European Canadians - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

European Canadians
Total population
19,683,320
53% of the total Canadian population[1][2] (2016 Census)
Regions with significant populations
All areas of Canada
less prevelant in the North
Languages
Predominantly English • French
Historically Scottish Gaelic • Irish were spoken in certain regions
Religion
Predominantly Christianity (Protestantism and Roman Catholicism)
Related ethnic groups
European diaspora • Europeans • European Americans • European Australians • European New Zealanders

An additional 11,135,965 people chose "Canadian" as their ethnic group in the Census.[1]

European Canadians (sometimes called Euro-Canadians) are Canadians with ancestry from Europe.[3] As of 2011, there were 25,186,890 European Canadians in Canada.[4]

The French were the first Europeans to live in Canada permanently. Hélène Desportes was the first "white" person born in New France. She was born in 1620.[5]

In 2006, most European Canadians had English ancestry (21.03%). Other common ancestries were French (15.82%), Scottish (15.11%), Irish (13.94%), German (10.18%) then Italian (4.63%). However, 32.22% of people said they had Canadian ancestry. Because of this, some people think the numbers for the English and French ancestry are too low.[6]

Most European Canadians are Christian. A small number of them are Jews, Deists, Agnostics, Atheists, Muslims, Bahá'ís, Paganists/Wiccas and Unitarian Universalists.[source?] Most also speak English and French.

References[change | change source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Census Profile, 2016 Census - Ethnic origin population
  2. "Census Profile, 2016 Census". Statistics Canada. February 8, 2017. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  3. www.oxforddictionaries.com Archived 2015-12-17 at the Wayback Machine Euro-Canadian definition
  4. "National Household Survey (NHS) Profile, 2011". Statcan.gc.ca. 2013-05-08. Retrieved 2013-05-27.
  5. Bennett, Ethel M. G. Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. 2000. "Hélène Desportes". Accessed August 10, 2007.
  6. Beaujot, Roderic P.; Kerr, Donald W. (2007). The Changing Face of Canada: Essential Readings in Population. Canadian Scholars’ Press. p. 313. ISBN 978-1-55130-322-2.