What Part Have The Scots Played In Canada?

Prior to 1971, Canadians of Scottish descent were listed in a separate category from "British" such were the Canadians' pride over their ancestral roots. Canadians of Scottish descent have formed a distinctive cultural group in Canada since the 17th Century and in the 1960s were the third largest ethnic group in the country after the English and French.

From its earliest beginnings, Scots have played an influential and important role in the settlement and development of Canada. As with our present UK government in 2006, Scots were to be found in many high offices of leadership and power.

Denied their rights at home in Highland Clearances, Scots who emigrated to Canada were keen to shape politics in their adopted homeland.

Of all the Canadian provinces, the one most closely identified with Scotland is Nova Scotia (New Scotland) where even today many people still speak Scots Gaelic and retain family and other links with Scotland. Indeed, it is often said that Nova Scotians are 'more Scottish' than the Scots.