Which community is the first Francophone settlement in British Columbia?

• A. Kamloops
• B. Maillardville
• C. Cranbrook
• D. New Westminster

Answer: (B)

The question taps into the earliest Francophone communities in British Columbia, showing how French-speaking families settled where work in the timber industry drew them. Maillardville in the Coquitlam area first formed in the early 1900s as French-Canadian workers moved west to work at Fraser Mills and related mills. It grew into a distinct Francophone neighborhood with its own church, school, and cultural institutions, making it BC’s first organized Francophone settlement. The other towns did not develop a Francophone community that early or as clearly as Maillardville, so the first Francophone settlement is Maillardville.