Dominion Society of Canada - Is Canada really a ＂nation of immigrants＂？

00:00:00.000 Is Canada really a nation of immigrants?

00:00:01.940 Canada's story doesn't begin in 1867.

00:00:04.040 For centuries before Confederation, Europeans came here as settlers and pioneers, not economic migrants.

00:00:09.520 This is an important distinction.

00:00:11.140 Settlers carve homes out of the wilderness, build towns, create institutions.

00:00:14.740 Immigrants, by contrast, arrive in an already built country to take advantage of our wealth and opportunity.

00:00:19.740 By Confederation, most Canadians were born here, descended from those early settlers.

00:00:23.860 Let's look at the numbers.

00:00:24.860 In 1867, Canada's population was about 3.5 million.

00:00:27.900 Over 80% were born here in Canada, descendants of those original settlers.

00:00:32.320 They were not immigrants.

00:00:33.880 At Confederation, 97% of the population were of Anglo, English, Scottish, Irish, or of French descent.

00:00:39.860 Even a century later, in 1971, just before Pierre Trudeau's Multiculturalism Act,

00:00:44.820 Canada was still 96% European origin, about 73% Anglo-French, and the rest mostly other European groups.

00:00:51.600 German, Italian, Ukrainian, Dutch, Polish.

00:00:53.840 Non-white minorities combined made up only about 4% of the population,

00:00:57.300 mostly First Nations people. And immigration was never a popular cause in Canada. Gallup polls

00:01:02.180 and government surveys throughout the 1900s showed most Canadians oppose large-scale immigration,

00:01:06.660 regardless of country of origin. When newcomers were admitted, it was in carefully managed numbers

00:01:11.460 explicitly to protect Canada's ethno-cultural identity. So no, Canada is not and never was a

00:01:16.820 nation of immigrants. We are a nation of settlers, explorers, and builders, and their descendants.

00:01:21.220 That is our heritage, that is our identity, and it cannot be rewritten. Long live Canada.

00:01:27.300 You

Dominion Society of Canada - March 19, 2026