French Canadian
Canadien français, Canadienne française

La Bolduc • Gabrielle Roy Maurice Richard • Hubert Reeves • Jean Chrétien • Jack Kerouac • Louise Arbour • Céline Dion
Total population
10,421,365
Regions with significant populations
Canada, especially Quebec, New Brunswick, and Ontario, smaller populations in New England, New York and Michigan.
Languages
Canadian French (native language), English (as a second language).
Religion
Primarily Roman Catholic
Related ethnic groups
French, Québécois, Acadians, Cajun, Métis, French-speaking Quebecer, Franco-Ontarian, Franco-Manitoban, French American, Brayon

French Canadian or Francophone Canadian (also Canadien in Canadian English or in French) generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France (Canada) in the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, French Canadians constitute the main French-speaking population of Canada.

During the mid-18th century, Canadian colonists born in French Canada expanded across North America and colonized various regions, cities, and towns.^[1] Today, the majority of French Canadians live across North America, including the United States and Canada. The province of Quebec has the largest population of French Canadian descent, although smaller communities of French Canadians exist throughout Canada and in the American region of New England, where between 1840 and 1930, roughly 900,000 French Canadians emigrated to the United States and New England, in particular.^[2]

Other terms for French Canadians that continue to reside in the province of Quebec, are Quebeckers or Québécois. French Canadians constitute the second largest ethnic group in Canada, after English Canadians and before Scottish Canadians and Irish Canadians.^[3]

Etymology[link]

The French Canadians get their name from Canada, the most developed and densely populated region of New France during the period of French colonization in the 17th and 18th century. The original use of the term Canada referred to the land area along the St. Lawrence River, divided in three districts (Québec, Trois-Rivières, and Montréal), as well as to the Pays d'en Haut (Upper Countries), a vast and thinly settled territorial dependence north and west of Montreal which covered the whole of the Great Lakes area.

At the end of the 17th century, the French word Canadien became an ethnonym distinguishing the inhabitants of Canada from those of France. From 1535 to the 1690s, however, it had referred to the Aboriginal people the French had encountered in the St. Lawrence River valley at Stadacona and Hochelaga.^[4]

Identities[link]

Canada[link]

French Canadians living in Canada express their cultural identity using a number of terms. The Ethnic Diversity Survey of the 2006 Canadian census^[6][7][8] found that French-speaking Canadians identified their ethnicity most often as Canadien, French, Québécois, and Acadian. The latter three were grouped together by Jantzen (2006) as “French New World” ancestries because they originate in Canada.^[5][9]

Jantzen (2006) distinguishes the English Canadian, meaning "someone whose family has been in Canada for multiple generations", and the French Canadien, used to refer to descendants of the original settlers of New France in the 17th and 18th centuries.^[10]

Those reporting “French New World” ancestries overwhelmingly had ancestors that went back at least four generations in Canada.^[11] Fourth generation Canadiens and Québécois showed considerable attachment to their ethno-cultural group, with 70% and 61%, respectively, reporting a strong sense of belonging.^[12]

The generational profile and strength of identity of French New World ancestries contrast with those of British or Canadian ancestries, which represent the largest ethnic identities in Canada.^[13] Although deeply rooted Canadians express a deep attachment to their ethnic identity, most English-speaking Canadians of British or Canadian ancestry generally cannot trace their ancestry as far back in Canada as French-speakers.^[14] As a result, their identification with their ethnicity is weaker: for example, only 50% of third generation "Canadians" strongly identify as such, bringing down the overall average.^[15] The survey report notes that 80% of Canadians whose families had been in Canada for three or more generations reported "Canadian and provincial or regional ethnic identities". These identities include French New World ancestries such as "Québécois" (37% of Quebec population), "Acadian" (6% of Atlantic provinces).^[16]

Quebec[link]

Fête nationale du Québec (or Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day) parade in Montreal

