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The English were
among the first Europeans to reach Canadian shores. Alongside the
French, they were one of two groups who negotiated Confederation.
The expression "English Canadians" refers to both immigrants from
England and the Loyalists in exile after the American Revolution and
their descendants. According to the 2016 Census of Canada, about 18
per cent of the Canadians consider themselves to be of English
origin.
For many years, due to a high rate of immigration from the British
Isles, a large portion of Canada's population was English-born.
Between 1871 and 1901, about 4 to 5 per cent of Canadian residents
had been born in England. In 1911, 7 per cent of the population
recorded England as their place of birth, a figure that increased to
8 per cent in 1921. After the Second World War, Canada's
English-born population declined. The 1981 census recorded that just
under 4 per cent of Canadians were born in the UK, a statistical
category that included England. In the 2016 Census, Canadian
citizens born in the UK represented 6.6 per cent of Canadians born
aboard and less than 1.5 per cent of the Canadian population.
Although Statistics Canada no longer distinguishes "English" from
"British" immigrants in its census, the English have generally
constituted the largest ethnic group within the larger cohort of
British immigrants. In the 2016 Census, 3.2 per cent of Canadians
listed English as their single ethnic origin (or 1,090,930) and a
further 15.1 per cent (5,221,150 people) listed English as one of
their ethnic origins. Taken together, 18.3 per cent of Canadians are
of English origin, making them Canada's second largest ethnic group
after "Canadian," the ethnic origin most often reported in the
Census.
The English and their descendants shaped place names and
institutions, as well as the economic, political and cultural life
of the country. They have been involved in every aspect of Canada's
development. Included among the many well-known Canadians of English
origin or English descent are a number of Canada’s prime ministers:
Sir John Abbott, Sir Mackenzie Bowell, Sir Robert Borden, Richard
Bedford Bennett, Lester B. Pearson, John Turner and Stephen Harper.
The English were among the first Europeans to reach Canadian shores.
Alongside the French, they were one of two groups who negotiated
Confederation. The expression "English Canadians" refers to both
immigrants from England and the Loyalists in exile after the
American Revolution and their descendants. According to the 2016
Census of Canada, about 18 per cent of the Canadians consider
themselves to be of English origin.
Abbott became prime minister mainly because the Conservative Party
could not agree on Macdonald's successor (photo 1892 by W.J. Topley,
courtesy Library and Archives Canada/PA-33933).
Abbott, Sir John Joseph Caldwell
For many years, due
to a high rate of immigration from the British Isles, a large
portion of Canada's population was English-born. Between 1871 and
1901, about 4 to 5 per cent of Canadian residents had been born in
England. In 1911, 7 per cent of the population recorded England as
their place of birth, a figure that increased to 8 per cent in 1921.
After the Second World War, Canada's English-born population
declined. The 1981 census recorded that just under 4 per cent of
Canadians were born in the UK, a statistical category that included
England. In the 2016 Census, Canadian citizens born in the UK
represented 6.6 per cent of Canadians born aboard and less than 1.5
per cent of the Canadian population.
Although Statistics Canada no longer distinguishes "English" from
"British" immigrants in its census, the English have generally
constituted the largest ethnic group within the larger cohort of
British immigrants. In the 2016 Census, 3.2 per cent of Canadians
listed English as their single ethnic origin (or 1,090,930) and a
further 15.1 per cent (5,221,150 people) listed English as one of
their ethnic origins. Taken together, 18.3 per cent of Canadians are
of English origin, making them Canada's second largest ethnic group
after "Canadian," the ethnic origin most often reported in the
Census.
The English and their descendants shaped place names and
institutions, as well as the economic, political and cultural life
of the country. They have been involved in every aspect of Canada's
development. Included among the many well-known Canadians of English
origin or English descent are a number of Canada’s prime ministers:
Sir John Abbott, Sir Mackenzie Bowell, Sir Robert Borden, Richard
Bedford Bennett, Lester B. Pearson, John Turner and Stephen Harper.
