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152-564: The Centre Block ( French : Édifice du Centre ) is the main building of the Canadian parliamentary complex on Parliament Hill , in Ottawa , Ontario , containing the House of Commons and Senate chambers, as well as the offices of a number of members of parliament , senators, and senior administration for both legislative houses. It is also the location of several ceremonial spaces, such as

304-520: A Decorated Gothic style pattern designed by R. Eleanor Milne . Divided into four sections by stone mullions , the upper parts contain geometrical tracery and provincial and territorial floral emblems amongst ferns; in the tracery at the head of the windows are symbols extracted from the coats of arms of the provinces and territories. As with other areas of the Centre Block, the commons walls are enriched with shafts, blind tracery , friezes, and

456-556: A beaver and bees represent trade and industry; a lighthouse and ship represent the naval services and a military ship at sea represents the overseas military; letters, stamps , and caduceus represent the Postmaster General ; fish and an anchor represent the fisheries ; wheat and a sickle represent agriculture ; pounds and dollars represent finance ; a crowned globe represents the Geological Survey ;

608-744: 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

760-568: A band of Missisquoi Boulder Grey marble. Though a design model of the room was presented as early as January 1918, Confederation Hall was the last part of the Centre Block's interior to be completed; the Missisquoi black marble base was laid on 11 August 1921 and the Tyndall limestone vault—built from a full scale wood and plaster model—was completed in December of the following year. Still,

912-480: A circular format, the modern wind rose shows the frequency of winds blowing from particular directions over a specified period. The length of each "spoke" around the circle is related to the frequency that the wind blows from a particular direction per unit time. Each concentric circle represents a different frequency, emanating from zero at the center to increasing frequencies at the outer circles. A wind rose plot may contain additional information, in that each spoke

1064-431: 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,

1216-502: A decade long renovation at a cost of over $ 4 billion set to be complete for 2031. Starting in spring 2020, excavators dug 23 metres into the bedrock with the plan of expanding the Parliament Welcome Centre to provide access for more visitors to Parliament Hill in a three-floor basement. The upgrade will also protect the site from an earthquake up to a 6.0 magnitude by adding 500 base isolators (shock absorbers). For

1368-555: 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

1520-492: A grey Ohio freestone . On 1 September 1860, Prince Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) arrived in Ottawa as part of his wider royal tour of the province , and laid the cornerstone of the growing Centre Block, with a luncheon on the grounds for the workers and their families. The Ottawa Citizen said on 6 June of the upcoming event: [I]t will be the first occasion on which he will be publicly recognized as

1672-610: A larger territory than for which they had originally been built; within four years, the Dominion stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean . From 1906 to 1914, the Centre Block was expanded to suit the additional members of parliament and staff from the newly formed provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan . A fire alarm was raised in the Centre Block on 3 February 1916, at 8:37 pm; something had been seen smouldering in

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1824-516: A moose and crown represents the Ministry of the Interior ; a helmet and weapons represent militia and defence ; crates and 33⅓% represent customs ; a steam locomotive represents the railway ; a scale and sword represents justice ; picks, shovels, and a saw represent mining and forestry; and a crown, mace, and the granting of Royal Assent represent parliament itself. The Railway Committee Room

1976-596: A more logical layout and clear exiting strategy. During the reconstruction, the House of Commons and Senate sat at the Victoria Memorial Museum Building . On 26 January 1920, the first sitting of parliament in the new Centre Block was opened by Governor General the Duke of Devonshire . However, the ceremony was also exceptional for the fact that it took place in the House of Commons, rather than

2128-705: 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

2280-554: A quadrangle, and a more rustic, picturesque back facing the escarpment overlooking the Ottawa River . The groundbreaking took place on 20 December 1859; however, workers soon hit bedrock , which, combined with a change to the design that saw the foundation moved to 17 feet deeper, meant costly blasting. Still, by 16 April of the following year, the first of the many coloured varieties of stone were laid – Nepean sandstone , red sandstone from Potsdam, New York , and

