Who We Are

To understand what it means to be Canadian, it is important to know about the three founding peoples: Aboriginal, French and British. The term Aboriginal peoples refers to the first inhabitants of Canada, whose ancestors are believed to have migrated from Asia many thousands of years ago. Their rights were first guaranteed by King George III in the Royal Proclamation of 1763. Today there are three distinct groups: First Nations (once known as "Indians"), the Inuit, and the Métis.

About 65% of Aboriginal people are First Nations; about half live on reserve land and half off reserve, mainly in urban centres. The Inuit, which means "the people" in the Inuktitut language, live in small, widely dispersed communities across the Arctic. The Métis are a distinct people of mixed Aboriginal and European ancestry, the majority living in the Prairie provinces; they come from both French- and English-speaking backgrounds and speak their own dialect, Michif.

French colonists began settling along the St. Lawrence River and in the Maritimes in the 1600s and 1700s, calling themselves habitants or Canadiens. The Acadians are the descendants of French colonists who began settling in what are now the Maritime provinces in 1604. English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish settlers — the British — brought parliamentary institutions and the English language.

English and French are the two official languages of Canada and are important symbols of identity. There are 18 million Anglophones — people who speak English as a first language — and 7 million Francophones, whose first language is French. Most Francophones live in Quebec, but one million live in Ontario, New Brunswick and Manitoba, with a presence in other provinces. New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province.

Quebecers are the people of Quebec, the vast majority French-speaking. Most are descendants of 8,500 French settlers from the 1600s and 1700s and maintain a unique identity, culture and language. In 2006, the House of Commons recognized that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada. Anglo-Quebecers have a heritage of 250 years within Quebec.

Canada is often called a land of immigrants: over the past 200 years millions of newcomers have helped build the country. The largest ethnic groups include the English, French, Scottish, Irish, German, Italian, Chinese, Aboriginal, Ukrainian, Dutch, South Asian and Scandinavian. Since the 1970s, most immigrants have come from Asian countries. Canadians work hard to respect pluralism and live in harmony — this diversity, under the umbrella of multiculturalism, is a defining feature of Canadian society.