Editing French language in Canada (section)

===Ontario===

French is the native language of over 500,000 persons in [[Ontario]], representing 4.7 percent of the province's population. They are concentrated primarily in the [[Eastern Ontario]] and [[Northeastern Ontario]] regions, near the border with [[Quebec]], although they are also present in smaller numbers throughout the province. Francophone Ontarians form part of a larger cultural group known as [[Franco-Ontarian]]s, of whom only 60 percent still speak the language at home. The city of [[Ottawa]] counts the greatest number of Franco-Ontarians in the province. Franco-Ontarians are originally from a first wave of immigration from [[France]], from a second wave from Quebec. The third wave comes from Quebec, but also from Haiti, Morocco, and Africa.

The province has no official language defined in law, although it is a largely English-speaking province. Ontario law requires that the provincial [[Legislative Assembly]] operate in both English and French (individuals can speak in the Assembly in the official language of their choice), and requires that all provincial statutes and bills be made available in both English and French. Furthermore, under the ''[[French Language Services Act (Ontario)|French Language Services Act]]'', individuals are entitled to communicate with the head or central office of any provincial government department or agency in French, as well as to receive all government services in French in 25 designated areas in the province, selected according to minority population criteria. The provincial government of Ontario's website is bilingual. Residents of [[Ottawa]], [[Toronto]], [[Windsor, Ontario|Windsor]], [[Greater Sudbury|Sudbury]] and [[Timmins]] can receive services from their municipal government in the official language of their choice.

There are also several French-speaking communities on military bases in Ontario, such as the one at [[CFB Trenton]]. These communities have been founded by francophone Canadians in the [[Canadian Forces]] who live together in military residences.<ref>{{cite web|last=Statistiques Canada|title=Population dont le français est la langue parlée le plus souvent à la maison, Canada, Provinces, territoires et Canada moins le Québec, 1996 à 2006 |url=http://www.statcan.gc.ca/ |access-date=4 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=David Block |title=Globalization and language teaching |year=2002 |publisher=Taylor and Francis Group |author2=Heller Monica}}</ref>

The term [[Franco-Ontarian]] accepts two interpretations. According to the first one, it includes all French speakers of Ontario, wherever they come from. According to second one, it includes all [[French Canadians]] born in Ontario, whatever their level of French is.<ref>Atlas Universalis (1996), Thésaurus K-M, p. 2638</ref> The use of French among Franco-Ontarians is in decline due to the omnipresence of the English language in a lot of fields.