English Canada
English Canada, in general, refers to the population within Canada, whether of British origin or otherwise, that speaks English.[1]
The term English Canada can also be used for one of the following:
- When discussing English-speaking Canadians, as opposed to French-speaking Canadians. It is employed when comparing English- and French-language literature, media, art, and institutions. The 20% of Canadians whose native language is neither English nor French are either lumped into one of the two official languages according to their knowledge and usage of them, or are classified separately as allophones.[2] According to the 2006 Census of Canada, the population of English-speaking Canadians is between 17,882,775 and 24,423,375, finding the population outside of this designation to be 23,805,130 individuals.
- The areas of Canada that have an anglophone majority. This excludes the francophone province of Quebec in total, as well as most of New Brunswick, Northern, and Eastern Ontario, Winnipeg, and other pockets of Western Canada. Consequently, usage is usually in the context of geopolitical discussions involving Quebec, whereby English Canada is often referred to as the "ROC" (Rest of Canada) so as to avoid the two-nations theory, which believes that English Canada is one of two founding nations along with French Canada (i.e. Quebec).[3] The expression has been used during the conscription crisis.[4]
- English Canadians, in some historical contexts, refers to Canadians who have origins in England, in contrast to Canadiens (i.e., French Canadians or Canadiens français), Scottish Canadians, Irish Canadians etc.
Canadians of English origin
Estimates of Canadians with origins described as English is estimated to be about six million; a precise number is difficult to estimate for several reasons. Another 6.7 million people reported their ethnicity as simply "Canadian" without further specification, which would include those with an admixture of multiple ethnicities, particularly those long present in Canada (e.g. French, Irish, English, and Scottish), making it possible that the number is much higher than the nearly 6 million who reported as having English origins. On the other hand, historically, there have also been numerous Canadians who have hidden their true ancestry for different political reasons to join the dominant English group, such as to avoid discrimination, as seems to have been the case of the reported German-origin population, which dropped by nearly half after the First World War with a commensurate rise in reports of English origins.
See also
References
- Burt, A. L. January 1946. "Is There a Deep Split between French and English Canada ?" EM 47: Canada: Our Oldest Good Neighbor, G.I. Roundtable Series. Washington, DC: American Historical Association.
- "Allophone". parli.ca. Toronto: Campbell Strategies Inc. 8 May 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
- Forsey, Eugene A. (1962). "Canada: Two Nations or One?". The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science. 28 (4): 485–501. doi:10.2307/139291. ISSN 0315-4890. JSTOR 139291.
- "Musée McCord Museum - To Which Voice Will He Listen?". collections.musee-mccord.qc.ca. Retrieved 2019-07-29.