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Although the land presently known as Canada was occupied for thousands of years by first nations people it was not known as Canada until 1535 when French explorer Jacques Cartier used the word Canada to identify lands used by local inhabitants. By 1545, European books and maps commonly referred to this region as Canada.

So these first "Canadians" were the local natives and the French explorera and settlers.

If, however, there were no "Canadians" until the Dominion of Canada was formed in 1867, then the first Canadians were the native population, the British and French settlers, freed and escaped slaves from America, and immigrants from around the world. Aboriginal were the first Canadians. The first Canadians could speak 53 different languages.

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10y ago

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