For example, French from Quebec or Acadians that live in Eastern Canada still have a very distinctly French culture. They have retained their language as well. Traditional music is alive and well. In some cases, political views, lifestyle, attitudes and religion are distinct from English Canada. However, their language would be somewhat different than French spoken in France, since it has evolved in a different direction. Would Europeans resent them claiming French heritage?
I have lots of Quebecois and French friends and, as a (Metropolitan) French-speaker who has been to Quebec and France, I think I can judge both cultures quite well.
I can tell you now that the Quebecois are little more than a comical historical aside for the French. They laugh - openly - and their "ridiculously antiquated" accents. The key things to remember with Quebec are that the immigrants were largely of what was the peasant class, agricultural workers from the north of france, from where their distinct accent comes. Not only this, but
Quebec missed out on the French Revolution. This substantial event caused massive changes in France. Indeed, even the language was "equalised" and the harsh rural accents were blotted out in an attempt to make things more equal in a refined, Republican way.
The most distinctive aspects of Quebecois are also the most hilarious (to the French). Not only this, but Quebec serves France in the most nominal way. No longer an "outre-mer" territory, Quebec merely serves as a land where French still exists. Do not underestimate the chagrin felt by the French establishment that English is now the major world language; for hundreds of years before, the language of the social elite was French, even in England.
(As a brief aside, if I were to describe what a Quebecois accent sounds like, it would be this: all the girls sound like a pretty daughter of a provincial merchant from the 17th century; all the guys sound like sailors who want to sell you secrets and tresure maps. Don't ask me why.)
The French mainly consider the Quebecois to be backward; stuck in a timewarp, they are little more than farmers and "bucherons" who inhabit a frozen wasteland. While in Paris, I met a Quebecois guy who said that the people in the supermarket laughed at his accent. My good friends from Quebec tell me that, when in Paris, many shopkeepers refused to speak to them because "they didn't speak French" - although they clearly do. And, from personal experience, I often get more respect from a Frenchman for being "un rosbif" who can speak French since it is considered somewhat refined (by the French) to be able to speak like them.
Obviously, it's not like people spit on les Quebecois when they visit Paris, but I'm talking about the prevailing sentiment I have witnessed. I must add that I really love the Quebecois; they were terribly nice to me when I went to Quebec and thought it a wonderful novelty to see an Englishman (or "un vrai Anglais d'Angleterre" or "un Anglais-Anglais" as they liked to call me) speak French. They also find it really funny that I can now mimic a Quebecois accent to the point that French people think I am Quebecois! I find their accent very alluring in fact, with several extremely cute elements (which I particularly enjoy when spoken by a lady...
): its brashness is very disarming! I also got absolutely no flack at all for being from "the foreign colonial power", which I was previously a bit concerned about...