1For individuals, the feeling of belonging to a group is built upon both their perceived knowledge of their origins and their construction of identity, which is affected by many sociocultural, economic and political factors. To what extent does an individual’s reported origin accurately reflect his or her ancestral origins? Using data from a survey conducted in the Gaspé Peninsula of eastern Quebec, Hélène Vézina, Marc Tremblay, Ève-Marie Lavoie and Damian Labuda compared respondents responses to a question about ethnic origin with their actual ancestral origins, as determined through genealogical reconstruction. While their genealogies showed that almost all of the individuals had multiple origins, nine out of ten indicated a single ethnic origin. This was especially the case for those who identified as Acadian or French Canadian. In most such cases, the single origin matched the most represented group among the person’s ancestors, with an advantage for the paternal lineage.
2Ethnic identity is one of the collective aspects of identity construction (Dorais, 2004). According to Louis-Jacques Dorais and Edmund Searles (2001), it can be defined as “the awareness felt by a group (conceived as sharing the same geographic origin, phenotypic traits, common language or lifestyle, or a combination of all these things) of its economic, political and cultural position in relation to other groups of the same type that are part of the same nation”. At the individual level, it stems from a feeling of belonging, to a greater or lesser extent, to a group with its own distinct characteristics (Nagel, 1994; Statistics Canada, 2003; Ville and Guérin-Pace, 2005). Such characteristics are transmitted from generation to generation, but over time and depending on various factors, they may change and even fade or disappear (Barth, 1998; Sillitoe and White, 1992; Sanders, 2002; Trimble and Dickson, 2005).
3An individual’s ancestry is but one facet of his or her identity. While it is not the only factor underpinning the sense of belonging to a given group (Simon and Clément, 2006), it is certainly of fundamental importance, especially in countries where a large segment of the population can trace its origins to a history of settlement dating back several centuries. This is the case for populations of European descent living in the Americas. Michael Hout and Joshua Goldstein (1994) have reported that practically all adults in a survey of white Americans were able to name at least one country or region of the world from where their ancestors came. In addition, ancestral origins provide important information for research in the field of human genetics, particularly for studies of the distribution and incidence of hereditary diseases (Race, Ethnicity, and Genetics Working Group, 2005).
4The majority of available data used to characterize individuals in terms of their ancestral origins come from statistical sources such as censuses and surveys, which rely for the most part on information reported by the persons concerned. In Canada, a question about ethnic origin has been asked in every census since 1871 (Statistics Canada, 2008a). Another way of approaching this topic is to look at the origins of immigrant ancestors identified in family trees. This approach is less common, for few populations have genealogical data of sufficient depth and quality to be used for scientific purposes (Brunet and Bideau, 2000). When this method is possible, however, it can be used to explore differences between the ethnocultural origins reported by respondents in censuses or surveys and their origins as revealed through their genealogical characteristics. Given the multidimensional nature of the question and the resulting subjective interpretations (Simon and Clément, 2006), there may be discrepancies between the responses provided by respondents and their immigrant ancestors’ actual origins as documented in genealogical sources. For example, do respondents who report a single origin differ from those who claim multiple origins? Is there a stronger tendency to identify with the paternal side than with the maternal one? Are some origins omitted or forgotten?
5The study presented here was part of a ten-year research programme that looked at the genealogical and genetic characteristics of regional populations in the province of Quebec (Tremblay et al., 2003; Bergeron et al., 2008; Tremblay et al., 2009; Moreau et al., 2011; Roy-Gagnon et al., 2011; Vézina et al., 2012)Using information from a sample of 397 residents in the Gaspésie region of eastern Quebec, we compared the ethnic origins reported by participants at the time of recruitment with the geographic origins of their immigrant ancestors identified through genealogical reconstruction.
