Cornish Canadians are

Canadians Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

of Cornish descent, including those who were born in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. 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 A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic Canada, Atlantic region. The province comprises t ...

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 Native copper is an uncombined form of copper that occurs as a natural mineral. Copper is one of the few metallic elements to occur in native form, although it most commonly occurs in oxidized states and mixed with other elements. Native coppe ...

used by indigenous people, whose copper working in the upper

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...

dates back to the

Old Copper complex The Old Copper complex or Old Copper culture is an archaeological culture from the Archaic period of North America's Great Lakes region. Artifacts from some of these sites have been dated from 7500 to 1000 BCE. It is characterized by widesprea ...

. With the spread of knowledge of copper in the area among Europeans, a

copper mine Copper extraction refers to the methods used to obtain copper from its ores. The conversion of copper consists of a series of physical and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with country depending on the ore source, loca ...

opened in 1846, with many local Cornish settlers being recruited to work there. This was the first copper mine in Canada. 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 A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...

carrying fifty Cornish emigrants, mostly from the

Hayle Hayle ( kw, Heyl, "estuary") is a port town and civil parish in west Cornwall, England. It is situated at the mouth of the Hayle River (which discharges into St Ives Bay) and is approximately seven miles (11 km) northeast of Penzance. ...

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.

Notable people

* Frank Andrews (1854-after 1890), member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly *

Elizabeth Arden Elizabeth Arden (born Florence Nightingale Graham; December 31, 1881 – October 18, 1966) was a Canadian-American businesswoman who founded what is now Elizabeth Arden, Inc., and built a cosmetics empire in the United States. By 1929, s ...

(1878-1966), businesswoman * Arthur James Bater (1889-1969), MP for The Battlefords *

Truman Smith Baxter Truman Smith Baxter (November 24, 1867 – October 27, 1931) was the 16th mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia. He was born on a farm near Carlingford, Ontario, part of Fullertown Township in Perth County. He was the son of Richard and Elizab ...

(1867-1931), mayor of Vancouver * Rick Blight (1955-2005), hockey player * Marie Bottrell (born 1961), country music singer *

Frederick Buscombe Frederick Buscombe (September 2, 1862 – July 21, 1938), was the 11th Mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He served from 1905 to 1906. A glassware and china merchant, he was a President of the Vancouver Board of Trade in 1900. Bus ...

(1862-1938), Mayor of Vancouver *

Dick Cherry Richard John Cherry (born February 28, 1937) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers between 1956 and 1970. He is the brother of media pe ...

(born 1937), hockey player *

Don Cherry Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. Cherry played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins, and later coached the team for five se ...

(born 1934), hockey player and commentator * Dean Chynoweth (born 1968), hockey player * Ed Chynoweth (1941-2008), hockey owner * H. P. P. Crease (1823-1905), member of the British Columbia Supreme Court * William Dennis (1856-1920), member of the Senate of Canada * Claude Ernest Dolman (1906-1994), scientist * John Eyre (1824-1871), member of the Ontario Legislative Assembly * Thomas Greenway (1838-1908), Premier of Manitoba *

Wilfred Grenfell Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell (28 February 1865 – 9 October 1940) was a British medical missionary to Newfoundland, who wrote books on his work and other topics. Early life and education He was born at Parkgate, Cheshire, England, on 28 Febr ...

(1865-1940), Episcopal missionary * W.O. Hamley (1818-1907), civil and naval officer *

Derek Holman Derek Holman, (16 May 1931 – 20 May 2019) was a choral conductor, organist and composer. Life and work Born at Illogan, Cornwall, UK, Holman attended the Royal Academy of Music from 1948 to 1952 and studied with Sir William McKie, E ...

(born 1931), composer * Arthur Lobb (1871-1928), member of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly * Samuel A. Mitchell (1874-1960), astronomer * R. J. M. Parker (1881-1948), Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan * Robert Parkyn (1862-1939), member of the Alberta Legislative Assembly * James Pascoe (1863-1931), member of the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly * J. Ernest Pascoe (1900-1972), Member of Parliament for Moose Jaw—Lake Centre * Nigel Pengelly (1925-2010), member of the Alberta Legislative Assembly * Robert Terrill Rundle (1811-1896), Methodist missionary *

John Teague John Teague (June 3, 1833 – October 25, 1902) was a Canadian architect and politician who served as mayor of Victoria, British Columbia from 1894 until 1895. Born in Redruth, Cornwall, United Kingdom, Teague left the UK in 1856 spending som ...

(1833-1902), architect and mayor of Victoria * Francis W. Thomas (1834-1900), banker and philanthropist *

John Tucker Williams John Tucker Williams (1789 – September 9, 1854) was a British naval officer and political figure in Canada West. Early life and military career Williams was born at Penryn, Cornwall in 1789, a member of the Williams family of Caerhays ...

(1789-1854), naval officer * Victor Williams (1867-1949), general * James Yeo. Sr. (1789-1868), member of the Prince Edward Island Legislative Assembly * James Yeo, Jr. (1827-1903), Member of Parliament for Prince County * John Yeo (1837-1924), Member of Parliament for East Prince

References

* Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples
"Cornish."
Multicultural Canada.

History

Early arrivals

Bruce Mines

Notable people

See also

References

Further reading