English Explorations
15th Century
The English were among the first Europeans to reach Canadian shores
after the Norse seafarers of the 10th and 11th centuries. English
mariners probably fished in Canadian waters even before John Cabot’s
voyage of 1497; John Dee, Queen Elizabeth I's astrologer, who was
interested in the discovery of the Northwest Passage through the
Arctic and the Asia, found evidence to suggest that two Bristol
merchants, Thorne and Eliot, may have reached Newfoundland circa
1494.
16th Century
English merchants financed several voyages at the beginning of the
16th century, and as early as 1527, the harbour of St John’s became
a rendezvous site for fishing vessels. When Sir Humphrey Gilbert
arrived to claim the land for Queen Elizabeth I in 1583, he found a
makeshift town that had been created to serve the Devon fishermen
already there. In 1610, John Guy of Bristol, founded the well-known
English settlement at Cuper’s Cove, later known as Cupids, and from
this point onwards, settlement continued, with people from the
English West Country outnumbering the Irish immigrants two to one.
To this day, Newfoundland remains, by descent, the most English
province of Canada.
Another early direction of English exploration was through the
Northwest Passage to Hudson Bay. Some of the famous Elizabethan
captains went in search of the passage, including Sir Martin
Frobisher in 1576.
17th Century
In 1610, Henry Hudson entered the inland sea now called Hudson Bay.
In 1670, the founding of the Hudson’s Bay Company brought an influx
of English traders and employees, largely recruited from the urban
unemployed. These English newcomers were based in the company's
forts on the bay and conducted pioneer explorations of the West and
the North. These included Henry Kelsey’s 1690 travels in the
Canadian prairies, Anthony Henday’s exploration of the interior of
the Canadian Northwest in 1754 and Samuel Hearne’s epic journey down
the Coppermine River to the Arctic Ocean in 1771–72.
Migrant Origins
People of English descent came to Canada either directly from
England or indirectly through the American colonies. In the first
case, their motives were largely economic. In the early 19th
century, many working people in England were unemployed, and among
the upper and middle classes, younger sons and discharged officers
emigrated because they were unable to keep up appearances at home.
In the later period of the settlement of the Prairie West (see
Dominion Lands Policy), many English immigrants were attracted to
Canada by the offer of free land.
The motives of those of English descent who emigrated from the US
were largely political, for most of them were Loyalists, although it
is true that many English-Americans immigrated to Upper Canada and
later to the Prairies because of the farming opportunities. Apart
from the special connection between Newfoundland and the western
counties of Devon and Dorset, no part of England can be singled out
as having contributed particularly to the Canadian population;
immigrants have come from all parts of the country, and from urban
as well as rural areas.
Because England was the imperial centre and by definition the "old
country" of English Canada, many of the English, at least until
1867, came in official capacities as public servants and soldiers
who, on release from service, remained in the country. For example,
almost all the officials in British Columbia, when it entered
Confederation in 1871, were of English or Anglo-Irish origin.
Immigration History
The British
Colonies
Immigration in the broader sense began in the Atlantic colonies with
the founding of Halifax in 1749. That year saw the arrival of
Colonel Edward Cornwallis with some 2,500 settlers mostly recruited
from England. With the capture of Louisbourg in 1758 and Québec City
in 1759, followed by the Treaty of Paris (1763), New France became
another British colony. Starting in 1760, New England farmers of
English descent began to settle around the Bay of Fundy on former
Acadian lands, and in the early 1770s, a group of colonist from
Yorkshire put down roots in northern Nova Scotia. Then, at the end
of the American Revolution, about 45,000 Loyalists came northward to
British North America, including 14,000 who, in 1784, formed the
province of New Brunswick, whose population — apart from the
returning Acadians — has remained largely English in descent (see
History of Acadia).