6The aim was to examine the extent to which the Gaspesians’ perceived origins reflect their real ancestry, i.e. the origins of their ancestors who first settled in Quebec. For a given participant, the number of first ancestors depends on the number of generations separating the participant from each of those ancestors. A respondent might thus have hundreds, or even thousands, of immigrant ancestors in his or her genealogy if the majority of those ancestors immigrated in the seventeenth century. Identifying those distant ancestors can therefore shed light on certain origins not mentioned by the participants.
7Approaching the question from the angle of genetic demography, which looks at the relationships between demographic phenomena and the distribution of genetic traits within populations, genealogical studies provide information on the first-comers whose descendants have transmitted their genes to the present-day population. All of the genes received from these ancestors make up the gene pool of the current population. We set out to discover whether differences in origin reported by participants are still visible in their genes or if intermarriage between groups has, on the contrary, contributed to reduce, or even erase, such differences over time.
I – The population of the Gaspé Peninsula
Settlement of the territory
8The Gaspésie region is located in eastern Quebec and covers a surface area of 20,000 sq.km (Figure 1). It was on the coast of this land that explorer Jacques Cartier took possession of Canada in the name of the King of France in the summer of 1534. The Aboriginal people already living in the area were Micmacs (Desjardins et al., 1999). Long before that, European fishermen (mainly Bretons, Basques and Anglo-Normans) had already navigated along the coasts of the Gaspé Peninsula and into the estuary of the Saint Lawrence River (Thibault, 2003).
Geographical situation of the Gaspé Peninsula
Geographical situation of the Gaspé Peninsula
9The French made several attempts to colonize the Gaspé Peninsula in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, but the almost constant war with the British hindered settlement. The first permanent outposts did not appear until the mid-eighteenth century with the arrival of the Acadians who had been deported from their lands by the British (Cyr, 1992; Desjardins et al., 1999). The British conquest of New France in 1760 and the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763 opened up the Gaspé Peninsula to newcomers from the Channel Islands (Jersey and Guernsey) and, later, to Loyalists from the New England Colonies who were fleeing the American Revolutionary War (Frenette, 1996; Laramée and Auclair, 2003). English, Scottish and Irish colonists from the British Isles also came to settle in the area beginning in the nineteenth century. In addition, owing to overpopulation and a lack of arable land in the Saint Lawrence River valley, an increasing number of French Canadians emigrated to the eastern part of the province from the 1830s. Many of them settled in lands along the northern coastline of the Gaspé Peninsula (Desjardins et al., 1999; Laramée and Auclair, 2003).
10From this period onwards, the population of the Gaspé Peninsula grew rapidly. From barely 3,000 people at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the population had reached 50,000 a century later (Figure 2). Despite significant migratory losses, growth was strongest during the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth. Fertility remained very high throughout Quebec until the early 1930s (Lapierre-Adamcyk and Lussier, 2003). Starting in the 1960s, however, natural growth was no longer sufficient to offset negative net migration. After reaching almost 105,000 in 1961, the population then began to dwindle. Today, approximately 80,000 people live in the Gaspé Peninsula (Institut de la statistique du Québec, 2014).
Population of the Gaspé Peninsula, 1765-2012
Population of the Gaspé Peninsula, 1765-2012
Ethnic origins of the population
11Canadian censuses record certain details about the ethnic and cultural origins of the population. These details vary from one census to the next, however, on account of changes to the choice and formulation of the questions asked of respondents. One question on ethnic origin has appeared in every Canadian census since 1871, but it has taken various forms (Fourot and Garcia, 2005). In particular, changes have been made to the question wording and to the instructions and examples provided to respondents, making comparison of censuses problematic (Statistics Canada, 2008a). In 2006, respondents were asked the following question about each member of the household: “What were the ethnic or cultural origins of this person’s ancestors?” Ancestors were defined as more distant relatives than grandparents. In the five preceding censuses (from 1981 to 2001), the question was fairly similar to the 2006 version: “To which ethnic or cultural group(s) did this person’s ancestors belong?” Prior to 1981, however, the question referred only to the respondent’s paternal ancestry. Moreover, it was specified that the respondent should indicate the first paternal ancestor who had arrived in North America, which added a historical dimension to the question. Since 1981, respondents can also indicate more than one ethnic origin. In most cases, only one response is given, but the trend towards multiple responses has increased over time. In 2006, 41% of Canadians provided more than one response to the question on ethnic origin (Statistics Canada, 2008b). This proportion is lower in Quebec, however (26%).