2432-494: 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

2584-626: A rendition of the Canadian Royal Arms and the Will Longstaff painting The Ghosts of Vimy Ridge which commemorates the Battle of Vimy Ridge . It is used by the official Opposition party for meetings, as well as by various committees. The current room dates from 1916 and replaced the same that existed in the 1866 Centre Block and was named for the 166 member Railway Committee that once met in it. That space also served as home to

2736-444: A row of gilt figures, broken at the peak of each pointed arch by cherubs holding a cartouche , and behind all of which runs a painted grapevine with Tudor roses. On the floor, the opposing members' benches are spaced 3.96 m apart on either side of the room, a measurement said to be equivalent to two swords' length, harkening back to when English members of parliament carried swords into the chamber. Directly between, directly opposite

2888-403: A sculpture programme. The room was the last space in the building to be carved, with sculptural work only beginning in the late 1950s and continuing intermittently for the following two decades; approximately 225 blocks of varying sizes still remain uncarved. Amongst the work done are three series of stone works: The British North America Act , a set of 12 high reliefs on the east and west walls of

3040-587: 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

3192-526: 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

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3344-941: 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

3496-464: A second-floor gallery . Within the stonework are sculpted depictions of important figures in pre- Confederation Canada, as well as self-portraits of the sculptors who fashioned the stone. A number are dedicated as the Sovereigns' Arches , with corbels sculpted into depictions of Canada's monarchs; the latest addition being that of Queen Elizabeth II , unveiled on 9 December 2010. The entire ceiling

3648-591: A swirl pattern of green serpentine from the Greek island of Tinos , embedded in Missisquoi Boulder Grey marble, from Philipsburg, Quebec. The overall pattern represents the essential element of water, alluding to Canada's motto: a mari usque ad mare (from sea to sea). The inner and outer circles of the floor are made of a Missisquoi Black marble from Philipsburg, Quebec, and white travertine from Italy, as well as Verde Antique serpentine separated by

3800-547: 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

3952-558: A wastepaper basket in the Reading Room, but as that was not terribly unusual, a clerk was called to assist. However, by that point, the fire had progressed beyond control in the wood-panelled and paper-filled room. The House of Commons was in session that evening and was interrupted by the chief doorkeeper of the Commons calling for evacuation. Some women in the gallery, unaware of the urgency, attempted to reclaim their fur coats from

4104-441: A wind rose was included on maps in order to let the reader know which directions the 8 major winds (and sometimes 8 half-winds and 16 quarter-winds) blew within the plan view . No differentiation was made between cardinal directions and the winds which blew from those directions. North was depicted with a fleur de lis , while east was shown as a Christian cross to indicate the direction of Jerusalem from Europe. Presented in

4256-437: 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

4408-472: 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

4560-489: 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

4712-430: 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

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4864-462: 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

5016-453: Is broken down into colour-coded bands that show wind speed ranges. Wind roses typically use 16 cardinal directions, such as north (N), NNE, NE, etc., although they may be subdivided into as many as 32 directions. In terms of angle measurement in degrees, North corresponds to 0°/360°, East to 90°, South to 180° and West to 270°. Compiling a wind rose is one of the preliminary steps taken in constructing airport runways , as aircraft can have

5168-484: Is capped by a caryatid , and between which are clerestory windows. Below the windows is a continuous architrave, broken only by baldachins at the base of each of the above pilasters. On the chamber's east and west walls are eight murals depicting scenes from the First World War . Painted in between 1916 and 1920, they were originally part of the more than 1,000 piece Canadian War Memorials Fund, founded by

5320-709: Is constructing an underground welcome centre, expected to open in June 2017. As of December 2017, all excavation is complete, and exterior construction started in May 2017. Finishing the face and interior work will signal the end of the project. The completion date has been set to the Fall of 2018 or earlier. The first phase, the Visitor Welcome Centre opened in January 2019. Construction is underway (as of October 2023) on

5472-652: 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

5624-503: 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

5776-404: 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

5928-494: Is lined with portraits of past speakers of the House of Commons. In the commons chamber's east and west walls are 12 windows topped by pointed arches with hood moulds terminated by pendant drops. The glazing within is stained glass, commissioned as a Centennial Project in 1967 by then Speaker of the House of Commons Lucien Lamoureux . Each window contains approximately 2,000 pieces of hand-blown glass —created in Ottawa by Russell C. Goodman using medieval techniques—arranged in