Since the 1960s, French Canadians in Quebec have generally used Québécois (masculine) or Québécoise (feminine) to express their cultural and national identity, rather than Canadien français and Canadienne française. Francophones who self-identify as Québécois and do not have French-Canadian ancestry may not identify as "French Canadian" (Canadien or Canadien français). Those who do have French or French-Canadian ancestry, but who support Quebec sovereignty, often find Canadien français to be archaic or even pejorative. This is a reflection of the strong social, cultural, and political ties that most Quebeckers of French-Canadian origin, who constitute a majority of francophone Quebecers, maintain within Quebec. It has given Québécois an ambiguous meaning^[17] which has often played out in political issues,^[18] as all public institutions attached to the provincial government refer to all Quebec citizens, regardless of their language or their cultural heritage, as Québécois.

Elsewhere in Canada[link]

Collège Universitaire de Saint-Boniface in Manitoba

The emphasis on the French language and Quebec autonomy means that French-speakers across Canada may now self-identify as québécoise, acadienne, or Franco-canadienne, or as provincial linguistic minorities such as Franco-manitobaine, Franco-ontarienne or fransaskoise.^[19] Education, health and social services are provided by provincial institutions, so that provincial identities are often used to identify French-language institutions:

• Franco-Newfoundlanders, province of Newfoundland and Labrador, also known as Terre-Neuvien(ne).
• Franco-Ontarians, province of Ontario, also referred to as Ontarien(ne).
• Franco-Manitobans, province of Manitoba, also referred to as Manitobain(e).
• Fransaskois, province of Saskatchewan, also referred to Saskois(e).
• Franco-Albertans, province of Alberta, also referred to Albertain(e).
• Franco-Columbians, province of British Columbia mostly live in the Vancouver metro area. Also referred to as Franco-Colombien(ne)
• Franco-Yukonnais, territory of Yukon, also referred to as Yukonais(e).
• Franco-Ténois, territory of Northwest Territories, also referred to as Ténois(e).
• Franco-Nunavois, territory of Nunavut, also referred to as Nunavois(e).

Acadians residing in the provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia represent a distinct francophone culture. This group's culture and history evolved separately from the French Canadian culture of Quebec, at a time when the Maritime Provinces were not part of what was referred to as Canada, and are consequently considered a distinct culture from French Canadians.

Brayons in Madawaska County, New Brunswick and Aroostook County, Maine may be identified with either the Acadians or the Québécois, or considered a distinct group in their own right, by different sources.

French Canadians outside Quebec are more likely to self-identify as "French Canadian". Identification with provincial groupings varies from province to province, with Franco-Ontarians, for example, using their provincial label far more frequently than Franco-Columbians do. Some identify only with the provincial groupings, explicitly rejecting "French Canadian" as an identity label.

United States[link]

Distribution of French Americans in the United States

During the mid-18th century, French explorers and Canadiens born in French Canada colonized other parts of North America in what are today Louisiana (called Louisianais), Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan as well as around Detroit.^[20] French Canadians emigrated massively from Canada to the United States between the 1840s and the 1930s in search of economic opportunities in border communities and industrialized portions of New England.^[21] French-Canadian communities remain along the Quebec border in northern Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire as well as further south in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and southern New Hampshire. The wealth of Catholic churches named after St. Louis throughout New England is indicative of the French immigration to the area. They came to identify as Franco-American, especially those who were born American.

Distinctions between French Canadian, natives of France, and other New World French identities is more blurred in the U.S. than in Canada. In L'avenir du français aux États-Unis, Calvin Veltman finds that since the French language has been so widely abandoned in the United States, the term "French Canadian" is there understood in ethnic rather than linguistic terms.

Population[link]

People who today claim some French-Canadian ancestry or heritage number some 7 million in Canada and 2.4 million people in the United States. (An additional 8.4 million Americans claim French ancestry; they are treated as a separate ethnic group by the U.S. Census Bureau.)

Distribution in Canada[link]

In Canada, 85% of French Canadians reside in Quebec where they constitute the majority of the population in all regions except the far North. Most cities and villages in this province were built and settled by the French or French Canadians during the French colonial rule.

