<P> Not all francophone Canadians are of French Canadian descent or heritage, as the body of French language speakers in Canada also includes significant immigrant communities from other francophone countries such as Haiti, Cameroon, Algeria, Tunisia or Vietnam--and not all French Canadians are francophone, as a significant number of people who have French Canadian ethnic roots are native English speakers . </P> <P> The French Canadians get their name from Canada, the most developed and densely populated region of New France during the period of French colonization in the 17th and 18th century . The original use of the term Canada referred to the land area along the St. Lawrence River, divided in three districts (Québec, Trois - Rivières, and Montréal), as well as to the Pays d'en Haut (Upper Countries), a vast and thinly settled territorial dependence north and west of Montreal which covered the whole of the Great Lakes area . </P> <P> From 1535 to the 1690s, the French word Canadien had referred to the First Nations the French had encountered in the St. Lawrence River valley at Stadacona and Hochelaga . At the end of the 17th century, Canadien became an ethnonym distinguishing the inhabitants of Canada from those of France . After World War I, English - Canadians appropriated the term "Canadian" and French - Canadians identified as Québécois instead . </P> <Table> Top four reported "French" ethnic or cultural identities in Canada <Tr> <Th> Identity </Th> <Th> Population </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> French Canadians </Td> <Td> 6,695,770 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> French </Td> <Td> 4,941,210 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Québécois </Td> <Td> 146,590 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Acadian </Td> <Td> 96,145 </Td> </Tr> </Table>

When did the french first come to canada