6080-583: Is mirrored by the Commonwealth Room, the House of Commons' former smoking room. On 7 May 1859, the Department of Public Works for the Province of Canada sent a call for architects to submit proposals for the new parliament buildings to be erected on Barrack Hill . After the 298 submitted entries were narrowed down to three, Governor General Sir Edmund Walker Head was approached to break

6232-599: Is of a Tudor-style stone tracery filled with stained glass depicting royal emblems, such as provincial coats of arms, as well as symbols of First Nations and the names of all the speakers of the Senate up until the ceiling's installation in 1920. Above the exterior entrance into the foyer is a stained glass window commemorating the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II . Designed by Christopher Goodman and Angela Zissoff of Kelowna , British Columbia, with input from

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6384-469: 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

6536-470: Is on planning street orientations to maximize the benefits, and minimize the harms, from the various winds. The London Vitruvius , the oldest surviving manuscript, includes only one of the original illustrations, a rather crudely drawn wind rose in the margin. This was written in Germany in about 800 to 825, probably at the abbey of Saint Pantaleon, Cologne . Before the development of the compass rose ,

6688-828: 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

6840-435: Is separated from the foyer by a Rose Tavernelle marble balustrade. The floor of the commons foyer is of Missisquoi Boulder Grey marble with borders of Verde Antique serpentine. The walls bear a series of 10 bas-relief panels showing 25,000 years of Canada's history and, directly above, is a stone tracery ceiling with soft green coloured glass infill manufactured by the N.T. Lyon Glass Company of Toronto. The ceiling's appearance

6992-405: Is similar to that found in the Senate foyer, except here the borders are of oak leaves, pine cones, and acorns; the octagonal panels are filled with Tudor roses and fleur-de-lis; the monogram HC (for House of Commons) is placed in all the small oblong panels; and the oval panels bear symbols of the various government departments amid sprigs of maple leaves: a steam crane represents Public Works ;

7144-524: Is situated to the east of and accessed from the Hall of Honour. It is a double height space done in a Beaux-Arts style, with a heavily coffered ceiling and, above a one story high, ashlar stone base, pilasters on the walls—all the aforementioned painted in a cream colour—between which are panels of moss green fabric, except where there are windows on the east wall. In it hangs a reproduction of Robert Harris ' painting The Fathers of Confederation , as well as

7296-576: 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 ,

7448-553: 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

7600-483: 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

7752-492: 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

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7904-424: 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

8056-520: Is today the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association . The chair has since been augmented with a hydraulic lift, lighting, writing surfaces, and, at the foot of the chair, a television screen and computer screen to aid the speaker in monitoring the process of the house. Behind the chair is a door that gives the speaker access to the speaker's corridor, which links the commons chamber to the speaker's chambers, and which

8208-473: The Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie proposed a commemoration of the country's place in la Francophonie . The following year, the Senate approved granting the room its present name. It is furnished with French emblems, such as fleurs-de-lis and portraits of French monarchs during the time of New France . There are also bronze busts of Samuel de Champlain and Senator Raoul Dandurand . The room

8360-533: The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie . The space is in a Tudor Gothic Revival style, with oak panelling carved with tracery , exposed wood beams, and textured plaster, as well as bosses carved into flowers, human faces, and gargoyles. A limestone fireplace is flamked by reading nooks with half-vaulted canopies. It was originally used as a smoking room until, in 1992, the Canadian wing of

8512-764: 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

8664-462: 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

8816-477: The Beaux-Arts ethos of the time. By 1 September 1916, less than seven months after the fire, the original cornerstone was relaid by the then governor general, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn , exactly 56 years after his brother, the future King Edward VII, had done the same. The new building was to be constructed with a steel frame, and an interior predominantly finished in stone, as well as with

8968-539: 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

9120-628: The East and West blocks' courtyards for use as temporary legislative chambers while the Centre Block is out of commission. These plans were later changed, and the Senate chamber has been housed in the former Union Station, currently the Government Conference Centre , since 2019. Commons has occupied the West Block as previously arranged, after it was renovated from 2011 to 2019. From 2018, MPs were moved from Centre Block for

