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Because it has represented different realities at different points in time, the term ''French Canada'' can be interpreted in different ways. Roughly chronologically they are:
1. The historical homeland of the French Canadian people, the St. Lawrence River valley, which was called ''le Canada'' in the time of New France, and corresponds to the southern part of modern Quebec excluding the Eastern Townships. Later, this Canada was renamed the Province of Quebec (1763), Lower Canada (1791), Canada East (1840), and finally the Province of Quebec (1867) again.

★ ''See French colonization of the Americas, New France, Quebec''
2. All the communities where French Canadians have settled in North America. In this interpretation; Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan; Hawkesbury, Ontario; Montreal, Quebec; Manchester, New Hampshire; Burlington, Vermont are part of French Canada, while Pontiac, Stanstead, and most First Nations in Quebec are not. French Canadian communities in the United States were called "Little Canadas".

★ See ''Quebec, Canada, French Canadian diaspora, Canadian French, French in Canada''
3. All the Canadian communities where there is a significant concentration of Francophone Canadians, that is, Canadian citizens who speak French and use it as their principal language. In that sense, it is Quebec, parts of New Brunswick, Eastern Ontario, Northern Ontario, and smaller communities elsewhere.

★ ''See also bilingual belt.''
4. The collection of all francophones in Canada, whether or not they live in communities with significant francophone populations. "Francophone" here may mean those who speak French natively, or it may alternatively include those allophones in Canada who, in various ways, are associated with French Canadian society more closely than with English Canadian society.

★ ''See French Canadian.''
These Canadian francophones refer to themselves as ''Québécois'' in Quebec, ''Acadiens'' in the Canadian maritimes, ''Fransaskois'' in Saskatchewan, ''Franco-Manitobains'' in Manitoba, ''Franco-Ontariens'' in Ontario, ''Franco-Albertain'' in Alberta and ''Franco-Colombiens'' in British Columbia. With the exception of the Acadians who have a different history altogether, most French Canadians trace their origins to Quebec.
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