Canada is a country occupying most of northern North
America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in
the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean. It is the world's second largest
country by total area, and shares land borders with the United States to the
south and northwest.
The lands have been inhabited for millennia by aboriginal peoples. Beginning in
the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored and later settled
the Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in
1763 after the Seven Years War. In 1867, with the union of three British North
American colonies through Confederation, Canada became a federal dominion. A
gradual process of independence from the United Kingdom moved Canada towards
statehood and culminated in the Canada Act 1982, severing the last vestiges of
dependence on the British parliament.
A federation now comprising ten provinces and three territories, Canada is a
parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as
its head of state. It is a bilingual and multicultural country, with both
English and French as official languages at the federal level. Technologically
advanced and industrialized, Canada maintains a diversified economy that is
heavily reliant upon its abundant natural resources and upon trade—particularly
with the United States, with which Canada has had a long and complex
relationship.
Geography and climate
Canada occupies a major northern portion of North
America, sharing land borders with the contiguous United States to the south and
with the US state of Alaska to the northwest, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean
in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west; to the north lies the Arctic
Ocean. By total area (including its waters), Canada is the second largest
country in the world, after Russia, and largest on the continent. By land area
it ranks fourth, after Russia, China, and the United States. Since 1925, Canada
has claimed the portion of the Arctic between 60°W and 141°W longitude, but this
claim is not universally recognized. The northernmost settlement in Canada and
in the world is Canadian Forces Station (CFS) Alert on the northern tip of
Ellesmere Island—latitude 82.5°N—just 817 kilometres (450 nautical miles) from
the North Pole. Canada has the longest coastline in the world: 243,000
kilometres.
Economy
Canada is one of the world's wealthiest nations with
a high per capita income, a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) and Group of Eight (G8). Canada is a free market economy
with slightly more government intervention than the United States, but much less
than most European nations. Canada has traditionally had a lower per capita
gross domestic product (GDP) than its southern neighbour (whereas wealth has
been more equally divided), but higher than the large western European
economies. Since the early 1990's, the Canadian economy has been growing rapidly
with low unemployment and large government surpluses on the federal level. Today
Canada closely resembles the US in its market-oriented economic system, pattern
of production, and high living standards. While as of October 2007, Canada's
national unemployment rate of 5.9% is its lowest in 33 years. Provincial
unemployment rates vary from a low of 3.6% in Alberta to a high of 14.6% in
Newfoundland and Labrador.
Demographics
Canada's 2006 census counted 31,612,897, an increase
of 5.4% since 2001. Population growth is from immigration and, to a lesser
extent, natural growth. About three-quarters of Canada's population lives within
150 kilometres (90 mi) of the US border. A similar proportion live in urban
areas concentrated in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor (notably: the Greater
Golden Horseshoe anchored around Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and their environs),
the BC Lower Mainland (Vancouver and environs), and the Calgary-Edmonton
Corridor in Alberta.
According to the 2001 census, it has 34 ethnic
groups with at least one hundred thousand members each, with 83% of the total
population claiming they are white.[60] The largest ethnic group is English
(20.2%), followed by French (15.8%), Scottish (14.0%), Irish (12.9%), German
(9.3%), Italian (4.3%), Chinese (3.7%), Ukrainian (3.6%), and First Nations
(3.4%); 40% of respondents identified their ethnicity as "Canadian." Canada's
aboriginal population is growing almost twice as fast as the Canadian average.
In 2001, 13.4% of the population belonged to non-aboriginal visible minorities.
( Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada )
Canadian Culture
Canada has two official languages—English and
French—and a highly diverse culture, thanks to the contribution of Canadians of
all origins. Because of its short history, Canadian culture is above all
contemporary.
This is particularly evident in
its authors, almost all of whom are still alive: Margaret Atwood, Michael
Ondaatje, Yann Martel (three recent Booker Prize winners), Marie-Claire Blais
and Antonine Maillet are already well-known in the United States.
In recent decades, Canada has
gained international recognition in the visual arts thanks to cutting-edge
artists. Jeff Wall, Rodney Graham, Edward Burtynsky, Ken Lum, Ian Wallace and
Geneviève Cadieux introduced new uses for photography techniques, Janet Cardiff
and George Bures Miller used new technologies in artistic creation.
