White CanadiansIt's quite difficult to produce accurate numbers on the racial makeup of Canada since the categories are fairly imprecise and may, in some cases, overlap. Here's a rough estimate based on the 2006 census (click to see data.) As we learned in the history chapter, Canadians didn’t just spring from the soil. Aside from a small community ofaboriginals, everyone who lives in Canada is descended from immigrants of some sort, the offspring of agricultural settlers and economic migrants who left their native homelands to eke out a better living in the mysterious New World. Since Canada was originally a French, then British colony, France and the United Kingdom have been the historic origin of much of Canada’swhite majority, followed by settlers from other western European nations.English-CanadiansCanadians of British descent, often known as Anglos, have traditionally comprised the majority of people in all provinces, and have a long history of trying to aggressively shape the country to reflect the culture and traditions of their beloved motherland. This cultural dominance explains, in large part, why Canada remained a happy colony of the British Empire for as long as it did, why it fought so eagerly in both world wars, and why institutions like the monarchy survive to this day.British immigrants came in waves; some Anglo-Canadian families have been living in Canada so long they have no idea when their forefathers first sailed over, while others may be the offspring of English or Scottish workers who left the British Isles during 20th century periods of war or depression. Motivated by a desire to keep Canada British, Canadian law favoured such immigrants quite explicitly; until 1976, there was no legal difference between a “Canadian” and a “British subject,” so for anyone who had the money to travel, migration was pretty easy.
