Quebecois might argue that Quebec isn't part of Canada, but few if any English Canadians would argue that.

The Canada mentioned in America's "Articles of Confederation" is only referring to Quebec. It isn't referring to Nova Scotia or Newfoundland and Ontario hadn't been invented yet.

In 1865 the people who most identified as Canadian (or Canadien) would have been the francophones living in what was then Lower Canada. English "Canadians" would be as likely to identify as British as Canadian.