Where do Canadian people come from?

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Yippee

most canadians are french and english. But they come from lots of other places too. Basically we are from the same place that americans are from

lilykdesign

My goodness, so much ignorance.

Canada was colonized by both the french and the english. Then they fought the great war and England won, so the societal and politcal structures are based on England and we still have connections with the Queen. Her head portrait is still on every penny.

After the big war, the english gave the french Quebec, and that's where the french mostly settled. The Acadians, also french, settled in a variety of places in Canada, but mostly on the east coast, where most of the french is spoken.

All of Canada is bilingual, both french and english. All governent services are provided in both languages.

During the mass immigration in the 1800's, people from all over the world came to both Canada as well as the US. Today, Canada is as multi-cultural as the US.

Families that have been here for generations, either come from England or France.

gmkday

The people in Louisiana are descendants of the Acadians, who were french farmers who lived in Acadia (Nova Scotia). When the British gained control of the area they expelled the Acadians, and they went down to Louisiana, another area still somewhat under French control. In a sense they are Canadian, or at least have Canadian roots. As for Canadians as a whole, Canadians are from all over the place. Depending on how many generations Canadian you are will really affect where you come from, or vice versa. The first Canadians are Natives of course, then the vikings came sometime around 1000, then the french explorers arrived and founded Quebec, then the British, and so on and so forth. Then you have loyalists who fled from America after the patriots won Independence, and some escaped slaves as well. Then you have all the European immigrants that came to farm in the 1800's, then more regular immigration like the U.S. received, and even today immigrants are still pouring in from all over the world. Toronto our biggest city has the second biggest foreign born population of any city in the world. And most multi-cultural. There's tons of Chinese, Jamaicans, Sri Lankans, Somalians, Italians, Portuguese, Philipino, Korean, Indians, people from any country you can imagine. That's where Canadians come from.

African Farmer

Apart from the inuits and indians that were in Canada before the Europeans came, then the Canadians have come from all around the world.

They are not predominantly French (only in Quebec is French an official language) and the French-speaking people in Louisiana are not "Canadian". They are (originally) French as Louisiana was a French colony until France sold its American "possessions" to US of A.

skitown01

This is a trick question right?
Canadian people come from...
Canada
Duh!

MelissA

The French and English settled Canada, as well as a host of other countries. I come from a Ukranian and German background, and my family is originally from Winnipeg and now in Toronto. Interesting about the Louisiana question. I learned in my American history class that during one of the many wars that plagued early USA and Canada, soldiers informed the Acadians (French settlers) that they would have to leave. So they went to Louisiana and settled in New Orleans. Cajun food? From the French Canadians, and it also explains the pocket of French people in Lousiana.

SteveN

The first Canadians (the ones that came here to create the country of Canada) were mostly French and English colonists. Both countries around the 1500's were looking for new territory to claim.

We have big communities of people of French, English, Irish, and Scottish descent.

Canada is made up today of people from many different countries and backgrounds. There are French and English families from the original settlers, and there are First Nations people who were here before all the others.

We even have several former "Americans", some whose family arrived here in the 1770's because they did not want to separate from Britain, some who were decendants of escaped slaves who came to Canada to be free, and some who arrived during the Vietnam war to dodge the draft.

Statistics Canada has a breakdown of the cultural background of Canada from the 2001 census, that I included below.

As for the people in Louisiana, I believe that many are decendants of French settlers from Quebec (at that time called New France) who found the Mississippi, followed it to its delta, and formed the territory of Louisiana in 1682.

isotope2007

The first people to come to Canada were Europeans, then the Vikings, thousands of years later the indians wandered across the land bridge once the ice had melted -

Then the French and British came, at one time Canada was a British Colony. Then the Americans tried and had their butts booted back to their own country.

Canada has two offical languages, English and French, the majority of Canadians speak English. French is spoken in Quebec as an everyday language, but not in the rest of Canada.

There are a large number of Asians now living in Canada, before that immigrants came from Europe, large numbers of Scandanavian people settled throughout western Canada

love2travel

Everywhere! Click on all the groups listed:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Ethnic_groups_in_Canada

Hope that helps!

Wild Spirit

It's the same how Americans came here. Native Americans were here first of course. Then Europeans. You had some runaway or freed slaves from America etc.

Danelady

Excellent answer, gmkday!

The people in Louisiana called Cajuns are the descendants of the Acadian French who were expelled there from Nova Scotia. Acadian - "Cajun" The speech of both is still very similar and so is the cuisine and music. And the families are still closely related.

Many Canadian bands are greatly influenced by Cajun music and vice versa. Beau Soleil etc.

New Brunswick (which was a part of Nova Scotia at the time of the Acadian expulsion) is the only officially bilingual province in Canada - all government services are in both French and English, and all laws, highway signs, etc as well.

kjh4129

THE BOWELS OF THE EARTH MY FRIEND... THE BOWELS OF THE EARTH.... DON'T YOU NOTICE THE ODOR AS IT DRIFTS ACROSS THE DETROIT RIVER INTO MICHIGAN AND CORRUPTS ALL OF OUR AIR AND WATER? EVEN OUR ANIMALS ARE RUNNING AMUCK FROM HOSER CONTAMINATION!!

EDIT: Ther's no ignorance here, I could tell her more about her own country from Hudson Bay to Mckenzie and everything inbetween and since. I just don't like Canadians.

Zachariah92

most canadians are french, due to the fact that the french claimed this territory about 300 years ago, and this is also why the prominent language is french.

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