Canada is a country in
North America. Its
ten provinces and three territories extend from the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
to the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...
and northward into the
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...
, covering over , making it the world's
second-largest country by total area. Its southern and western
border with the United States, stretching , is the world's longest binational land border. Canada's capital is
Ottawa, and
its three largest metropolitan areas are
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
,
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
, and
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
.
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
have continuously inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years. Beginning in the 16th century,
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
and
French expeditions explored and later settled along the Atlantic coast. As a consequence of
various armed conflicts, France
ceded nearly all of
its colonies in North America in 1763. In 1867, with the union of three
British North America
British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestow ...
n colonies through
Confederation
A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...
, Canada was formed as a
federal
Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to:
Politics
General
*Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies
*Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...
dominion
The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire.
"Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 192 ...
of four provinces. This began an
accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy from the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. This widening autonomy was highlighted by the
Statute of Westminster 1931 and culminated in the
Canada Act 1982
The Canada Act 1982 (1982 c. 11; french: Loi de 1982 sur le Canada) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and one of the enactments which make up the Constitution of Canada. It was enacted at the request of the Senate and House ...
, which severed the vestiges of legal dependence on the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
.
Canada is a
parliamentary democracy
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
and a
constitutional monarchy
A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...
in the
Westminster tradition. The country's
head of government
The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, ...
is the
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
, who holds office by virtue of their ability to
command the confidence of the elected
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
, and is appointed by the
governor general
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy ...
, representing the
monarch of Canada
The monarchy of Canada is Canada's form of government embodied by the Canadian sovereign and head of state. It is at the core of Canada's constitutional Canadian federalism, federal structure and Westminster system, Westminster-style Parliamentar ...
, the
head of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...
. The country is a
Commonwealth realm and is
officially bilingual (English and French) at the federal level. It
ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, education, gender equality and environmental sustainability. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and
multicultural
The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...
nations, the product of
large-scale immigration. Canada's
long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on
its economy and
culture
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...
.
A highly
developed country, Canada has the
24th highest nominal per capita income globally and the
sixteenth-highest ranking on the
Human Development Index
The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistic composite index of life expectancy, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income indicators, wh ...
. Its advanced economy is the
eighth-largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade networks. Canada is part of several major international and intergovernmental institutions or groupings including the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
,
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
, the
G7, the
Group of Ten, the
G20
The G20 or Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigatio ...
, the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation
in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and ...
(WTO), the
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the ...
, the
Arctic Council
The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that addresses issues faced by the Arctic governments and the indigenous people of the Arctic. At present, eight countries exercise sovereignty over the lands within the Arctic Circle ...
, the , the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC ) is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. forum, and the
Organization of American States.
Etymology
While a variety of theories have been postulated for the etymological origins of ''Canada'', the name is now accepted as coming from the
St. Lawrence Iroquoian word , meaning "village" or "settlement". In 1535, Indigenous inhabitants of the present-day
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...
region used the word to direct French explorer
Jacques Cartier to the village of
Stadacona
Stadacona was a 16th-century St. Lawrence Iroquoian village not far from where Quebec City was founded in 1608.
History
French explorer and navigator Jacques Cartier, while travelling and charting the Saint Lawrence River, reached the village o ...
.
Cartier later used the word ''Canada'' to refer not only to that particular village but to the entire area subject to
Donnacona
Chief Donnacona (died 1539 in France) was the chief of the St. Lawrence Iroquois village of Stadacona, located at the present site of Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.
French explorer Jacques Cartier, concluding his second voyage to what is now Can ...
(the chief at Stadacona);
by 1545, European books and maps had begun referring to this small region along the
Saint Lawrence River
The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...
as ''Canada''.
From the 16th to the early 18th century, "
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
" referred to the part of
New France
New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...
that lay along the Saint Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...
and
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...
. These two colonies were collectively named
the Canadas
The Canadas is the collective name for the provinces of Lower Canada and Upper Canada, two historical British colonies in present-day Canada. The two colonies were formed in 1791, when the British Parliament passed the '' Constitutional Act'', ...
until their union as the British
Province of Canada
The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on th ...
in 1841.
Upon
Confederation in 1867, ''Canada'' was adopted as the legal name for the new country at the
London Conference, and the word ''
Dominion
The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire.
"Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 192 ...
'' was conferred as the country's title. By the 1950s, the term
Dominion of Canada was no longer used by the United Kingdom, which considered Canada a "Realm of the Commonwealth".
The government of
Louis St. Laurent ended the practice of using ''Dominion'' in the statutes of Canada in 1951.
The
Canada Act 1982
The Canada Act 1982 (1982 c. 11; french: Loi de 1982 sur le Canada) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and one of the enactments which make up the Constitution of Canada. It was enacted at the request of the Senate and House ...
, which brought the
constitution of Canada
The Constitution of Canada (french: Constitution du Canada) is the supreme law in Canada. It outlines Canada's system of government and the civil and human rights of those who are citizens of Canada and non-citizens in Canada. Its contents a ...
fully under Canadian control, referred only to ''Canada''. Later that year, the name of the national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to
Canada Day.
The term ''Dominion'' was used to distinguish the federal government from the provinces, though after the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
the term ''federal'' had replaced ''dominion''.
History
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples in present-day Canada include the
First Nations
First Nations or first peoples may refer to:
* Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area.
Indigenous groups
*First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including:
**First Natio ...
,
Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
, and
Métis,
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.
The
first inhabitants of North America are generally hypothesized to have migrated from
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...
by way of the
Bering land bridge
Beringia is defined today as the land and maritime area bounded on the west by the Lena River in Russia; on the east by the Mackenzie River in Canada; on the north by 72 degrees north latitude in the Chukchi Sea; and on the south by the tip of ...
and arrived at least 14,000 years ago.
The
Paleo-Indian archeological sites at
Old Crow Flats
Old Crow Flats (''Van Tat'' in the Gwichʼin language) is a wetland complex in northern Yukon, Canada along the Old Crow River. It is north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Beaufort Sea, and is nearly surrounded by mountains.
Site
The site ...
and
Bluefish Caves
Bluefish Caves is an archaeological site in Yukon, Canada, located southwest of the Vuntut Gwichin community of Old Crow, from which a jaw bone of a Yukon horse has been radiocarbon dated to 24,000 years before present (BP). There are three smal ...
are two of the oldest sites of human habitation in Canada.
The
characteristics of Indigenous societies included permanent settlements, agriculture, complex societal hierarchies, and trading networks. Some of these cultures had collapsed by the time European explorers arrived in the late 15th and early 16th centuries and have only been discovered through archeological investigations.
The
Indigenous population
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
at the time of the first European settlements is estimated to have been between 200,000
and two million,
with a figure of 500,000 accepted by Canada's
Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples
The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) was a Canadian royal commission established in 1991 with the aim of investigating the relationship between Indigenous peoples in Canada, the Government of Canada, and Canadian society as a whole. ...
. As a consequence of European colonization, the Indigenous population declined by forty to eighty percent, and several First Nations, such as the
Beothuk
The Beothuk ( or ; also spelled Beothuck) were a group of indigenous people who lived on the island of Newfoundland.
Beginning around AD 1500, the Beothuk culture formed. This appeared to be the most recent cultural manifestation of peoples w ...
, disappeared.
The decline is attributed to several causes, including the
transfer of European diseases, such as
influenza,
measles, and
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
to which they had no natural immunity,
conflicts over the fur trade, conflicts with the colonial authorities and settlers, and the loss of Indigenous lands to settlers and the subsequent collapse of several nations' self-sufficiency.
