Rand McNally map of Canada (1889)

Rand McNally map of Canada (1889)

8330 x 5221

‘I didn’t realize Saskatchewan used to be like that

Those were the districts of the North West Territories at the time. The districts of Assiniboine, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Athabasca would be combined to make the two provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta in 1905.

Originally, Frederick Haultain, Premier of the NWT during that time, was pushing for a province of Buffalo, which would include all of the two provinces lands. Prime minister Laurier, fearing a provincial rival to the existing duopolistic control of Ontario and Quebec, split it at the 110th meridian’

1911 ethnographic map of Ontario and western Quebec

1911 ethnographic map of Ontario and western Quebec

6863 x 4825

‘I think Windsor is the Irish green. I would say that the only Russian green is around Frederick House L. (in the corner inset)

I’m from Windsor, it’s French. There used to be a large population of French in the area and many of the street names are French, now locally pronounced with awful anglicized versions

I heard that a-lot of French Canadians have Irish blood from the huge influx of Irish into Quebec in the 1840’s. Is that maybe a reason for the green? Many of those people probably switched from Gaelic to French speaking, skipping the English part

While it’s true that many Irish immigrants in Quebec (or their descendants over several generations) assimilated into the Francophone majority, the Irish in Ontario overwhelmingly spoke English, even in areas where French was spoken

My guess is that was a 20th century phenomenon. The famine immigrants were from overwhelmingly Gaelic speaking areas in the west of Ireland, many had no English atall. It could well be that for many it was English they learned when they got to Canada

The Irish that settled in Montreal largely integrated the English speaking community. In the Quebec countryside, many married fellow Catholic French Canadians and eventually switch from Irish or English to French. Also, many Irish orphans were adopted by French Canadians and became French speaking. That was the case with my Irish great-great grandmother.’

Illustrated road map of British Columbia (1936)

Illustrated road map of British Columbia (1936)

8026 x 6027

‘Oh nice, cool find! It even has the small towns like Nazko, Likely and Horsefly on it so you know it’s legit lol. A little sad Stewart got barely cut off in the NW but I double checked at it was only incorporated in 1930 so would have been pretty new anyway. Interesting that they use the Union Jack to represent the Canadian side of the US/Canada border up there.’

Largest Ethnicities in regions of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, 1911

Largest Ethnicities in regions of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, 1911

6826 × 4801

‘British Isle origins (Scottish, English, Irish): Mostly came from Ontario, who previously settled in large numbers in Ontario as Loyalists (originally from the 13 colonies who left for Ontario around 1793), or Quakers (who left for Ontario in the early 1800s, or other immigrants to Ontario up until the late 1800s. Their descendants then headed out west in the late/later 1800s and very early 1900s.

French: 3-way combination, not all from the same place. Many came from the US as descendants of the original New France French (from Michigan, Illinois, etc, whose descendants still spoke French). Many came from Quebec and Ontario. And there were those who came from Belgium. Small French towns (which remain today) have families from one of these three main places.

German: Two different origins: (1) Russian Volga Germans (Catherine the Great’s Germans) who either came from Nebraska (think of Lawrence Welk’s folks), or directly from Russia. Both groups spoke German upon their arrival to Sask / Manitoba. OR Pennsylvania Dutch who settled in Ontario in the late 1700s/early 1800s (almost completely separate from Loyalists, whose motives were land), who became assimilated into mainstream culture (and lost their German language), and then went out West to Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Austrian: My hunch is this is the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and should actually be classified as “Ukrainian”. Why you ask? Because by 1911 there a ton of “Ukrainians” heavily settling and founding many towns in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. But, they were NOT from Ukraine. Rather, they were from the Austro-Hungarian Empire massive northeastern province of Galacia. These people spoke a variety of Ukrainian. They had a similar but yet different culture compared to Ukraine proper (even the food was different, which means that Canadian perogies in Alberta, Sasktachewan and Manitoba are different than what you’ll find in Ukraine today, and now extinct in Galacia after World War ethnic cleansing and movement of people’

Forest cover map of the Maritime provinces

Forest cover map of the Maritime provinces

“I’m from Prince Edward Island and you can really see the difference between us and the rest of the Maritimes. In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick if you go outside of a city you’re basically going to be in/near a forest. On PEI if you find yourself lost in the “forest” you can walk 30 minutes in any direction and you’ll wind up on a farm or the shore. Whenever you cross the Confederation Bridge the difference in scenery is night and day”–Mitby

Canada's Mountains

Canada’s Mountains

[3678 x 3020]

“And that’s why the roads in British Columbia are a shit show lol. There’s a few highways that just zigzag throughout the interior and the north. Blows my mind when I see how many roads they have in the USA”–Fixitman77