Canada


 * [[image:canada_vaapen.png]] || **Capital**: Ottawa
 * Largest city**: Toronto
 * Official languages**: English, French
 * Government**: Parliamentary democracy
 * Monarch**: Queen Elizabeth II
 * Governor**: General Michaëlle Jean
 * Prime Minister**: Stephen Harper
 * Currency**: Canadian dollar ($) (CAD)
 * Time zone**: UTC – 3.5 to – 8
 * Northern-most town**: Grise Fiord on Ellesmere Island
 * Southern-most point**: Middle Island, Lake Erie
 * Geographic coordinates**: 60 00 N, 95 00 W
 * Independence**: 1 July 1867 (from UK)
 * Religion**: Christianity (roman catholism 46% or protestantism 36%) ||





__History__

The native Indian people, originally called the Inuit or Eskimo, were the very first inhabitants of Canada, and settled down thousands of years ago. The Norwegian explorer Leif Eriksson was the first white man to reach the shores of Canada in 1000, probably Nova Scotia. However, the history of the white man didn’t actually start before 1497 when John Cabot, an Italian- English voyager, rediscovered the country (and reached Newfoundland). In 1534 Canada was taken for France by Jacques Cartier. 1604 was the year when the actual settlement of France began at Port Royal, now named Nova Scotia. French Quebec was founded in 1608. The efforts of the French colonization weren’t exactly successful, but by the end of the 17th century they had reached beyond the Great Lakes to the western part of the prairies and to the Gulf of Mexico. On the other side, the English Hudson’s Bay Fur Company was founded in 1670. The very valuable trades that were made with fur and fisheries were the reason of the growing conflict between France and England. This resolved into loosing Newfoundland, Hudson Bay, and Nova Scotia to England in 1713. After the Seven Years War France had to give their whole North American kingdom over to England. The western part of Canada also became British even though the inhabitants mostly were French- speaking. For the next few decades thousands of British people immigrated from the British Isles and from the American colonies over to Canada. In 1867 Canada got a [|dominion status] with interior self-government, as the first of the British Empire. In 1931 Canada became independent from England, but it was in 1982 that it first got its own independent constitution. Today Canada is a young multiethnic immigrant society which is still developing a national identity. Official languages are English (59%) and French (23%). The relationship between the French-speaking population and the English-speaking has been quite tensed, especially with the strongly French-speaking Quebec trying to break away from Canada.

As we can see through history, Canada got its English language through British acquisition and immigration.

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__Geography__

Canada's geography, with its 9,093,507 square kilometers of land, is enormous and diverse. Of the total aera of 9,984,670 square kilometers, 891,163 consists of water. Canada is the second largest country, and occupies 41% of the continent of North America. The terrain is mostly plains with mountains in west and lowlands in southeast. In addition to the ten provinces, Canada is divided into three territories (Yukon, The North-West territories and Nunavut).





The naturally beautiful country does not only possess the world's longest coastline (202,080) and the longest land border (8.890 kilometers between USA and Canada), but also the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian mountain range. The highest point is Mount Logan at 5,959 meters, located within Kluane National Park in Yukon.

__Volcanoes and lakes__ Western Canada has many volcanoes, and is a part of the [|Pacific Ring of Fire]. Canada is also known for its Great Lakes, the largest group of fresh water lakes on Earth, situated around the US-Canada border. The most famous lakes are Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Canada has, by far, more lakes than any other country and holds a large amount of the world's freshwater.

__Niagara Falls__ Niagara Falls is a set of massive waterfalls located on the Niagara River, seperating the U.S. State of New York from the Canadian province of Ontario. Niagara Falls were formed when glaciers receded at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation the last ice age, and water from the newly-formed Great Lakes carved a path through the Niagara Escarpment. The falls are very wide, although not exeptionally high.

__Population__ According to Statistics Canada, 72% of the population (32,2 millions) is concentrated within 150 kilometers of the nation's southern border with the United States, and over 60% live along the Great Lakes. The population density is among the lowest in the world at 2,5 inhabitants per square kilometer, even though 79.7% of the population is situated in urban areas.

__Temperature__ Temperature varies depending on the location, from temperate in south to subarctic in north. At extreme points the temperature can drop to -40 °C in winters, and heat up to 40 °C in summer.

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__Cities__



Toronto is the largest city in Canada, and is the provincial capital of Ontario. The city is located on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million citizens, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America. As Canada's economic capital, Toronto is considered a global city. Its leading economic sectors include finance, business services, telecommunications, media, art, and tourism. Toronto is one of the world's most diverse cities, as about 49 percent of the population were born outside of Canada. Because of the city's low crime rates, clean environment and generally high stadard of living, Toronto is consistently rated as one of the world's best cities to live in.

__The governmental system__

Canada is a constitutional monarchy, a federal state and a democracy with a parliament. The country also is a part of the Commonwealth. With two official languages and two law systems: civil law and common law. Canada’s constitution was originally a British law, //[|British North America Act]// from 1867, and all the way to 1982 all alteration had to be done by the British Parliament. It was in 1982 that the Canadian people got the right to change it themselves; the law is now well known as //[|Constitution Act]//. From the time with French colonization and British govern to the present self- government; Canada has been living under a monarchy. Even though Canada has been a self- govern dominion in the British Empire since 1867 they first got full independence in 1931 at the //Statue of Westminster.// Elizabeth II, Queen of England, is therefore Canada’s Queen and head chief. But she delegates her authority to a Canadian governor-general. In this way Canada is a constitutional monarchy: The Queen is the head chief but she is not steering the country. The Canadian parliamentary system has its roots from England. It has kept traditions from the British parliament and consists of the Queen (governor-general), Senate and House of Commons. The Senate, also called Upper House, has the same pattern as the British House of Lords. It has 104 members that get appointed mostly from the four main-regions: Ontario, Quebec, provinces in west and Atlantic- provinces. It has the same authorities as the House of Commons, with few exceptions. The House of Commons is the most important organ with 301 members, one from each of the 301 election- districts. According Canadian Constitution there has to be chosen a new House of Commons every fifth year. Like in England and USA, the people vote on a member from their own election-district.

__School system__ When Canada became an independent federation in 1867, the provinces got the responsibility for education. This is still the case, and all the 10 provinces have their own laws and ministry of education. Education in Canada is provided, funded and overseen by these local governments, unlike the UK where schools are state funded. In Canada, most public schools do not require school uniforms, while in the UK, this is Mandatory. However, schools in both counties have strict rules about make-up and jewellery. Generally, the school system in Canada is divided into Elementary (Primary School, Public School grades 1 to 8), followed by Secondary (High School grades 9 to 12) and Postsecondary (University, College). This is the same system as the UK and the US use, with some variations. The Mandatory school age varies across Canada, but it's mostly the same as in the UK, or pushed with up to two years.

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__Sources__

__http://www.travelmarket.no/cfml/guide.cfm?COUNTRY_CODE=CA____ http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada____ http://www.gc.ca/main_e.html__ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_geography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_United_Kingdom https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ca.html http://www.canada.com/ http://www.snl.no/article.html?id=485954&search=canada http://www.snl.no/article.html?id=486029&search=canada%20skolesystem And our friend Sara, from Canada

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