Canadians of American origin

American-Canadians are a major part of the Canadian population and the two countries Canada and the United States share much cultural commonality, but are separate geopolitical entities in North America.

According to the Canada 2001 Census, 250,005 Canadians reported American as being their ethnicity, at least partially. There are also between 900,000 and 2 million Americans living in Canada, either as full-time and part-time residents.

There hasn't been an exact estimate of how many Americans from the United States settled in Canada ever since the foundation of the two countries as the US in 1776 and Canada in 1867 both left British rule for different political reasons.

History

Americans have fled to Canada throughout history. During the American Revolution, many Americans loyal to the British crown left the United States and settled in Canada. These early settlers are called United Empire Loyalists. Similar waves of American immigration occurred during the War of 1812. Many Black Canadians are descendants of African American slaves (Black Loyalist) who fled to Canada during the American Revolution. The Black Refugees in the War of 1812 also fled to Canada and many American slaves also came to via the Underground Railroad. In the early 20th century, Canada invited 500,000 to one million US American settlers into the farming regions of Prairie Provinces such as Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

A more recent example of American immigration to Canada was during the Vietnam War era, where many American draft dodgers fled to Canada to avoid the war. In 2006 a record 10,200 Americans moved to Canada, the highest since 1977. [http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/07/30/immigrants-us.html] The number of Americans migrating annually into Canada is 8 times smaller than vice versa, the larger number of Canadians living in the U.S. are temporary residents known as "snowbirds" may have residences in the Southern half of the U.S. (i.e. Florida, the Carolinas, Southern Texas, Southern California and Arizona) during the winter months.

For a list of notable Canadians of American descent see . For notable American expats see .

ee also

*Canadian-American

ources

* [http://www.statscan.ca Statistics Canada]