12The initial European settlement of the Gaspé Peninsula was characterized by an influx of migrants of various origins, and the population was ethnically diversified even in the early period of colonization. In addition to the Aboriginal people still present on the territory, albeit in much smaller numbers than in the sixteenth century (Pelland, 1914), there were Acadians, Anglo-Normans, Loyalists, British, and French Canadians. The growing numbers of French Canadian migrants during the nineteenth century contributed to the relative increase in the proportion of inhabitants of French origin, at the expense of other origins. According to the 1901 census, about 72% of the population in the Gaspé Peninsula was of French origin, 26% of British origin and 2% of other origins (Table 1). Aboriginal people accounted for no more than 1% of the total population in the region at the turn of the twentieth century. Thirty years later, these proportions were 79% (French origin), 20% (British origin) and 1% (Aboriginal people and other origins). Note that in the censuses of 1901 and 1931, Acadian origin was included with French origin, so the two cannot be distinguished. Similarly, the British group includes the descendants of Loyalists.
Population of the Gaspé Peninsula by reported ethnic origin (censuses of 1901, 1931, 1996 and 2006)(a), (b)
Population of the Gaspé Peninsula by reported ethnic origin (censuses of 1901, 1931, 1996 and 2006)(a), (b)
(a) Single responses only.(b) Single and multiple responses (multiple responses were distributed proportionally across the reported origins). Persons aged 15 and older.
13To all appearances, the recent situation is rather different. As mentioned earlier, however, it is difficult to compare census data from 1996 and 2006 with older data because of changes to the wording of the question on ethnic origin and the introduction of multiple responses. In the 2006 census, more than half of Gaspé Peninsula residents said that they were of “Canadian” origin, which is very difficult, even impossible, to interpret from a historical perspective. In the same census, slightly less than a quarter of the population reported French origins and less than 13% indicated British origins.
II – Data and methods
Participant recruitment and data collection
14In its first phase, the project aimed at recruiting about a hundred Gaspesian participants in each of the target groups, namely people of Acadian, French Canadian, Anglo-Norman and Loyalist or British origins (Échantillon de référence québécois, 2010). The recruitment process took place over a one-year period from 2002 to 2003. Press releases in French and English encouraging the population to participate in the project were sent to regional media. Local partners belonging to each of the groups also took part in the recruitment by disseminating information within their communities. To be eligible, each participant had to be a resident of the Gaspésie region, over the age of 18 and not a close relative of another participant. Recruiters met each participant to explain the project, obtain consent and hand out the genealogical questionnaires (information about parents’ and grandparents’ dates and places of marriage) and demographic questionnaires (questions about the ethnic origin and mother tongue of the participants and their parents). The final sample contained 397 individuals; their distribution by age and sex is presented in Figure 3. There are more women (55%) than men (45%) both overall and within each age group, except in the over-70 age bracket, which has more men. At the time of the study, the participants’ average age was 55.5 years (53.8 for women and 57.6 for men).
Distribution of the 397 participants by age group and sex
Distribution of the 397 participants by age group and sex
Genealogical reconstructions and analyses
15We reconstructed the participants’ genealogies as far back as the sources would allow, which in most cases meant up to the first immigrants’ arrival in Quebec. The BALSAC population database (Projet BALSAC, 2014) was the main source of genealogical data. For the Acadian lineages, however, Stephen White’s Dictionnaire généalogique des familles acadiennes (1999) was of great use. To identify non-Catholic marriages, additional sources were consulted, including the census of 1871 for the counties of Gaspé and Bonaventure as well as specialist websites on Loyalists and Anglo-Normans. These sources were used with prudence since the quality of their content is variable. All the genealogies were checked and validated, then analysed to determine their completeness and depth. Genealogical completeness refers to the proportion of ancestors identified in each generation. For example, 100% completeness at the second generation means that all of the participant’s grandparents have been identified. Average genealogical depth summarizes the measures of overall completeness by generation: it refers to the generation at which, on average, the lineages come to an end (Cazes and Cazes, 1996).
