Bar Graphs of Percentage Distribution of Select Ethnic Groups.
These graphs depict the percentage distribution of select ethnic groups in Canada and the Prairie provinces in the census years 1901, 1911 and 1921. Canadians of British origin dominate both graphs, but it is significant that there is a much larger percentage of people with western and central European backgrounds in the West than in Canada as a whole. In fact, by 1921 the Prairie provinces were the home of 68% of all Canadians of western and central European origin. The West's ethnic diversity distinguished it from the rest of the country, which retained much of its cultural homogeneity during this period of rapid population growth. In both 1901 and 1921 people with western European backgrounds accounted for roughly 15% of the population of the prairies, yet in 1901 that percentage was equivalent to only 69,156 people while in 1921 it represented 293,803. Although the population of the prairie provinces increased fourfold in this twenty-year period, its ethnic diversity was not seriously altered. People of similar ethnic backgrounds tended to settle together and maintain their Old World traditions.
