Indigenous peoples have continuously inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years. Beginning in the 16th century, British and French expeditions explored and later settled along the Atlantic coast. As a consequence of various armed conflicts, France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces. This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom. This widening autonomy was highlighted by the Statute of Westminster 1931 and culminated in the Canada Act 1982, which severed the vestiges of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

For better or worse, Canada’s history has always been intertwined with that of the United States, even long before Europeans laid eyes on either country. The descendants of Canada’s Inuit and First Nations first entered this vast country from northern Asia across the Bering Straits. Viking Bjarni Herjolfsson became the first known European to set sight on Canadian territory in AD 986, and the Vikings established Canada’s first known European community near present-day L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland. After the colony was abandoned, Canada remained unknown to Europeans until Italian explorer John Cabot discovered Newfoundland’s abundant cod fishery in 1497. Although French explorer Jacques Cartier first discovered Québec’s St Lawrence River in 1535, Canada’s first permanent European community was not established until 1604. Samuel de Champlain founded both Port Royal in present-day Nova Scotia in 1604 and present-day Québec City four years later. Québec City became the capital of the New France colony. Henry Hudson became the first Englishman to lay claim to part of Canada after discovering the Hudson Bay in 1610. Sixty years later, the Hudson Bay Company was established to trade furs and skins with the First Nations. A century and a half of conflict between the British and French came to a head during the Seven Year War when the French surrendered all of their North American territories to Great Britain. Many of these Loyalists settled in Upper Canada, or present-day Ontario, while most French speakers remained in Lower Canada, what is now Québec. Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia became Canada’s first four provinces after the 1867 formation of the Dominion of Canada, which had a stronger central government and closer ties to Great Britain than to the United States. Isolated British Columbia and tiny Prince Edward Island became part of Canada shortly afterwards, and the 1885 Canadian Pacific Railway completion officially connected the vast country from coast to coast. Eastern European immigrants helped farm and populate the largely uninhabited Prairie Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Between 1951 and 2011, Canada’s population more than doubled from 16 to 34 million, largely due to the steady flow of immigrants from virtually every corner and country on Earth. Today, Canada remains one of the most prosperous developed nations during these tough economic times.

CANADA LANGUAGE

The many languages spoken in Canada are a reflection of the country’s long history and colonial roots.  From an official standpoint, Canada is a bilingual country, with both French and English recognized as the nation’s national languages, but there are also a multitude of non-official languages spoken in the country, ranging from German and Spanish to Punjabi and Chinese.  This does not include the large number of native languages that can be heard around the country, particularly in the northernmost reaches of Canada. According to the latest census information, there are over 50 distinct languages and many more native dialects spoken throughout Canada, which are classified into 11 Aboriginal language groups.  Of them, only Ojibway, Inuktitut and Cree are spoken by a large enough group of speakers to be considered relevant.  Salishan languages are also used in the Northwest Plateau, while Iroquoian and Algic languages are spoken in the Eastern Woodlands cultural area.