Question 23 on Canada’s last long-form census asked respondents to identify the “ethnic or cultural origins” of their ancestors—to which just under 5.7 million individuals replied “Canadian,” as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.
Statistics Canada figures show that most census respondents identified as simply “Canadian.”
About 5.3 million census users said they had English ancestry, while just over 4.4 million identified as being Irish, and nearly the same number said they had Scottish origins.
Just over 4 million identified as French, while about 906,000 said they were French Canadian. Just under 3 million stated they had German ancestry, while 2.2 million listed North American indigenous origins, 1.5 million said Italian, and 1.2 million said Ukrainian.
About 1.7 million identified as having a Chinese background and over 1.3 million indicated Indian.
Over 1 million listed their ethnicity as their province of origin.
Over 981,000 respondents identified their origins as “Quebecois,” 91,670 said their ancestry was “Newfoundlander,” 80,550 listed “Ontarian, ” and nearly 45,000 said “Nova Scotian.”
Just under 100,000 respondents listed their origins as Canada’s western and prairie provinces.
In census terms, Statistics Canada defines a person’s “ethnic or cultural origin” as that of their ancestors rather than their own place of birth.
“For example, a person who has Canadian citizenship, speaks Hindi and was born in the United States may report having Guyanese ancestry.”
Statistics Canada adds that many of the responses concerning this point with the 2021 census are reflective of Canadians’ “perceptions of their background,” which it said can “influence changes in responses over time.”
“This means that two respondents with the same ethnic or cultural ancestry could have different response patterns and thus could be counted as having different origins,” it writes.
“Therefore, data on ethnic or cultural origins can be fluid.”
