They likely also include many Canadians of Latin-American ethnic origin who use the term "Spanish" as a panethnic ethnonym rather than only their specific country of ancestry.

More recently the legal system in Spain has granted citizenship to Cubans who can prove that their grandparents immigrated to Cuba during the Spanish Civil War (see Historical Memory Law).

(see Treaty of Tordesillas) Later the Spanish conquistador and explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa became the first European to see and stand in the waters of the eastern shore of the Pacific Ocean.

Then a Greek born Spanish explorer Juan de Fuca in the service of the king of Spain, Philip II, explored the Strait of Anián in 1592, now known as the Strait of Juan de Fuca, between Vancouver Island, now part of British Columbia, Canada and northwestern Washington state, United States.

Starting in the mid-18th century, Spain's claim began to be challenged in the form of British and Russian fur trading and colonization.

King Charles III of Spain and his successors sent a number of expeditions to present-day Canada and Alaska between 1774 and 1793, to counter the threat of Russian and British colonizers and to strengthen the Spanish claim.

While it is thought that Sir Francis Drake may have explored the British Columbian coast in 1579, it was Juan Pérez who completed the first documented voyage, which took place in 1774.

Colnett had come to Nootka Sound intending to build a permanent trading post and colony on land previously acquired by his business associate John Meares.

As a result of this, Spain decided to transfer its claims to parts of North America to its old ally United States during the American Revolutionary War through the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819.

[2] However, the laws in Spain limit[citation needed] the people who may be called Spaniard to those who can hold a European Union Spanish citizenship.

[3] The Spanish population in Ontario and Quebec were relatively minor until after World War II and have not really had a profound impact in developing or promoting their language and culture, unlike the Hispanophone Latin American community.