Canada

Background: Canadian national Flag

Canada • Canada is situated in North America, north of the U.S.A and is the second largest country in the world. It also shares the worlds longest border with the United States. • As well as French, Canada’s Official language is English. • The anthem is ‘O Canada’, and the Royal Anthem is ‘God save the Queen’.

Ottawa • The capital city of Canada is Ottawa, it is in the province of Ontario. It is the city with the 4th largest population in Canada after Toronto (Ontario) , Montreal(Quebec) and Vancouver(British Columbia). • The largest city in Canada is Toronto. •

Background: Flag of Ottawa

Industry • Like many First world nations, Canada’s biggest industries is the service industry, it employs 75% of the population. • However the primary sector is very important in Canada as well with the logging and oil industries being two of Canada’s biggest industries. • Canada has the second largest oil reserve, behind Saudi Arabia.

Canada’s major rivers • The Mackenzie River is the longest river in Canada and the second longest in North America, at 1738 km. it originates in The Great Slave Lake and flows into the Arctic Ocean. • The St Lawrence River is another huge River that flows through Canada connecting The Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.

Famous Canadians • Nickelback is a Canadian rock band formed in Hanna, Alberta. They are on the Canadian Walk of fame, a walk of fame that acknowledges the achievements of famous and successful Canadians. • Matthew Perry is another famous Canadian. He is an Emmy-nominated actor who is best known for his 10 year role as Chandler Bing on the American Sitcom ‘Friends’. He was born in the U.s but was brought up in Ottawa. • One of the many famous Canadian inventors is Alexander Graham Bell, who I am sure you all know as he is the man who invented the Telephone. He also invented the telegraph and was granted 16 other Patents. When he died in Nova Scotia in 1922, all phone services across

Famous Places • The CN tower in Toronto is probably Canada’s most recognisable building. It was the worlds tallest self-supporting structure from 1975 until 2007. it is 553m tall and has two main observation decks- the larger but lower Sky Pod and the smaller but higher Space Deck.

• The Niagara falls are also very well known. They are waterfalls along the international border between the U.S state of New York and the Canadian Province of Ontario. There are three drops: Horseshoe Falls, American Falls & Bridal Veil Falls. The Horseshoe falls are kind of the Canadian side of Niagara







Canada is a very diverse and multicultural country so the customs and traditions vary from place to place. Here are a few: All over Canada they treat the Victoria Day weekend as the start of summer, even though many parts of the country get snow at that time. Also, Thanksgiving is on a different day than in the U.S.A and it is celebrated for different reasons, plus Canada makes a big deal out of Remembrance Day on 11th November. The Levée is a New Year's Day social event hosted by the Governor General of Canada and other military groups. It has become solely a Canadian tradition and it basically marks the start of a new year and allows members of the public to pay their respects.

The National Flag • Up until February 15th 1965, Canada flew the British Flag ( ). Then the Canadian Government asked the public to submit designs for the new flag and the one picked is shown as the background of this page. The Maple leaf is now a symbol of national unity and represents people form hundreds of different cultures. The Maple leaf also appears on the Canadian penny(between 1876 and 1901 it appeared on all Canadian coins). Since 1939, it has also been used by the Canadian Armed Forces. The Maple leaf symbol used to be green but now every Maple leaf used to represent Canada is red as red is Canada’s official colour.

Currency • The Currency of Canada is the Canadian Dollar, which is broken down into 100 cents.

One Dollar Coin

Two Dollar Coin

National Dress • Probably the most recognisable attire associated with Canada are the red tunics worn by The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police). The red dress wear is also worn by senior police officers on special occasions. Full Uniform with hat, tunic and boots.

Language • As I have said Canada has two official languages: English and French. About 67% of Canadians speak English and 22% speak French. About 91% of the French-Speaking Canadians live in Quebec. The Largest Population of French-Speakers outside Quebec are found in New Brunswick. Most of New Brunswick are Bilingual, which means they speak English and French.

The English Language owes a lot to the French Language, as I will briefly explain. After Norman William The Conqueror invaded in 1066 about 10,000 French Words were adopted by the English, of which ¾ are still in use today. It is believed that English speakers who have never learned French already know about 15,000 French Words. Here are just some french phrases that are still used in english today- á la carte (on the menu), chic (stylish), déjá vu

Finally, here are just a few Phrases in French that we should all know: Bonjour- Hello Comment T'appelles tu?- What is your name? Je M’appelle- My name is Au revoir- Goodbye Ca Va- How are you Ca Va bien- I am fine Ca Va Mal- I am not fine.