French is the mother tongue of approximately 7.2 million Canadians (22.8 percent of the Canadian population, second to English at 56 percent) according to the 2016 Canadian Census. Most Canadian native speakers of French live in Quebec, the only province where French is the majority language and the only province in which it is the sole official language. Of Quebec's people, 71.2 percent are native francophones and 95 percent speak French as their first or second language. About one million native francophones live in other provinces, forming a sizable minority in New Brunswick, which is officially bilingual; about a third of New Brunswick's people are francophones. There are also French-speaking communities in Manitoba and Ontario, where francophones are about 4 percent of the population, and smaller communities (about 1 to 2 percent of the population) in Alberta, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Saskatchewan. Many of these communities are supported by French-language institutions. In 2016, 29.8 percent of Canadians reported being able to conduct a conversation in French. By the 1969 Official Languages Act, both English and French are recognized as official languages in Canada and granted equal status by the Canadian government. While French, with no specification as to dialect or variety, has the status of one of Canada's two official languages at the federal government level, English is the native language of most Canadians. The federal government provides services and operates in both languages. The provincial governments of Ontario, New Brunswick, and Manitoba are required to provide services in French where provision is justified by the number of francophones. French is also an official language of all three Canadian territories: the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon. Whatever that status of the French or English languages in a province or territory, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms requires all provinces and territories to provide primary and secondary education to their official-language minorities. History and evolution 16th century In 1524, the Florentine navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano, working for Italian bankers in France, explored the American coast from Florida to Cape Breton Island. In 1529, Verrazzano mapped a part of the coastal region of the North American continent under the name Nova Gallia (New France). In 1534, King Francis I of France sent Jacques Cartier to explore previously unfamiliar lands. Cartier found the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, sealed an alliance with the local people and obtained passage to go farther.