There are various urban and small centres in Canada outside of Quebec that have long-standing populations of French Canadians, going back to the late 19th century. Eastern and Northern Ontario have large populations of francophones in communities such as Ottawa, Cornwall, Hawkesbury, Sudbury, Welland, Timmins and Windsor. Many also pioneered the Canadian Prairies in the late 18th century, founding the towns of Saint Boniface, Manitoba and in Alberta's Peace Country, including the region of Grande Prairie.

The following table shows the population of Canada's that has French ancestries. The data is from Statistics Canada.

The fleur-de-lis, symbol of French Canada.

Distribution in United States[link]

Distribution of French in the United States

In the United States, many cities were founded as colonial outposts of New France by French or French-Canadian explorers. They include New Orleans, Louisiana; Mobile, Alabama; Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; Prairie du Rocher and Belleville in Illinois; Dubuque, Iowa; Detroit, Michigan; Biloxi, Mississippi; St. Louis, Missouri; Creve Coeur, Missouri; La Baye, Prairie du Chien, La Crosse, and Milwaukee in Wisconsin, and Provo, Utah.

The majority of the French-Canadian population in the United States is found in the New England area, although there is also a large French-Canadian presence in Plattsburgh, New York, across Lake Champlain from Burlington, Vermont. Quebec and Acadian emigrants settled in industrial cities like Fitchburg, Worcester, Waltham, Lowell, Lawrence, Chicopee, Fall River, and New Bedford in Massachusetts; Woonsocket in Rhode Island; Manchester and Nashua in New Hampshire; Bristol in Connecticut; throughout the state of Vermont, particularly in Burlington, St. Albans, and Barre; and Biddeford and Lewiston in Maine. Smaller groups of French Canadians settled in the Midwest, notably in the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

Some Metis still speak Michif, a language influenced by French, and a mixture of other European and Native American tribal languages.^{[citation needed]}

Language[link]

Quebec stop sign.

Canadian French is an umbrella term for the distinct varieties of French spoken by francophone Canadians: Québécois (Quebec French), Acadian French, Métis French, and Newfoundland French. Unlike Acadian French and Newfoundland French, the French of Ontario, the Canadian West, and New England all originate from what is now Quebec French and do not constitute distinct varieties from it, though there are some regional differences. French Canadians may also speak either Canadian English or American English.

In Quebec, about six million French Canadians are native French speakers. One million are English-speaking, i.e. Anglophones or English-speaking Quebecers, and others are Allophones (literally "other-speakers", meaning, in practice, immigrants who speak neither French nor English at home). In the United States, assimilation to the English language was more significant and very few Americans of French-Canadian ancestry or heritage speak French today.

Six million of Canada's native French speakers, of all origins, are found in the province of Quebec, where they constitute the majority language group, and another one million are distributed throughout the rest of Canada. Roughly 31% of Canadian citizens are French-speaking and 25% are of French-Canadian descent. Not all French speakers are of French descent, and not all people of French-Canadian heritage are exclusively or primarily French-speaking.

Francophones living in Canadian provinces other than Quebec have enjoyed minority language rights under Canadian law since at least 1969, with the Official Languages Act, and under the Canadian Constitution since 1982, protecting them from provincial governments that have historically been indifferent towards their presence.

Religion[link]

Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, Quebec

The pre-revolutionary kingdom of France forbade non-Catholic settlement in New France from 1629 onward and almost all French settlers of Canada were Roman Catholic. In the United States, some French Catholics have converted to Protestantism. Until the 1960s, religion was a central component of French-Canadian national identity. The Church parish was the focal point of civic life in French-Canadian society, and religious orders ran French-Canadian schools, hospitals and orphanages and were very controlling of every day life in general. During the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, however, the practice of Catholicism dropped drastically.^[22] Church attendance in Quebec currently remains low. Rates of religious observance among French Canadians outside Quebec tend to vary by region, and by age. In general, however, those in Quebec are the least observant, while those in the United States of America and other places away from Quebec tend to be the most observant. There are also French Canadians who have Canadian citizenship and whose mother tongue is French whose families arrived in Canada over the last 75 year who are not Christian^{[citation needed]}. There are many people from France, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, and other countries whose mother tongue is French and are either Muslim or Jewish.

