It has not solely protected francophones. The institutions on which francophones in Canada relied up until the 1960s were essentially church-based, be it the parish, convents, hospitals and so forth. We should remember that the Montfort Hospital was created by nuns 50 years ago. The state took it over less than 20 years after the nuns on the farm were expropriated.
Institutions led by the clergy were francophone, they weren't bilingual and they belonged to the community. There was a major change. That said, the church no longer has the strength nor the capacity to manage institutions today.