European Canadians

European Canadians (sometimes called Euro-Canadians) are Canadians with ancestry from Europe.^[3] As of 2011, there were 25,186,890 European Canadians in Canada.^[4]

European Canadians

Total population
19,683,320 53% of the total Canadian population[1][2] (2016 Census)
Regions with significant populations
All areas of Canada less prevelant in the North
Languages
Predominantly English • French Historically Scottish Gaelic • Irish were spoken in certain regions
Religion
Predominantly Christianity (Protestantism and Roman Catholicism)
Related ethnic groups
European diaspora • Europeans • European Americans • European Australians • European New Zealanders
An additional 11,135,965 people chose "Canadian" as their ethnic group in the Census.[1]

The French were the first Europeans to live in Canada permanently. Hélène Desportes was the first "white" person born in New France. She was born in 1620.^[5]

In 2006, most European Canadians had English ancestry (21.03%). Other common ancestries were French (15.82%), Scottish (15.11%), Irish (13.94%), German (10.18%) then Italian (4.63%). However, 32.22% of people said they had Canadian ancestry. Because of this, some people think the numbers for the English and French ancestry are too low.^[6]

Most European Canadians are Christian. A small number of them are Jews, Deists, Agnostics, Atheists, Muslims, Bahá'ís, Paganists/Wiccas and Unitarian Universalists.^[source?] Most also speak English and French.