Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"Great reserves of cod, and trade in furs had drawn the French to Northern Canada in the early 16th century. In the 1530s, Jacques Cartier tried to establish a permanent settlement at Quebec, but hostile natives and harsh conditions forced the French to abandon the colony.
In 1608, the explorer Samuel de Champlain established Québec as a base for trade with Huron and Algonquin tribes. He was a tireless explorer of the Canadian interior, and did much to promote the colonial possibilities. A succession of trading forts was subsequently established along the Mississippi River.
But French attempts at colonization were half-hearted; colonial settlers in Nova Scotia along the St. Lawrence River were thinly scattered, scraping together an existence as subsistence farmers. By the 18th century, the numerical superiority of the English would overwhelm the French settlers." [DK Timelines, p. 299]