History[link]

The French were the first Europeans to permanently colonize what is now Quebec, parts of Ontario, Acadia, and select areas of Western Canada, all in Canada (See French colonization of the Americas.) Their colonies of New France (also commonly called Canada) stretched across what today are the Maritime provinces, southern Quebec and Ontario, as well as the entire Mississippi River Valley.

Voyageurs Passing a Waterfall

The first permanent European settlements in Canada were at Port Royal in 1605 and Quebec City in 1608 as fur trading posts. The territories of New France were Canada, Acadia (later renamed Nova Scotia), and Louisiana. The inhabitants of Canada called themselves the Canadiens, and came mostly from northwestern France.^[23] The early inhabitants of Acadia, or Acadiens, came mostly but not exclusively from the Southwestern region of France. Canadien explorers and fur traders would come to be known as coureurs des bois, while those who settled on farms in Canada would come to be known as habitants. Many French Canadians are the descendants of the King's Daughters of this era.

During the mid-18th century, French explorers and Canadiens born in French Canada colonized other parts of North America in what are today the states of Louisiana (called Louisianais), Mississippi; Missouri; Illinois; Vincennes, Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; the Windsor-Detroit region and the Canadian prairies (primarily Southern Manitoba).

Habitants by Cornelius Krieghoff (1852)

After the 1760 British conquest of New France in the French and Indian War (known as the Seven Years' War in Canada), the French-Canadian population remained important in the life of the colonies.

The British gained Acadia by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. In 1755, the beginning of the French and Indian War, the British—actually British Americans from Massachusetts—committed what historian John Mack Faragher calls the first genocide by devastating Acadia, deporting 75% of the Acadian population to other British colonies and France in a massive diaspora. Those Acadians deported to Southern colonies close to French Louisiana migrated there, creating "Cajun" culture. Bayond Acadia, French Canadians escaped this fate in part because of the capitulation act that made them British subjects.^{[citation needed]} It took the 1774 Quebec Act for them to regain the French civil law system, and in 1791 French Canadians in Lower Canada were introduced to the British parliamentary system when an elected Legislative Assembly was created.

The Legislative Assembly having no real power, the political situation degenerated into the Lower Canada Rebellions of 1837–1838, after which Lower Canada and Upper Canada were unified. Some of the motivations for the union was to limit French-Canadian political power and at the same time transferring a large part of the Upper Canadian debt to the debt-free Lower Canada. After many decades of British immigration, the Canadiens became a minority in the Province of Canada in the 1850s.

French-Canadian contributions were essential in securing responsible government for The Canadas and in undertaking Canadian Confederation. However, over the course of the late 19th and 20th centuries, French Canadians' discontent grew with their place in Canada because of a series of events, including the execution of Louis Riel, the elimination of official bilingualism in Manitoba, Canada's participation in the Second Boer War, Regulation 17 which banned French-language schools in Ontario, the Conscription Crisis of 1917 and the Conscription Crisis of 1944.

Between the 1840s and the 1930s, some 900,000 French Canadians emigrated to the New England region. About half of them returned home. The generations born in the United States would eventually come to see themselves as Franco-Americans. During the same period of time, numerous French Canadians also emigrated and settled in Eastern and Northern Ontario. The descendants of those Quebec immigrants constitute the bulk of today's Franco-Ontarian community.

Since 1968, French has been one of Canada's two official languages. It is the sole official language of Quebec and one of the official languages of New Brunswick, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. The province of Ontario has no official languages defined in law, although the provincial government provides French language services in many parts of the province under the French Language Services Act.

