O Canada

I have been feeling a lot of love from, and thus love for Canadians lately! So I thought I'd give a proper Pottery by Cú Chulainn shout out, and briefly mention some amazing facts I've learned about our northern neighbor and their Celtic connections.

I had been aware of that Scottish-Canadians were a large group. However, I was surprised to learn that as of the 2001 census approximately 4.7 million Canadians claimed full or partial Scottish ancestry. That is 15% of the total population, making it the third largest ethnic group in Canada. Amazing!

In comparison, 36 million Americans claim full or partial Irish ancestry, while another 3.5 million claim Scots-Irish ancestry. That amounts to approximately 12% of the US population which makes Scottish-Canadians are a larger ethnic group in Canada per capita.

This absolutely blows my mind. I knew they were a major group with significant cultural impact but that’s huge. Consider also that these huge populations come from relatively small countries. The current populations of the original countries is 5.2 million for Scotland and 6.2 million for the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Flag of Nova Scotia

Turning back to Scottish-Canadians more specifically, I was interested to learn more about their profound impact on Canadian culture. I suppose it is not surprising given that as early as 1622 a portion of what is now Canada was set aside as “New Scotland.” Nova Scotia, and Canada more generally, saw many more immigrants after the defeat of New France in 1759, but the cultural importance of a New Scotland is profound.

And there were plenty who took the New Scotland mission seriously. Nowadays Cape Breton Island and the Nova Scotia mainland together have a community of around 1,000 speakers of Canadian Gaelic, which is itself a dialect of Scottish Gaelic. Amazing!

Flag of Montreal

Still, Scottish Canadians are not limited to Nova Scotia. Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia all had strong influences from Scotland, especially after French influence declined. But I am beginning to drone on so I will allow my readers to read the Wikipedia article for themselves!

But in all honesty, much love to all Canadians!

Slàn,

Colin

As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com