Norwegians are one of the largest northern European ethnic groups in the country and have contributed greatly to its culture, especially in Western Canada.

The first Europeans to reach North America were Icelandic Norsemen, who made at least one major effort at settlement in what is today the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador (L'Anse aux Meadows) around 1000 AD.

Although this proved conclusively the Vikings' pre-Columbian discovery of North America, whether this exact site is the Vinland of the Norse accounts is still a subject of debate.

There is a consensus among scholars that the Vikings did reach North America, approximately five centuries prior to the voyages of Christopher Columbus.

One of these vessels, the Orion from Stavanger, was said to carry 50 paupers all heading for the American West but, due to a lack of funds were sent to Buffalo.

However, the Norwegians were not content, and after a very hard winter in 1861-2 they began to make their way to the American Midwest.

About 14 families who arrived on the ship Flora from Kristiania in 1856 went to the Eastern Townships, near present-day Sherbrooke.

Johan Schroder, who travelled in the United States and Canada in 1863, reported that a group of Norwegian immigrants, led by an agent, settled in Bury in the Eastern Townships in 1856.

[citation needed] Norwegian Canadians are found throughout the entire country but with a major concentration in Western Canada.

Older generations or recent arrivals from Norway may still be allophone (Norwegian as their mother tongue).

According to Statistics Canada figures from the 2016 census, 463,275 Canadians reported themselves as being of Norwegian descent (multiple responses were allowed).