<P> For its part, the identity of English speaking Canada was profoundly influenced by another pivotal historic event, the American Revolution . Americans who remained loyal to the Crown and who actively supported the British during the Revolution saw their lands and goods confiscated by the new republic at the end of the war . Some 60,000 persons, known in Canada as United Empire Loyalists fled the United States or were evacuated after the war, coming to Nova Scotia and Quebec where they received land and some assistance from the British government in compensation and recognition for having taken up arms in defence of King George III and British interests . This population formed the nucleus for two modern Canadian provinces--Ontario and New Brunswick--and had a profound demographic, political and economic influence on Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Quebec . Conservative in politics, distrustful or even hostile towards Americans, republicanism, and especially American republicanism, this group of people marked the British of British North America as a distinctly identifiable cultural entity for many generations, and Canadian commentators continue to assert that the legacy of the Loyalists still plays a vital role in English Canadian identity . According to the author and political commentator Richard Gwyn while "(t) he British connection has long vanished...it takes only a short dig down to the sedimentary layer once occupied by the Loyalists to locate the sources of a great many contemporary Canadian convictions and conventions ." </P> <P> Canada was twice invaded by armed forces from the United States during the American Revolution and the War of 1812 . The first invasion occurred in 1775, and succeeded in capturing Montreal and other towns in Quebec before being repelled at Quebec City by a combination of British troops and local militia . During this invasion, the French - speaking Canadiens assisted both the invaders from the United Colonies and the defending British . The War of 1812 also saw the invasion of American forces into what was then Upper and Lower Canada, and important British victories at Queenston Heights, Lundy's Lane and Crysler's Farm . The British were assisted again by local militia, this time not only the Canadiens, but also the descendants of the Loyalists who had arrived barely a generation earlier . The Americans however captured control of Lake Erie, cutting off what is today western Ontario; they killed Tecumseh and dealt the Indian allies a decisive defeat from which they never recovered . The War of 1812 has been called "in many respects a war of independence for Canada". </P> <P> The years following the War of 1812 were marked by heavy immigration from Great Britain to the Canadas and, to a lesser degree, the Maritime Provinces, adding new British elements (English, Scottish and Protestant Irish) to the pre-existing English - speaking populations . During the same period immigration of Catholic Irish brought large numbers of settlers who had no attachment, and often a great hostility, toward the imperial power . The hostility of other groups to the autocratic colonial administrations that were not based on democratic principles of responsible government, principally the French - speaking population of Lower Canada and newly arrived American settlers with no particular ties to Great Britain, were to manifest themselves in the short - lived but symbolically powerful Rebellions of 1837 . The term "Canadian", once describing a francophone population, was adopted by English - speaking residents of the Canadas as well, marking the process of converting' British' immigrants into' Canadians .' </P> <P> The merger of the two Canadas in 1840, with political power divided evenly between the former Lower and Upper Canadas, created a political structure that eventually exacerbated tensions between the French and English - speaking populations and which would prove an enduring feature of Canadian identity . As the population of English - speaking and largely Protestant Canada West grew to surpass that of majority French - speaking Catholic Canada East, the population of Canada West began to feel that its interests were becoming subservient to the francophone population of Canada East . George Brown, founder of the Globe newspaper (forerunner of today's Globe and Mail) and a Father of Confederation wrote that the position of Canada West had become "a base vassalage to French - Canadian Priestcraft ." For its part, the French Canadians distrusted the growing anti-Catholic' British' population of Canada West and sought a structure that could provide at least some control over its own affairs through a Provincial legislature founded on principles of responsible government . </P>

How might the history of canada shape values and attitudes in canada