The upper classes of Canada, apart from some Quebec French families were largely of British origin.
Military and government officials and their families came to British North America from England or Scotland; some arrived from Ulster.
Most business interests were controlled by men of British stock.
 French-Canadians remained largely culturally isolated from English-speaking Canadians (a situation later described in Two Solitudes by Hugh MacLennan).

English-speaking Canadian writers became popular, especially Catharine Parr Traill and her sister Susanna Moodie, middle-class English settlers who published memoirs of their demanding lives as pioneers.
 Traill published The Backwoods of Canada (1836) and Canadian Crusoes (1852), and Moodie published Roughing it in the Bush (1852) and Life in the Clearings (1853).
Their memoirs recount the harshness of life as women settlers but were nonetheless popular.

Upper-class Canadian women emulated British culture and imported as much of it as possible across the Atlantic.
Books, magazines, popular music, and theatre productions were all imported to meet women's consumer demand.

Upper-class women supported philanthropic causes similar to the educational and nursing charities championed by upper-class women in England.
The Victorian Order of Nurses, still in existence, was founded in 1897 as a gift to Queen Victoria to commemorate her Diamond Jubilee.
The Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire, founded in 1900, supports educational bursaries and book awards to promote Canadian patriotism but also to support knowledge of the British Empire.
One of the patrons of Halifax's  Victoria School of Art and Design (founded in 1887 and later named the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design) was Anna Leonowens.
Women began making headway in their struggle to gain access to higher education.
In 1875, the first woman university graduate in Canada was Grace Annie Lockhart (Mount Allison University).
In 1880, Emily Stowe became the first woman licensed to practise medicine in Canada.
The upper classes of Canada, apart from some Quebec French families were largely of British origin. Military and government officials and their families came to British North America from England or Scotland; some arrived from Ulster. Most business interests were controlled by men of British stock.  French-Canadians remained largely culturally isolated from English-speaking Canadians (a situation later described in Two Solitudes by Hugh MacLennan).
English-speaking Canadian writers became popular, especially Catharine Parr Traill and her sister Susanna Moodie, middle-class English settlers who published memoirs of their demanding lives as pioneers.  Traill published The Backwoods of Canada (1836) and Canadian Crusoes (1852), and Moodie published Roughing it in the Bush (1852) and Life in the Clearings (1853). Their memoirs recount the harshness of life as women settlers but were nonetheless popular.
Upper-class Canadian women emulated British culture and imported as much of it as possible across the Atlantic. Books, magazines, popular music, and theatre productions were all imported to meet women's consumer demand.
Upper-class women supported philanthropic causes similar to the educational and nursing charities championed by upper-class women in England. The Victorian Order of Nurses, still in existence, was founded in 1897 as a gift to Queen Victoria to commemorate her Diamond Jubilee. The Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire, founded in 1900, supports educational bursaries and book awards to promote Canadian patriotism but also to support knowledge of the British Empire. One of the patrons of Halifax's  Victoria School of Art and Design (founded in 1887 and later named the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design) was Anna Leonowens. Women began making headway in their struggle to gain access to higher education. In 1875, the first woman university graduate in Canada was Grace Annie Lockhart (Mount Allison University). In 1880, Emily Stowe became the first woman licensed to practise medicine in Canada.
History of Canadian women