Since 1835, the civil administration, courts, and education systems in Western Canada had been conducted in both English and French. And after 1877, the Northwest Territories Act recognized French as one of their official languages. In 1888, opposition to the official recognition of French became very vocal in favour of recognizing English as the only language of the Canadian nation, and of the Northwest. In 1892, despite the presence of a very strong Francophone minority throughout the Northwest, the territorial assembly changed its rules to abolish the use of French as the language of government, the courts and education. From the creation of the province until the 1960s, there was no significant change to the legal status of French in Alberta.
Settlement
Between 1885, the French-speaking population accounted for one-third of the colonizing languages of Alberta communities and 60% in the northern part of the province. (It should be noted that there were a number of First Nations who could speak French, but census did not enumerate for language.) French lost a lot of vitality in the 30 years that followed, because Canada organized a massive influx of more than 3 million newcomers to the West. Between 1885 and 1921, Alberta grew from about 15,500 to almost 600,000 residents, while the Francophone population only grew from 2,000 to about 25,000. A very large number of Francophone newcomers were French Canadians who tried their luck in the industrial cities of New England and took the opportunity to settle again on farmland in French-speaking enclaves such as Saint-Albert, Vegreville, Plamondon, Morinville, Legal, Beaumont, Bonnyville, St. Paul, and so on. Another segment of the population left France and Belgium for the same reasons to settle in villages like Trochu and Bellevue.
Political and economical elite
Francophones during this time settled with the full expectation that they would play a leading role in the economic and political life of Alberta. Merchants, hoteliers, and bankers of the names of Gagnon, Larue, Picard, Picard, Gariépy, Révillon, Prince, Brosseau, Lemarchand, and many others established themselves as early as 1883. A body of highly influential professionals also established themselves. Charles Borromée Rouleau was appointed Magistrate for the Northwest Territories and investigated Métis and Aboriginal unrest in 1884. His doctor brother Dr. Édouard Rouleau was very involved in Calgary’s civic life. Dr. Georges Roy in Edmonton was also a physician and important leader in Edmonton. In St. Albert, Antonio Prince was the first French Canadian elected to the territorial council in 1891 for St. Albert, succeeding the Métis Samuel Cunningham. Several Francophone members were elected to the territorial, provincial and federal legislatures and several were appointed to the Senate in the decades that followed.