16Immigrant ancestors, or founders, are here defined as the first people to arrive in Quebec identified in the genealogical branches. [1] Their origin refers to their geographic provenance before leaving for Quebec, insofar as this information can be documented through available records of places of marriage, birth and/or emigration. Due to insufficient information, the origins of certain founders (about 1.8%) could not be determined. Each founder’s genetic contribution to each participant was calculated using the method described in Bherer et al. (2011). This measure takes into account all the genealogical paths linking a founder and a participant, and, for each path, the number of generations separating the founder from the participant. The sum of the genetic contributions from founders of the same origin provides the share of a participant’s genome that is passed down from those immigrant ancestors. The contribution of immigrants of each origin to each participant’s genome was calculated. This measure thus reveals the relative weight of each origin present in an individual’s ancestry, taking account of the marriages of all ancestors found in his or her lineage.
17Last, the founders of both parental lineages, i.e. the exclusively male paternal lineage and the exclusively female maternal lineage, were identified in each genealogy. The paternal lineage is also the patronymic lineage, which transmits the family name. In genetics, it represents the line of Y chromosome transmission that determines the male sex. Maternal lineages are paths that transmit mitochondrial DNA, which is passed from mother to child. These two mechanisms are widely studied in population genetics because they make it possible to compare reproductive and migratory behaviours by sex and to calculate the impact of observed differences on the historical evolution of human populations (Oota et al., 2001; Wilder et al., 2004; Wilkins, 2006; Hammer et al., 2008; Battaglia et al., 2009; Schönberg et al., 2011). In this study, the genetic contributions of the founders of parental lineages, classified by origins, were compared within each group of participants to verify whether the origins of these founders matched those reported by the participants, and to see whether the respondents were more likely to identify with their paternal or maternal origins when the two were different. It should be borne in mind, however, that if the founder of the paternal lineage is found in the sixth generation, for example, at that generational depth he represents only one out of 64 ancestors, or, in other words, an average contribution of 1.6% to an individual’s genome. At the twelfth generation, the average genetic contribution is 0.02%.
III – Results
Reported origin of participants and their parents
18The data from the demographic questionnaire show that 88% of respondents reported a single ethnic origin (Table 2). There are more Acadians (AC) and French Canadians (FC) with single origins than among the two other groups. As regards multiple origins, Anglo-Norman (AN) and Loyalist/British (LB) origins were most frequently reported. Other combinations had no more than six representatives. The distribution of parents according to the origin reported by their children presents a few differences. In 96% of cases, participants attributed to their father a single origin matching one of the four groups studied. For mothers, the proportion of AC, FC, AN or LB single origins was only 85%. The participants therefore ascribed another origin or multiple origins more often to their mother than to their father. For both parents, the “other” origin is, in a third of cases, French. Another third is made up of various European origins, and the last third contains cases in which respondents reported a Canadian or Quebec origin for their parents. It should also be noted that no origin was reported for 6% of mothers but for only 1% of fathers.
