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Canadian Gaelic (Gàidhlig Canadanach) is the dialect of Scots Gaelic spoken on Cape Breton Island, and in isolated enclaves on the Nova Scotia mainland, Prince Edward Island, and to a lesser degree by emigrant Gaels living in major cities like Toronto. Formerly spoken across much of Canada, Scots Gaelic was once the third most spoken language in the country after English and French. When the Hudson's Bay Company first started trading in furs in 1670, it required strong, hardy workers who could work long seasons in the New world wilderness. Ships sailing from London, England would stop over in the Hebrides Islands and Highland Coastal Villages of Scotland to hire-on workers, and these men were the first to bring Gaelic to the Canadian interior. Those traders who found country wives among the native peoples often abandoned them once their trapping was finished. Sometimes children were left half-grown to adulthood, while in other instances traders abandoned their lives back in Scotland and "went native." In both eventualities it was possible for the half-Native children to have been exposed to the Gaelic. Red River Valley With the Scottish Highland Clearances (c. 1762) many Gaelic-speaking Highlanders were forced from their homes by landlords eager to make way for livestock. In 1773 The Hector landed with 189 Gaelic-speaking settlers at Pictou, on the Nova Scotia mainland. In 1784 a law restricting land-ownership on Cape Breton Island was repealed, (Carolinas) freeing up the vast territory the Scots would nickname Tir nan Croabh (Land of Trees). It is estimated more than 50,000 Gaelic settlers immigrated to Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island during this period, the last ship arriving in 1840. The most culturally and linguistically Gaelic regions are in the north west of Scotland, the west of Ireland and Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia where the descendants of the Highland Clearances were transplanted.

 

 

 

 

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