United Empire Loyalists
United Empire Loyalists, the name given to American colonists, and to their descendants, who were loyal to Great Britain during the Revolutionary War and migrated from the United States to Canada during and immediately after the war. In all, 50,000 to 60,000 colonists were involved. The largest migration took place during 1783–84, after the Treaty of Paris failed to restore to the Loyalists property seized from them during the war.
The United Empire Loyalists played an important part in the settlement and development of Canada. The province of New Brunswick was established for them along the St. John River in 1784. Their influx into the western part of what was then Quebec led the British government in 1791 to create Upper Canada (what is now Ontario) as a region separate from eastern, French-speaking Quebec.