Reported origin of participants and their parents
Reported origin of participants and their parents
Note: The participants, their fathers and their mothers were grouped by ethnic origin as reported by the participants. Origins can be single or multiple, and all reported combinations are presented here.19A total of 326 participants out of the 350 with a single origin also indicated the origins of both parents. Among these, 70% said that their parents’ ethnic origins were identical. The 96 respondents with a single origin who did not give the same origin for their parents identified with their father’s origin in 88% of cases. Among participants who reported more than one origin, 67% had parents of different origins; the children therefore attributed the origins of both parents to themselves. When the parents both had the same origin, in some cases they were themselves of multiple origin, which explains the multiple origins of their children; surprisingly, however, some participants claimed multiple origins even though their parents had the same single origin. In the population sample as a whole, 68% of participants reported one or more identical origins to those of their parents; 27% had the same origin as the one they attributed to their father, which was different from that of their mother (this percentage includes cases in which the mother’s origin was unknown); 4% reported the same origin as their mother, which was different from that of their father (this percentage includes cases in which the father’s origin was unknown); and, lastly, four participants, or 1%, assigned an origin to themselves that matched neither their father’s nor their mother’s origins.
Structure of the genealogies
20In comparisons of genealogical corpuses, it is important to verify their depth in order to account for differences that may appear when interpreting the findings. Table 3 presents the average genealogical depth for each group of participants. The genealogical depths for participants of Acadian or French Canadian origin are distinctly greater than those of other groups. This can be explained by the fact that immigrant ancestors in these two groups arrived earlier, but also by the better availability of genealogical sources.
Characteristics of genealogies by participant group
Characteristics of genealogies by participant group
Note: The depth of a genealogical lineage represents the number of generations for which it was possible to trace back an ancestor. The average depth was calculated over all genealogical lineages.21Figure 4 presents a more detailed analysis of genealogical depth based on the completeness of the genealogies at each generational level. [2] It can be observed that the genealogies of participants of Anglo-Norman and Loyalist/British origins are less complete than those of Acadians and French Canadians from the third generation (i.e. that of the great-grandparents). Genealogical completeness for these last two groups gradually decreases while remaining above 60% at the tenth generation, and then suddenly drops off. For Anglo-Normans and Loyalists/British, completeness dips below 60% from the sixth generation and then declines quickly for the Loyalists/British and more slowly for the Anglo-Normans.
Genealogical completeness of the four main participant groups
Genealogical completeness of the four main participant groups
Note: Genealogical completeness represents the proportion of ancestors found at each generation. The maximum number of ancestors that can be found corresponds to 2x, where x represents the generation. The first generation is that of the parents.The genetic contributions and origins of immigrant ancestors
22Across all of the genealogies, 4,210 immigrant ancestors were identified and classified according to their origins. Figure 5 presents the contributions of these founders to the genomes of the participants classified by their reported origins. Except among the Anglo-Normans, the most represented ancestral origin for single-origin groups is the same as the reported origin, at between 63% and 72%. All of the participant groups inherited some of their genome from founders of origins other than their own reported origin, but there are significant variations across groups. About 29% of the genome of Acadians comes from French immigrant ancestors, while 11% of that of French Canadians stems from Acadian founders. Among Anglo-Normans, for whom Anglo-Norman immigrant ancestors account for barely 20% of their genome, approximately two-thirds of genes were inherited from French or Loyalist/British immigrant ancestors.
Contribution (%) of founders of various origins to the genomes of participants grouped by reported origins
Contribution (%) of founders of various origins to the genomes of participants grouped by reported origins
Note: The participants are classified by reported ethnic origin.23The profiles of participants who indicated two origins are consistent with their responses. Indeed, both reported origins have a similar prevalence, in contrast to what can be observed in the single-origin groups. The only exception concerns, once again, groups of Anglo-Norman origin combined with French-Canadian origin (FC/AN) or Loyalist/British origin (AN/LB). In these two cases, we observe that the proportion of the genome of Anglo-Norman origin varies little with respect to that of the single-origin group; rather, it is the genetic contribution of the two other groups that is higher. Lastly, the only participant who ascribed four origins to himself appears to know his roots well, since his genome is 45% Acadian, 38% French, 7% Anglo-Norman and 10% Loyalist/British.
