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Pâté chinois (literally translated as "Chinese pie", commonly called shepherd's pie in English) is a simple dish made from layered minced meat on the bottom, corn (either kernel corn or creamed corn) and mashed potatoes on top. While Quebecers do not use ketchup as frequently as their southern American neighbours, Chinese pie is most often topped with some of it just before eating.
Its origins are not known very well, as different sources will tell different stories. While it does definitely not come from China, most sources will say it comes from Chinese people who were working on railway construction in the 19th century. It is either the Chinese cooks, hired by railway companies, who were making such a dish because it was cheap and that was all they had at hand to cook with, or because that's what the Chinese worker used to eat, for the same reasons. Railways at that time were not only built in Quebec, but a lot of people from Quebec went to work on the railways in other parts of Canada and, mostly, in the north-east part of United States. They probably brought the recipe back home.
According to "A Taste of Quebec" by Julian Armstrong "the name was traced by Quebec food historian Claude Poirier to a town in the state of Maine called China. In the 19th century, thousands of Quebecers migrated to the north eastern United States to work in the mills. Those who settled in the town of China eventually returned to Quebec with a recipe for shepherd's pie, which they called 'pâté chinois.'"