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Old Posted Oct 15, 2019, 6:50 PM
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Acajack Acajack is offline
Unapologetic Occidental
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Province 2, Canadian Empire
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CityTech View Post
If you look at the history of Ontario, the "old stock" Anglo-Canadian population arrived in the province in two distinct waves. The first wave was people of British ancestry arriving from the United States. Not just the Loyalist refugees, but quite a few economic migrants came from the United States to Ontario in the early 19th century. During the War of 1812, something like 80% of Ontarians were either USA-born or had USA-born parents. This is part of the reason why Jefferson thought Ontario would be so easy for the US to invade and annex.

This wave of American immigration largely ended after the 1820s, when the US began its first westward expansions.

However, in the mid to late 19th century there was a big uptick in economic immigration to Ontario from the United Kingdom and that was the main form of immigration to Ontario after 1830. By 1900, those of "direct" British ancestry probably surpassed those of British-via-the-USA ancestry.

There is a fascinating divide in Eastern Ontario that receives very little attention, to the point where very few know about it. That initial wave of "American" immigration largely skipped the Ottawa Valley; only the part of Eastern Ontario adjacent to Lake Ontario & the St. Lawrence saw any meaningful development before 1830. So the Ottawa region was essentially "founded" by the later wave of direct-British immigrants.
Thanks for posting this.
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