I am a Canadian citizen who has been out of the country for…

Sorry for the delay. I actually provided an answer and I can see now that it did not post. I am not sure why.

In Canada, you have to report all capital gains. Then what happens is one half of the capital gains is reported as income in the year that you incurred the capital gain.

But, you will not face double taxation as there is a treaty between Canada and France which means that you will get foreign tax credits for any tax paud France and that will reduce what tax you have to pay in Canada.

Does that answer your question?

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The Canadian authorities will not report anything to France. They do not have the same sort of agreement that they have with the US with any other country.

If you report capital gains and do not report a foreign tax credit nothing will ever come of this except that you will pay full capital gains tax in Canada.