Although not without conflict,
European Canadians' early interactions with First Nations and Inuit populations were relatively peaceful. First Nations and Métis peoples played a critical part in the development of
European colonies in Canada, particularly for their role in assisting European
coureur des bois and
voyageurs
The voyageurs (; ) were 18th and 19th century French Canadians who engaged in the transporting of furs via canoe during the peak of the North American fur trade. The emblematic meaning of the term applies to places (New France, including th ...
in their explorations of the continent during the
North American fur trade.
The Crown and Indigenous peoples began interactions
during the European colonization period, though the Inuit, in general, had more limited interaction with European settlers. From the late 18th century, European Canadians forced Indigenous peoples to assimilate into a western culture. These attempts reached a climax in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with
forced integration and
relocations. A period of redress is underway, which started with the appointment of the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC; french: Commission de vérité et réconciliation du Canada []) was a truth and reconciliation commission active in Canada from 2008 to 2015, organized by the parties of the Indian Reside ...
by the Government of Canada in 2008.
European colonization
![Nouvelle-France map-en](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Nouvelle-France_map-en.svg)
It is believed that the first European to explore the east coast of Canada was
Norse explorer
Leif Erikson
Leif Erikson, Leiv Eiriksson, or Leif Ericson, ; Modern Icelandic: ; Norwegian: ''Leiv Eiriksson'' also known as Leif the Lucky (), was a Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to have set foot on continental Nort ...
.
In approximately 1000 AD, the Norse built a small short-lived encampment that was occupied sporadically for perhaps 20 years at
L'Anse aux Meadows
L'Anse aux Meadows ( lit. Meadows Cove) is an archaeological site, first excavated in the 1960s, of a Norse settlement dating to approximately 1,000 years ago. The site is located on the northernmost tip of the island of Newfoundland in the ...
on the northern tip of
Newfoundland.
No further European exploration occurred until 1497, when Italian seafarer
John Cabot explored and claimed Canada's
Atlantic coast in the name of King
Henry VII of England
Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor.
Henry's mother, Margaret Beauf ...
.
In 1534, French explorer Jacques Cartier explored the
Gulf of Saint Lawrence
, image = Baie de la Tour.jpg
, alt =
, caption = Gulf of St. Lawrence from Anticosti National Park, Quebec
, image_bathymetry = Golfe Saint-Laurent Depths fr.svg
, alt_bathymetry = Bathymetry ...
where, on July 24, he planted a cross bearing the words "Long Live the King of France" and took possession of the territory New France in the name of
King Francis I. The early 16th century saw European mariners with navigational techniques pioneered by the
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
and
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
establish seasonal whaling and fishing outposts along the Atlantic coast.
In general, early settlements during the
Age of Discovery
The Age of Discovery (or the Age of Exploration), also known as the early modern period, was a period largely overlapping with the Age of Sail, approximately from the 15th century to the 17th century in European history, during which seafarin ...
appear to have been
short-lived due to a combination of the harsh climate, problems with navigating trade routes and competing outputs in Scandinavia.
In 1583, Sir
Humphrey Gilbert
Sir Humphrey Gilbert (c. 1539 – 9 September 1583) was an English adventurer, explorer, member of parliament and soldier who served during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and was a pioneer of the English colonial empire in North America ...
, by the
royal prerogative
The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy, as belonging to the sovereign and which have become widely vested in th ...
of Queen
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...
, founded
St. John's, Newfoundland
St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland.
The city spans and is the easternmost city in North America ...
, as the first North American
English seasonal camp. In 1600, the French established their first seasonal trading post at
Tadoussac
Tadoussac () is a village in Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saguenay and Saint Lawrence rivers. The indigenous Innu call the place ''Totouskak'' (plural for ''totouswk'' or ''totochak'') meaning "bosom", probably in reference to the tw ...
along the Saint Lawrence.
French explorer
Samuel de Champlain arrived in 1603 and established the first permanent year-round European settlements at
Port Royal (in 1605) and Quebec City (in 1608). Among the
colonists of New France, ''
Canadiens
French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fren ...
'' extensively settled the Saint Lawrence River valley and
Acadians
The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the de ...
settled the present-day
Maritimes, while fur traders and
Catholic missionaries
Missionary work of the Catholic Church has often been undertaken outside the geographically defined parishes and dioceses by religious orders who have people and material resources to spare, and some of which specialized in missions. Eventually, p ...
explored the
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...
,
Hudson Bay, and the
Mississippi watershed to
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
. The
Beaver Wars broke out in the mid-17th century over control of the North American fur trade.
The English established additional settlements in
Newfoundland in 1610 along with settlements in the
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th cent ...
to the south.
A series of
four wars erupted in colonial North America between 1689 and 1763; the later wars of the period constituted the North American theatre of the
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (175 ...
. Mainland
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
came under British rule with the 1713
Treaty of Utrecht
The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne ...
, and Canada and most of New France came under British rule in 1763 after the Seven Years' War.
British North America
![Benjamin West 005](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Benjamin_West_005.jpg)
The
Royal Proclamation of 1763
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued by King George III on 7 October 1763. It followed the Treaty of Paris (1763), which formally ended the Seven Years' War and transferred French territory in North America to Great Britain. The Procla ...
established First Nation treaty rights, created the
Province of Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...
out of New France, and annexed
Cape Breton Island to Nova Scotia.
St. John's Island (now
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...
) became a separate colony in 1769. To avert conflict in Quebec, the British Parliament passed the
Quebec Act
The Quebec Act 1774 (french: Acte de Québec), or British North America (Quebec) Act 1774, was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which set procedures of governance in the Province of Quebec. One of the principal components of the Act w ...
1774, expanding Quebec's territory to the Great Lakes and
Ohio Valley
The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...
.
More importantly, the ''Quebec Act'' afforded Quebec special autonomy and rights of self-administration at a time when the Thirteen Colonies were increasingly agitating against British rule. It re-established the French language, Catholic faith, and
French civil law
The Law of France refers to the legal system in the French Republic, which is a civil law legal system primarily based on legal codes and statutes, with case law also playing an important role. The most influential of the French legal codes is ...
there, staving off the growth of an independence movement in contrast to the Thirteen Colonies.
The Proclamation and the Quebec Act in turn angered many residents of the Thirteen Colonies, further fuelling anti-British sentiment in the years prior to the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
.
After the successful American War of Independence, the
1783 Treaty of Paris recognized the independence of the newly formed
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and set the terms of peace, ceding
British North America
British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestow ...
n territories south of the Great Lakes and east of the Mississippi River to the new country. The American war of independence also caused a large out-migration of
Loyalists
Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...
, the settlers who had fought against American independence. Many moved to Canada, particularly Atlantic Canada, where their arrival changed the demographic distribution of the existing territories.
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
was in turn split from Nova Scotia as part of a reorganization of Loyalist settlements in the Maritimes, which led to the incorporation of
Saint John, New Brunswick
Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of K ...
, as Canada's first city.
To accommodate the influx of English-speaking Loyalists in Central Canada, the
''Constitutional Act'' of 1791 divided the province of Canada into French-speaking Lower Canada (later
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
) and English-speaking Upper Canada (later
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
), granting each its own elected legislative assembly.
![Laura Secord warns Fitzgibbons, 1813](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Laura_Secord_warns_Fitzgibbons%2C_1813.jpg)
The Canadas were the main front in the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...
between the United States and the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. Peace came in 1815; no boundaries were changed.
Immigration resumed at a higher level, with over 960,000 arrivals from Britain between 1815 and 1850. New arrivals included refugees escaping the
Great Irish Famine as well as
Gaelic-speaking Scots displaced by the
Highland Clearances. Infectious diseases killed between 25 and 33 percent of Europeans who immigrated to Canada before 1891.
The desire for
responsible government resulted in the abortive
Rebellions of 1837
Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority.
A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...
.
The
Durham Report
The ''Report on the Affairs of British North America'', (1839) commonly known as the ''Durham Report'' or ''Lord Durham's Report'', is an important document in the history of Quebec, Ontario, Canada and the British Empire.