Modern usage[link]

In English usage, the terms for provincial subgroups, if used at all, are usually defined solely by province of residence, with all of the terms being strictly interchangeable with French Canadian. Although this remains the more common usage in English, it is considered outdated to many Canadians of French descent, especially in Quebec. Most francophone Canadians who use the provincial labels identify with their province of origin, even if it is not the province in which they currently reside; for example, a Québécois who moved to Manitoba would not change his own self-identification to Franco-Manitoban.

Increasingly, provincial labels are used to stress the linguistic and cultural, as opposed to ethnic and religious, nature of French-speaking institutions and organizations. The term "French Canadian" is still used in historical and cultural contexts, or when it is necessary to refer to Canadians of French-Canadian collectively, such as in the name and mandate of a national organizations which serve minority francophone communities across Canada. Francophone Canadians of non-French-Canadian origin such as immigrants from francophone countries are not usually designated by the term "French Canadian"^{[citation needed]}; the more general term "francophones" is used for French-speaking Canadians across all ethnic origins.

Organizations[link]

National[link]

• Fédération culturelle canadienne-française (French Canadian Cultural Federation)
• Association francophone pour le savoir
• Fédération de la jeunesse canadienne-française (French Canadian Youth Federation)

French-Canadian flags[link]

See also[link]

	Canada portal
	Quebec portal
	New France portal

	Book: Canada
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

• Quebec
• Canuck
• English Canadian
• Speak White
• French American
• French people
• French in the United States
• French diaspora
• Pure laine
• Quebec diaspora
• Cajun
• Voyageurs
• Fransaskois

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: French Canadians

Look up french canadian in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Multicultural Canada website includes seven full-text searchable French Canadian newspapers from Ontario and Quebec

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Canadians

1st row: Shanawdithit, Aatsista-Mahkan, Louis Riel, Sir John A. Macdonald, Lester B. Pearson 2nd row: Celine Dion, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, John Diefenbaker, Linda Evangelista, Patrick Chan 3rd row: Russell Peters, Cassie Steele, Michaëlle Jean, David Suzuki, Tommy Douglas
Total population
Canada 34,839,000 (Est.[Note 1])
Regions with significant populations
United States 1,003,850 [1] Hong Kong 200,000 [1] United Kingdom 72,518 [1] Taiwan 52,500 [1] Lebanon 45,000 [1] People's Republic of China 20,000 [1] Australia 27,289 [1] Italy 23,487 [1] France 18,913 [1] Greece 12,477 [1] Egypt 10,000 [1] South Korea 8,763 [1] Mexico 7,943 [2] New Zealand 7,770 [1] Switzerland 7,519 [1] Philippines 7,500 [1] Portugal 7,326 [1] Japan 7,067 [1] Netherlands 8,427 [1] Belgium 4,145 [1] Norway 2,290 [1] Ireland 4,081 [1] Spain 3,810 [1] Denmark 2,752 [1] Sweden 2,742 [3]
Languages
Official languages are English (Canadian English) and French (Canadian French). Numerous indigenous American languages are also recognized.
Religion
Multiple denominations

Canadians (singular Canadian) are the people who are identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be genetic, residential, legal, historical, cultural or ethnic. For most Canadians, several (frequently all) of those types of connections exist and are the source(s) of them being considered Canadians.

Aside from the Aboriginal peoples, who according to the 2006 Canadian Census numbered 1,172,790, 3.8% of the country's total population,^[4] the majority of the population is made up of Old World immigrants and their descendants. After the initial period of French and then British colonization, different waves (or peaks) of immigration and settlement of non-aboriginal peoples took place over the course of nearly two centuries and continues today. Elements of Aboriginal, French, British and more recent immigrant customs, languages and religions have combined to form the culture of Canada and thus a Canadian identity. Canada has also been strongly influenced by that of its linguistic, geographic and economic neighbour, the United States.

