Upper Canada
Ethnic groups
### Ethnic groups

Although the province is frequently referred to as "English Canada" after the Union of the Canadas, and its ethnic homogeneity said to be a factor in the [Upper Canada Rebellion](/wiki/Rebellions_of_1837%23Differences "Rebellions of 1837#Differences") of 1837, there was range of ethnic groups in Upper Canada. However, due to the lack of a detailed breakdown, it is difficult to count each group, and this may be considered abuse of statistics. An idea of the ethnic breakdown can be had if one considers the religious census of 1842, which is helpfully provided below: Roman Catholics were 15% of the population, and adherents to this religion were, at the time, mainly drawn from the Irish and the French settlers. The Roman Catholic faith also numbered some votaries from amongst the Scottish settlers. The category of "other" religious adherents, somewhat under 5% of the population, included the Aboriginal and Metis culture.

#### First Nations

See above: Land Settlement

* **[Anishinaabe](/wiki/Anishinaabe "Anishinaabe")** or **Anishinabe**—or more properly (plural) **Anishinaabeg** or **Anishinabek**. The plural form of the word is the [autonym](/wiki/Endonym "Endonym") often used by the [Odawa](/wiki/Ottawa_%28tribe%29 "Ottawa (tribe)"), [Ojibwe](/wiki/Ojibwa "Ojibwa"), and [Algonquin peoples](/wiki/Algonquin_people "Algonquin people").
* The **[Haudenosaunee](/wiki/Haudenosaunee "Haudenosaunee")**, also known as the **Iroquois** or the "People of the [Longhouse](/wiki/Longhouses_of_the_indigenous_peoples_of_North_America "Longhouses of the indigenous peoples of North America")",

#### Métis

Many British and French\-Canadian fur traders married First Nations women from the [Cree](/wiki/Cree "Cree"), [Ojibwa](/wiki/Ojibwa "Ojibwa"), or [Saulteaux](/wiki/Saulteaux "Saulteaux") First Nations. The majority of these fur traders were [Scottish](/wiki/Scottish_people "Scottish people") and French and were [Catholic](/wiki/Catholic_Church "Catholic Church").

#### Canadiens/French\-Canadians

Early settlements in the region include the Mission of [Sainte\-Marie among the Hurons](/wiki/Sainte-Marie_among_the_Hurons "Sainte-Marie among the Hurons") at [Midland](/wiki/Midland%2C_Ontario "Midland, Ontario") in 1649, [Sault Ste. Marie](/wiki/Sault_Ste._Marie%2C_Ontario "Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario") in 1668, and [Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit](/wiki/Fort_Pontchartrain_du_D%C3%A9troit "Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit") in 1701\. Southern Ontario was part of the *Pays d'en\-haut* (Upper Country) of [New France](/wiki/New_France "New France"), and later part of the province of Quebec until Quebec was split into Upper and [Lower Canada](/wiki/Lower_Canada "Lower Canada") in 1791\. The first wave of settlement in the [Detroit](/wiki/Detroit "Detroit")/Windsor area came in the 18th century during the French regime. A second wave came in the 19th and early 20th centuries to the areas of Eastern Ontario and Northeastern Ontario. In the [Ottawa Valley](/wiki/Ottawa_Valley "Ottawa Valley"), in particular, some families have moved back and forth across the Ottawa River for generations (the river is the border between Ontario and Quebec). In the city of [Ottawa](/wiki/Ottawa "Ottawa") some areas such as Vanier and Orleans have a rich Franco\-heritage where families often have members on both sides of the [Ottawa River](/wiki/Ottawa_River "Ottawa River").

#### Loyalists/Later Loyalists

After an initial group of about 7,000 [United Empire Loyalists](/wiki/United_Empire_Loyalists "United Empire Loyalists") were thinly settled across the province in the mid\-1780s, a far larger number of "late\-Loyalists" arrived in the late 1790s and were required to take an oath of allegiance to the Crown to obtain land if they came from the US. Their fundamental political allegiances were always considered dubious. By 1812, this had become acutely problematic since the American settlers outnumbered the original Loyalists by more than ten to one. Following the War of 1812, the colonial government under Lt. Governor Gore took active steps to prevent Americans from swearing allegiance, thereby making them ineligible to obtain land grants. The tensions between the Loyalists and late Loyalists erupted in the "Alien Question" crisis in 1820–21 when the Bidwells (Barnabas and his son Marshall) sought election to the provincial assembly. They faced opponents who claimed they could not hold elective office because of their American citizenship. If the Bidwells were aliens so were the majority of the province. The issue was not resolved until 1828 when the Colonial government retroactively granted them citizenship.

#### Freed slaves

The [Act Against Slavery](/wiki/Act_Against_Slavery "Act Against Slavery") passed in Upper Canada on 9 July 1793\. The 1793 "Act against Slavery" forbade the importation of any additional slaves and freed children. It did not grant freedom to adult slaves—they were finally freed [by the British Parliament in 1833](/wiki/Slavery_Abolition_Act_1833 "Slavery Abolition Act 1833"). As a consequence, many Canadian slaves fled south to New England and New York, where slavery was no longer legal. Many American slaves who had escaped from the South via the [Underground Railroad](/wiki/Underground_Railroad "Underground Railroad") or fleeing from the [Black Codes](/wiki/Black_Codes_%28United_States%29 "Black Codes (United States)") in the Ohio Valley came north to Ontario, a good portion settling on land lots and began farming.Cooper, Afua, "Acts of Resistance: Black Men and Women Engage Slavery in Upper Canada, 1793–1803," *Ontario History,* Spring 2007, Vol. 99 Issue 1, pp 5–17 It is estimated that thousands of escaped slaves entered Upper Canada from the United States.

#### British

The [Great Migration from Britain](/wiki/Great_Migration_of_Canada "Great Migration of Canada") from 1815 to 1850 has been numbered at 800,000\. The population of Upper Canada in 1837 is documented at 409,000\. Given the lack of detailed census data, it is difficult to assess the relative size of the American and Canadian born "British" and the foreign\-born "British." By the time of the first census in 1841, only half of the population of Upper Canada were foreign\-born British.

##### Irish

##### Scottish

##### English


Could the same problem with the way networks are built affect other areas of society beyond politics?