The first inhabitants of Canada were Aboriginal peoples, believed to have arrived from Asia thousands of years ago by way of a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska. Four hundred years ago, travellers from France and Great Britain began to explore the country in earnest. Permanent settlement by these two nations began in the early 1600s.

Up until World War II, most immigrants came from the British Isles or eastern Europe. Since 1945, however, Canada's cultural make-up has been enhanced by increasing numbers of southern Europeans, Asians, South Americans and people from the Caribbean Islands, with the greatest numbers of immigrants arriving from countries in the Asia Pacific region.

Today, the country is made up of 10 provinces and three territories, most of which are populated by Canadians who can trace their ancestry from virtually everywhere in the world. A recent census showed that over 11 million Canadians, or 42 per cent of the population, reported having an ethnic origin other than British or French.