Chapter 2

Who We Are

Canada's identity and values, the three founding peoples, Aboriginal peoples, English and French Canada, and the diversity of Canadians today.

Canada's identity

Canada has the world's oldest continuous constitutional tradition and is the only constitutional monarchy in North America.
The phrase 'peace, order and good government' comes from the British North America Act of 1867, Canada's original constitutional document.
Canadian values include ordered liberty, enterprise, hard work and fair play.
Canada stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific and up to the Arctic Circle. Poets and songwriters called it the 'Great Dominion'.
Canada is often described as having three founding peoples: Aboriginal, French and British.

The ancestors of Aboriginal peoples are believed to have come from Asia many thousands of years ago, long before European explorers arrived.
First Nations cultures were rooted in their relationship with the Creator, the natural world and each other.
Aboriginal and treaty rights are protected in the Constitution.
The Royal Proclamation of 1763, issued by King George III, first guaranteed Aboriginal territorial rights and was the basis for treaties. The treaties were not always fully respected.
From the 1800s until the 1980s, the government placed many Aboriginal children in residential schools to assimilate them. The schools were poorly funded and harsh; some students were physically abused, and Aboriginal languages and cultures were largely banned.
In 2008 the Government of Canada formally apologized to former students.
Today Aboriginal peoples have renewed pride and success in agriculture, the environment, business and the arts.

Indian (First Nations): Aboriginal people who are not Inuit or Métis. The term 'First Nations' came into use in the 1970s. About half live on reserve land in about 600 communities; the other half live off reserve, mainly in cities.
Inuit means 'the people' in Inuktitut. Inuit live in small, scattered communities across the Arctic, and their knowledge of the land, sea and wildlife helped them live in one of the harshest climates on Earth.
Métis are a distinct people of mixed Aboriginal and European ancestry. Most live in the Prairie provinces. They come from French- and English-speaking backgrounds and speak their own dialect, Michif.
Of all Aboriginal people, about 65% are First Nations, 30% Métis and 4% Inuit.

Canadian society grew mostly from English-speaking and French-speaking Christian civilizations brought from Europe.
English and French are the official languages. By law, federal services are available in both across Canada.
The Official Languages Act of 1969 guarantees French and English services in the federal government across Canada.
There are about 18 million Anglophones (English as first language) and about 7 million Francophones (French as first language).
Most Francophones live in Quebec, but about one million live in Ontario, New Brunswick and Manitoba.
New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province.
Acadians descend from French colonists who began settling the Maritimes in 1604. From 1755 to 1763, during a war between Britain and France, more than two-thirds were deported: the 'Great Upheaval'. Acadian culture survived and thrives today.
Quebecers are mostly French-speaking and mostly descend from about 8,500 French settlers of the 1600s and 1700s. In 2006 the House of Commons recognized that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada.
About one million Anglo-Quebecers have a heritage of about 250 years.
English Canadians carry on the traditions of settlers from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, and the soldiers and migrants who came from the 1600s to the 1900s.

John Buchan (Lord Tweedsmuir), Governor General from 1935 to 1940, said immigrants should keep their own traditions while also building a new loyalty to Canada.
Newcomers who come from places of war or conflict should not bring violent, extreme or hateful prejudices to Canada.
Newcomers are expected to embrace democratic principles such as the rule of law.

Most Canadians have been born in Canada since the 1800s, but Canada is called a 'land of immigrants': millions of newcomers helped build and defend it over the last 200 years.
The largest ancestry groups are English, French, Scottish, Irish, German, Italian, Chinese, Aboriginal, Ukrainian, Dutch, South Asian and Scandinavian.
Since the 1970s, most immigrants have come from Asian countries.
Chinese languages are the second most spoken at home after English in Vancouver (13%) and Toronto (7%).
Most Canadians identify as Christian. Catholics are the largest religious group, followed by Protestant churches. The numbers of Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, people of other faiths and people with no religion are growing.
Faith communities have long helped with social welfare, schools, health care and resettling refugees.
Gay and lesbian Canadians are fully protected and equal under the law, including access to civil marriage.
Black Loyalists, freed and escaped enslaved people of African origin, came to Canada from America in the 1780s.

Checked against the official study guide: Discover Canada: Who we are. Summarized in our own words.