9272-485: 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

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9424-559: 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,

9576-405: 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

9728-439: 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

9880-420: 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

10032-459: The Speaker of the Senate , Noël A. Kinsella , and the Canadian Secretary to the Queen and Usher of the Black Rod, Kevin MacLeod , and approved by the Queen, the window shows Elizabeth and Queen Victoria with their respective royal cyphers and renditions of the Centre Block during the reign of each monarch. A gift to the monarch from the Senate, it was constructed over six weeks from 500 pieces of machine-made and mouth-blown glass from France,

10184-461: The Speech from the Throne and grants royal assent to bills passed by Parliament. The senators in the chamber who belong to the governing party sit to the speaker of the Senate 's right and the opposition sit to the speaker's left. On the centre table sits the Diamond Jubilee Calendar, paid for by donations from senators and commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of Elizabeth II's accession as Queen of Canada, it displays symbols chosen to depict

10336-433: The Supreme Court of Canada from 1876 to 1889. Directly across the Hall of Honour is the Reading Room, where the governing party's caucus meets. It is in a similar architectural style to the Railway Room, except between its pillasters are Art Nouveau murals. On the Centre Block's east side, near the Senate foyer and used as a meeting room for senators, is the Salon de la Francophonie , dedicated to Canada's membership in

10488-520: 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

10640-470: The home front activities of the Canadian Expeditionary Force at a YMCA canteen in one of London 's train stations as they await their train to the battlefront . The Watch on the Rhine (The Last Phase) was painted by Sir William Rothenstein to symbolically represent the defeat of Germany, with a British howitzer facing across the Rhine , and old and new Germany embodied in the ancient hills and factory chimney. And Sir George Clausen 's Returning to

10792-428: The merchant marine and agriculture on the south wall, two of Canada's First Nations people on the west wall, and a lumberjack and miner with a wheel of industry on the north wall. There were originally two renditions of the sovereign's Canadian arms , one each on the north and south walls of Confederation Hall; however, the latter was reworked in 2000 by Maurice Joanisse into the above-mentioned coat of arms of

10944-500: The prime minister's office , that of the leader of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition , and the offices of other party leaders, as well as senators, ministers, and Commons staff. Further, there are numerous parliamentary committee rooms and the Parliamentary Press Gallery . The Centre Block is arranged symmetrically around Confederation Hall, located immediately inside the main entrance. It is an octagonal chamber,

11096-666: The 1970s. Then, from 2018, MPs were moved elsewhere for renovations lasting until 2031. One of the most recognizable buildings in Canada, the Centre Block is depicted on the Canadian $ 10 bill (the Library of Parliament), $ 20 bill (the Peace Tower ), and the $ 50 bill . Designed by Jean-Omer Marchand  [ fr ] and John A. Pearson , the Centre Block is a symmetrical structure, 144 m (472 ft) long by 75 m (246 ft) deep, and six storeys high, built in

11248-506: 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;

11400-516: The 1990s, it was deemed necessary for an upgrade to be made to the Centre Block's mechanical and electrical systems, which would necessitate a new plant for these amenities. To avoid disturbing the building's heritage façades and spaces, as well as erecting new structures within the parliamentary precinct, the two storey, 50 m × 40 m (160 ft × 130 ft) square plant and new loading docks, called Centre Block Underground Services (CBUS), were constructed underground, seeing, in 1997,

11552-836: 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

11704-593: The 550 windows and other edges. The roof is of reinforced concrete covered with copper , and dotted with dormer windows. The interior walls are sheeted with Tyndall stone , a dolomitic limestone quarried in southeastern Manitoba and chosen by the architect for the richness of its vibrant colour and rich pattern formed by darker brown spots which are fossilized shallow marine mud burrows. These surfaces are augmented by sculptural decoration done in Indiana limestone. The Centre Block houses offices and facilities, including

11856-647: 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

12008-625: The Canadians and more anxious to give his support to measures calculated to promote the prosperity of that country. By 1866, the United Province of Canada's parliament ( Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada and Legislative Council of the Province of Canada ) sat in its first and only session in the new building, by then dominated by the central Victoria Tower on the formal front, and with an articulated rear façade shaped along

