CHAPTER 1 
ORIGINS OF THE POPULATION OF CANADA 
Canada is able to determine from time to time, within reasonable limits of accuracy, 
the proportions of the various origins which make up her population. A body of material 
s now available on the changing composition of the Canadian population which gives 
a necessary perspective to a study of its structure. This is particularly desirable at the 
present time when Canada is entering upon a new expansion which may bring a heavy 
flow of new citizens from various quarters of the earth. 
A nation composed of many diverse stocks presents a different problem from that of 
one with a small admixture of foreign elements. There is in the first place the biological 
aspect. In certain parts of the world, the problem of the half-caste or half-breed has 
assumed grave proportions. Canada’s problems in this respect are largely potential. There 
are also the various cultural sides of intermingling. Peoples of different stocks have different 
educational, moral, economic, religious and political backgrounds. It is with the changing 
proportion of the different stocks in Canada since the beginning of the century that this 
initial chapter is concerned. 
THE PROPORTION OF SPECIFIED ORIGINS IN THE POPULATION OF CANADA 
The proportion of the various stocks in Canada, in 1901, 1911 and 1921, is shown by 
principal origins in Table 7. Changes in these proportions are due to the joint operation 
of three main forces: first, immigration; secondly, emigration; and thirdly, natural increase. 
Attention is first drawn to the present composition of our population. Column 1 
shows that in 1921 somewhat over half of the population of Canada was of British stock, 
and over a quarter of the population, French. The other European origins combined con- 
stituted only 14.16 p.c. of the total, and the Asiatics less than 1 p.c. The Indians made 
up one and a quarter per cent, while the proportion of Negroes stood at a very low figure 
of less than one-quarter of one pe. All coloured peoples totalled slightly over 2 p.c. of the 
population. Thus the population of Canada, as a whole, is as yet predominantly of 
British and French stock; these two constituted over 83 p.c. of the people domiciled in 
Canada at the date of the last census. 
TABLE 7.—PROPORTION OF VARIOUS STOCKS IN THE POPULATION OF CANADA. 1921. AS 
COMPARED WITH 1011 ANT 1001. 
Origins 
BIER. sieve retirees 
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THEI, carvan wvias wi gusnwns vows ren 
Bootoh bona on pryeems arsine so 
OHDOT vv swine 13 vHEEEEs SF PREED 43 5 
PROB. vs in vii ne iis dh mn ns SEnS 5 
dther Europeans....... . 
Austrian........ 
Belgian..........ccovuivnnn. 
Bulgarian and Roumanian............. 
Czech (Bohemian and Moravian). ... 
Det cons ay saipes oa wn gos 
Tinnish...oeen 
FOIMAN. oo ivenreeanns 
"reek. .ieiiiiian 
Tebrew............ . 
Tungarial.................. 
11 
‘Ohishi vua ve sunervnnss sus 
USN Ge ede Gs 
candinavianl.,......... 
‘erbo Croatian..... 
wigs 
P.c. of total population 
1921 1 1911 | 1901 
56440 
20.96 
12-60 
13-36 
0-48 
87-91 
1-12 
1497 
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57-03 
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18-41 
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0-25 
30-70 
8-61 
0-20 
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