European Canadians
| Total population | |
|---|---|
|
European Origins Only 26,960,050 Canada 2011 Census 76.7% of the total Canadian population |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Throughout Canada | |
| Languages | |
| Mostly English • French • Historically Scottish Gaelic • Irish were spoken in certain regions |
|
| Religion | |
|
Predominantly Christian also Judaism • Deism • Muslim • Baha'i • pagan/Wiccan • Unitarian Universalism |
|
|
^1 An additional 10,563,805 (32.1%) people chose "Canadian" as their ethnic group in the Census. |
European Canadians (also known as Euro-Canadians) are Canadians with ancestry from Europe.
The French were the first Europeans to establish a continuous presence in what is now Canada. Hélène Desportes is considered the first white child born in New France. She was born circa 1620, to Pierre Desportes (born Lisieux, Normandie, France) and Françoise Langlois.
In the 2006 census, the largest European ancestry groups were English (21.03%), French (15.82%), Scottish (15.11%), Irish (13.94%), German (10.18%), Italian (4.63%). However, the country's largest self-reported ethnic origin is "Canadian" (accounting for 32.22% of the population). Since 1996, "Canadian" as an ethnic group has been added to census questionnaires for possible ancestry, which likely caused English Canadians, British Canadians and French Canadians to become severely underrepresented. The grouping is similar to that of "American" in neighboring United States and most commonly espoused by European Canadians whose ancestors have been some of the earliest settlers of what is now Canada, to the point where they no longer feel a connection to their countries of origin. In the 2011 National Household Survey Profile, 10,563,805 people (32.1%) chose "Canadian" as their ethnic group, making it the single largest group in the country.
The table shows the European-Canadian population showing a gradual increase from the 1871 Census, however, their proportion of the total Canadian population has been decreasing gradually since the mid-twentieth century to the most recent census in 2011. Canada enumerated its population by race between 1871 and 1971 and ethnic origins.
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