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Scottish Canadians

© David Newman

In Honour of St. Andrews Day, Here are a bunch of Famous Scottish-born Canadians.

Before I get to the list here is how Scots have made it over to Canada. Most Scots that immigrated to Canada went to Nova Scotia or Ontario. Many ships landed in the Maritimes following the conquest of New France. One such ship was the "Hector which arrived in 1773 in Pictou, NS. Many Scots came from the United States during the Revolutionary War because many Scots were Loyal to the British Crown. Many clans founded little communities in rural Upper Canada (Ontario). Lord Selkirk helped establish a Highlander community in Manitoba on the Red River. In Ontario, there are many Scottish areas such as Guelph, Perth, MacNab Township and around the Huron and Bruce Counties. Scottish Immigration was so strong that at the end of the 19th century there were almost as much scots as English. Well, at the time of the 1871 census, there were about 550,00 Scots while the English were about 700,000 inhabitants. Nova Scotia remains the home of Scotland in Canada although scots have had a lot of influence in the rest of Canada. Gaelic is still taught on Cape Breton at a College Level.

Anyway a bunch of Scottish Born Canadians:

Sir Alexander Mackenzie (1764-1820) Okay he never really lived in Canada but he's Canadian just the same. He was born in Stornoway, Scotland in 1764. To escape Poverty, Mackenzie moved with his family to the Thirteen Colonies. But oh crap, his family didn't mind the Royals too much and it just happened that Those colonies wanted to be independent so Mackenzie's father joined the Loyalists and moved up to Canada. Montreal to be precise. Montreal was the fur trade centre was still the fur trade centre and Alexander Mackenzie became part of the North West Company. Like many people then, Mackenzie looked for the Pacific. While doing that, he found a really cool river that happened to be the longest river in Canada. He followed it but found the Arctic Ocean instead. He went back to Britain did some research and came back to Canada. This time he made it to the Pacific. He then wrote a book that became so precise of Canada's waterways that even Napoleon was about to use it during the War of 1812 to re-invade Canada for France. But since another snowy country was closer, he chose Russia instead. Anyway, King George IV knighted Mackenzie. He died in 1820.