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History of French Canadians
The French were the first Europeans to settle in Canada during the early seventeenth century. They inhabited an area, which at that time was known as Acadia. If you look at Acadia the present boundaries of today would consist of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine and the St. Lawrence River Valley. It was only later they spread across the continent and formed a country known as New France. New France stretched from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic and from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico.
Jacque Cartier was the first to discover Canada and claimed the new land in the name of the king of France. He planted a thirty-foot wooden cross on Pointe Penouille at the entrance of Gaspe in 1534.
The first permanent settlements in New France began in 1608 when Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec. The settlement at Quebec as well as the later settlements at Trois-Rivieres (1634) and Montreal (1642) grew very slowly. This was due to the trading companies who controlled the colony and relied on the fur trade as the main attraction.
In 1663, New France came under royal administration and finally began to thrive and experience peace. Under this new regime eight companies of the Carignan-Salieres Regiment were sent to protect the coloniest from the Iroquois. The colony flourished by immigration from France and government policies encouraging early marriages and penalizing bachelorhood. The greatest growth for the country took place with the first twenty years after New France became a royal colony. It was during this time that large families became the norm of the day.
The population grew from 6,000 inhabitants in 1668 to 25,000 in 1722. By 1730 the population reached 42,000 and between 60,000 - 70,000 in 1760. During the period 1663 to 1760 it is reported that approximately only 10,000 emigrated from France, which means the population was increased due to new births.
Port Royal, which overlooks the Bay of Fundy, was another area established by the French. At the time Acadia surrendered to Great Britain in 1713, the population consisted of approximately 1,600 French speaking colonists.
Over the next years as the English ruled hostilities often broke out between the French and English colonists. It was during this period French colonist were exploited by British rulers. In 1755, the governor and council of Nova Scotia expelled between 7,000 - 8,000 Acadians dispersing them among English colonies on the Atlantic seaboard. In 1758 the British once again took possession of Louisbourg on Ile Royal (Cape Breton) and Ile Saint-Jean (Prince Edward Island). The French were once again rounded up and sent to France, England and the American colonies. Some of the Acadians deported to the American colonies settled there permanently while others made their way back to Cape Breton and Nova Scotia by the Saint John River. The English allowed them to remain this time as they felt in no danger of a French attack. In 1749, French farmers established Ontario's first agricultural settlement in Windsor. Even today the French are well represented in counties which lie along the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. There are French-language schools and numerous cultural and educational organisations working towards safeguarding French cultural and customs in Ontario.
Between 1731 and 1743, Pierre de la Verendrye and his sons undertook the last great French-Canadian exploration moving towards the Rockies searching for a route to the Pacific. The first permanent settlement in Western Canada was St. Boniface founded in 1818. St. Boniface is now a part of Greter Winnipeg. St. Boniface is the focal point of French culture in the west and site of the annual carnival, le Festival du Voyageur. This festival honours French explorers who were responsible for opening up the west.
By 1814 there were 355,000 people in Lower Canada (Province of Quebec), 150,000 in the Maritime Provinces and 95,00 in Upper Canada (Province of Ontario). The majority of these people were french speaking. After Confederation the first census reports showed 32 per cent of the population or 1,082,940 French Canadians living in the four original provinces, with a total of 929,817 residing in Quebec.
Although the French population continued to remain at between 27 and 32 per cent of the Canada's population it was not due to immigration but through natural increase. Immigration from France was nearly non-existent until the years following the Second World War. Even today only between 2,000 and 3,000 French born immigrants arrive in Canada with the majority settling in Quebec.
Since Confederation many French Canadians have occupied the office of Prime Minister of Canada. During the 1950 Quebec experienced a period of rapid industrialisation and urbanisation growth. It was also during this time that the traditional large families in Quebec began to diminish and they no longer relied upon their parish for protection. Quebec was changing the people becoming more mobile and services and amenities were becoming more sophisticated. The Quebec Government also began to take more control of their own economy and ownership of the their province.
The Quebec Government now has more control over their provincial finances, education, language and immigration policies than any other province. They have passed laws, which protect their language and cultural values.
As a province they have grown through the years from a province which was insecure to one who now speaks up. No longer will French-Canadians be over-looked or their opinions considered being of little value.
