If Voldemort, born Tom Marvolo Riddle, had any serious faults during his time as the Dark Lord, it was his lack of knowledge of the Wizarding World outside of Europe, courtesy of the rather repressed magical education system in Britain. Sure he had a few operatives in Africa and Asia, yet the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans had long prevented any serious inroads into the Americas. That would prove to be a very fatal mistake.
For the second largest country in the world, Canada had a very low muggle population. It was, of course due, to the fact that much of the nation was a barren, cold wilderness. This, however, did not hamper the Canadian wizarding community. Ever since the ancestors of the First Nations arrived in the Americas, a thriving wizarding community existed, and the population gradually increased, until 1001 AD. Nordic wizards, escaping the pillaging and chaos of the Vikings, fled Scandanavia, first to the place known as Vinland (present-day Newfoundland). Unlike the Muggle Vikings, the initial encounters with the Magical First Nations were far more amicable. Desperate to escape old world persecution, they chose to live with the First Nations shamans and sages, while the Muggle settlers eventually abandoned their settlements. Over 2000 Nordic Witches and Wizards fled their homeland for the New World, and it started a trend.
When several wizards and witches joined the Columbus Expedition, they were drawn to the strong magical signatures of the shamans and witch doctors in North America. Escaping from the expedition fleet, some eventually made their way to the present-day Eastern Seaboard, where they made the first contact between old world wizards and the descendants of the Nordic wizards, who had long since intermarried with the First Nations.
In the two centuries following Columbus, many muggle-born and half-blood wizards and witches in Europe fled persecution from purebloods and vicious muggles. A number eventually made it to the new world, and many willingly accepted their new lives. The First Nations Magical Community was decentralized, and many had welcomed the refugees with open arms. Many took compassion on the incoming wizards, and a steady peace had been established, despite the less friendly relations between the non-magical counterparts. In the 1600s, there was an upsurge of British Wizards, who fled one of the dark lords that routinely plagued the British Isles, compounded in 1658 with Oliver Cromwell's creation of a dictatorship. Hundreds had fled the British Isles, especially Irish Wizards and Witches, and most of the remaining wizards were in pureblood families, who soon led the British Wizarding Community into centuries of cultural stagnation.
The North American wizarding world was nearly divided by the American Revolutionary War, with American wizards and witches joining the fight against the British Forces. However, efforts at diplomacy led by Mohican-Cherokee Wizard William Brant led to the Treaty of St. Lawrence of 1778, which would establish an autonomous government for the American Wizards. This did not go well with the British Ministry of Magic, who attempted to annul the agreement. However, the British then faced threats from the Loyalist Wizards to join the Americans. The British hesitantly backed off, but it left North American wizards with second thoughts on their loyalties.
Soon, there were several magical cities in the continent of North America, with one adjacent to Salem, another in Mesa Point in the Midwest, one in present-day Northern Ontario, and the city of Silvermoon, Northwest Territories. Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver also had magically hidden districts in their suburbs, with a Gringotts Bank Branch these significant areas. By Confederation, the Magical Population in the lands under the BNA Act of 1867 numbered an astounding 457,122 Residents. Since 1700, magical folk from Asia and Europe had fled their country for better lives, and few returned to the old world.
Occasionally, there were powerful dark lords that tried to take over Canada and the United States, and all had been defeated, though usually with heavy losses. Unlike many in the old world, the two nations soon realized the need for a true military presence to avoid repeating the mistakes of the pass, and established full-time armies for defense. Surprisingly new in the Wizarding world, it would change everything for Canada.
In 1897, a dark warlock from France, Lord Henri "Le Bourreaur" (the Executioner) seized power in the French Wizarding world, leading to hundreds of wizards and witches, including several dozen Veelas, fleeing the country. The British held against the dark lord, though refused to assist Spain and Italy, who were being attacked by the French and several sympathizers from within their countries. Canada decided to act, with two thousand soldiers of the Royal Canadian Magical Regiment portkeying to a staging area in Spain on June 12.
European magical wars were usually fought by Aurors and Unspeakables, essentially paramilitary police and intelligence agents. Conversely, the Canadians were equipped almost like muggle soldiers, donned in newly adopted Khaki battle dress and armed with magically enhanced Lee-Enfield MLE rifles, with wands as their backup sidearms. It was a massacre of the old world French Magical "Army".
On January 9, 1898, in the Battle of Belchite, a French Invasion Force of 5000 Aurors, joined by a number of allies, faced the Canadians and 3000 Spanish Aurors. 2799 French Aurors and 477 Sympathizers were eliminated in seven days. The Spanish lost 1934, while the Canadians lost 127 soldiers in one of the worst fights of the war. It was, however, the tipping point, as the French advance collapsed and the 25 Days of Canada began, which ended with the infamous Battle of La Souffrance which lasted from January 30 to February 4. 259 Canadian soldiers fell in the violent end to the Wizarding War of 1897-1898, which saw the decimation of the French and Spanish Auror Corps and the very violent and explosive end to "Le Bourreaur".
In the years following 1867, the Canadian and American Magical communities had continued to grow, with numerous refugees from various dark lords and strife on the other side of the world. Both the Canadian Ministry of Magic (later renamed the Department of Magical Affairs) and the American Department of Magic and Wizardry saw the need to reconcile tradition with progress, creating the joint US-Canadian Institute of Techno-Magery in 1950. This was strongly supported by a growing movement in these two nations, many who watched the violent rise and fall of Gellert Grindelwald across the Atlantic. Many felt that magical society needed to keep up with the muggle world, or be eventually abandoned by growing numbers of mubble-born witches and wizards. The numerous cultures that had entered the North American Wizarding World shaped the Canadian and American Magical Communities to be very open, yet strongly patriotic of their respective countries.
By the 1970s, North American magical culture was soon analogous with contemporary muggle culture; robes were only kept for tradition, with most preferring muggle clothing. Hockey had long surpassed Quidditch as the sport of Magical Canada, though some love of the broom based sport still remained. By 1990, the Magical Population in Canada was an estimated 2,327,421 people, and the possible threats from within Europe continued to drive immigration to North America.
