Ancestry.ca reveals Canada's diverse 'DN-eh'

For Canada's 150th, Ancentry, the world's largest consumer DNA database, has revealed the results to answer the question "So, what Canadians are made of?" The study of more than 70,000 Canadians maps out the genetic make-up of the country.

According to the results, the average Canadian is more continental European (46%) than British, Irish or Scottish (43%), and this European DNA mix includes Western European (France/Germany) representing 16.6 per cent of the average Canadian’s DNA while Scandinavia and Eastern European (a region including Poland, Ukraine and Croatia) each represent 8.5 per cent. The average Canadian has 24 per cent Great Britain DNA and 19 per cent Ireland/Scotland/Wales. 

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Tracing your family tree with Ancestry.ca

Like many people, I wondered if  Ancestry.ca could help reveal more than what I already know about my family history. Having said that, I don't think I'd come up with any skeletons in the closet and I don't think anything would surprise me given that both my parents and the generations before that seem to have a pretty straight forward lineage. I don't believe any other ethnicities blended into our family tree until my generation. But I was still curious.

The company came top of mind when videos started popping up on television and online. You know, the people who were surprised to discover their ethnic backgrounds and their results from doing the AncestryDNA test sometimes led to unexpected connections. Like this one...

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Do you really know your family history? Enter for a chance to win an AncestryDNA Kit

As a child I can recall some of the stories my parents had told me about how they immigrated to Canada. My mom got on a Pan Am jet plane and made Canada her new home with my dad. His family ran a restaurant downtown and grandma never really spoke any English but managed in the predominantly Portuguese neighbourhood they settled into. Everyone in the neighbourhood was from somewhere else and and everyone got along just fine. Food was always the topic that brought everyone together. It was like it's own language. 

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