The notable British ...
subsequently recommended responsible government and the assimilation of French Canadians into English culture.
The
Act of Union 1840
The ''British North America Act, 1840'' (3 & 4 Victoria, c.35), also known as the ''Act of Union 1840'', (the ''Act'') was approved by Parliament in July 1840 and proclaimed February 10, 1841, in Montreal. It abolished the legislatures of Lower ...
merged the Canadas into a united Province of Canada and responsible government was established for all provinces of British North America east of Lake Superior by 1855. The signing of the
Oregon Treaty by Britain and the United States in 1846 ended the
Oregon boundary dispute
The Oregon boundary dispute or the Oregon Question was a 19th-century territorial dispute over the political division of the Pacific Northwest of North America between several nations that had competing territorial and commercial aspirations in ...
, extending the border westward along the
49th parallel. This paved the way for British colonies on
Vancouver Island (1849) and in
British Columbia (1858). The Anglo-Russian
Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1825)
The Treaty of Saint Petersburg of 1825 or the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1825, officially the Convention Concerning the Limits of Their Respective Possessions on the Northwest Coast of America and the Navigation of the Pacific Ocean, defined th ...
established the border along the Pacific coast, but, even after the US
Alaska Purchase
The Alaska Purchase (russian: Продажа Аляски, Prodazha Alyaski, Sale of Alaska) was the United States' acquisition of Alaska from the Russian Empire. Alaska was formally transferred to the United States on October 18, 1867, through a ...
of 1867, disputes continued about the exact demarcation of the Alaska–Yukon and Alaska–BC border.
Confederation and expansion
![Canada provinces evolution 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Canada_provinces_evolution_2.gif)
Following several constitutional conferences, the
British North America Act 1867
The ''Constitution Act, 1867'' (french: Loi constitutionnelle de 1867),''The Constitution Act, 1867'', 30 & 31 Victoria (U.K.), c. 3, http://canlii.ca/t/ldsw retrieved on 2019-03-14. originally enacted as the ''British North America Act, 186 ...
officially proclaimed Canadian Confederation on July 1, 1867, initially with four provinces:
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.
Canada assumed control of
Rupert's Land
Rupert's Land (french: Terre de Rupert), or Prince Rupert's Land (french: Terre du Prince Rupert, link=no), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin; this was further extended from Rupert's Land t ...
and the
North-Western Territory to form the
Northwest Territories, where the Métis' grievances ignited the
Red River Rebellion
The Red River Rebellion (french: Rébellion de la rivière Rouge), also known as the Red River Resistance, Red River uprising, or First Riel Rebellion, was the sequence of events that led up to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by ...
and the creation of the province of
Manitoba
, image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg
, map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada
, Label_map = yes
, coordinates =
, capital = Winn ...
in July 1870. British Columbia and Vancouver Island (which
had been united in 1866) joined the confederation in 1871 on the promise of a transcontinental railway extending to Victoria in the province within 10 years, while Prince Edward Island joined in 1873.
In 1898, during the
Klondike Gold Rush in the Northwest Territories, Parliament created the Yukon Territory.
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
and
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...
became provinces in 1905.
Between 1871 and 1896, almost one quarter of the Canadian population emigrated south to the U.S.
To open
the West
West is a cardinal direction or compass point.
West or The West may also refer to:
Geography and locations
Global context
* The Western world
* Western culture and Western civilization in general
* The Western Bloc, countries allied with NATO ...
and encourage European immigration, Parliament approved sponsoring the construction of three transcontinental railways (including the
Canadian Pacific Railway), opening the prairies to settlement with the ''
Dominion Lands Act
The ''Dominion Lands Act'' (long title: ''An Act Respecting the Public Lands of the Dominion'') was an 1872 Canadian law that aimed to encourage the settlement of the Canadian Prairies and to help prevent the area being claimed by the United Sta ...
'', and establishing the
North-West Mounted Police to assert its authority over this territory. This
period of westward expansion and
nation building
Nation-building is constructing or structuring a national identity using the power of the state. Nation-building aims at the unification of the people within the state so that it remains politically stable and viable in the long run. According to ...
resulted in the displacement of many
Indigenous peoples of the Canadian Prairies to "
Indian reserve
In Canada, an Indian reserve (french: réserve indienne) is specified by the '' Indian Act'' as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty,
that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band."
In ...
s",
clearing the way for ethnic European
block settlement
A block settlement (or bloc settlement) is a particular type of land distribution which allows settlers with the same ethnicity to form small colonies. This settlement type was used throughout western Canada between the late 19th and early 20th ...
s. This caused the collapse of the
Plains Bison in western Canada and the introduction of European
cattle farms and wheat fields dominating the land.
The Indigenous peoples saw widespread famine and disease due to the loss of the bison and their traditional hunting lands.
The federal government did provide emergency relief, on condition of the Indigenous peoples moving to the reserves.
During this time, Canada introduced the ''
Indian Act'' extending its control over the First Nations to education, government and legal rights.
Early 20th century
Because Britain still maintained control of Canada's foreign affairs under the British North America Act, 1867, its declaration of war in 1914 automatically brought
Canada into World War I. Volunteers sent to the
Western Front later became part of the
Canadian Corps, which played a substantial role in the
Battle of Vimy Ridge and other major engagements of the war.
Out of approximately 625,000 Canadians who served in World War I, some 60,000 were killed and another 172,000 were wounded. The
Conscription Crisis of 1917 erupted when the
Unionist Cabinet's proposal to augment the military's dwindling number of active members with
conscription was met with vehement objections from French-speaking Quebecers.
The ''Military Service Act'' brought in compulsory military service, though it, coupled with disputes over French language schools outside Quebec, deeply alienated Francophone Canadians and temporarily split the Liberal Party.
In 1919, Canada joined the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
independently of Britain,
and the Statute of Westminster, 1931 affirmed Canada's independence.
The
Great Depression in Canada
The worldwide Great Depression of the early 1930s was a social and economic shock that left millions of Canadians unemployed, hungry and often homeless. Few countries were affected as severely as Canada during what became known as the "Dirty Thirt ...
during the early 1930s saw an economic downturn, leading to hardship across the country. In response to the downturn, the
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in Saskatchewan introduced many elements of a
welfare state
A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equita ...
(as pioneered by
Tommy Douglas
Thomas Clement Douglas (20 October 1904 – 24 February 1986) was a Scottish-born Canadian politician who served as seventh premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961 and Leader of the New Democratic Party from 1961 to 1971. A Baptist min ...
) in the 1940s and 1950s. On the advice of Prime Minister
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A L ...
,
war with Germany was declared effective September 10, 1939, by King
George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of I ...
, seven days after the United Kingdom. The delay underscored Canada's independence.
The first Canadian Army units arrived in Britain in December 1939. In all, over a million Canadians served in the armed forces during World War II and approximately 42,000 were killed and another 55,000 were wounded. Canadian troops played important roles in many key battles of the war, including the failed 1942
Dieppe Raid, the
Allied invasion of Italy
The Allied invasion of Italy was the Allied amphibious landing on mainland Italy that took place from 3 September 1943, during the Italian campaign of World War II. The operation was undertaken by General Sir Harold Alexander's 15th Army ...
, the
Normandy landings
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...
, the
Battle of Normandy
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...
, and the
Battle of the Scheldt
The Battle of the Scheldt in World War II was a series of military operations led by the First Canadian Army, with Polish and British units attached, to open up the shipping route to Antwerp so that its port could be used to supply the Alli ...
in 1944.
Canada provided asylum for the
Dutch monarchy
The monarchy of the Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy. As such, the role and position of the monarch are governed by the Constitution of the Netherlands. Consequently, a large portion of it is devoted to the monarch. Roughly a third of ...
while that country was
occupied
' (Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October ...
and is credited by the Netherlands for major contributions to
its liberation from
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
.
