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Runninghead:

THE

PEOPLING

The Peopling of Canada


Name
Institution
Course name & code
Date

OF

CANADA

THE PEOPLING OF CANADA

Introduction
Most of the great nations we know today have come from afar. Since prehistoric times, nations
were not made of a single ethnic group, but from different tribes that united under different
circumstances and conditions. For instance, the US we know today was not critically build by its
natives, but the greatest percentage of its builders were immigrants and slaves. Similarly, a
majority of the empirical nations of the past were built by a myriad of tribes that united either as
a result of the war or migrations. Therefore, in his article; the peopling of Canada, Bucker (1993)
seeks to explain how the people of Canada came to unite via different migrations, formed a
strong nation and also compares these migrations and settlements to how other countries such as
the US were formed.
Summary
Bucker (1993) argues that Canada has endured the longest periods of imperialism, which have
been diverse when compared to other European colonies of settlement in the Americas. This
diversity has been indicated in three main areas; migration, community composition and the
main economic activities that characterized these colonies. According to Bucker (1999), almost
all other European colonies grew faster between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries simply
because their communities were created as a result of migrations and intermarriages. However,
Canada, an origin of the French Colony, is termed as an exception because majority of its
population grew slowly and naturally, without any external influence. The main point of
differentiation is that the male to female gender ratios in other European colonies were almost
equal, 1:1 yet the French Colony had lesser females than the number of mature men. This implies
that the available men outnumbered the number of mature females, a fact that bears negative

THE PEOPLING OF CANADA

consequences regarding population. Consequently, the birth rate in French Canada was low when
compared to other European colonies, hence experiencing a slow natural growth.
Differences in economic activities also contributed to the differences between the French
Colonies and the European colonies. While the majority of the European colonies had the intense
economic power to sustain plantation economies, French Canada lacked the economic resources
to sustain plantation economies. For instance, the French Canada only specialized in fisheries
and fur trades, which are economic activities that could not sustain large populations. Efforts by
Chartered companies to extent fur trade to other broader regions turned out to be futile.
Consequently, very few immigrants moved into French Canada while other European colonies
witnessed an increasing number of immigrants. Further efforts of colonization and immigration
in the latter centuries served to increase the disparity in population between the French Canada
and European Colonies. According to Bucker (1993), the above-explained factors were the major
reasons for Canadas slow and long growth in population when compared to other migration
waves among the European Colonies.
Critic
After having read Buckers (1993), article, I am inclined to state that the author possesses a
strong a mastery of skills in writing. Not only does the author used deductive reasoning. But goes
a long way ahead to combine both deductive and inductive reasoning to prove his points. For
instance, right from the beginning of the article, the author exclaims that no other European
colony has witnessed a slow and natural population growth like Canada. Having made such a
statement, the author proceeds to provide both empirical and qualitative evidence to prove such,
referring to different migrations and population disparities that seek to expound on such
arguments.

THE PEOPLING OF CANADA

The author also unfolds ideas and historical events in chronological order, each idea being
chronologically followed a historical event seeking to expound on it. For instance, Bucker (1993)
chronologically explains the migration waves that occurred in the fifteenth, sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, expertly highlighting the influences that such migrations waves had on the
populations of both the French Canada and other European colonies. Where the author suspects
that the reader might have got lost in the reading, Bucker (1993) uses supportive evidence to
remind the readers and maintain them in the same line of logic. For instance, while referring to
the period when the Acadians left their territories, ones that later harbored the French Irish,
Bucker (1993) contraposes both the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Finally, the author does not also like propagating misconceptions and exaggerations. Right from
the start, in fact in page 51, the author openly dismisses the misconception that the existing
literature comparing the Irish in Canada and the Irish in America is true. The author sharply
states that such comparisons are erroneous, and give supporting evidence by indicating that more
than 60% of Irish, who lived in Canada in the seventeenth century were immigrants.

THE PEOPLING OF CANADA


Reference
Buckner, P. (1993). "The Peopling of Canada," History Today 43, no. 11 (48): 48:54.

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