Basque exploration
Basque fishermen (primarily whalers) from southern Europe began fishing the Grand Banks as early as the 15th century. They primarily hunted arctic bowhead and white whales for their blubber (which produced whale oil) and their plates of baleen, used in dressmaking. By the mid-16th century, at least nine fishing outposts had been established on Labrador and Newfoundland. The largest of these settlements was the Red Bay station, with an estimated 900 people. At the height of Basque whaling, about 2000 people were employed each summer. However, the operation had largely collapsed by the early 1600s as the two whale species were hunted to near-extinction and many Basques whaling ships were pressed into service by the Spanish navy.

Early colonial period: The rise and fall of "New France" (Nouvelle-France) 1604-1763
In the 16th and 17th centuries English and French colonists established settlements in eastern Canada largely to support fishing or fur trade. French settlement began with Samuel de Champlain and Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts, first in Acadia in 1604, then Quebec City in 1608.

As New France was established over an extremely vast expanse of territory, the French had to secure the cooperation of the various amerindian nations, in effect creating a new hybrid civilization which allied Amerindian technology with French values.

Over the next 150 years, Canada and Acadia continued to expand from the heartland of the St Lawrence River into the upper country (pays d'en haut) of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley of North America. Their expansion was opposed by the Wyandot (Hurons), the Iroquois, and more significantly the British, who waged a series of wars (see French and Indian Wars) that cost France first Acadia, then Canada. Under British rule, Acadians were expelled in 1755. France was defeated at Louisburg in 1758 and at the decisive Battle of the Plains of Abraham at Quebec City in 1759. By the Treaty of Paris in 1763, France kept its Caribbean island colonies but lost almost all of its North American colonies to Britain and Spain. Of its northern possessions, all that was retained were the tiny fishing outposts of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. Subsequently, only the French élite was repatriated, leaving the peasants at the mercy of the British conquerors, who tolerated the Canadians' Roman Catholic faith under the terms of the treaty.

In the late second half of the 20th century, many Quebecers sought greater sovereignty for Quebec, which has a French-speaking majority. The Great Flag Debate of 1964 involved dropping the old British-oriented flag for a new maple-leaf design. However, Quebec increasingly stopped using Canadian flags and other symbols, replacing them with Quebec's flags and symbols. The federal parliament on July 7, 1969, made the French language equal to the English throughout the Canadian federal government. This started a process that led to Canada redefining itself as a bilingual and multicultural nation. In 1977, Quebec adopted the Charter of the French Language, which recognized French as the only official language, thus repudiating the principle of bilingualism. Numerous laws regarding signage in public places, and languages taught in the schools, created a chasm inside Quebec regarding the freedom to use the language of one's choice.

Two referenda were held on independence for Quebec: the 1980 Quebec referendum and the 1995 Quebec referendum. In both cases the referenda were defeated, with first 60 per cent then 50.6 per cent of the vote opposed to independence. The non-Francophone population voted overwhelmingly against the referenda. New Brunswick (with 35 per cent of the population francophone Acadians) became officially bilingual in 1969. Other provinces with significant French-speaking minorities such as Ontario, Manitoba, and Nova Scotia provide government services in French and guarantee French schools.