The Canadian economy boomed during the war as its industries manufactured military
materiel
Materiel (; ) refers to supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context.
In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers either to the specif ...
for Canada, Britain,
China, and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
.
Despite another
Conscription Crisis in Quebec in 1944, Canada finished the war with a large army and strong economy.
Contemporary era
The financial crisis of the Great Depression had led the
Dominion of Newfoundland to relinquish responsible government in 1934 and become a
Crown colony ruled by a British governor.
After two
referendums
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
, Newfoundlanders voted to join Canada in 1949 as a province.
Canada's post-war economic growth, combined with the policies of successive Liberal governments, led to the emergence of a new
Canadian identity
Canadian identity refers to the unique culture, characteristics and condition of being Canadian, as well as the many symbols and expressions that set Canada and Canadians apart from other peoples and cultures of the world. Primary influences on th ...
, marked by the adoption of the
Maple Leaf Flag in 1965, the implementation of
official bilingualism (English and French) in 1969, and the institution of
official multiculturalism in 1971.
Socially democratic programs were also instituted, such as
Medicare, the
Canada Pension Plan, and
Canada Student Loans
Government sponsored Student Loans in Canada was designed to help post-secondary students pay for their education in Canada. The federal government funds the Canada Student Loan Program (CSLP) and the provinces may fund their own programs or be int ...
, though provincial governments, particularly Quebec and Alberta, opposed many of these as incursions into their jurisdictions.
![Canadiancharterofrightsandfreedoms](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Canadiancharterofrightsandfreedoms.jpg)
Finally, another series of constitutional conferences resulted in the UK's
Canada Act 1982
The Canada Act 1982 (1982 c. 11; french: Loi de 1982 sur le Canada) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and one of the enactments which make up the Constitution of Canada. It was enacted at the request of the Senate and House ...
, the
patriation
Patriation is the political process that led to full Canadian sovereignty, culminating with the Constitution Act, 1982. The process was necessary because under the Statute of Westminster 1931, with Canada's agreement at the time, the British parl ...
of Canada's constitution from the United Kingdom, concurrent with the creation of the ''
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (french: Charte canadienne des droits et libertés), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part ...
''. Canada had established complete sovereignty as an independent country, although the monarch is retained as
sovereign.
In 1999,
Nunavut became Canada's third territory after a series of negotiations with the federal government.
At the same time, Quebec underwent profound social and economic changes through the
Quiet Revolution
The Quiet Revolution (french: Révolution tranquille) was a period of intense socio-political and socio-cultural change in French Canada which started in Quebec after the election of 1960, characterized by the effective secularization of govern ...
of the 1960s, giving birth to a secular
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
movement.
The radical
Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) ignited the
October Crisis
The October Crisis (french: Crise d'Octobre) refers to a chain of events that started in October 1970 when members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped the provincial Labour Minister Pierre Laporte and British diplomat James Cr ...
with a series of bombings and kidnappings in 1970 and the
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois (; ; PQ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishin ...
was elected in 1976, organizing an
unsuccessful referendum on sovereignty-association in 1980. Attempts to accommodate Quebec nationalism constitutionally through the
Meech Lake Accord
The Meech Lake Accord (french: Accord du lac Meech) was a series of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and all 10 Canadian provincial premiers. It was intended to persuade the gov ...
failed in 1990.
This led to the formation of the
Bloc Québécois in Quebec and the invigoration of the
Reform Party of Canada
The Reform Party of Canada (french: Parti réformiste du Canada) was a right-wing populist and conservative federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada-based protest ...
in the West. A
second referendum followed in 1995, in which sovereignty was rejected by a slimmer margin of 50.6 to 49.4 percent. In 1997, the
Supreme Court ruled
unilateral secession by a province would be unconstitutional and the ''
Clarity Act
The ''Clarity Act'' (french: Loi sur la clarté référendaire) (known as Bill C-20 before it became law) (the act) is legislation passed by the Parliament of Canada that established the conditions under which the Government of Canada would ent ...
'' was passed by parliament, outlining the terms of a negotiated departure from Confederation.
In addition to the issues of Quebec sovereignty, a number of crises shook Canadian society in the late 1980s and early 1990s. These included the explosion of
Air India Flight 182
Air India Flight 182 was an Air India flight operating on the Montreal–London–Delhi–Bombay route. On 23 June 1985, it was operated using Boeing 747-237B registered ''VT-EFO''. It disintegrated in mid-air en route from Montreal to Lond ...
in 1985, the largest mass murder in Canadian history; the
École Polytechnique massacre
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
in 1989, a
university shooting targeting female students; and the
Oka Crisis
The Oka Crisis (french: links=no, Crise d'Oka), also known as the Kanehsatà:ke Resistance (), was a land dispute between a group of Mohawk people and the town of Oka, Quebec, Canada, which began on July 11, 1990, and lasted 78 days until Septe ...
of 1990, the first of a number of violent confrontations between the government and Indigenous groups. Canada also joined the
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...
in 1990 as part of a United States–led coalition force and was active in several peacekeeping missions in the 1990s, including the
UNPROFOR
The United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR; also known by its French acronym FORPRONU: ''Force de Protection des Nations Unies'') was the first United Nations peacekeeping force in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Yugoslav War ...
mission in the
former Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...
. Canada sent
troops to Afghanistan in 2001 but declined to join the United States–led
invasion of Iraq in 2003.
In 2011, Canadian forces participated in the NATO-led intervention into the
Libyan Civil War
Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. The ...
,
and also became involved in battling the
Islamic State
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
insurgency in Iraq in the mid-2010s. The
COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Que ...
began on January 27, 2020, with wide social and economic disruption. In 2021, the remains of
hundreds of Indigenous people were discovered near the former sites of
Canadian Indian residential school
In Canada, the Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by Christian churches. The school sy ...
s. Administered by the
Canadian Catholic Church and funded by the Canadian government from 1828 to 1997, these
boarding schools attempted to assimilate Indigenous children into
Euro-Canadian culture.
Geography
![Canada topo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Canada_topo.jpg)
By total area (including its waters), Canada is the
second-largest country in the world, after
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
.
By land area alone, Canada
ranks fourth, due to having the world's largest area of
fresh water lakes.
Stretching from the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
in the east, along the
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...
to the north, and to the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...
in the west, the country encompasses of territory.
Canada also has vast maritime terrain, with the world's longest coastline of . In addition to sharing the
world's largest land border with the United States—spanning —Canada shares a land border with
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...
(and hence the
Kingdom of Denmark) to the northeast on
Hans Island and a
maritime boundary
A maritime boundary is a conceptual division of the Earth's water surface areas using physiographic or geopolitical criteria. As such, it usually bounds areas of exclusive national rights over mineral and biological resources,VLIZ Maritime Boun ...
with
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
's
overseas collectivity
The French overseas collectivities (''collectivité d'outre-mer'' or ''COM'') are first-order administrative divisions of France, like the French regions, but have a semi-autonomous status. The COMs include some former French overseas colonies ...
of
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Saint Pierre and Miquelon (), officially the Territorial Collectivity of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (french: link=no, Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Pierre et Miquelon ), is a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France in t ...
to the southeast.
Canada is also home to the world's northernmost settlement,
Canadian Forces Station Alert
)
, image_skyline = CFS Alert May 2016.jpg
, image_caption = The station from the south, May 2016
, image_flag =
, image_seal =
, image_shield =
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, pushpin_map = Canada Nunavut
, pushpin_label_position = bottom
, subd ...
, on the northern tip of
Ellesmere Island—latitude 82.5°N—which lies from the North Pole.
