How well connected do you think "French-Canadian" descent Americans are to Canada?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Capsicum

That's a shame. If families themselves won't carry the language forward, let alone non-family newcomers, then the prospects for the language are gloomy.

I know in some cases, local minority languages can actually thrive if passing on the language happens through either family or by newcomers. I remember reading about situations where local or regional but non-dominant languages are surviving through being picked up by immigrants seeing it as something to assimilate to in order to be a part of the society (eg. say, Welsh in Wales if picked up by immigrants). But I don't know if they are part of a trend or just rare cases. In some cases, you could even have an immigrant assimilate to the less dominant language, or even the culture and region as a whole and fiercely fight for it (for example, Francophone immigrants voting for the Bloc Quebecois, or even an immigrant to Scotland speaking Gaelic and supporting Scottish nationalists), but I don't know how common that is (it definitely is striking if noticed though, and sometimes talked about in the media).

Well, that was a big part of the impetus behind Bill 101 in Quebec, especially the provisions on schooling for immigrant kids. By and large, it has worked.