Canadian independence grew gradually over the course of many years since the formation of the Canadian Confederation in 1867. World War I and World War II in particular gave rise to a desire amongst Canadians to have their country recognized as a fully-fledged sovereign state with a distinct citizenship. Legislative independence was established with the passage of the Statute of Westminster 1931, the Canadian Citizenship Act of 1946 took effect on January 1, 1947, and full sovereignty was achieved with the patriation of the constitution in 1982. Canada's nationality law closely mirrored that of the United Kingdom. Legislation since the mid 20th century represents Canadians' commitment to multilateralism and socioeconomic development.

Population[link]

Canadians make up 0.5% of the world's total population,^2010[5] having relied upon immigration for population growth and social development.^[6] Approximately 41% of current Canadians are first or second generation immigrants,^[7] meaning one out of every five Canadians currently living in Canada was not born in the country.^[8] Statistics Canada projects that, by 2031, nearly one-half of Canadians above the age of 15 will be foreign-born or have one foreign-born parent.^[9]

Immigration[link]

The French originally settled New France in present-day Quebec and Ontario, during the early part of the 17th century.^[10] Approximately 100 Irish-born families would settle the Saint Lawrence Valley by 1700, assimilating into the Canadien population and culture.^[11][12] The French also settled the Acadian peninsula alongside a smaller number of other European merchants, who collectively became the Acadians.^[13] During the 18th and 19th century; immigration westward (to the area known as Rupert's Land) was carried out by French settlers (Coureur des bois) working for the North West Company, and by British (English and Scottish) settlers representing the Hudson's Bay Company.^[14] This led to the creation of the Métis, an ethnic group of mixed European and First Nations parentage.^[15]

The British conquest of New France was proceeded by small number of Germans and Swedes who settled alongside the Scottish in Port Royal, Nova Scotia, while some Irish immigrated to the Colony of Newfoundland.^[16] In the wake of the 1775 invasion of Canada by the newly-formed Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, approximately 60,000 United Empire Loyalist fled to British North America, a large portion of whom migrated to New Brunswick.^[17] After the War of 1812, British (included British army regulars), Scottish and Irish immigration was encouraged throughout Rupert's Land, Upper Canada and Lower Canada.^[18]

Between 1815 and 1850 some 800,000 immigrants came to the colonies of British North America, mainly from the British Isles as part of the great migration of Canada.^[19] These included some Gaelic-speaking Highland Scots displaced by the Highland Clearances to Nova Scotia.^[20] The Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s significantly increased the pace of Irish immigration to Prince Edward Island and the Province of Canada, with over 35,000 distressed individuals landing in Toronto in 1847 and 1848.^[21][22] Beginning in late 1850s, Chinese immigrants into the Colony of Vancouver Island and Colony of British Columbia peaked with the onset of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush.^[23] The Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 eventually placed a head tax on all Chinese immigrants, in hopes of discouraging Chinese immigration after completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway.^[24]

The population of Canada has consistently risen, doubling approximately every 40 years, since the establishment of the Canadian Confederation in 1867.^[25] From the mid to late 19th century Canada had a policy of assisting immigrants from Europe, including an estimated 100,000 unwanted "Home Children" from Britain.^[26] Block settlement communities were established throughout western Canada between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some were planned and other were spontaneously created by the settlers themselves.^[27] Canada was now receiving a large amount of European immigrants predominately Italians, Germans, Scandinavians, Dutch and Ukrainians.^[28]

100,000 +

50,000 - 99,999

20,000 - 49,999

10,000 - 19,999

Legislative restrictions on immigration (such as the Continuous journey regulation and Chinese Immigration Act) that had favoured British and other European immigrants were amended in the 1960s, opening the doors to immigrants from all parts of the world.^[29] While the 1950s had still seen high levels of immigration by Europeans, by the 1970s immigrants increasingly were Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Jamaican and Haitian.^[30] During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Canada received many American Vietnam War draft dissenters.^[31] Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s Canada's growing Pacific trade brought with it a large influx of South Asians, that tended to settle in British Columbia.^[32]

