Historical overview

French colonization

The French began to colonize Québec in the early 16th century, settling on the banks of the St. Lawrence River. Québec’s population grew with the arrival of the Filles du Roy (the King’s daughters)—young French girls, primarily orphans with no future who left their homeland to join the colony.

Believing they had conquered an unoccupied land, the French soon faced Aboriginal nations that had been well established here for thousands of years. Very early on, relationships developed between them.

Today, Québec has 56 Aboriginal communities with a population of 81,864, of which 71,840 are First Nations and 10,024 are Inuit. The 10 First Nations and the Inuit nation represent approximately 1% of Québec’s population.

In 1985, the Québec government was the first government in Canada to recognize the Aboriginal nations.

Waves of immigration

Starting in the 19th century, Québec experienced several waves of immigration, principally from England, Scotland and Ireland. Previous to that time, the Loyalists, American colonists who remained loyal to England and left the 13 Atlantic colonies before American independence, had been among the first immigrants.

At the turn of the 20th century, immigrants mainly came from Europe. According to the 1911 census, in addition to the Irish, other newcomers included some 8,000 arrivals from Germany.

The 1920s saw the advent of immigrants from Eastern Europe.

In 1931, the Jewish community numbered 60,000 and Québec also became home to some 25,000 Italians, 10,000 Portuguese and 1,000 Germans.

When the Second World War gave rise to a new wave of immigration to North America, Québec’s demographic profile changed.

Diversification of immigration

Since 1970, immigration to Québec has become very diversified. It now consists of more than 100 cultural communities. Contact with these new citizens has brought renewed vitality to Québec society by contributing a wealth of cultural, social and economic expertise, as well as scientific and technological know-how.

Main mother tongues in Québec
(1951 and 2001)

Large numbers of citizens from other countries have settled mainly in the Montreal area and, to a lesser extent, in the Capitale Nationale (Québec City), Outaouais (Gatineau) and Estrie (Sherbrooke) regions.

Useful links

• Québec portal – History
• Secrétariat aux affaires autochtones