12160-917: 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,

12312-559: The Centre Block. There, he engaged in a firefight with Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons Kevin Vickers and members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police , which ended when he was killed by RCMP Constable Curtis Barrett. Future upgrades have led to extensive internal renovations, including both parliamentary chambers and associated areas. As this would cause a multi-year disruption, plans were made to enclose

12464-602: The Dominion of Canada the Parliament and People dedicate this Building in process of reconstruction after damage by fire as a memorial of the deeds of their Forefathers and of the valour of those Canadians who in the Great War fought for the liberties of Canada, of the Empire and of Humanity. Around the central column is an inlaid marble floor with a 16-point windrose of Verde Antique serpentine from Roxbury, Vermont , and

12616-485: 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

12768-484: 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

12920-466: The Great War. The sculptures remain incomplete; only the north end, closest to the Library of Parliament, has completed carvings. The largest of these stone sculptures is a low relief memorial to nursing in Canada, depicting those care-givers who participated in World War I, while another work, Canada Remembers , pays tribute to those who were involved in the Second World War . Two other pieces mark

13072-602: The Hall of Honour, the Memorial Chamber , and Confederation Hall. Built in the Gothic Revival style, the present Centre Block is the building's second iteration. The first was destroyed by fire in 1916; all that remains of the original building is the Library of Parliament , at the rear of the Centre Block. Though construction began immediately after the blaze, sculpting work on the interior continued through

13224-468: The Heir-Apparent and he will see in the demonstrations of the Canadians something of a political rather than of a personal and individual character[...] in after, when he occupies a more elevated position he will gratefully remember that his 'first appearance' as the representative of sovereign power and the warmth of feeling evinced towards him will make him more disposed to redress any grievances of

13376-480: The House of Commons is that room's foyer, a rectangular, two storey arcaded hall surrounded by clustered limestone piers and moulded arches that support an upper cloister lined with black marble posts. The foyer is approached from Confederation Hall by the South Corridor, which is lined with portraits of former prime ministers, as well as via an entrance hall that opens to the front of the Centre Block and which

13528-656: The Lord Beaverbrook , and were intended to hang in a specific memorial structure. But the project was never completed and the works were stored at the National Gallery of Canada until, in 1921, parliament requested some of the collection's oil paintings on loan for display in the Centre Block. The murals have remained in the Senate chamber ever since. Edgar Bundy 's Landing of the First Canadian Division at Saint-Nazaire, 1915 , depicts

13680-495: The Reconquered Land was painted to illustrate agricultural land behind the front lines in France and shows people returning to their destroyed homes following the armistice. To the Senate's immediate south is that room's foyer, a double-height space surrounded by a double-layered colonnade , the inside ring of attached shaft columns rising to the ceiling and the outside ring of rose coloured limestone columns supporting

13832-576: The Senate, as the latter had not yet been constructed. Similarly, the corridors and main chambers were still devoid of their decorative carvings, which would be completed over the ensuing fifty years, and it was not until Dominion Day of 1927 that the Peace Tower was dedicated by Governor General the Viscount Willingdon . On 18 May 1966, Paul Joseph Chartier killed himself as he left a Centre Block washroom by accidentally detonating

13984-425: The United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States. The Queen unveiled a model at Rideau Hall on 30 June 2011 and, after the finished piece's installation, the window was dedicated by Governor General David Johnston on 7 February 2012. The foyer walls bear portraits of Canada's past monarchs. The portrait of Queen Victoria by John Partridge has notably been rescued four times from fire, while others were added after

14136-436: The bomb he had been preparing to throw onto the floor of the House of Commons from the public galleries to, as he put it in his notes, "exterminate as many members as possible." The building's security was heightened; however, tests of this by journalism students that November proved the precautions had been little improved. Later, in 1989, Charles Yacoub hijacked a Greyhound Lines bus and drove it up onto Parliament Hill. By