Canada can be divided into seven physiographic regions: the
Canadian Shield, the
interior plains
The Interior Plains is a vast physiographic region that spreads across the Laurentian craton of central North America, extending along the east flank of the Rocky Mountains from the Gulf Coast region to the Arctic Beaufort Sea. In Canada, it en ...
, the
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands
Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements
* Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size
* Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent
People
* List of people known as "the Great"
*Artel Great (born ...
, the
Appalachian region, the
Western Cordillera,
Hudson Bay Lowlands
The Hudson Bay Lowlands is a vast wetland located between the Canadian Shield and southern shores of Hudson Bay and James Bay. Most of the area lies within the province of Ontario, with smaller portions reaching into Manitoba and Quebec. Many wid ...
and the
Arctic Archipelago.
Boreal forests
Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, ...
prevail throughout the country, ice is prominent in
northern Arctic regions and through the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...
, and the relatively flat
Canadian Prairies
The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...
in the southwest facilitate productive agriculture.
The Great Lakes feed the
St. Lawrence River
The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...
(in the southeast) where the lowlands host much of Canada's economic output.
Canada has over 2,000,000 lakes—563 of which are larger than —containing much of the world's
fresh water. There are also fresh-water glaciers in the
Canadian Rockies, the
Coast Mountains and the
Arctic Cordillera.
Canada is geologically active, having
many earthquakes and
potentially active volcanoes
Potential generally refers to a currently unrealized ability, in a wide variety of fields from physics to the social sciences.
Mathematics and physics
* Scalar potential, a scalar field whose gradient is a given vector field
* Vector potential ...
, notably
Mount Meager massif
The Mount Meager massif is a group of volcanic peaks in the of the Coast Mountains in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc of western North America, it is located north of Vancouver at the northern end of the P ...
,
Mount Garibaldi
Mount Garibaldi (known as Nch'kaý to the indigenous Squamish people) is a dormant stratovolcano in the Garibaldi Ranges of the Pacific Ranges in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It has a maximum elevation of and rises above the surroun ...
,
Mount Cayley
Mount Cayley is an eroded but potentially active stratovolcano in the Pacific Ranges of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Located north of Squamish and west of Whistler, the volcano resides on the edge of the Powder Mountain Icefield. ...
, and the
Mount Edziza volcanic complex
The Mount Edziza volcanic complex is a large and potentially active north-south trending complex volcano in Stikine Country, northwestern British Columbia, Canada, located southeast of the small community of Telegraph Creek. It occupies the sou ...
.
Climate
![Canada Köppen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Canada_K%C3%B6ppen.svg)
Average winter and summer high
temperatures across Canada vary from region to region. Winters can be harsh in many parts of the country, particularly in the interior and Prairie provinces, which experience a
continental climate, where daily average temperatures are near , but can drop below with severe
wind chills. In non-coastal regions, snow can cover the ground for almost six months of the year, while in parts of the north snow can persist year-round. Coastal British Columbia has a temperate climate, with a mild and rainy winter. On the east and west coasts, average high temperatures are generally in the low 20s °C (70s °F), while between the coasts, the average summer high temperature ranges from , with temperatures in some interior locations occasionally exceeding .
Much of
Northern Canada is covered by ice and
permafrost. The future of the permafrost is uncertain because the Arctic has been warming at three times the global average as a result of
climate change in Canada
Climate change in Canada has had large impacts on the country's environment and landscapes. The number of climate change–related events, such as the 2021 British Columbia Floods and an increasing number of forest fires, has become an increasi ...
. Canada's annual average temperature over land has warmed by , with changes ranging from in various regions, since 1948.
The rate of warming has been higher across the North and in the Prairies.
In the southern regions of Canada,
air pollution from both Canada and the United States—caused by metal smelting, burning coal to power utilities, and vehicle emissions—has resulted in
acid rain, which has severely impacted waterways, forest growth and agricultural productivity in Canada.
Biodiversity
![Terrestrial ecozones and ecoprovinces of Canada, 2017](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Terrestrial_ecozones_and_ecoprovinces_of_Canada%2C_2017.gif)
Canada is divided into
fifteen terrestrial and five marine ecozones.
These ecozones encompass over 80,000 classified species of
Canadian wildlife
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
, with an equal number yet to be formally recognized or discovered.
Although Canada has a low percentage of
endemic species compared to other countries, due to human activities,
invasive species and
environmental issues in the country, there are currently more than
800 species at risk of being lost.
About 65 percent of Canada's resident species are considered "Secure".
Over half of Canada's landscape is intact and relatively free of human development. The
boreal forest of Canada
Boreal may refer to:
Climatology and geography
*Boreal (age), the first climatic phase of the Blytt-Sernander sequence of northern Europe, during the Holocene epoch
*Boreal climate, a climate characterized by long winters and short, cool to mild ...
is considered to be the largest
intact forest
An intact forest landscape (IFL) is an unbroken natural landscape of a forest ecosystem and its habitat–plant community components, in an extant forest zone. An IFL is a natural environment with no signs of significant human activity or habitat f ...
on Earth, with approximately undisturbed by roads, cities or industry.
Since the end of the last
glacial period
A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betwe ...
, Canada has consisted of
eight distinct forest regions, with 42 percent of its land area covered by forests (approximately 8 percent of the world's forested land).
Approximately 12.1 percent of the nation's landmass and freshwater are
conservation areas, including 11.4 percent designated as
protected areas
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
.
[ Approximately 13.8 percent of its territorial waters are conserved, including 8.9 percent designated as protected areas.] Canada's first National Park, Banff National Park established in 1885, spans of mountainous terrain, with many glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...
s and ice field
An ice field (also spelled icefield) is a mass of interconnected valley glaciers (also called mountain glaciers or alpine glaciers) on a mountain mass with protruding rock ridges or summits. They are often found in the colder climates and highe ...
s, dense coniferous forest, and alpine landscapes. Canada's oldest provincial park, Algonquin Provincial Park
Algonquin Provincial Park is a provincial park located between Georgian Bay and the Ottawa River in Ontario, Canada, mostly within the Unorganized South Part of Nipissing District. Established in 1893, it is the oldest provincial park in Can ...
, established in 1893, covers an area of . It is dominated by old-growth forest with over 2,400 lakes and 1,200 kilometres of streams and rivers. Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area is the world's largest freshwater protected area, spanning roughly of lakebed, its overlaying freshwater, and associated shoreline on of islands and mainland. Canada's largest national wildlife region is the Scott Islands Marine National Wildlife Area, which spans and protects critical breeding and nesting habitat for over 40 percent of British Columbia's seabirds
Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same envi ...
. Canada's 18 UNESCO Biosphere Reserves cover a total area of .
Government and politics
Canada is described as a " full democracy", with a tradition of liberalism
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
, and an egalitarian
Egalitarianism (), or equalitarianism, is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds from the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all hu ...
, moderate
Moderate is an ideological category which designates a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion. A moderate is considered someone occupying any mainstream position avoiding extreme views. In American ...
political ideology. An emphasis on social justice
Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...
has been a distinguishing element of Canada's political culture. Peace, order, and good government
In many Commonwealth jurisdictions, the phrase "peace, order, and good government" (POGG) is an expression used in law to express the legitimate objects of legislative powers conferred by statute. The phrase appears in many Imperial Acts of Pa ...
, alongside an Implied Bill of Rights
The Implied Bill of Rights () is a judicial theory in Canadian jurisprudence that recognizes that certain basic principles are underlying the Constitution of Canada.
The concept of an implied bill of rights develops out of Canadian federalism. ...
, are founding principles of the Canadian government.
