Ethnic origins of people in Canada

As data were collected by self-declaration, ethnic groups may not necessarily correspond to the true ancestry of respondents.

[20]: 512 The ethnic French population, comprising a plurality of the total population from confederation until just prior to the 1921 census, overwhelmingly relied on natural increase for growth, with progeny stemming from early settlers who arrived throughout the 17th and 18th centuries; migration from France had been severely curtailed by the British Empire and early governments of independent Canada.

[20]: 512  The English community experienced massive growth principally during the first two decades of the 20th century as a result of record immigration at the time; during the era, persons of English descent also became the single largest ethnic group in Canada, comprising a plurality of the Canadian population by the 1921 census.

[20]: 512  The largest Irish population increases occurred prior to confederation, spurred by mass immigration during the mid-19th century at the height of the Great Migration of Canada, and was primarily due to The Great Famine and related poor economic conditions in Ireland at the time.

At the turn of the 20th century, overall immigrant proportions from the British Isles to Canada gradually dropped from a majority to a plurality.

At the time, the federal government began supplementing increased mass immigration from the British Isles (mainly England) by also permitting large migration flows from continental Europe, especially Germany, Scandinavia, and the Soviet Union.

[20]: 512 Broadening the multicultural makeup of Canada, the diversity across the Prairie provinces during the early 20th century was soon dubbed a cultural mosaic by journalist Victoria Hayward in the early 1920s: "New Canadians, representing many places and widely separated sections of Old Europe, have contributed to the Prairie Provinces a variety in the way of Church Architecture.

Cupolas and domes distinctly Eastern, almost Turkish, startle one above the tops of Manitoba maples or the bush of the river banks.

These architectural figures of the landscape, apart altogether of their religious significance, are centers where, crossing the threshold on Sundays, one has the opportunity of hearing Swedish music, or the rich, deep chanting of the Russian responses; and of viewing at close hand the artistry that goes to make up the interior appointments of these churches transplanted from the East to the West… It is indeed a mosaic of vast dimensions and great breadth, essayed of the Prairie.