ORIGIN, BIRTHPLACE AND NATIONALITY 
The Ukrainian classification, again, includes four groups: the Bukovinian, Galician, 
Ruthenian, and Ukrainian. But the problem here is mot in the diverse elements within 
the group. The four peoples are separately classified and 97 p.c. of them speak Slavic 
languages. The group thus includes only biological strains which are closely allied—a. 
fact which did mot obtain with the Austrian or Russian. The difficulty is that the Ukrainian 
group probably includes only a part of those who might properly be so classed. There are 
about 20,000 in the Austrian “ origin” group who speak one of the Ukminiam languages 
as the mother tongue, and it is probable that there were also some Ukrainians among the 
33,856 so-called Russians who were reported as speaking Russian as the mother tongue. 
It is clear, therefore, that in certain cases, especially with people from South, Eastern 
and Central Europe, the “origin” classification signifies, primarily, original geographical 
habitat. In view of this fact the data in the present report are presented in such cases 
not only by origins but in general geographical groups and by language classification. 
Separate figures have been computed for those of North Western and South, Eastern and 
Central European origins, and for the Scandinavians, Germanic, Latin and Greek and Slavie 
groups. In some of the linguistic groups certain proportions speaking other languages were 
necessarily included. For example, the Austrians and Russians are classed as Slavs, yet 
about 40 p.c. of each speak German as the mother tongue. With the exception of those 
two groups, however, considerable homogeneity appears within the larger groupings, and 
even in the cases mentioned (the Austrians and Russians) it is a matter of debate whether 
from the point of view of culture the Germans of Austria and Russia domiciled in Canada 
are not closer to the Slavs than to the Germans coming to Canada from Germany. 
The above facts regarding the “origin” classification should be borne in mind in 
reading the subsequent pages of this monograph. Except in the case of the Hebrews, 
the term “origin” always connotes the original geographical habitat of a population group, 
usually implies a distinct culture, and often a definite biological strain. In any case, it 
refers to a specific group of immigrants and their progeny. 
CLASSIFICATION OF MIXED STOCKS 
The male line is used in the census for tracing “ origin ” derivation. In this connection 
che population falls into two main categories: (1) the less assimilable peoples who have 
maintained their original purity, and (2) those who have intermarried freely for several 
generations. In the case of those falling within the first category, the procedure of the 
census is obviously satisfactory. It might be objected in the case of those falling within 
the second category, however, that there are many individuals whose origins are so 
intermixed through intermarriages that their designation as of the origin indicated by 
their fathers’ patronymic is largely meaningless. This may be accepted as true in so far 
as the individual is concerned. It remains true, however, that by the law of large numbers 
in the mass, the adoption of the practice followed in the census will yield approximately 
accurate measurements of the different infusions of blood that have gone to make up the 
total. 
The above becomes clear when we consider in greater detail the purposes for which 
“origin” data are collected. Apart from purely scientific studies such data have two 
types of use. First, they have an important bearing on the study of immigration, for 
they show with what measure of success the newer peoples are mixing with the basic stocks 
of the country and adapting themselves to Canadian institutions. In the second place, 
such data have considerable historical interest in recording not only the continuous infusion 
of foreign blood and foreign cultures from abroad, but the combined effect of natural 
increase and immigration on ‘the “origin” structure of the population. 
In its bearing upon immigration policy, the accuracy of the origin classification varies 
lirectly with its importance to public policy. (Certain peoples readily intermarry with the 
native English and French stock in Canada and are easily assimilated in other respects. 
The larger the amount of intermarriage the greater is the number, for example, with 
part English blood who are classified as of Swedish origin and vice versa. As the fusion 
proceeds the social behaviour of the two groups becomes more and more alike. However.