At the federal level, Canada has been dominated by two relatively centrist
Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to Left-w ...
parties practising "brokerage politics", the centre-left
Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ...
leaning Liberal Party of Canada and the centre-right
Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and ...
leaning Conservative Party of Canada (or its predecessors). Historically, the Liberal Party position themselves at the centre of the Canadian political spectrum, with the Conservative Party positioned on the right and the New Democratic Party occupying the left. Far-right and far-left politics have never been a prominent force in Canadian society. Five parties had representatives elected to the Parliament in the 2021 election—the Liberal Party, who currently form a minority government; the Conservative Party, who are the Official Opposition; the New Democratic Party; the Bloc Québécois; and the Green Party of Canada.
Canada has a parliamentary system
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of th ...
within the context of a constitutional monarchy
A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...
—the monarchy of Canada
The monarchy of Canada is Canada's form of government embodied by the Canadian sovereign and head of state. It is at the core of Canada's constitutional federal structure and Westminster-style parliamentary democracy. The monarchy is the fou ...
being the foundation of the executive, legislative
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government.
Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...
, and judicial
The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
branches. The reign
A reign is the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office of monarch of a nation (e.g., Saudi Arabia, List of Belgian monarchs, Belgium, Co-prince of Andorra, Andorra), of a people (e.g., List of Frankish kings, the Franks, List of ...
ing monarch is , who is also monarch of 14 other Commonwealth countries and each of Canada's 10 provinces. The person who is the Canadian monarch is the same as the British monarch, although the two institutions are separate. The monarch appoints a representative, the governor general
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy ...
, with the advice
Advice (noun) or advise (verb) may refer to:
* Advice (opinion), an opinion or recommendation offered as a guide to action, conduct
* Advice (constitutional law) a frequently binding instruction issued to a constitutional office-holder
* Advice (p ...
of the prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
to carry out most of their federal royal duties in Canada.
While the monarchy is the source of authority in Canada, in practice its position is symbolic. The use of the executive powers is directed by the Cabinet, a committee of ministers of the Crown
Minister of the Crown is a formal constitutional term used in Commonwealth realms to describe a minister of the reigning sovereign or viceroy. The term indicates that the minister serves at His Majesty's pleasure, and advises the sovereign or ...
responsible to the elected House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
and chosen and headed by the prime minister (at present Justin Trudeau
Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...
), the head of government
The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, ...
. The governor general or monarch may, though, in certain crisis situations exercise their power without ministerial advice
Advice (noun) or advise (verb) may refer to:
* Advice (opinion), an opinion or recommendation offered as a guide to action, conduct
* Advice (constitutional law) a frequently binding instruction issued to a constitutional office-holder
* Advice (p ...
. To ensure the stability of government, the governor general will usually appoint as prime minister the individual who is the current leader of the political party that can obtain the confidence of a plurality in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is thus one of the most powerful institutions in government, initiating most legislation for parliamentary approval and selecting for appointment by the Crown, besides the aforementioned, the governor general, lieutenant governors, senators, federal court judges, and heads of Crown corporations
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the government ...
and government agencies. The leader of the party with the second-most seats usually becomes the leader of the Official Opposition and is part of an adversarial parliamentary system intended to keep the government in check.
Each of the 338 members of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
in the House of Commons is elected by simple plurality in an electoral district or riding. General elections in Canada must be called by the governor general, triggered by either the advice of the prime minister or a lost confidence vote
A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...
in the House. The ''Constitution Act, 1982
The ''Constitution Act, 1982'' (french: link=no, Loi constitutionnelle de 1982) is a part of the Constitution of Canada.Formally enacted as Schedule B of the ''Canada Act 1982'', enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Section 60 of t ...
'' 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 105 members of the Senate, whose seats are apportioned on a regional basis, serve until age 75.
Canadian federalism
Canadian federalism () involves the current nature and historical development of the federal system in Canada.
Canada is a federation with eleven components: the national Government of Canada and ten provincial governments. All eleven ...
divides government responsibilities between the federal government and the ten provinces. Provincial legislatures are unicameral
Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one.
Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...
and operate in parliamentary fashion similar to the House of Commons. Canada's three territories also have legislatures, but these are not sovereign and have fewer constitutional responsibilities than the provinces. The territorial legislatures also differ structurally from their provincial counterparts.
The Bank of Canada is the central bank
A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union,
and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central b ...
of the country. The minister of finance
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
and minister of innovation, science and industry
The minister of innovation, science, and industry (french: ministre de l'Innovation, des Sciences et de l'Industrie) is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the economic development and corporate ...
use the Statistics Canada agency for financial planning and economic policy development. The Bank of Canada is the sole authority authorized to issue currency in the form of Canadian bank notes. The bank does not issue Canadian coins
The coins of Canada are produced by the Royal Canadian Mint and denominated in Canadian dollars ($) and the subunit of dollars, cents (¢). An effigy of the reigning monarch always appears on the obverse of all coins. There are standard images wh ...
; they are issued by the Royal Canadian Mint
}) is the mint of Canada and a Crown corporation, operating under the ''Royal Canadian Mint Act''. The shares of the Mint are held in trust for the Crown in right of Canada.
The Mint produces all of Canada's circulation coins, and manufacture ...
.
Law
The Constitution of Canada
The Constitution of Canada (french: Constitution du Canada) is the supreme law in Canada. It outlines Canada's system of government and the civil and human rights of those who are citizens of Canada and non-citizens in Canada. Its contents a ...
is the supreme law of the country and consists of written text and unwritten conventions. The ''Constitution Act, 1867'' (known as the British North America Act, 1867
The ''Constitution Act, 1867'' (french: Loi constitutionnelle de 1867),''The Constitution Act, 1867'', 30 & 31 Victoria (U.K.), c. 3, http://canlii.ca/t/ldsw retrieved on 2019-03-14. originally enacted as the ''British North America Act, 186 ...
prior to 1982), affirmed governance based on parliamentary precedent and divided powers between the federal and provincial governments. The ''Statute of Westminster, 1931'' granted full autonomy, and the ''Constitution Act, 1982'' ended all legislative ties to Britain, as well as adding a constitutional amending formula and the ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms''. The ''Charter'' guarantees basic rights and freedoms that usually cannot be over-ridden by any government—though a notwithstanding clause
Section 33 of the ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' is part of the Constitution of Canada. It is commonly known as the notwithstanding clause (french: clause dérogatoire, links=no or ), sometimes referred to as the override power, and ...
allows Parliament and the provincial legislatures to override certain sections of the ''Charter'' for a period of five years.
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
The chief justice of Canada (french: juge en chef du Canada) is the presiding judge of the nine-member Supreme Court of Canada, the highest judicial body in Canada. As such, the chief justice is the highest-ranking judge of the Canadian court s ...
. The governor general appoints its nine members on the advice of the prime minister and minister of justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
. All judges at the superior and appellate levels are appointed after consultation with non-governmental legal bodies. The federal Cabinet also appoints justices to superior courts in the provincial and territorial jurisdictions.
Common law
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...
prevails everywhere except in Quebec, where civil law predominates. Criminal law is solely a federal responsibility and is uniform throughout Canada. Law enforcement, including criminal courts, is officially a provincial responsibility, conducted by provincial and municipal police forces. In most rural and some urban areas, policing responsibilities are contracted to the federal Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
.
Canadian Aboriginal law
Canadian Aboriginal law is the body of law of Canada that concerns a variety of issues related to Indigenous peoples in Canada. Canadian Aboriginal Law is different from Canadian Indigenous law: In Canada, Indigenous Law refers to the legal trad ...
provides certain constitutionally recognized rights to land and traditional practices for Indigenous groups in Canada. Various treaties and case laws were established to mediate relations between Europeans and many Indigenous peoples. Most notably, a series of eleven treaties known as the Numbered Treaties
The Numbered Treaties (or Post-Confederation Treaties) are a series of eleven treaties signed between the First Nations, one of three groups of Indigenous peoples in Canada, and the reigning monarch of Canada (Victoria, Edward VII or George V) ...
were signed between the Indigenous peoples and the reigning monarch of Canada between 1871 and 1921. These treaties are agreements between the Canadian Crown-in-Council with the duty to consult and accommodate In Canada, the duty to consult and accommodate with Aboriginal peoples arises when the Crown contemplates actions or decisions that may affect Aboriginal or Treaty rights. This duty arises most often in the context of natural resource extraction suc ...
