Cornish Canadians
Canadien cornouallais
Cornwall Canada
Total population
20,000+
Regions with significant populations
The Maritimes,  Ontario and  British Columbia
Languages
Canadian English and Cornish
Religion
Protestantism, Roman Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
Cornish, English Canadians, Welsh Canadians, Breton Canadians

Cornish Canadians are Canadians of Cornish descent, including those who were born in Cornwall. The number of Canadian citizens of Cornish descent cannot be determined through census statistics, though speculative estimates place the population as high as 20,000.

History

Early arrivals

It is recorded that the first Cornish to reach what is now Canadian soil did in the 16th century, reaching the coast of Newfoundland, part of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Bruce Mines

Cornish emigrants settled the area around Bruce Mines starting in 1842. Located on the north shore of Lake Huron, the area had been associated with the native copper used by indigenous people, whose copper working in the upper Great Lakes dates back to the Old Copper complex. With the spread of knowledge of copper in the area among Europeans, a copper mine opened in 1846, with many local Cornish settlers being recruited to work there. This was the first copper mine in Canada.[1]

Around this time, there was a depression in the Cornish mining industry, which contributed to the volume of people participating in the Cornish "Great Migration", the outflow of emigrants primarily to English-speaking colonies such as Canada and Australia. In 1848, a barque carrying fifty Cornish emigrants, mostly from the Hayle area, along with a stationary steam engine (built in a foundry at Copperhouse) and assortment of Cornish ore processing equipment, left the Port of Hayle bound for Montreal. The arrival of Cornish skilled workers and industrial equipment allowed the owners of the Bruce Mines to rapidly scale up mechanization of their operations.[2]

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Remember This? Bruce Mines was kind of a big deal". SooToday.com. 11 December 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  2. ↑ Schwartz, Sharron P. (2022). "Bruce Mines, Ontario, Canada". Cousin Jack's World. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  • Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples. "Cornish.". Multicultural Canada.

Further reading

  • Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples; Paul Robert Magocsi, editor, University of Toronto Press for Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1999


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