Royal tours of Canada by the Canadian Royal Family subsequently named Edward as second-in-command of British forces in the Canadas. Edward began to tour the Canadas in August 1791, departing from Quebec City to Montreal, Kingston, the Thousand Islands, and Newark-on-the-Lake. Edward returned to Quebec City in time to act as an observer for the election of the first Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, in Charlesbourg in June 1792. Edward is credited with the first use of the term "Canadian" to mean both French and English settlers in the Canadas. Witnessing a riot breaking out between two groups at the polling station, he entreated the public in French, "I
Population of Canada peaceful. However repeated outbreaks of European infectious diseases such as influenza, measles and smallpox (to which they had no natural immunity), combined with other effects of European contact, resulted in a twenty-five percent to eighty percent indigenous population decrease post-contact. Roland G Robertson suggests that during the late 1630s, smallpox killed over half of the Wyandot (Huron), who controlled most of the early North American fur trade in the area of New France. In 1871 there was an enumeration of the indigenous population within the limits of Canada at the time, showing a total of only 102,358 individuals. According to