. The role of Aboriginal law and the rights they support were reaffirmed by section 35 of the ''Constitution Act, 1982''. These rights may include provision of services, such as health care through the Indian Health Transfer Policy, and exemption from taxation.
Foreign relations and military
Canada is recognized as a middle power
In international relations, a middle power is a sovereign state that is not a great power nor a superpower, but still has large or moderate influence and international recognition.
The concept of the "middle power" dates back to the origin ...
for its role in international affairs with a tendency to pursue multilateral solutions. Canada's foreign policy based on international peacekeeping and security is carried out through coalitions and international organizations, and through the work of numerous federal institutions. Canada's peacekeeping role during the 20th century has played a major role in its global image. The strategy of the Canadian government's foreign aid policy reflects an emphasis to meet the Millennium Development Goals
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 that had been established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millenn ...
, while also providing assistance in response to foreign humanitarian crises.
Canada was a founding member of the United Nations and has membership in the World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation
in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and ...
, the G20
The G20 or Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigatio ...
and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Canada is also 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
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a multilateral treaty that commits nations to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, fr ...
in 1976. Canada joined the Organization of American States (OAS) 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
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC ) is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. forum (APEC).
Canada and the United States share the world's longest undefended border, co-operate on military campaigns and exercises, and are each other's largest trading partner. Canada nevertheless has an independent foreign policy. For example, it maintains full relations with Cuba and declined to participate in the 2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
.
Canada maintains historic ties to the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
and to other former British and French colonies through Canada's membership in the Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the ...
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.
Canada's strong attachment to the British Empire and Commonwealth led to major participation in British military efforts in the Second Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...
(1899–1902), World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). Since then, Canada has been an advocate for multilateralism, making efforts to resolve global issues in collaboration with other nations. During the Cold War, Canada was a major contributor to UN forces in the Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
and founded the North American Aerospace Defense Command
North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and protection ...
(NORAD) in cooperation with the United States to defend against potential aerial attacks from the Soviet Union.
During the Suez Crisis of 1956, future prime minister Lester B. Pearson
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian scholar, statesman, diplomat, and politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968.
Born in Newtonbrook, Ontario (now part of ...
eased tensions by proposing the inception of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force
Peacekeeping by the United Nations is a role held by the Department of Peace Operations as an "instrument developed by the organization as a way to help countries torn by conflict to create the conditions for lasting peace". It is distinguished ...
, for which he was awarded the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...
. As this was the first UN peacekeeping mission, Pearson is often credited as the inventor of the concept. 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
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
, 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
' ps, کمک او همکاري '
, allies = Afghanistan
, opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda
, commander1 =
, commander1_label = Commander
, commander2 =
, commander2_label =
, commander3 =
, command ...
. In August 2007, Canada's territorial claims in the Arctic
The Arctic consists of land, internal waters, territorial seas, exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and international waters above the Arctic Circle (66 degrees 33 minutes North latitude). All land, internal waters, territorial seas and EEZs in the ...
were challenged after a Russian underwater expedition to the North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...
; Canada has considered that area to be sovereign territory since 1925.
The unified Canadian Forces
}
The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Forc ...
(CF) comprise the Royal Canadian Navy
The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...
, Canadian Army
The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also res ...
, and Royal Canadian Air Force
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...
. The nation employs a professional, volunteer force of approximately 68,000 active personnel and 27,000 reserve personnel, increasing to 71,500 and 30,000 respectively under "Strong, Secure, Engaged" with a sub-component of approximately 5,000 Canadian Rangers
, colors =Red and green
, march =
, mascot =
, battles = Second World WarCold War
, anniversaries =
, notable_commanders =
, identification_symbol_2_label =
, current_commander = Lieutenant-General Jean-Marc Lanthier, Commander of th ...
. In 2021, Canada's military expenditure totalled approximately $26.4 billion, or around 1.3 percent of the country's gross domestic product
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is oft ...
(GDP). Canada's total military expenditure is expected to reach $32.7 billion by 2027. Canada's military currently has over 3000 personnel deployed overseas in multiple operations, such as Operation Snowgoose in Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...
, Operation Unifier
Operation UNIFIER is the Canadian Armed Forces mission to bolster the capabilities of the Security Forces of Ukraine through the provision of critical military training. It was stood up in response to requests from the Government of Ukraine in li ...
supporting Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
, Operation Caribbe
Operation Caribbe is the Canadian Armed Forces contribution to the elimination of illegal trafficking in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean by organized crime. The operation began in 2006 and its mandate has been altered twice since ...
in the Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...
, and Operation Impact
On 3 October 2014, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that he would put forth a motion to send forces to participate in the coalition for military intervention against ISIL by deploying combat aircraft. On 7 October 2014, the Hous ...
a coalition for the military intervention against ISIL
In response to rapid territorial gains made by the so-called Islamic State during the first half of 2014, and its universally condemned executions, reported human rights abuses and the fear of further spillovers of the Syrian Civil War, many s ...
.
Provinces and territories
Canada is a federation composed of ten federated states
A federated state (which may also be referred to as a state, a province, a region, a canton, a land, a governorate, an oblast, an emirate or a country) is a territorial and constitutional community forming part of a federation. Such states dif ...
called provinces and three federal territories. In turn, these may be grouped into four main regions: Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada ...
, Central Canada, Atlantic Canada, and Northern Canada (''Eastern Canada
Eastern Canada (also the Eastern provinces or the East) is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of the Hudson Bay/ Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces (from east to west): Newfoundland and Labrado ...
'' refers to Central Canada and Atlantic Canada together). Provinces and territories have responsibility for social programs such as health care, education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
, and welfare
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...
, as well as administration of justice (but not criminal law). Together, the provinces collect more revenue than the federal government, a rarity among other federations in the world. Using its spending powers, the federal government can initiate national policies in provincial areas such as health and child care; the provinces can opt out of these cost-share programs, but rarely do so in practice. Equalization payments Equalization payments are cash payments made in some federal systems of government from the federal government to subnational governments with the objective of offsetting differences in available revenue or in the cost of providing services. Many fe ...
are made by the federal government to ensure reasonably uniform standards of services and taxation are kept between the richer and poorer provinces.
The major difference between a Canadian province and a territory is that provinces receive their power and authority from the ''Constitution Act, 1867'', whereas territorial governments have powers delegated to them by the Parliament of Canada. The powers flowing from the ''Constitution Act, 1867'' are divided between the federal government and the provincial governments to exercise exclusively. As the division of powers between the federal government and the provinces is defined in the constitution, any changes require a constitutional amendment. The territories being creatures of the federal government, changes to their role and division of powers may be performed unilaterally by the Parliament of Canada.
Economy
Canada has a highly developed mixed-market economy, with the world's eighth-largest economy , and a nominal GDP
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a money, monetary Measurement in economics, measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjec ...
of approximately US$2.221 trillion. It is one of the least corrupt countries in the world and is one of the world's largest trading nation
A trading nation (also known as a trade-dependent economy, or an export-oriented economy) is a country where international trade makes up a large percentage of its economy.
Smaller nations (by population) tend to be more trade-dependent than larg ...
s, with a highly globalized
Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...
economy. Canada's economy ranks above the U.S. and most western European nations on The Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presiden ...
's Index of Economic Freedom and experiences a relatively low level of income disparity
There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality measured using the distribution of wealth (the amount of we ...