14288-447: The building to offer protection for workers and also is aesthetically pleasing for visitors. About 355,000 visitors tour the Centre Block each year. Guided, free daily tours are conducted year-round by the Library of Parliament and include an opportunity to visit the Peace Tower. Visitors are able to "discover the history, functions and art of Canada’s Parliament", and curriculum-based tours are available to school groups. The federal Crown

14440-466: The building was, the final tallies of the costs showed the original budget had been far surpassed, with the total price of the Centre Block being $ 1,373,633, at 1866 rates, when $ 1,093,500 had originally been allocated for the construction of the entire parliamentary precinct. On 1 July 1867, the Dominion of Canada was formed, with Ottawa as the capital, and the houses of parliament the legislature, for

14592-523: The chamber, carved between 1978 and 1985, and illustrating through symbols and narrative themes associated with the federal and provincial responsibilities laid out in the British North America Act ; Evolution of Life , a series of 14 sculptures within the spandrels of the pier-arches at the north and south ends of the House of Commons, depicting Canada's palaeontological past and the evolution of humanity through philosophy, science, and

14744-459: The coat check and perished. Others, meanwhile, formed a human chain to carry furniture, files, and artwork out of the burning structure; the portrait of Queen Victoria in the commons chamber was rescued from flames for the second time after the 1849 burning of the Parliament buildings in Montreal . Half an hour after the fire started came the first of five explosions, and, shortly after midnight,

14896-499: The commons floor and designed in 1920 by the New York decorating firm Mack, Jenney and Tyler, is painted with the heraldic symbols of the Canadian, provincial, and territorial coats of arms, with medallions at the intersections of diagonal stencilled bands in an argyle pattern. Running below this, and above the cove, is a continuous gold leaf cornice created in 1919 by Ferdinand Anthony Leonard Cerracchio (1888–1964), which displays

15048-778: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Wind rose The Tower of the Winds in Athens , of about 50 BC is in effect a physical wind rose, as an octagonal tower with eight large reliefs of the winds near the top. It was designed by Andronicus of Cyrrhus , who seems to have written a book on the winds. A passage in Vitruvius 's chapter on town planning in his On Architecture ( De architectura ) seems to be based on this missing book. The emphasis

15200-410: The curves of the adjacent cliff. The stonework contained carved mouldings, sculpted foliage, real and mythical animals, grotesques, and emblems of France , England , Ireland , and Scotland , spread across and over pointed windows in various groupings, turrets , towers , and finials , while the roof was of grey and green slate, topped with iron cresting painted china blue with gilt tips. Beautiful as

15352-519: 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

15504-525: The detailed carving, the designs for which had been finalised by Cléophas Soucy in 1941, remained incomplete until 1953, due to occurrence of the Second World War. Upon completion of this work, the tympanums were adorned with the coats of arms of Canada and the provinces, each surrounded by relevant floral symbols: on the east wall thistles for Nova Scotia , Tudor roses for Prince Edward Island , and grapes and apples for New Brunswick ; on

15656-399: The east of the hall are windows, while the others are blind. Running the length of the hall and resting on corbels carved into early English foliage and other customary symbols, is a ribbed vault ceiling rising to bosses carved with Tudor roses and fleur-de-lis . The hall is bisected by small, vaulted corridors, the east one leading to a committee room, and the west to the old reading room;

15808-448: 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

15960-519: The efforts of early nation-building , such as that donated by Canadians living in the United States and which celebrates the 60th anniversary of Confederation. In Centre Block's east wing is the Senate chamber, in which are the thrones for the Canadian monarch and his consort , or for the federal viceroy and his or her consort , and from which the sovereign or the governor general gives

16112-594: 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

16264-660: The evolution of the French and British Crowns into that of Canada. The Senate chamber's overall colour is red, seen in the upholstery, carpeting, and draperies, and reflecting the colour scheme of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom; red was a more royal colour, associated with the Crown and hereditary peers . Capping the room is a gilt ceiling with deep octagonal coffers , each filled with heraldic symbols, including maple leaves, fleurs-de-lis , lions rampant , clàrsach , Welsh Dragons , and lions passant . This plane rests on six pairs and four single pilasters , each of which

