and church, the museum was badly damaged by an arson attack in 2008 but rebuilt. The Society began plans for a major expansion of the museum to tell the story of the Black Loyalists in America, Nova Scotia, and Sierra Leone. Some Black Loyalists were transported to London, where they struggled to create new lives. Sympathy for
34038-411: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of
34224-437: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,
34410-399: Was the limit of female voting rights in Canada West. In 1848, in Colchester county in Canada West, white men prevented black men from voting in the municipal elections, but following complaints in the courts, a judge ruled that black voters could not be prevented from voting. Ward, writing about the Colchester case in the Voice of the Fugitive newspaper, declared that the right to vote was
34596-436: Was wed to a white man named James Andrews, who sold her into slavery under the pre tense of a honeymoon in the Southern States. In reality, all records show that Mary Mink married a black man named William Johnson, had two children with him, and died peacefully in her home 25 years later, surrounded by friends and family. The origin of this myth was likely an 1853 article in the Hamilton Spectator, which conveyed (without names)
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