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​Étienne Brûlé is no longer the mysterious character who has inspired many different representations, ranging from traitor to hero.

Since works of art were generally imported from France at this time, he was most influential through his paintings for local churches, both during his sojourn in the colony and after his return to France.

Joseph-François Lafitau, priest, Jesuit missionary, legal philosopher (b at Bordeaux, France 1681; d there 3 July 1746).

Joseph-Michel Cadet, butcher, military provisioner (b at Québec City 24 Dec 1719; d at Paris, France 31 Jan 1781). Born of generations of butchers, Cadet worked first for his uncle, a Québec butcher, and became the Crown's purveyor of meat in 1745.

​Élisabeth Vonarburg, writer (born 5 August 1947 in Paris, France).

Pierre Gaudard, photographer (b at Marvelise, France 6 Oct 1927; d at France 22 July 2010). Gaudard, who immigrated to Canada in 1952, became one of the most respected documentary photographers in the country by the 1960s.

Brigadier-General Raymond Brutinel, CB, CMG, DSO, geologist, journalist, soldier and entrepreneur, a pioneer in the field of mechanized warfare (b at Alet, Aude, France 6 Mar 1872; d at Couloume-Mondebat, Gares, France 21 Sept 1964).

Étienne Verrier, military engineer (b at Aix-en-Provence, France 4 Jan 1683; d at La Rochelle, France 10 Sept 1747). After 17 years with the engineer corps, Verrier served at LOUISBOURG as chief engineer 1724-45.

Daniel d'Auger de Subercase, military officer and French colonial governor (b at Orthez, France 12 Feb 1661; d at Cannes-L'Ecluse, France 20 Nov 1732). Subercase arrived at Québec in 1687 as a captain in the Marine.

Ounanguissé (“Shimmering Light of the Sun,” also spelled Onangizes, Onanguisset and Onanguicé) was wkama (leader) of the Potawatomi ca. 1660s–1701. He was an important figure in the alliance between the French and Indigenous people of the Great Lakes region during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. He is most well known for a speech he gave regarding this alliance during a meeting he had with the governor general of New France, Louis de Buade de Frontenac in 1697. He also made an important contribution to the establishment of the Great Peace of Montreal in 1701.

Ontario has the largest French-speaking minority community in Canada, and the largest French-speaking community of any province outside of Quebec. Ontario’s French-speaking presence was first established during the French colonial regime in the early 17th century (see New France.) It grew steadily throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, mainly in the eastern and northeastern parts of the province in connection with the forestry, mining and railway industries. French has official language status in Ontario’s Legislative Assembly, in the courts, and in educational institutions (see French Languages Services Act (Ontario)).

From the late 1660's onwards, several hundred Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) mainly from the Mohawk nation settled in the region of Montréal. Most converted to Catholicism or underwent the process of doing so.

In Canada, the term francophone refers to someone whose first language is French: it is the one they use most often to speak, read, write and think, and the one they use most often at home. Being francophone can also simply mean being able to speak the language fluently.

According to the 2016 census, approximately 10.36 million Canadians, or 29.8 per cent of the population, declared being able to communicate in French. Of this number, 7.45 million reported that French was their mother tongue.

André Siegfried, geographer, political commentator (born 21 April 1875 in Le Havre, France; died 28 March 1959 in Paris, France). Preeminent French geographer of his generation, Siegfried is the author of several books about Canada and North America.

Henry Percival Biggar, historian, archivist (b at Carrying Place, Ont 9 Aug 1872; d at Worplesdon, Eng 25 July 1938).

Armand-François-Marie de Charbonnel, Roman Catholic bishop of Toronto (b near Monistrol-sur-Loire, France 1 Dec 1802; d at Crest, France 29 Mar 1891). Of noble birth, Charbonnel entered the priesthood in the Society of St-Sulpice.

Françoise Faucher, actor, director, and moderator (b at Montmorency, France, 1929). Trained in drama in France under René Simon and Bernard Bimont, Faucher immigrated to Canada in the early 1950s with her husband Jean Faucher, also involved in theatre.

Antoine Laumet, known as “de Lamothe Cadillac,” explorer, seigneur in Acadia, commandant of Fort Michilimackinac, founder of Detroit and of the first colony in Ontario, governor of Louisiana (born 5 March 1658 at Saint-Nicolas-de-la-Grave, France; died 16 October 1730 at Castelsarrasin, France).

Thomas Bertram Costain, editor, novelist (b at Brantford, Ont 8 May 1885; d at New York, NY 8 Oct 1965).