The Surprise North of the Border: “Wait…There Are How Many Franco-Americans?”

When Canada passed Bill C-3, most of the conversation focused on policy. But something else happened that caught a lot of people off guard, especially in English Canada.

They realized…there are a lot of Franco-Americans.

And not just a few scattered families near the border. We’re talking millions of people across the United States, with a heavy concentration in New England. “So they aren’t ALL Pilgrims and Irish after all?!”

For those of us who grew up in it, that’s not surprising. It’s all around you. But watching the reaction from English Canadian media, you could tell this felt like a discovery.

And if you’ve been paying attention, people like David Vermette have been saying exactly this for years.

Back in 2016, he wrote a piece that asked the question we’re suddenly hearing everywhere: Why Are Franco-Americans So Invisible?

One line from that article says it all:

“Few people know anything about the Franco-Americans.”

That wasn’t written in response to Bill C-3. That was written nearly a decade ago. And here we are.

Invisible on Both Sides of the Border

What Vermette gets right is that this isn’t just about Canada not knowing. Franco-Americans have been easy to miss on both sides of the border.

A big reason is assimilation. Over generations, the language faded. “Little Canadas” broke up. People stopped identifying as French-Canadian and started identifying simply as American. Not because the culture disappeared, but because it blended in.

And there’s another layer to it too. Vermette points to something cultural that hits pretty close to home:

“We were taught that you don’t speak well of yourself.”

That humility, that tendency to stay quiet, to not draw attention, to just get on with it…that played a role. You combine that with assimilation, and you get a population that’s massive in size but low in visibility.

Bill C-3 Didn’t Create Interest, It was Already There

So when Bill C-3 opened the door for citizenship by descent, and suddenly Americans started showing interest, it looked like something new. It was most certainly not a new thing.

It was recognition catching up to reality. People aren’t discovering Franco-American roots out of nowhere. They’re reconnecting with something that was always there, just a little buried over time.

And in places like New England, it’s not even that buried. Maybe a few inches of dirt?

You see it in last names with silent consonants. In church basements filled with St Jean pics. In family recipes of course, so many pork recipes. In my case it was in stories that get passed down.

And yeah…in things like PoutineFest for future generations.

The Bigger Takeaway

If there’s a takeaway from all of this, it’s not just about citizenship policy. It’s about awareness.

Bill C-3 exposed a blind spot. Not just in English Canada, but more broadly in how this whole cross-border story gets told. Franco-Americans aren’t a rediscovery. We’re a living reminder.

A reminder that the history between Canada and the United States, especially in New England, is way more connected than most people realize. And maybe the real surprise isn’t  how many Franco-Americans there are. It’s that it took this long for people to notice.

Tim is the founder of PoutineFest USA, which hosts events throughout New England. For more visit poutinefest.com