American immigration to British North America continued into the
early 19th century, bolstering the population of Upper Canada and
pioneering the Eastern Townships region of southern Québec — but was
brought to an end by the War of 1812. Here they were joined after
the Napoleonic Wars by a much larger influx of English from England
who were suffering the effects of high unemployment and low wages.
By 1819, one-half of the British subjects who sailed for British
North America were English from the British Isles. Many of these
emigrated in various ways with official encouragement or assistance.
The imperial authorities hoped to reproduce, at least partially, the
English social hierarchy in Canada, and for this reason they
encouraged ex-officers and other members of the gentry with generous
grants of land, hoping to establish a kind of aristocracy.
Speculative companies such as the Canada Company acquired large
tracts of land on condition that they bring in suitable settlers
from England. At the bottom of the scale were the schemes by which
poor people, the victims of crop failures and economic recession,
were sent to Canada with no money and none of the skills they needed
in a pioneer environment.
By 1851 this wave of immigration had settled down, and after a
considerable outflow to the US, some 93,000 people born in England
remained in Canada West (Ontario), constituting about one-tenth of
the population. They were almost matched in number by the
Scottish-born (90,000) and greatly outnumbered by the 227,000
Irish-born.
After Confederation
There were at least three other significant waves of English
immigration after Confederation. Between 1869 and the late 1930s,
over 100,000 children were sent to Canada from the British Isles.
Orphaned, abandoned and pauper children (the majority of them
English) were given free passage to Canada, where they settled and
became wards of various communities (see British Home Children in
Canada;Child Migration to Canada).
Between 1890 and 1914, in response to the opening of the Prairie
provinces, there was another large influx of English settlers. In
1901 they numbered less than 10,000, but in 1906, three years after
an emigration office had been established in central London, 65,000
immigrants arrived in Canada, and in 1913 the number peaked at
113,000.
Although the British government under the Empire Settlement Act of
1922 helped a total of 165,000 British immigrants settle in Canada
after the First World War, the number of English immigrants arriving
per year did not rise significantly until after Second World War. In
1947 alone over 7,000 English, many of them trained industrial
workers, artisans and technicians, immigrated to Canada; in 1957 the
number rose to 75,546 and in 1967 it was 43,000. Thereafter,
immigration from England declined. For example, over five years,
from 2011 to 2016, Canada welcomed 24,450 new permanent residents
from the United Kingdom and Colonies (see Citizenship).
Settlement in Canada
Proportionately, the most English settlements have been in
Newfoundland, British Columbia, the Maritime provinces, and later in
Ontario. In Québec, the English are found mainly in enclaves in
Montréal (see Westmount) and the Eastern Townships. But wherever
they have settled, except in Québec (see English-Speaking
Quebecers), they have tended to quickly become assimilated into the
local community, largely because they have not had to learn a new
language and have encountered little prejudice. Outbursts of
anglophobia have been rare enough for such manifestations as the
"Englishmen Need Not Apply" job notices of the early 1900s to have
passed into Prairie legend as historic curiosities.
English Canadians
Popular resentment against the English (and indeed against
immigrants generally) was most acute during periods of economic
crisis. During the depression of the early 1900s, the government
dealt harshly with the English; of nearly 1,800 persons deported in
1908, approximately 1,000 were returned to the British Isles (see
Deportation). The few cases of all-English agrarian settlements have
usually existed because their members shared the same class
attitudes or the same opinions rather than because they shared
"Englishness." An example of the former was the colony of English
gentlemen founded at Cannington Manor in Saskatchewan in 1882; one
of the latter was the Barr Colony (see Barr Colonists) on the
Alberta-Saskatchewan border.
Economic Life
The English and
their descendants entered into every level of Canadian economic
life. They have been prominent in government and have shared the
control of Canadian business with the Scots, not only in the
English-speaking parts of Canada but also in Montréal (see Elites;
Business Elites). The Canadian armed forces were created and have
largely been staffed by officers of English descent.
