Canada

Canada

Flag Coat of Arms
Motto: (in Latin) A Mari Usque Ad Mare (From Sea to Sea)
Anthem: O Canada (Royal anthem: God Save the Queen)
Capital	Ottawa 45°24′ N 75°40′ W
Largest city	Toronto
Official languages	English and French
Government Monarch Governor General Prime Minister	Federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy Queen Elizabeth II Michaëlle Jean Paul Martin
Independence  - BNA Act  - Statute of Westminster  - Canada Act	From the United Kingdom July 1, 1867 December 11, 1931 April 17, 1982
Area  • Total  • Water (%)	9,984,670 km² (2nd) 8.92
Population  • 2005 est.  • 2001 census  • Density	32.4 million (37th) 30,007,094 3.5/km² (222nd)
GDP (PPP)  • Total  • Per capita	2005 estimate $1.318 trillion (11th) $34,444 (8th)
HDI (2003)	0.949 (5th) – high
Currency	Canadian dollar ($) (CAD)
Time zone  • Summer (DST)	(UTC-3.5 to -8) (UTC-2.5 to -7)
Internet TLD	.ca
Calling code	+1

Canada is the second largest country in the world in terms of area, extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean with claims extending to the North Pole. The northern-most country on the mainland of North America, Canada has land borders only with the United States.

Governed as a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy, Canada is a federation of ten provinces with three territories. Initially constituted in 1867, the country's constitution was patriated in 1982 from the United Kingdom.

Canada's head of state is its monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II, who is represented in Canada by the Governor General, presently Michaëlle Jean. The head of government is the Prime Minister, currently Paul Martin; his minority government recently lost a vote of non-confidence in the Canadian House of Commons, which required the dissolution of Parliament. A federal election has been called for January 23, 2006.

Canada's official languages are English and French. As of December 2005, its official population estimate is approximately 32.4 million ^[1].

Overview

The capital city is Ottawa, Ontario, the seat of Canada's Parliament. The Governor General, the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Loyal Opposition, and the Speaker of the House of Commons have official residences in the National Capital Region.

Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario.

Originally a union of British colonies with significant French influence and entitled as a "dominion", Canada is a founding member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, and La Francophonie. Canada defines itself as a bilingual and multicultural nation:

• English is the official (and majority) language in most provinces of Canada.
• French is the official language of Quebec, an official language of New Brunswick, and is spoken in various areas throughout the country.
• Several Aboriginal languages have official status in the Northwest Territories; Inuktitut is the majority language in Nunavut and has official status there.

Canada is a technologically advanced and industrialized nation. It is a net exporter of energy because of its large fossil fuel deposits, nuclear energy generation, and hydroelectric power capacity. Its diversified economy relies heavily on an abundance of natural resources and trade, particularly with the United States, with which it has had a long and complex relationship.

Canada has ten provinces and three territories:

Flag	Province	Capital city	Entered Confederation	Standard Time Zone (UTC)	Region
	British Columbia	Victoria	1871	-8 (Pacific), -7 (Mountain)	Western, Pacific
	Alberta	Edmonton	1905	-7 (Mountain)	Western, Prairies
	Saskatchewan	Regina	1905	-7 (Mountain), -6 (Central)
	Manitoba	Winnipeg	1870	-6 (Central)
	Ontario	Toronto	1867	-6 (Central), -5 (Eastern)	Central, Eastern
	Quebec	Quebec City	1867	-5 (Eastern) -4 (Magdalen Islands)
	New Brunswick	Fredericton	1867	-4 (Atlantic)	Atlantic, Maritimes
	Nova Scotia	Halifax	1867
	Prince Edward Island	Charlottetown	1873
	Newfoundland and Labrador	St. John's	1949	-4 (Atlantic), -3.5 (Newfoundland)	Atlantic
Flag	Territory	Capital city	Entered Confederation	Standard Time Zone (UTC)	Region
	Yukon	Whitehorse	1898	-8	Northern or Arctic
	Northwest Territories	Yellowknife	1870	-7
	Nunavut	Iqaluit	1999	-7, -6, -5,

Canada's major cities that are not capital cities include Montreal, Quebec; Vancouver, British Columbia; and Calgary, Alberta.

Canada's name

Main article: Canada's name

The name Canada is believed to come from the Huron-Iroquois word kanata, which means "village" or "settlement". In 1535, locals used the word to tell Jacques Cartier the way to Stadacona, site of present-day Quebec City. Cartier used Canada to refer not only to Stadacona, but also to the entire area subject to Donnacona, Chief at Stadacona; by 1547, maps began referring to this and the surrounding area as Canada.

