We were originally a penal colony populated by England's worst scoundrels.
Whoops, got mixed up for a second. ;-P
We were originally Upper and Lower Canada after the first Europeans arrived. Here is what looks like a pretty comprehensive
background.
Re modern Canada, In addition to Quebec, which has a high French speaking population, the province of New Brunswick has the Acadians, which are their own mash-up of English and French. (Acadians are awesome; love working with those crazy bastards.)
Way back when, a bunch of Acadians were displaced and they went south to Louisiana in the US, where they stayed. They managed to retain their unique culture, even as they became known as "Cajuns" which is a bastardization of Acadian.
There are also the Metis, who are a people descended from French trappers and explorers, and native Canadians. The most famous Metis was likely
Louis Riel.
There are French communities across the country. Even here in redneck Alberta we have towns like
Legal.
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Francophone/Anglophone tensions exists in some places, but that gets into politics and we don't do that here.
There is a very basic starting point for you, Ramjet, and a few links should you choose to enter the rabbit-hole.
