The 24th of June is a Provincial Holiday known as "Fete Nationale du Quebec" (or Quebec Day) in Quebec (obviously). Saint Jean is the Patron Saint of the People of Quebec (and of all other French Canadians with the exception of Acadians). In the Other Provinces the day is still called "Saint-Jean-Baptiste". I will talk about the French Canadians or Canadiens around the Nation.
All right, first of all, the first French in Canada were Britons who fished in Newfoundland but they weren't permanent so lets move on shall we? Explorer Jacques Cartier was sent by the King François 1er (Francis 1st) to find a road to the Orient (Like many people at the time). After passing the Britons on Newfoundland, Cartier "Discovered" Canada even if John Cabot (Giovanni Cabotto) hit Newfoundland (or Nova Scotia, it is not too sure) in 1497. Cartier hit Nova Scotia in 1534 (we learn these dates from grade 4 to grade 8). He is commonly called the Founder of Canada having built the first European-built permanent habitation in Canada. He did a few trips from France to Canada to France again and so on until he died. The Explorer and Cartographer, Samuel de Champlain went down the Saint Laurent River and founded Quebec in 1608 and Montreal (then a trading post called Ville-Marie) in 1611. The Territory was Called New France (named by Cartier, I think...) but during the 17th Century it was devided into three parts. There Was Acadia, which didn't really call itself New France, there was the Canada (North of the Great Lakes) and Louisiana (Ohio Valley, Mississipi, Missouri all the way to New Orleans. The population of the Canadiens (no french really lived in Louisiana until the Deportation) was very little small compared to the English of New Britain and the Acadians and soon the English Deported the Acadians to Lousiana, took over Canada and Louisiana was split between the Spanish and the English.
In Canada, there is a population of 28 528 125 (1996) people. 6789675 of them speak french as one of their first languages (some people consider their first languages French AND English or French and unofficial language or even French AND English AND unofficial language). That means that a total of 23.7% of Canadians are French (mother tongue). Apparently A third of Canadians can have a full conversation in French.
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