You can visit the web page of Inverness, Nova Scotia here . *

The scottish cultural influences are very evident.

Most of these Scots settled in what is now Atlantic Canada. In 1772 a wave of Scottish immigrants began to arrive in Prince Edward Island and one year later in Pictou, Nova Scotia. At the end of the 18th century Cape Breton Island became a centre of Scottish settlement where only Gaelic was spoken. A handful of English-speaking Scottish Lowlanders, mainly labourers and artisans, also joined the Scottish exodus to Canada at this time.. In 1803 Lord Selkirk, who was sympathetic to the plight of the dispossessed crofters, brought 800 colonists to Prince Edward Island. In 1812 Selkirk founded the Red River settlement in what is now Manitoba, where he also settled Highlander and Irish immigrants.

The end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 was followed by an economic depression in Europe that caused many Scots to leave their homeland. By the 1820s both Lowland and Highland Scot were arriving in Canada in large numbers. Continuing unemployment in their homeland, in addition to the lure of cash and land grants offered in Canada, led to a fairly steady stream of Scottish immigration throughout the remainder of the 19th century. By 1871 the Scottish population in the four original provinces of Canada reached 549,946.

Today there are upwards of 4 million Canadians who claim Scottish heritage.

Scottish-Canadians have maintained close links with the past, promoting and preserving their history and their heritage. Clan societies, country dancing and highland dancing are important cultural traditions, and Gaelic is still taught as a language option in Nova Scotia schools. No concrete numbers are available, but at lEast one source states that there are between 500-1000 native Gaelic speakers on Cape Breton Island as of July 2002. In addition, pipe bands and traditional Scottish sports such as golf and curling remain popular pastimes across the country.

In 1815 he arrived in Montreal with the intention to petition the Governor General for soldiers to protect the fledgling colony. Unwilling to become involved in what many saw as a war between two rival companies, Selkirk was only given a small bodyguard of a sergeant and six privates for his own personal protection on the journey to the Red River. Selkirk realised that this would be insufficient for his purposes, but was fortunate that two foreign regiments in British service were near the completion of their contracts and would be available for hire. He was able to procure 5 officers and 80 men from De Meuron's Swiss Regiment and a further 20 men from De Watteville's Swiss Regiment, as well as a few men from the Glengarry Light Infantry Fencibles.

He proceeded West with these men in 1816, but en route received information about the incident at Seven Oaks, the death of 22 settlers, including the colony's governor, Robert Semple, at the hands of Metis buffalo hunters under Cuthbert Grant. He detoured to Fort William, the inland headquarters of the NorthWest Company, eventually arresting most of the senior partners and taking control of the fort. A small contingent of soldiers carried on in the Fall of 1816 to eventually retake Fort Doulas in January 1817.

Selkirk followed with the remainder of his men in the Spring of that year. The soldiers were given land grants close to the Forks and called their settlement St. Boniface. During the flood of 1826 the settlement was abandoned and the soldiers and their families went South to Fort Snelling, near modern St. Paul, Minnesota.

A Report from a Canadian Emigrant can be read here .