History

Main articles: History of Canada & Timeline of Canadian history

Aboriginal tradition holds that the First Peoples have inhabited parts of what is now called Canada since the dawn of time. Archaeological records show that these lands have been inhabited for at least 10,000 years. Several Viking expeditions occurred circa AD 1000, with evidence of settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows.

British claims to North America date from 1497, when John Cabot reached what he called Newfoundland, though it is unclear whether Cabot landed in current Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, or Maine. French claims date from explorations by Jacques Cartier (from 1534) and Samuel de Champlain (from 1603). Neither Cabot's nor Cartier's explorations left any permanent settlers behind. On August 5, 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed Newfoundland as England's first overseas colony under Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I. In 1604, French settlers were the first Europeans to settle permanently in what is now Canada. After an unsuccessful winter in St. Croix Island (today in Maine), they settled Port-Royal in what is now the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia, but moved to found Quebec City in 1608. The current Acadians are descendants of settlers who came later in the same century and re-founded Port-Royal. New France was generally the name given to the French colonies of Canada and Acadia (and later Louisiana).

The Death of General Wolfe, painted by Benjamin West, depicts British General Wolfe's final moments during the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759.

British settlements were established along the Atlantic seaboard and around Hudson Bay. As these colonies expanded, a struggle for control of North America took place between 1689 and 1763 (see French and Indian Wars), exacerbated by wars in Europe between France and Great Britain. France progressively lost territory to Great Britain, surrendering peninsular Nova Scotia in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht and the remainder of New France including what was left of Acadia in the Treaty of Paris (1763).

During and after the American Revolution approximately 70,000 [2] Loyalists fled the Thirteen Colonies. Of these, roughly 50,000 United Empire Loyalists [3] settled in the British North American colonies which then consisted of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, the Province of Quebec, and Prince Edward Island (created 1769). To accommodate the Loyalists, Britain created the colony of New Brunswick in 1784 from part of Nova Scotia, and divided Quebec into Lower Canada and Upper Canada under the Constitutional Act of 1791.

The War of 1812 began when the U.S. attacked British forces in Canada in an attempt to end British influence in North America (and particularly, the British seizures of American merchant ships in the Atlantic). In April 1813, U.S. forces burned York (now Toronto). The British/Canadians retaliated with the burning of Washington (DC) in a surprise attack in August 1814, but were subsequently turned back at Plattsburgh, Baltimore, and New Orleans. The Treaty of Ghent was signed in December 1814. It was only after the French and Napoleonic wars ended in Europe that large-scale immigration to Canada resumed.

The Canadas were merged into a single colony, the United Province of Canada, with the Act of Union (1840) in an attempt to assimilate the French Canadians. Once the U.S. agreed to the 49th parallel north as its border with western British North America, the British government created the colonies of British Columbia in 1848 and Vancouver Island in 1849. By the late 1850s, politicians in the Province of Canada had launched a series of western exploratory expeditions with the intention of assuming control of Rupert's Land (administered by the Hudson's Bay Company) and the Arctic.

In 1864 and 1866, British North American politicians, in what became known as the Great Coalition, held three conferences to create a federal union. Spearheaded by John A. Macdonald, on July 1, 1867, three colonies—Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick—were granted a constitution, the British North America Act, by the United Kingdom, creating the Dominion of Canada. The term "Canadian Confederation" refers to this 1867 unification of the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec (formerly Canada East or Lower Canada), and Ontario (formerly Canada West or Upper Canada). The remaining British colonies and territories soon joined Confederation. By 1880 Canada included all of its present area except for Newfoundland and Labrador, which joined in 1949. (It should be noted that, although part of Canada, Alberta and Saskatchewan did not gain Provincial status until 1905.)

Canadian Red Ensign, former flag of Canada

In 1919, Canada became a member of the League of Nations and, in the Imperial Conference of 1926, Canada assumed full control of its own through the Balfour Declaration. In 1927, Canada appointed its first ambassador to a foreign country, the United States. In 1931, the Statute of Westminster gave the Balfour Declaration constitutional force, confirming that no act of the UK's parliament would thereafter extend to Canada without its consent. Canadian citizenship was first distinguished from British in 1947; judicial appeals to the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ended in 1949. The power to amend Canada's constitution remained with the British parliament, although subject to the Statute of Westminster, until it was finally "patriated" to Canadian control by the Canada Act 1982.

The Quebec sovereignty movement has led to two referendums held in 1980 and 1995, with votes of 59.6% and 50.6% respectively against its proposals for sovereignty-association. In 1997, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled unilateral secession by a province to be unconstitutional.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Canada