The first waves of English immigration contributed greatly to the
farming population in the rural areas and to the skilled artisan
population in the towns, but after the Second World War, many
English immigrants were professionals, technicians or individuals
concerned in various ways with the arts. English immigrants have
made important contributions to many Canadian cultural institutions,
including the National Film Board, the CBC, the Canada Council for
the Arts, the National Ballet of Canada and the Stratford
Shakespeare Festival.
Social and Cultural Life
Because of their
dominance, the English have never had to defend or actively promote
their culture the way other ethnic groups in Canada have had to. At
one time, the largest and most important English cultural society
was the Sons of England, which in 1913 had 40,000 Canadian members.
Lodges formed across Canada were usually led by affluent Englishmen,
professionals, clergymen and former military officers who had joined
local elites.
An important vehicle for maintaining traditions was to host social
evenings modelled after the English music hall. On these occasions
the Sons sang nationalistic songs, savoured warm, dark ale and
reverted to regional dialects. As a mutual benefit society, the Sons
organized receptions for newcomers, and provided medical services,
paid unemployment and disability benefits. Similarly, the St.
George’s Society of Toronto, founded in 1834, is one of Canada’s
oldest philanthropic organizations. Originally, its main goal was to
assist English and Welsh immigrants, and to promote patriotism among
English Canadians.
Relative to those who identify with Scottish and Irish heritage,
those of English descent pay less attention to national days; St.
George's Day, for example, though celebrated widely in Newfoundland,
is only acknowledged by a fraction of the population elsewhere in
Canada. English Canadians maintain few formal organizations to
nurture group ties, although informal activities help to define an
English identity. But as the generations have passed and the
regional and class accents of England have dissolved into Canadian
speech, the cultural and socio-economic divisions originating in the
homeland have blurred.
Canadian Institutions: the English Legacy
A number of
Canadian institutions — some of them very important — have been
profoundly influenced by English models. Representative institutions
of governance and the traditions of the British and English common
law are among the most important inheritances Canada has received
from Great Britain. The parliamentary system, under which the
Cabinet is responsible to Parliament, is an extension of the British
Cabinet system used in the colonial government and embodied in the
British North America Act of 1867. In the realm of law, the civil
law in nine of Canada's provinces (the exception is Québec, where
French civil law is maintained) and the three territories is based
largely on English common law; the system of courts follows the
English model closely.
Politically, Canada is distinct from the US in that it has a viable
third party (the New Democratic Party, previously the Co-operative
Commonwealth Federation) dedicated to democratic socialism, which
was founded and built mainly by English, Welsh and Scottish leaders
reared in the traditions of the British Independent Labour Party and
later the British Labour Party.
Another institutional tradition passed down to Canada from England
is the existence of exclusive clubs, frequented by business
executives and professionals, which exist in all Canadian cities and
are modelled directly on the clubs of London's West End. Until
recently, like their English counterparts, many of these clubs
excluded women and non-Anglo-Saxons. The private school, based on
the English “public school,” is another exclusive institution that
Canada has inherited from England.
The Anglican Church, formerly the Church of England in Canada, is
perhaps the largest of the distinctively English institutions,
transplanted almost unchanged from the homeland (see Anglicanism).
Institutions such as the Red Cross, the Boy Scouts and the Girl
Guides were also brought from England.
Finally, English
workers brought to Canada their own traditions of trade unions and
social democracy (see Working Class History ‒ English Canada). Trade
unionists from Britain have historically comprised the labour elite
in Canada. Canadian labour unions as they exist today are a hybrid
of American and English forms.
English Lands & English Homes in the
Far West
Being the story of a Holiday Tour in Canada by the Rev. J. Wagstaff,
B.D., Vicar of Christ Church Macclesfield with an Introduction by
Joseph Wright, J.P. (1891) (pdf) |
