Franco-Ontarian
There are more than 600,000 francophones residing in Ontario. According to the 2016 Canadian census, there were 550,600 people living in Ontario who declared French their first official language spoken, 490,715 people who declared French their mother tongue, and 277,045 Ontarians who declared French as the language they speak most often at home. Over 1.4 million Ontarians reported themselves as bilingual, and 1.3 million Ontarians reported partial or full French ethnic origins. French-speaking Ontarians constitute the largest French-speaking community in Canada outside Quebec, as well as the largest minority language group within Ontario, and French is the fourth most common ethnic background in the province after English, Scottish and Irish.
Chronic disease in Northern Ontario
The estimated area of Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) 13 is 400,000 square kilometres or approximately 40% of Ontario, with a population of 551,691. In LHIN 13, 17% of the population is 65 years of age or older, which is significantly higher than the provincial average of 14%. LHIN 13 is diverse with 24% of the population Francophone and 10% of the population First Nations (North East LHIN, 2009). The estimated area of LHIN 14 is 470,000 square kilometers or approximately 47% of Ontario, with a population of 234,599. In LHIN 14, 14.3% of the population is 65 years of age or older. LHIN 14 is diverse with 3.5% of the population Francophone and 19.8% First Nations (North West LHIN, 2009).