Who We Are

IdentityA Strong and Free Country

A commitment to Peace, Order, and Good Government runs through Canadian institutions — the phrase comes from the country's original constitutional document of 1867, the British North America Act. Belief in ordered liberty, enterprise, hard work and fair play let Canadians build a prosperous society reaching from the Atlantic shores to the Pacific Ocean and to the Arctic Circle.

Poets and songwriters have hailed Canada as the "Great Dominion." The country's identity rests on its three founding peoples: Aboriginal, French and British.

First PeoplesAboriginal Peoples

Aboriginal peoples' ancestors are thought to have migrated from Asia many thousands of years ago, and were long established here before the first European explorers reached North America. The religious beliefs of their diverse, vibrant First Nations cultures centred on their ties to the Creator, to one another and to the natural world.

Aboriginal and treaty rights are written into the Canadian Constitution. The first guarantee of territorial rights came from King George III in the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which laid the basis on which treaties would be negotiated — though those treaties were not always fully honoured.

From the 1800s until the 1980s, many Aboriginal children were placed by the federal government in residential schools, meant to educate them and assimilate them into the Canadian mainstream. Poorly funded, the schools inflicted hardship: some students suffered physical abuse, and Aboriginal languages and cultural practices were largely forbidden. Ottawa issued a formal apology to the former students in 2008. Aboriginal peoples today enjoy renewed pride and confidence, with notable achievements in agriculture, the environment, business and the arts.

Three GroupsInuit and Métis

Inuit is "the people" in Inuktitut. Living in small, scattered communities throughout the Arctic, the Inuit have drawn on their knowledge of land, sea and wildlife to adapt to one of the harshest environments anywhere on earth.

A distinct people of mixed Aboriginal and European ancestry, the Métis live mostly in the Prairie provinces. They come from French- and English-speaking backgrounds alike and speak a dialect of their own, Michif.

Official LanguagesEnglish and French

Today's Canadian society grows largely out of the English-speaking and French-speaking Christian civilizations that settlers brought from Europe. English and French are the country's official languages, and by law the federal government must deliver its services in both across Canada.

The Acadians descend from French colonists who first settled in what are now the Maritime provinces in 1604. During the war between Britain and France, between 1755 and 1763, over two-thirds of the Acadians were deported from their homeland — the ordeal known as the "Great Upheaval."

Quebecers are the people of Quebec, the great majority French-speaking, most of them descended from the 8,500 French settlers of the 1600s and 1700s. The House of Commons recognized in 2006 that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada. A million Anglo-Quebecers carry a 250-year heritage and form a vibrant part of the Quebec fabric.

NewcomersBecoming Canadian

Some who immigrate to Canada come from places where they lived through warfare or conflict, but that is no warrant for bringing violent, extreme or hateful prejudices here. Newcomers becoming Canadian are expected to take on democratic principles, the rule of law among them.

Settlers, soldiers and migrants in their hundreds of thousands — English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish — arrived from the 1600s to the 20th century and shaped the basic way of life in English-speaking areas. Anglophones are generally called English Canadians.

MulticulturalismDiversity in Canada

John Buchan, the 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, a popular Governor General of Canada (1935–40), reflected on this mix: immigrant groups, he said, ought to keep their individuality and each contribute to the national character.

The majority of Canadians were born in this country, as has been true since the 1800s. Canada is nonetheless often called a land of immigrants, because millions of newcomers over the past 200 years have helped build and defend its way of life. Its largest ethnic and religious groups are the Aboriginal, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Irish, Italian, Scandinavian, Scottish, South Asian and Ukrainian.

Since the 1970s, most immigrants have come from Asian countries. In two of Canada's biggest cities Chinese languages now rank second at home behind English — spoken by 13% in Vancouver and 7% in Toronto.

Most Canadians identify as Christians, Catholic being the largest affiliation, followed by the various Protestant churches. Growing too are the numbers of Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus and members of other religions, along with those who report "no religion." The state has traditionally worked with faith communities to provide schools and health care, to resettle refugees, to promote harmony, mutual respect and social welfare, and to uphold freedom of conscience, religious freedom and religious expression.

Canada's diversity takes in gay and lesbian Canadians, fully protected and treated equally under the law, civil marriage included. Sharing a common Canadian identity, these diverse groups together make up today's multicultural society.