24We also sought to determine the extent to which, on an individual level, the origins reported by each respondent correspond to his or her ancestral origins. Table 4 presents the distribution of participants from the four single-origin groups according to the share of their genome contributed by Acadian, French, Anglo-Norman and Loyalist/British founders. We see that for about 90% of participants who reported being of Acadian, French or Loyalist/British origin, at least 40% of their genome comes from immigrants of the reported origin. Among French Canadians and Loyalists/British, about 40% of participants even have a genome of which more than 80% originates from founders of the corresponding origin. Only 17% of participants of Anglo-Norman origin received at least 40% of their genes from Anglo-Norman immigrants, but no participants from any of the other groups have such a large contribution from those immigrants.
Distribution (%) of individuals in each group, by the relative contribution of each founder origin to their genome
Distribution (%) of individuals in each group, by the relative contribution of each founder origin to their genome
Groups of origin :AC - Acadian,
FC - French Canadian,
LB - Loyalist or British,
AN - Anglo-Norman.
Note: The participants are classified by the relative proportion of the genetic contribution of the founders of each origin.
Interpretation: For 83% of participants who report being of Acadian origin, between 40% and 80% of their genome comes from Acadian founders.
25It can also be observed that the four ancestral origins are not represented in the genealogies of all participants. A large fraction of participants of Anglo-Norman or Loyalist origin have no Acadian or French founders in their genealogies. Anglo-Norman founders are most often absent from the genomes of participants in the three other groups. Indeed, 88% of Acadian participants have no Anglo-Norman founders in their genealogy. The most represented founders are, in fact, Loyalist/British: among the 350 participants with single origins, only 11, all of Acadian origin, have no Loyalist/British founders in their genealogy. Lastly, the distribution of participants with multiple origins was also analysed for each immigrant group (results not presented here). On account of the small number of participants concerned, the results must be interpreted with prudence. Nevertheless, it can again be observed that the majority are in an intermediate situation with respect to the single-origin groups.
Origin of the founders of parental lineages
26Figure 6 presents the distribution of the founders of paternal and maternal lineages within each group of origin (here again, presented findings are limited to the four main groups). For each group, with the exception of the Anglo-Normans, it is the male and female founders with the same origin as the participants who are most frequently represented. Among the Anglo-Normans, female founders of French origin are the most frequent, followed by those of Loyalist/British origin. In all of the groups, the proportion of male founders of the same origin as the participants is higher than that of female founders. This is particularly visible among participants of Anglo-Norman origin, of whom 80% have a male founder of the same origin and only 3% a female founder of Anglo-Norman origin.
Distribution (%) of male and female founders of parental lineages by origin in the four main participant groups
Distribution (%) of male and female founders of parental lineages by origin in the four main participant groups
Note: The participants are classified by reported ethnic origin. For each group of participants, the distribution is presented according to the origin of the male founders of paternal lineages and the female founders of maternal lineages.IV – Discussion
27The main aim of this study was to determine the degree of correlation between the reported ethnic origins of Gaspé Peninsula residents and the geographic origins of their immigrant ancestors identified in their family trees. Through analyses of a sample of 397 Gaspesian inhabitants, we were able to conclude that the four groups under study, namely the descendants of Acadians, French settlers, Loyalists/British and Anglo-Normans, have maintained their distinct characteristics, in terms of ancestral origin and genetics, to the present day. Whether we look at all of the founders identified in the genealogies or just the founders of parental lineages, within a participant group of a given origin, the founders of the same origin represent the largest group. The only exception involves Anglo-Normans. In that group, the proportion of Anglo-Norman founders is the highest but remains lower than the proportion of French and Loyalist/British founders. This can be explained mainly by the fact that there were fewer Anglo-Norman immigrants than immigrants from the other groups, thus favouring exogamous unions (Desjardins et al., 1999). Our data indicate that such unions occurred predominantly with immigrants of Loyalist/British or French origin and their descendants.
