Canadian Americans

Canadian Americans are American citizens or in some uses residents whose ancestry is wholly or partly Canadian, or citizens of either country who hold dual citizenship.^[1]

The term Canadian can mean a nationality or an ethnicity. Canadians are considered North Americans due their residing in the North American continent. English-speaking Canadian immigrants easily integrate and assimilate into northern and western U.S. states as a result of many cultural similarities, and in the similar accent in spoken English.^[2] French-speaking Canadians, because of language and culture, tend to take longer to assimilate.^[3] However, by the 3rd generation, they are often fully culturally assimilated, and the Canadian identity is more or less folklore.^[4] This took place, even though half of the population of the province of Quebec emigrated to the US between 1840 and 1930.^[5] Many New England cities formed 'Little Canadas', but many of these have gradually disappeared.

This cultural "invisibility" within the larger US population is seen as creating stronger affinity among Canadians living in the US than might otherwise exist.^[6] According to US Census estimates, the number of Canadian residents was around 640,000 in 2000.^[7] Some sources have cited the number to possibly be over 1,000,000.^[8] This number, though, is far smaller than the number of Americans who can trace part or the whole of their ancestry to Canada. The percentage of these in the New England states is almost 25% of the total population.

In some regions of the United States, especially New England or the Midwest, a Canadian American often means one whose ancestors came from Canada.^[9]