Toronto — The resounding demand for change that saw the Liberal leader Justin Trudeau swept into the Canadian prime minister’s office, and Stephen Harper out of it, also introduced other auspicious changes, setting the country on a different but familiar path. The 338-seat House of Commons now has more female representatives than ever before, and there are 46 members from minority groups (though African-Canadians are still underrepresented). The country’s first lawmaker born in Afghanistan was elected. The 10 members from Canada’s indigenous population of about 1.4 million is also a record.

These results are immensely gratifying to a majority of Canadians who understand that Canada’s indigenous peoples — First Nations, Inuit and Métis — hold a pivotal place in Canada, and that the modern nation-state was founded on the labor of successive tides of immigrants who left behind wars or natural disasters and built new lives here.

The election produced other stunning numbers. Participation was up 7 percent from the last election and, at 68 percent, exceeded even the turnout of the recent British election, in which Scottish separatism was such an urgent, motivating issue. The combination of the young Mr. Trudeau’s appeal and a federal initiative to woo normally apathetic student voters spurred a marked rise in the youth vote. And the surge at polls on First Nations reserves was so unexpected that photocopied ballots needed to be used in some places.

The enormity of Mr. Trudeau’s victory was unanticipated even by his Liberal Party, though, in retrospect, it had an overwhelming logic. Voters across this vast nation of 36 million were resolutely determined that they would not wake up on Oct. 20 to another day of Stephen Harper and the Conservatives.