SettleReady › Canadian Citizenship Test

Chapter 2: Who we are

A strong and free country

Canada is known around the world as a strong and free country, and Canadians are proud of their unique identity. According to Discover Canada, Canada has inherited the oldest continuous constitutional tradition in the world and is the only constitutional monarchy in North America.

Canada’s institutions are committed to “Peace, Order and Good Government,” a key phrase in the British North America Act of 1867, the country’s original constitutional document. Canadian identity has been shaped by Aboriginal (Indigenous) peoples, by the English and French and their traditions, and by generations of immigrants from around the world.

Aboriginal peoples

The ancestors of Aboriginal (Indigenous) peoples are believed to have migrated from Asia many thousands of years ago. They were well established long before European explorers arrived. First Nations cultures were rooted in religious beliefs about their relationship to the Creator, the natural environment and each other.

Aboriginal and treaty rights are set out in the Canadian Constitution. Territorial rights were first guaranteed by the Royal Proclamation of 1763, issued by King George III, which set the basis for treaties with newcomers; those treaties were not always fully respected.

From the 1800s until the 1980s, the federal government placed many Aboriginal children in residential schools to educate them and assimilate them into mainstream culture (the last federally supported school closed in 1996). The schools were poorly funded, students suffered hardship and abuse, and Aboriginal languages and cultural practices were mostly forbidden. In 2008, Ottawa formally apologized to former students.

First Nations, Inuit and Métis

Today the term Aboriginal peoples covers three distinct groups. The term “Indian” refers to all Aboriginal people who are not Inuit or Métis; in the 1970s the term First Nations began to be used. Many First Nations people live on reserves, while others live off-reserve, mostly in cities.

Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language. The Inuit live in small, scattered communities across the Arctic, and their knowledge of the land, sea and wildlife helped them adapt to one of the harshest environments on earth.

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

English and French

Canadian society today stems largely from the English-speaking and French-speaking Christian civilizations that settlers brought from Europe. English and French shape daily life for most people and are Canada’s official languages. The federal government is required by law to provide services throughout Canada in both languages.

Anglophones are people whose first language is English; Francophones are people whose first language is French. Most Francophones live in Quebec, but about one million live in Ontario, New Brunswick and Manitoba, with smaller communities elsewhere. New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province.

The basic way of life in English-speaking areas was built by English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish soldiers, settlers and immigrants who came from the 1600s to the 20th century. Generations of pioneers and builders of British origin, as well as other groups, created a way of life in which many people still take great pride.

Acadians and Quebecers

The Acadians are descendants of French colonists who began settling in 1604 in what are now the Maritime provinces. Between 1755 and 1763, during the war between Britain and France, more than two-thirds of the Acadians were deported from their homeland. This ordeal is known as the Great Upheaval. The Acadians survived and kept their identity, and Acadian culture is a lively part of French-speaking Canada today.

Quebecers are the people of Quebec, most of whom speak French. Most are descendants of 8,500 French settlers who came in the 1600s and 1700s, and they keep a unique identity, culture and language. In 2006 the House of Commons recognized that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada. Quebec is also home to English-speaking Quebecers, whose heritage there goes back about 250 years.

Diversity in Canada

Most Canadians were born in Canada, and this has been true since the 1800s. Canada is still often called a land of immigrants, because over the past 200 years millions of newcomers have helped build and defend the Canadian way of life. Since the 1970s, most immigrants have come from Asian countries.

Many ethnic and religious groups live and work together in peace. The state has traditionally partnered with faith communities to promote social welfare, harmony and mutual respect, to provide schools and health care, to resettle refugees, and to uphold freedom of religion and conscience.

Gay and lesbian Canadians enjoy the full protection of the law and equal treatment under it, including access to civil marriage. Together, these diverse groups share a common Canadian identity and form today’s multicultural society.

Practice questions on this chapter

Tap a question to see the answer and explanation.

← Chapter 1: Rights and responsibilities of citizenship · Chapter 3: Canada's history →