Cinéma d'auteur is becoming
increasingly common, thanks to veteran filmmakers such as Atom Egoyan, David
Cronenberg, Denys Arcand, and Léa Pool, but also because of young directors such
as Jean-François Pouliot, Denis Villeneuve, Thom Fitzgerald, Don McKellar, Keith
Behrman, Zacharias Kunuk (Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner) and Guy Maddin. Canada is
also recognized for its documentary and animation films and has received several
awards throughout the years: Alanis Obomsawin (Kanehsatake: 270 Years of
Resistance), Peter Raymont (Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo
Dallaire), multi-award- winning animation short directed and written by Chris
Landreth.
Flowing from a very strong oral
tradition, Canadian theatre has not only world-renowned stage directors such as
Robert Lepage and Denis Marleau, but also a large number of authors who have
been played in the Washington, DC area. In this vein, Washington, DC area
companies recently staged works by Michel Tremblay, George F. Walker, Daniel
MacIvor, Stephen Massicotte, Sean Raycraft, Michael Healey, Jason Sherman.
Finally, Canadian dance is
represented by several companies ranging from classical ballet to contemporary
dance: National Ballet of Canada, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Les Grands Ballets
Canadiens, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, Lalala Human Steps, Marie Chouinard,
O'Vertigo, and Holy Body Tattoo.
Music plays a historic role in
Canada, one of the co-founders of the Jeunesses musicales mondiales. Its
national icon, pianist Glenn Gould, is known throughout the world. The Montreal
and Toronto symphony orchestras have a number of records to their credit and
toured internationally. Chamber music also occupies a special place—Tafelmusik
or the St. Lawrence Quartet have won several prizes. Singers such as Russel
Braun and Michael Schade, flutist Robert Aitken and pianist Marc-André Hamelin
are oft-invited performers, and composers Murray Schafer and Claude Vivier are
also played regularly in the United States.
Canadian Pop musicians continue
to earn major awards and nominations and are recognized for their groundbreaking
styles. Canadian Indie musicians have reached international critical acclaim
with their outstanding talent and original sound and for breaking markets
without the assistance of the big record labels. (
http://geo.international.gc.ca/can-am/washington/arts/culture-in-canada-en.asp
)
Language
Canada's two official languages are English and
French. Official Bilingualism in Canada is law, defined in the Canadian Charter
of Rights and Freedoms, the Official Languages Act, and Official Language
Regulations; it is applied by the Commissioner of Official Languages. English
and French have equal status in federal courts, Parliament, and in all federal
institutions. The public has the right, where there is sufficient demand, to
receive federal government services in either English or French, and official
language minorities are guaranteed their own schools in all provinces and
territories.[77]
English and French are the mother tongues of 59.7% and 23.2% of the population
respectively,[78] and the languages most spoken at home by 68.3% and 22.3% of
the population respectively.[79] 98.5% of Canadians speak English or French
(English only: 67.5%, French only: 13.3%, both: 17.7%).[80] English and French
Official Language Communities, defined by First Official Language Spoken,
constitute 73.0% and 23.6% of the population.[81]
Although 85% of French-speaking Canadians live in Quebec, there are substantial
Francophone populations in Ontario, Alberta and southern Manitoba, with an
Acadian population in the northern and southeastern parts of New Brunswick
constituting 35% of that province's population as well as concentrations in
Southwestern Nova Scotia and on Cape Breton Island. Ontario has the largest
French population outside Quebec. The Charter of the French Language in Quebec
makes French the official language in Quebec, and New Brunswick is the only
province to have a statement of official bilingualism in the constitution.[82]
Other provinces have no official language(s) as such, but French is used as a
language of instruction, in courts, and other government services in addition to
English. Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec allow for both English and French to be
spoken in the provincial legislatures, and laws are enacted in both languages.
In Ontario, French has some legal status but is not fully co-official. Several
aboriginal languages have official status in Northwest Territories. Inuktitut is
the majority language in Nunavut, and one of three official languages in the
territory.
Non-official languages are important in Canada, with 5,202,245 people listing
one as a first language.[78] Some significant non-official first languages
include Chinese (853,745 first-language speakers), Italian (469,485), German
(438,080), and Punjabi (271,220).[78]
( Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada
)
Tourism in
Canada
Canada, as a rich Western country, has both a large
domestic and foreign tourist industry. Canada is known for its large, majestic
landscapes and several record-holding landmarks. Some of the major attractions
of the country include its cities but it is probably better known worldwide for
its extensive, lightly populated or unpopulated areas of wilderness and its
natural sights.