28The concordance between participants’ reported origins and their immigrant ancestors’ origins is therefore fairly good. As might be expected, however, given the diversity of the groups who have peopled the region over the past 250 years, the majority of Gaspesian participants have several ancestral origins. This finding shows that the descendants of the first immigrants did not remain isolated within their groups of origin. The presence of immigrants of each origin can be found in the genealogies of participants from each group, in varying proportions. Among all participants, 42% have ancestors in their genealogy from each of the four main immigrant groups. Another 40% present genealogies containing ancestors from three of the four founder groups. Some 17% of participants have ancestors from only two groups while barely 1% have ancestors from only one immigrant group. Quite a few participants knew about this intermingling of ethnic groups in their family trees, since 12% indicated more than one origin and about a third reported different origins for each parent. In terms of ancestry, these individuals do not present marked differences, however. For most of them, genetic contributions from founders are spread across the different groups, which effectively reflects more diversified origins.
29Participants’ tendency to identify more with their paternal ancestors than with their maternal ones was examined. Among respondents who gave a single origin but whose father’s reported origin was different from that of their mother, we observed that the participant’s origin was seven times more likely to match the father’s origin than the mother’s. This tendency is less pronounced if we go back to the founders of the parental lineages, but the respondents’ reported origin corresponds most often to the founder of the paternal rather than maternal lineage, in particular among Anglo-Normans. A difference between maternal and paternal lineages therefore exists in terms of perceived ancestry. This may be because the transmission of a surname helps to preserve the memory of the male founder’s origin (Darlu, 2004; Sagnes, 2004). The immigrant ancestor at the head of a patronymic lineage thus seems to possess a symbolic value specific to him, but it should be remembered that his genetic significance is measured in the same way as that of the female founder at the head of a maternal lineage and that of all the other founders in a genealogy.
30The findings presented here are based on respondents’ ethnic origins as reported in a survey of a sample of volunteers. The participants came forward after hearing about the project in the local media, or they were approached by members of various ethnic communities in the Gaspésie region, so we cannot verify whether our results are representative of the whole population of the Gaspé Peninsula. Individuals interested in participating in a research project entitled “Genetics and history in the Quebec population: the genetic heritage of Gaspesians” may be different from the rest of the population in terms of their sense of ethnic identity and their interest in the themes of identity and ancestry. This said, the specific objective of this study in comparing reported origins and ancestry was not presented to the participants at the time of recruitment, so their self-reported ethnic origin could not have been influenced and the findings were not biased by any knowledge of the purpose of our research.
Conclusion
31Although nearly all of the Gaspesian respondents have immigrant ancestors of diverse origins in their family trees, the group with which they identified is, in the majority of cases, the most represented group among their ancestors and thus also the one that contributed most to their genome. Our study therefore demonstrates that, despite a diverse history of settlement and considerable intermingling of ethnic groups, inhabitants of the Gaspé Peninsula have maintained a sense of ethnic identity that still reflects a certain demographic and genetic reality today. In order to extend this research to other regions of the province, we have recently initiated a project in Quebec City and Trois-Rivières. As part of this project, data from Canadian censuses and the BALSAC population records will be combined at the household and individual levels for the period of 1850-1911. This will enable us to compare the origins reported by residents of both cities in the various censuses with the geographic origins of their immigrant ancestors. The opportunity to analyse several successive censuses will also add a diachronic dimension to our approach and allow us to measure the intra- and intergenerational mobility of ethnic identity.
32Lastly, it should be remembered that census data on the ethnic origins of the Canadian population are widely used by researchers and decision-makers, but present significant challenges in terms of interpretation. For example, the many changes to the wording of the question about ethnic origin have made it difficult to compare successive census results (Fourot and Garcia, 2005). Moreover, the acceptance of “Canadian” as an ethnic origin since 1986 has obscured the ancestral origins of many individuals. Some responses to the question about ethnic origin may reflect feelings of belonging to a given group more than actual historical origins. In addition to census data, information about ethnic origin is often collected from participants in genetic studies for medical or epidemiological purposes in order to study their genome (Race, Ethnicity, and Genetics Working Group, 2005). We hope that the results of our research will serve to enhance the interpretation of such data in the context of Quebec.
