77 Facts About Canada

Canada's capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.

In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces.

Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy in the Westminster tradition.

Highly developed country, Canada has the 24th highest nominal per capita income globally and the sixteenth-highest ranking on the Human Development Index.

Canada is part of several major international and intergovernmental institutions or groupings including the United Nations, NATO, the G7, the Group of Ten, the G20, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Commonwealth of Nations, the Arctic Council, the, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, and the Organization of American States.

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Cartier later used the word Canada to refer not only to that particular village but to the entire area subject to Donnacona; by 1545, European books and maps had begun referring to this small region along the Saint Lawrence River as Canada.

Indigenous peoples in present-day Canada include the First Nations, Inuit, and Metis, the last being of mixed descent who originated in the mid-17th century when First Nations people married European settlers and subsequently developed their own identity.

Canada assumed control of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory to form the Northwest Territories, where the Metis' grievances ignited the Red River Rebellion and the creation of the province of Manitoba in July 1870.

In 1919, Canada joined the League of Nations independently of Britain, and the Statute of Westminster, 1931 affirmed Canada's independence.

Canada provided asylum for the Dutch monarchy while that country was occupied and is credited by the Netherlands for major contributions to its liberation from Nazi Germany.

Finally, another series of constitutional conferences resulted in the UK's Canada Act 1982, the patriation of Canada's constitution from the United Kingdom, concurrent with the creation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Canada had established complete sovereignty as an independent country, although the monarch is retained as sovereign.

Canada joined the Gulf War in 1990 as part of a United States–led coalition force and was active in several peacekeeping missions in the 1990s, including the UNPROFOR mission in the former Yugoslavia.

Canada sent troops to Afghanistan in 2001 but declined to join the United States–led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada began on January 27, 2020, with wide social and economic disruption.

Canada has vast maritime terrain, with the world's longest coastline of 243, 042 kilometres.

Canada is home to the world's northernmost settlement, Canadian Forces Station Alert, on the northern tip of Ellesmere Island—latitude 82.

Canada can be divided into seven physiographic regions: the Canadian Shield, the interior plains, the Great Lakes-St Lawrence Lowlands, the Appalachian region, the Western Cordillera, Hudson Bay Lowlands and the Arctic Archipelago.

Canada is geologically active, having many earthquakes and potentially active volcanoes, notably Mount Meager massif, Mount Garibaldi, Mount Cayley, and the Mount Edziza volcanic complex.

Canada is divided into fifteen terrestrial and five marine ecozones.

Over half of Canada's landscape is intact and relatively free of human development.

Since the end of the last glacial period, Canada has consisted of eight distinct forest regions, with 42 percent of its land area covered by forests.

Canada is described as a "full democracy", with a tradition of liberalism, and an egalitarian, moderate political ideology.

Canada has a parliamentary system within the context of a constitutional monarchy—the monarchy of Canada being the foundation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

General elections in Canada must be called by the governor general, either on the advice of the prime minister or if the government loses a confidence vote in the House.

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The Constitution Act, 1982 requires that no more than five years pass between elections, although the Canada Elections Act limits this to four years with a fixed election date in October.

The Bank of Canada is the sole authority authorized to issue currency in the form of Canadian bank notes.

Constitution of Canada is the supreme law of the country, and consists of written text and unwritten conventions.

Canada's judiciary plays an important role in interpreting laws and has the power to strike down Acts of Parliament that violate the constitution.

The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court and final arbiter and has been led since December 18, 2017, by Richard Wagner, the chief justice of Canada.

Canada is recognized as a middle power for its role in international affairs with a tendency to pursue multilateral solutions.

Canada was a founding member of the United Nations and has membership in the World Trade Organization, the G20 and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Canada is a member of various other international and regional organizations and forums for economic and cultural affairs.

Canada acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1976.

Canada joined the Organization of American States in 1990 and hosted the OAS General Assembly in 2000 and the 3rd Summit of the Americas in 2001.

Canada seeks to expand its ties to Pacific Rim economies through membership in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

Canada maintains historic ties to the United Kingdom and France and to other former British and French colonies through Canada's membership in the Commonwealth of Nations and the.

Canada is noted for having a positive relationship with the Netherlands, owing, in part, to its contribution to the Dutch liberation during World War II.