In 2009, Canada received 252,179 "permanent residents" - the top ten source countries were China (29,049), the Philippines (27,277), India (26,122), the United States (9,723), the United Kingdom (9,566), France (7,300), Pakistan (6,214), Iran (6,065), South Korea (5,864), and Morocco (5,222).^[33] These countries were followed closely by Algeria (4,785), United Arab Emirates (4,640), and Iraq (4,567) with Sri Lanka, Colombia, and Germany each contributing over 4,000 individuals.^[33] Immigrants of all backgrounds tend to settle in the major urban centres.^[34][35]

The majority of illegal immigrants come from the southern provinces of the People's Republic of China, with Asia as a whole, Eastern Europe, Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East all contributing to the illegal population.^[36] Estimates of illegal immigrants range between 35,000 and 120,000.^[37] A 2008 report by the Auditor General of Canada Sheila Fraser, stated that Canada has lost track of approximately 41,000 illegal immigrants whose visas have expired.^[38]

Citizenship[link]

Members of the first official Canadian Citizenship ceremony held at the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa,
3 January 1947

Canadian citizenship is typically obtained by birth in Canada, birth abroad when at least one parent is a Canadian citizen and was born in Canada, or by adoption abroad by at least one Canadian citizen.^[39] It can also be granted to a permanent resident who lives in Canada for three out of four years and meets specific requirements.^[39] Canada established its own nationality law in 1946 with the enactment of the Canadian Citizenship Act, which took effect on January 1, 1947.^[40] The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, was passed by the Parliament of Canada in 2001 as Bill C-11, which replaced the Immigration Act of 1976 as the primary federal legislation regulating immigration.^[41] Prior to the conferring of legal status on Canadian citizenship, Canada's naturalization laws consisted of a multitude of Acts beginning with the Immigration Act of 1910.^[42]

According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada there are three main classifications for immigrants: Family class (closely related persons of Canadian residents), Economic class (admitted on the basis of a point system that account for age, health and labour-market skills required for cost effectively inducting the immigrants into Canada's labour market) and Refugee class (those seeking protection by applying to remain in the country by way of the Canadian immigration and refugee law).^[43] In 2008, there were 65,567 immigrants in the family class, 21,860 refugees, and 149,072 economic immigrants amongst the 247,243 total immigrants to the country.^[7] Canada resettles over one in 10 of the world’s refugees^[44] and has one of the highest per-capita immigration rates in the world.^[45]

The majority of Canadian citizens live in Canada; however, there are approximately 2,800,000 Canadians abroad as of November 1, 2009.^[46] This represents about 7.5% of the total Canadian population. Of those abroad the United States, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, China, and Lebanon have the largest Canadian diaspora. Canadians in United States are the greatest single expatriate community at over 1 million in 2009, representing 35.8% of all Canadians abroad.^[47] Under current Canadian law, Canada does not restrict dual citizenship but Passport Canada encourages its citizens to travel abroad on their Canadian passport, so they can access Canadian consular services.^[48]

Ethnic ancestry[link]

Canada has thirty four ethnic groups with at least one hundred thousand members each, of which eleven have over 1,000,000 people and numerous others are represented in smaller amounts.^{[Note 2]} According to the 2006 census, the largest self-reported ethnic origin is Canadian/Canadien (32%),^{[Note 3]} followed by English (21%), French (15.8%), Scottish (15.1%), Irish (13.9%), German (10.2%), Italian (4.6%), Chinese (4.3%), North American Indian (4.0%),^{[Note 4]} Ukrainian (3.9%), and Dutch (Netherlands) (3.3%).^[49] In the 2006 census, over five million Canadians identified themselves as a member of a visible minority. Together, they make up 16.2% of the total population: most numerous among these are South Asian (4.0%), Black (2.5%), and Filipino (1.1%).^[49] Aboriginal peoples are not considered a visible minority under the Employment Equity Act,^[50] and is the definition that Statistics Canada also uses.

Map of the dominant self-identified ethnic origins of ancestors per census division of 2006.^{[Note 2]}

Canadian[Note 3]   English   French   Scottish   German

Italian   North American Indian[Note 4]   Ukrainian   East Indian   Inuit