structural:scholar_edition, information:filtering
Second wave (The Great Migration), 1815–50

The Great Migration encouraged immigrants to settle in Canada after the War of 1812, including British army regulars who had served in that war. In 1815, 80% of the 250,000 English-speaking people in Canada were either American colonists or their descendants. Worried about another American attempt at invasion—and to counter the French-speaking influence of Quebec—colonial governors of Canada rushed to promote settlement in backcountry areas along newly constructed plank roads within organized land tracts, mostly in Upper Canada (present-day Ontario). Much of the settlements were organized by large companies to promote clearing, and thus farming of land lots. By 1851, the percentage of Americans had dropped to 30% or 500k. By the 1820s Irish immigration to Canada had increased in small numbers to organize land settlements, mostly to work on canals, timber, railroads but also established themselves in the cities in the Maritimes, Québec, and Ontario. Irish immigration would peak from 1846 to 1849 due to the Great Famine of Ireland, which resulted in hundreds of thousands more Irish migrants arriving on Canada's shores, with a portion migrating to the United States, either in the short-term or over the subsequent decades.