16416-516: 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

16568-608: The first landing of Canadian troops in France, at Saint-Nazaire , led off the Novian by the pipe band of the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada and watched by officers, troops, and townspeople. Algernon Talmage painted A Mobile Veterinary Unit in France , showing a scene on the Cambrai front, where a Canadian Mobile Veterinary Unit is taking wounded horses to an evacuating station. Railway Construction in France

16720-915: 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 ,

16872-829: 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

17024-416: The hall is crossed on both levels by the Centre Block's north corridor, with an overlooking gallery lined by iron railings by Paul Beau . The Hall of Honour was intended to be a gallery where statues of notable Canadians would be arranged in the niches along each side. That plan was later abandoned in favour of a more general purpose of commemorating the 1916 fire, as well as honouring those who participated in

17176-491: The imagination; and Speakers and Clerks , comprising four heads carved on the jambs of the two doors on either side of the Speaker's chair, depicting the speakers and clerks of the House of Commons at the time of the opening of both parliament buildings in 1867 and 1920, respectively. With the closure of Centre Block for renovations in December 2018, the Commons chamber was relocated to nearby West Block . Directly south of

17328-401: 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

17480-479: 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

17632-612: 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 ,

17784-489: The large bell in the Victoria Tower crashed to the ground; it had tolled each hour until midnight, when, after ringing eleven times, it ceased to function. When the fire crews thought that the inferno had been quelled, flames emerged in the Senate chamber. Within twelve hours, the building was completely destroyed, except for the Library of Parliament , spared by the closing of its heavy metal doors. Bowman Brown Law

17936-479: 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

18088-487: The latter is known as the Correspondents' Entrance , as it is lined with bosses and label stops sculpted by Cléophas Soucy between 1949 and 1950 into the visages of ten notable parliamentary correspondents: Charles Bishop, Henri Bourassa , John Wesley Dafoe , Joseph Howe , Grattan O'Leary , Frank Oliver , John Ross Robertson , Philip Dansken Ross , Joseph Israël Tarte , and Robert S. White. The north end of

18240-588: The main door, on the chamber's axis, is the speaker 's chair, made in 1921 by the English firm of Harry Hems as an exact replica of that in the British House of Commons. It is topped by a carved wood canopy bearing a rendition of the royal coat of arms of Canada sculpted in wood from the roof of the Westminster Hall , which was built in 1397; the whole was a gift from the British branch of what

18392-496: The modern Gothic Revival style. As such, it displays a multitude of stone carvings , including gargoyles , grotesques , and friezes , keeping with the Victorian High Gothic style of the rest of the parliamentary complex. The walls are faced with more than 50,000 blocks of over 24 different types of stone, though a rustic finished Nepean sandstone is the predominant kind of masonry , with dressed stone trim around

18544-420: 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

18696-408: The new Centre Block was built. The building's western wing contains the House of Commons chamber, along with its antechamber and lobbies for the government and opposition, on the east and west sides of the main commons space. The doors to all are of white oak trimmed with hand-wrought iron. The chamber is 21 metres long, 16 metres wide, and has seats for 320 members of parliament and 580 persons in

18848-751: The newly created territory of Nunavut. Extending from Confederation Hall is the Centre Block's north to south axis, running between the Library of Parliament and the Peace Tower , through the Hall of Honour, which serves as the route of the parades for both speakers of parliament, as well as where the lying in state segment of some state funerals takes place. It is a long, rib vaulted space of Tyndall limestone divided into five bays by superimposed double arcades of lancet arches atop clustered columns on pedestals. These bays are subdivided in half by single-story pointed arches on dark green syenite pillars, above which sit clerestory windows of cusped lights segmented by Missisquoi Black marble posts, though only those on

19000-465: The official cause of the fire was reported as a carelessly left cigar, "unofficial Ottawa, including many Members of Parliament, declare 'the Hun hath done this thing.'" Reconstruction of the Centre Block began immediately, with a team of architects led by John A. Pearson and Jean-Omer Marchand overseeing a design much like the original, but expanded in size and pared down in ornament, more in keeping with

19152-589: 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;

