So, about bilingualism... lol...
A few interesting facts and stats on Canadian views of bilingualism
Most of these are based on Center for Research and Information on Canada (CRIC) surveys, unless otherwise stated.
2001 census- among Canadian anglophones, 10% are bilingual, with a rate of 7% bilingualism outside of Quebec. That's fairly evenly spread across the country (so West, amongst your 75000 area, the stats put roughly 5250 as French speaking, even if you don't hear it, not to mention the ones in your area who'd be francophone with English as a second)
The Canada wide stat for those who feel preserving English and French as our official languages bears some importance, is 77% as of a CRIC '02 survey.
88% if francophones and 68% of anglophones feel bilingualism is of importance to the Canadian identity. (CRIC '03)
91% of Canadians surveyed support the right to French language education outside Quebec, where numbers make costs reasonable, and 81% support it outside of Quebec with no qualifying statement regarding cost.
55% of anglophones outside of Quebec reported that they feel it is important that children in their province receive French education.
75% of Canadians expressed a desire to learn, or to have learned French.
47% of Canadians feel the gov has pushed bilingualism too much. (CRIC 00)
77% of anglos want their children to be bilingual (CRIC 03)
64% of Canadians, and 73% of immigrants agreed that learning french is an important way to help keep the country united. (CRIC 03)
64% of Canadians and 73% of immigrants agreed that having two official languages makes the country more appealing to immigrants.
