What parts of France and England did Anglo and French Canadians come from? (population)

[belmont22]

I heard somewhere that Quebecois came from mostly Brittany and Normandy, the more Celtic parts of France, and that the Acadians came from a different part but which part I'm not sure. Is this correct?

What part of England did Anglo-Canadians come from? Did they more come from the north? Canadian dialect has some similarities to the northern dialects of England such as saying 'aboot' and the way they pronounce words such as 'like' and 'straight'. And of course many of Canada's original Anglophones came from Scotland and Ireland as well, especially in the Atlantic region.

[Acajack]

You are on the right track.

New France (the heart of which is present-day Quebec) was largely populated by people from Normandy, Brittany and also the Paris region. Ships bound for New France generally left from St-Malo on the English Channel. A majority of French Canadians in Quebec and also points west, as well as most Franco-Americans (excluding Cajuns) have their origins in this migration.


Acadia was a different colony and centred on the present-day Canadian Maritimes. It had about a sixth of New France's population. These settlers tended to come from central western France, especially the Poitou-Charente region. Ships generally sailed from La Rochelle.

There are probably 10 or 12 million descendants of the New France settlers in North America today. And 1 to 2 million descendants of the colonists of Acadia.

The reason that Acadians did not keep up their proportion historically is that they were deported by the British starting in 1755 (Le Grand Dérangement) and about half of them were killed or died during this ordeal.

[Acajack]

As for English-speaking Canadians, I am not sure of the specific regions but I can say that immigration was very top-heavy with Scots relative to Scotland's population compared to England's (one tenth).

The historical roots of English Canada are quite profoundly Scottish, and many of the country's first prime ministers, industralists and leading figures were from Scotland.

[belmont22]

Originally Posted by Acajack

As for English-speaking Canadians, I am not sure of the specific regions but I can say that immigration was very top-heavy with Scots relative to Scotland's population compared to England's (one tenth).

The historical roots of English Canada are quite profoundly Scottish, and many of the country's first prime ministers, industralists and leading figures were from Scotland.

Yes, I looked it up and British Columbia is 20 percent Scottish! And probably even more when you consider some people list their ancestry as 'Canadian' or 'British'.

[belmont22]

And one of Vancouver's main streets is called Robson Street, Robson is a very common surname in Durham and Northumberland so I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of English Canadians came from the border lands as well. I wonder if that as well as the Scottish influence explains why Canadians tend to pronounce certain vowels different from Americans.

America's English population from what I understand mostly came from Norfolk and the West Country, and Australia's primarily from the south east.