CHAPTER IV

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION STOCKS AND NATIVITY
GROUPS BY PROVINCES

In Chapter I attention was centred on the proportions of different stocks in the population
 of Canada as a whole. Tt was seen that Canada is as yet predominantly British and
French, but that in the decades previous to 1921 important changes had taken place which,
if continued, would definitely alter the composition of the population in a comparatively
short period. The proportion of foreign born in the population was also discussed and
attention directed to the newer arrivals of foreign origin. The significance of the wide
Auctuations in the numbers and proportions of the foreign born was also emphasized.
In the second chapter an examination was made of the distribution of the foreign stocks
from the point of view of their length of residence in Canada. First, attention was drawn
to the different proportions of our population born in Canada, the United States and other
countries. Then a more detailed examination was made of the foreign born portions of the
foreign stocks and of their increases from decade to decade. Some conclusions were reached
as to the dates of immigration for the vamous groups and also as to the relative magnitude
and changing sources of recent immigration.
Important as are such considerations, in some ways they ‘are overshadowed by the
territorial distribution of the different stocks in Canada. The geographical distribution of
the foreign stocks is especially significant. In dealing with this topic several questions
are suggested: How are the foreign stocks and the foreign born distributed among the
different provinces of Canada? What changes are taking place in those proportions? How
are the foreign stocks distributed as between urban and rural districts? What is the signi§-cance
 of the differences appearing and how are they to be explained? This section attempts
to answer the first two of the above questions and certain others incidental to them.
DISTRIBUTION OF VARIOUS STOCKS BY PROVINCES
Table 42A shows the percentage distribution of the various stocks in Canada at the last
three census enumerations. The first column shows the percentage of British origin in the
population of each province in 1921. Prince Edward Isiand with 85 p.c. had by far the
largest proportion of British stock. Nova Scotia, Ontario and British Columbia were also
predominantly British by extraction, with a proportion of well over 70 p.c. in each case.
As is to be expected, the proportion of French origin in the province of Quebec is far
greater than in any other section of the country. New Brunswick ranks second, with almost
a third French. Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia follow in the order named with
much smaller percentages. In the West the proportion of French stock in the population
is small, ranging from five to seven p.c. in the Prairie Provinces, and dropping as low as
two p.c. in British Columbia. Ontario stands midway between the Maritimes and the
Prairie Provinces with respect to the proportion of persons of French origin in its
population.
A comparison of column 2 and ‘column 3 reveals the interesting fact that while the
proportions of French stock in the eastern provinces are large as compared with the West.
the reverse obtains in the case of other European origins. From Quebec east, the proportion
 of other European origins in the populations of the respective provinces is less than
10 pe. In fact, Nova Scotia with 9.34 p.. is the only province east of Ontario with a
significant intermingling of foreign stocks. In Prince Edward Island the proportion is less
than one p.c. Passing west, it is seen that Ontario and British Columbia have about the
same proportions of other European origins, with between 11 and 12 pe. in each, while
the proportions in the three Prairie Provinces range between 30 and 40 pe. It would be
RA