Source:
Statistics Canada [7]: 20 [8]: 20 [9]: 240 [10]: 45 [11]: 60 [12][13][6][5][4] Note1: 1981 Canadian census did not include multiple ethnic origin responses, thus population is an undercount. Note2: 1996-present census populations are undercounts, due to the creation of the "Canadian" ethnic origin category.
Welsh mapmaker
David Thompson was one of the great explorers of the
North West Company in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and is often called "Canada's Greatest Geographer". He covered 130,000 kilometres on foot and surveyed most of the
Canada–United States border in the early days of exploration.[citation needed]
One of the first efforts to encourage Welsh emigration to Canada began in 1812, when Welsh native John Mathews endeavoured to bring his family to Canada. Mathews left home at a young age and went on to become a successful businessman in the United States. When he returned to Wales, he found his family living in poverty and became convinced they should emigrate to Canada. In 1817 his family settled in the township of Southwald, near what is now
London, Ontario. By 1812 he had brought over more relatives who built homes on the 100-acre (0.40 km2) lots granted to them by Colonel Thomas Talbot. The colony attracted 385 Welsh settlers by 1850 and retained its predominantly Welsh character until the late 1870s.[citation needed]
Early Welsh immigration to Canada was also spurred on by the
Cariboo Gold Rush in British Columbia in 1858. The development of underground mining provided employment for many Welsh coal miners who decided to remain in the area.[citation needed]
In 1902, Welsh immigrants arrived from
Patagonia, which had been incorporated into
Argentina in 1881. Compulsory military service and a series of floods that ruined Welsh farmers' crops led to some emigrants resettling at
Llewelyn near Bangor, Saskatchewan, where they once again took up farming. A community of Welsh farmers was also established at Wood River near
Ponoka, Alberta.
Welsh in Alberta
Historically,
Alberta has had the highest number of people of Welsh descent as a proportion to population. In the
2016 Census, there are 80,455 people identifying as being of Welsh descent, which is around 2% of the total population of Alberta.[14]
Earl W. Bascom (1906-1995), artist, inventor, rodeo pioneer, "Father of Modern Rodeo" and of Welsh descent[citation needed]
David Milwyn Duggan, a Welshman, was the mayor of Edmonton from 1921 to 1923.
Culture
Welsh festivals in Canada today include
Eisteddfodau, and
Gymanfa Ganu. The Welsh in Canada celebrate
St. David's Day,
March 1st, the celebrations include storytelling and singing; banquets are also held in
Lethbridge,
Ponoka,
Calgary,
Red Deer,
Edmonton,
Regina, Saskatchewan, and
Fort McMurray. In Eastern Canada, the Central New Brunswick Welsh Society celebrates St. David's Day by hoisting the Welsh flag on March 1 at both the Provincial Legislature and City Hall in
Fredericton, followed by a dinner for members and guests.
A newsletter serves the Welsh communities in Calgary and Lethbridge, while in Edmonton the St. David's Society issues a bulletin twice a year informing its members about upcoming events. Some Welsh Canadians subscribe to Ninnau, the Welsh national newspaper published in New York.
Welsh-Canadians have been active in the country's cultural life, supplying Canada with some of its more lively characters including novelist
Robertson Davies,
Powys Thomas, co-founder of the national theatre school, and
Robert Harris, painter of the
Fathers of Confederation.
Demographics
Welsh Canadians by Canadian province or territory (
2016)
^Statistics Canadademi-decadal censuses officially use the name "British Isles Origins" for the various nationalities and ethnicities that are in the region. See 2016,[4] 2011,[5] or 2006[6] censuses as examples