19304-534: 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

19456-470: The other side rests on a single column in the centre of the room. This column is borne on a stone carved with an image of Neptune amongst sea lions and fish in a mythical sea. It was placed at noon on 2 July 1917, to mark the 50th anniversary of Confederation, and above it was carved the words: 1867 July 1917 On the fiftieth anniversary of the Confederation of British Colonies in North America as

19608-429: The perimeter of which is divided by limestone clustered columns into eight bays of two different sizes, themselves subdivided by dark green syenite pillars. Behind these runs a vaulted ambulatory that supports the upper gallery. The arcaded arches are topped by gables sculpted to commemorate the confederated nature of Canada and they support one side of the hall's fan vaulted ceiling with carved bosses , while

19760-471: 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

19912-494: The removal of 25,000 m (883,000 cu ft) of rock from under and near the Centre Block. Several shooting incidents occurred on 22 October 2014 around Parliament Hill and in the Centre Block, primarily in the Hall of Honour. Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, after fatally shooting Corporal Nathan Cirillo, a soldier mounting the guard of honour at the National War Memorial , made his way to Parliament Hill and to

20064-410: The renovation, the 20,000 heritage assets and artifacts were removed, and parts of the building reduced to a shell. The project aims to restore the heritage of the building. In doing so, of the 400,000 stones supporting the Centre Block, approximately a third are being removed for repair or replacement. During parts of the renovation, a tarp named “trompe-l’œil” (trick of the eye) has been installed around

20216-471: 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

20368-541: The second phase of the project, the Parliament Welcome Centre, which will link the East, Centre, and West blocks into a single, interconnected complex. It is also expected to provide additional operating space for Parliament's activities. French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ) is a Romance language of

20520-517: The south wall lilies, maple leaves, and Tudor roses for Newfoundland and Labrador , pine cones, oak leaves, and acorns for Nunavut , and maple leaves for British Columbia ; on the west wall grapevines and apples for Saskatchewan , sunflowers, corn, and wheat for Alberta , and wheat and pine cones for Manitoba ; and on the west wall sunflowers, wheat, and corn for Ontario , pine cones, oak leaves, and acorns for Canada , and Tudor roses for Quebec . The remaining territorial coats of arms are located in

20672-401: The southeast ( Northwest Territories ) and southwest ( Yukon ) corners. The gable springers all display the coats of arms of the provincial and territorial capitals, while the gable ramparts bear symbols of Canada's fauna . The apex stones atop each central arch are carved into figures from Canadian life, two Inuit with huskies being found on the east wall, two heads each representing

20824-407: The stalemate, and the winner was announced on 29 August 1859. The Centre Block, departmental buildings, and a new residence for the governor general were each awarded separately, and the team of Thomas Fuller and Chilion Jones , under the pseudonym of Semper Paratus (Always Ready), won the prize for the first category with their Victorian High Gothic scheme with a formal, symmetrical front facing

20976-466: 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

21128-679: 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

21280-413: The upper gallery that runs around the room's second level. The overall colour scheme is in green—visible in the carpeting , bench upholstery, draperies, paint within the gilded honeycomb cork plaster work of the cove , and the stretched linen canvas over the ceiling—and is reflective of the colour used in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom since at least 1663. That canvas, sitting 14.7 m above

21432-568: 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

21584-485: 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

21736-536: 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

21888-462: 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

22040-417: 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

22192-819: 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

22344-400: 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

22496-469: 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

22648-552: Was painted by Leonard Richmond to show the construction of a railway by the Canadian Overseas Railway Construction Corps in the deepest trench in France. James Kerr-Lawson was commissioned by the Canadian War Memorials Fund to create both Arras, the Dead City —which depicts the ruins of Arras Cathedral as they were in 1917—and The Cloth Hall, Ypres , a painting of the destroyed, 600-year-old Cloth Hall in Ypres . Claire Atwood 's On Leave documents (as battlefield scenes were thought inappropriate subject matter for female artists)

22800-411: 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

22952-437: 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 ,

23104-404: Was the only member of parliament who died in the fire, bringing the total to 7. The Cabinet immediately moved to meet at the nearby Château Laurier hotel while parliament itself relocated to the Victoria Memorial Museum Building . With the fire occurring during the First World War , rumours began to circulate a German arsonist had started the blaze, the Toronto Globe asserting that while

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