Canada is a multilingual and multicultural society home to people of groups of many different ethnic, religious, and national origins, with the majority of the population made up of Old World immigrants and their descendants.

Following the initial period of French and then the much larger British colonization, different waves (or peaks) of immigration and settlement of non-indigenous peoples took place over the course of nearly two centuries and continue today.

The First and Second World Wars, in particular, gave rise to a desire among Canadians to have their country recognized as a fully-fledged, sovereign state, with a distinct citizenship.

Legislative independence was established with the passage of the Statute of Westminster, 1931, the Canadian Citizenship Act, 1946, took effect on January 1, 1947, and full sovereignty was achieved with the patriation of the constitution in 1982.

The word Canadian originally applied, in its French form, Canadien, to the colonists residing in the northern part of New France[12]— in Quebec, and Ontario—during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries.

When Prince Edward (a son of King George III) addressed, in English and French, a group of rioters at a poll in Charlesbourg, Lower Canada (today Quebec), during the election of the Legislative Assembly in June 1792,[13] he stated, "I urge you to unanimity and concord.

[24][25] During the 18th and 19th century; immigration westward (to the area known as Rupert's Land) was carried out by "Voyageurs"; French settlers working for the North West Company; and by British settlers (English and Scottish) representing the Hudson's Bay Company, coupled with independent entrepreneurial woodsman called coureur des bois.

More settlers arrived during and after the American Revolutionary War, when approximately 60,000 United Empire Loyalists fled to British North America, a large portion of whom settled in New Brunswick.

[31] The Great Famine of Ireland of the 1840s significantly increased the pace of Irish immigration to Prince Edward Island and the Province of Canada, with over 35,000 distressed individuals landing in Toronto in 1847 and 1848.

[40] In the mid-to-late 19th century, Canada had a policy of assisting immigrants from Europe, including an estimated 100,000 unwanted "Home Children" from Britain.

[42] Canada received mainly European immigrants, predominantly Italians, Germans, Scandinavians, Dutch, Poles, and Ukrainians.

[46] Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, Canada's growing Pacific trade brought with it a large influx of South Asians, who tended to settle in British Columbia.

[50] The majority of illegal immigrants come from the southern provinces of the People's Republic of China, with Asia as a whole, Eastern Europe, Caribbean, Africa, and the Middle East.

Canada has been shaped by waves of migration that have combined to form a unique blend of art, cuisine, literature, humour, and music.

[77] Today, Canada has a diverse makeup of nationalities and constitutional protection for policies that promote multiculturalism rather than cultural assimilation.

[80][81] Canadian government policies such as official bilingualism; publicly funded health care; higher and more progressive taxation; outlawing capital punishment; strong efforts to eliminate poverty; strict gun control; the legalizing of same-sex marriage, pregnancy terminations, euthanasia and cannabis are social indicators of Canada's political and cultural values.

[86] First Nations played a critical part in the development of European colonies in Canada, particularly for their role in assisting exploration of the continent during the North American fur trade.

[89] The Constitution Act, 1867 was designed to meet the growing calls of Canadians for autonomy from British rule, while avoiding the overly strong decentralization that contributed to the Civil War in the United States.

[90] The compromises made by the Fathers of Confederation set Canadians on a path to bilingualism, and this in turn contributed to an acceptance of diversity.

[123] Freedom of religion in Canada is a constitutionally protected right, allowing individuals to assemble and worship without limitation or interference.

[131] Before the European colonization, a wide diversity of Native religions and belief systems of the Indigenous peoples in Canada were largely animistic or shamanistic.

[136] During the colonial period, the French settled along the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, specifically Latin Church Catholics, including a number of Jesuits dedicated to converting indigenous peoples.

[138] Themes of nature, pioneers, trappers, and traders played an important part in the early development of Canadian symbolism.

[145] The Arms of Canada are closely modelled after those of the United Kingdom, with French and distinctive Canadian elements replacing or added to those derived from the British version.

Some of the most common non-official first languages include Chinese (1,227,680 first-language speakers), Punjabi (501,680), Spanish (458,850), Tagalog (431,385), Arabic (419,895), German (384,040), and Italian (375,645).

[159] Multicultural media are widely accessible across the country and offer specialty television channels, newspapers, and other publications in many minority languages.

The need for a common means of communication between the indigenous inhabitants and new arrivals for the purposes of trade, and (in some cases) intermarriage, led to the development of mixed languages.

[162] Plains Sign Talk—which functioned originally as a trade language used to communicate internationally and across linguistic borders—reached across Canada, the United States, and into Mexico.