Since then, Canada has been an advocate for multilateralism, making efforts to resolve global issues in collaboration with other nations.

Canada has since served in over 50 peacekeeping missions, including every UN peacekeeping effort until 1989, and has since maintained forces in international missions in Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, and elsewhere; Canada has sometimes faced controversy over its involvement in foreign countries, notably in the 1993 Somalia affair.

In 2001, Canada deployed troops to Afghanistan as part of the U S stabilization force and the UN-authorized, NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

Canada is a federation composed of ten provinces and three territories.

Canada has a highly developed mixed-market economy, with the world's eighth-largest economy as of 2022, and a nominal GDP of approximately US$2.

Canada has a strong cooperative banking sector, with the world's highest per-capita membership in credit unions.

Canada is one of the few developed nations that are net exporters of energy.

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Atlantic Canada possesses vast offshore deposits of natural gas, and Alberta hosts large oil and gas resources.

Canada is additionally one of the world's largest suppliers of agricultural products; the Canadian Prairies are one of the most important global producers of wheat, canola, and other grains.

Canada has a sizeable manufacturing sector centred in southern Ontario and Quebec, with automobiles and aeronautics representing particularly important industries.

Canada was ranked 16th in the Global Innovation Index in 2021 and 17th in 2019 and 2020.

Some of the most notable scientific developments in Canada include the creation of the modern alkaline battery, Insulin, and the polio vaccine and discoveries about the interior structure of the atomic nucleus.

Canada has a long history of discovery in genetics, which include stem cells, site-directed mutagenesis, T-cell receptor and the identification of the genes that cause Fanconi anemia, cystic fibrosis and early-onset Alzheimer's disease, among numerous other diseases.

Canada was the third country to design and construct a satellite after the Soviet Union and the United States, with the 1962 Alouette 1 launch.

Canada has produced one of the world's most successful and widely used sounding rockets, the Black Brant; over 1, 000 Black Brants have been launched since the rocket's introduction in 1961.

Canada has one of the highest per-capita immigration rates in the world, driven mainly by economic policy and family reunification.

Canada accepts large numbers of refugees, accounting for over 10 percent of annual global refugee resettlements; it resettled more than 28, 000 in 2018.

In common with many other developed countries, Canada is experiencing a cost increase due to a demographic shift toward an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age.

Canada has one of the highest rates of adult obesity among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries attributing to approximately 2.

Canada has performed close to, or above the average on the majority of OECD health indicators since the early 2000s.

Education in Canada is for the most part provided publicly, funded and overseen by federal, provincial, and local governments.

Education in Canada is generally divided into primary education, followed by secondary education and post-secondary.

Canada has a large number of universities, almost all of which are publicly funded.

Canada is a well-performing OECD country in reading literacy, mathematics, and science with the average student scoring 523.

In 1961, less than two percent of Canada's population were members of visible minority groups.

Additionally, Canada is home to many sign languages, some of which are Indigenous.

Canada is religiously diverse, encompassing a wide range of beliefs and customs.

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Canada has no official church, and the government is officially committed to religious pluralism.

Freedom of religion in Canada is a constitutionally protected right, allowing individuals to assemble and worship without limitation or interference.

Canada has placed emphasis on equality and inclusiveness for all its people.

The Arms of Canada are closely modelled after the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom with French and distinctive Canadian elements replacing or added to those derived from the British version.

In recent decades, Canada's literature has been strongly influenced by immigrants from around the world.

Canada's media is highly autonomous, uncensored, diverse and very regionalized.

Canada has a well-developed media sector, but its cultural output—particularly in English films, television shows, and magazines—is often overshadowed by imports from the United States.

Non-news media content in Canada, including film and television, is influenced both by local creators as well as by imports from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and France.

Art in Canada is marked by thousands of years of habitation by its indigenous peoples.

Canada has developed a vast music infrastructure that includes church halls, chamber halls, conservatories, academies, performing arts centres, record companies, radio stations and television music video channels.

The official national anthem, "O Canada", was originally commissioned by the lieutenant governor of Quebec, Theodore Robitaille, for the 1880 St Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony and was officially adopted in 1980.

Canada has enjoyed success both at the Winter Olympics and at the Summer Olympics, though particularly the Winter Games as a "winter sports nation", and has hosted several high-profile international sporting events such as the 1976 Summer Olympics, the 1988 Winter Olympics, the 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.