. The country's average household disposable income
Disposable income is total personal income minus current income taxes. In national accounts definitions, personal income minus personal current taxes equals disposable personal income. Subtracting personal outlays (which includes the major ...
per capita is "well above" the OECD average. The Toronto Stock Exchange
The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX; french: Bourse de Toronto) is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in the ...
is the ninth-largest stock exchange in the world by market capitalization, listing over 1,500 companies with a combined market capitalization of over US$2 trillion.
In 2021, Canadian trade in goods and services reached $2.016 trillion.[ Canada's exports totalled over $637 billion, while its imported goods were worth over $631 billion, of which approximately $391 billion originated from the United States.][PDF version]
/ref> In 2018, Canada had a trade deficit
The balance of trade, commercial balance, or net exports (sometimes symbolized as NX), is the difference between the monetary value of a nation's exports and imports over a certain time period. Sometimes a distinction is made between a balance ...
in goods of $22 billion and a trade deficit in services of $25 billion.[
Since the early 20th century, the growth of Canada's manufacturing, mining, and service sectors has transformed the nation from a largely rural economy to an urbanized, industrial one.] Like many other developed countries, the Canadian economy is dominated by the service industry
The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...
, which employs about three-quarters of the country's workforce. Among developed countries, Canada has an unusually important primary sector
The primary sector of the economy includes any Industry (economics), industry involved in the extraction and production of raw materials, such as farming, logging, fishing, forestry and mining.
The primary sector tends to make up a larger portio ...
, of which the forestry
Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...
and petroleum industries are the most prominent components.
Canada's economic integration with the United States has increased significantly since World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. The Automotive Products Trade Agreement of 1965 opened Canada's borders to trade in the automobile manufacturing industry. In the 1970s, concerns over energy self-sufficiency and foreign ownership in the manufacturing sectors prompted Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's Liberal government to enact the National Energy Program
The National Energy Program (french: Programme énergétique national, NEP) was an energy policy of the Canadian federal government from 1980 to 1985. Created under the Liberal government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau by Energy Minister Marc ...
(NEP) and the Foreign Investment Review Agency (FIRA). In the 1980s, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservatives abolished the NEP and changed the name of FIRA to Invest in Canada, Investment Canada to encourage foreign investment. The Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement (FTA) of 1988 eliminated tariffs between the two countries, while the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) expanded the free-trade zone to include Mexico in 1994 (later replaced by the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement). 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. Atlantic Canada possesses vast Offshore drilling, offshore deposits of natural gas, and Alberta also hosts large oil and gas resources. The vast Athabasca oil sands and other oil reserves give Canada 13 percent of global oil reserves, comprising the world's third-largest share after Oil reserves in Venezuela, Venezuela and Oil reserves in Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia. 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. The country is a leading exporter of zinc, uranium, gold, nickel, Platinum group, platinoids, aluminum, steel, iron ore, coking coal, lead, copper, molybdenum, cobalt, and cadmium. Many towns in northern Canada, where agriculture is difficult, are sustained by nearby mines or sources of timber. Canada also has a sizeable manufacturing sector centred in southern Ontario and Quebec, with automobiles and aeronautics representing particularly important industries.
Science and technology
In 2019, Canada spent approximately $40.3 billion on domestic research and development, of which over $7 billion was provided by the federal and provincial governments. , the country has produced fifteen List of Nobel laureates by country, Nobel laureates in Nobel Prize in Physics, physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, chemistry, and Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, medicine, and was ranked fourth worldwide for scientific research quality in a major 2012 survey of international scientists. It is furthermore home to the headquarters of a number of global technology firms. Canada List of countries by number of Internet users, has one of the highest levels of Internet access in the world, with over 33 million users, equivalent to around 94 percent of its total 2014 population. Canada was ranked 15th in the Global Innovation Index in 2022.
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. Other major Canadian scientific contributions include the artificial cardiac pacemaker, mapping the visual cortex, the development of the electron microscope, plate tectonics, deep learning, multi-touch technology and the identification of the first black hole, Cygnus X-1. 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.[
The Canadian Space Agency operates a highly active space program, conducting deep-space, planetary, and aviation research, and developing rockets and satellites. Canada was the third country to design and construct a satellite after the Soviet space program, Soviet Union and the United States, with the 1962 Alouette 1 launch.] Canada is a participant in the International Space Station (ISS), and is a pioneer in space robotics, having constructed the Canadarm, Canadarm2 and Dextre robotic manipulators for the ISS and NASA's Space Shuttle. Since the 1960s, Canada's aerospace industry has designed and built numerous marques of satellite, including Radarsat-1 and Radarsat-2, 2, ISIS (satellite), ISIS and MOST (spacecraft), MOST. Canada has also produced one of the world's most successful and widely used sounding rockets, the Black Brant (rocket), Black Brant; over 1,000 Black Brants have been launched since the rocket's introduction in 1961.
Demographics
The 2021 Canadian census enumerated a Population of Canada by year, total population of 36,991,981, an increase of around 5.2 percent over the 2016 figure. The main drivers of population growth are Immigration to Canada, immigration and, to a lesser extent, natural growth. Canada has one of the highest per-capita immigration rates in the world, driven mainly by Economic impact of immigration to Canada, economic policy and also Immigration categories (Canada), family reunification. A record number of 405,000 immigrants were admitted to Canada in 2021. New immigrants settle mostly in List of the largest population centres in Canada, major urban areas in the country, such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Canada also accepts large numbers of refugees, accounting for over 10 percent of annual global Third country resettlement, refugee resettlements; it resettled more than 28,000 in 2018.
Canada's population density, at , is among the lowest in the world.[ Canada spans latitudinally from the 83rd parallel north to the 41st parallel north, and approximately 95 percent of the population is found south of the 55th parallel north.] About four-fifths of the population lives within of the border with the contiguous United States. The most densely populated part of the country, accounting for nearly 50 percent, is the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor in Southern Quebec and Southern Ontario along the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River.
The majority of Canadians (81.1 percent) live in family households, 12.1 percent report living alone, and those living with other relatives or unrelated persons reported at 6.8 percent. Fifty-one percent of households are couples with or without children, 8.7% are single-parent households, 2.9% are multigenerational households, and 29.3% are single-person households.[
]
Health
Healthcare in Canada is delivered through the provincial and territorial systems of publicly funded health care, informally called Medicare. It is guided by the provisions of the ''Canada Health Act'' of 1984 and is Universal health care, universal. Universal access to publicly funded health services "is often considered by Canadians as a fundamental value that ensures national health care insurance for everyone wherever they live in the country." Around 30 percent of Canadians' healthcare is paid for through the private sector. This mostly pays for services not covered or partially covered by Medicare, such as prescription drugs, dentistry and optometry. Approximately 65 to 75 percent of Canadians have some form of supplementary health insurance related to the aforementioned reasons; many receive it through their employers or access secondary social service programs related to extended coverage for families receiving social assistance or vulnerable demographics, such as seniors, minors, and those with disabilities.
In common with many other developed countries, Canada is experiencing an increase in healthcare expenditures due to a Demographic transition, demographic shift toward an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age. In 2006, the average age in Canada was 39.5 years; it rose to 42.4 years by 2018[ before falling slightly to 41.9 in 2021.][ Life expectancy is 81.1 years. A 2016 report by the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, chief public health officer found that 88 percent of Canadians, one of the highest proportions of the population among G7 countries, indicated that they "had good or very good health". Eighty percent of Canadian adults self-report having at least one major risk factor for chronic disease: smoking, physical inactivity, unhealthy eating or excessive alcohol use.] Canada has one of the highest rates of adult obesity among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, contributing to approximately 2.7 million cases of diabetes (types 1 and 2 combined). Four chronic diseases—cancer (leading cause of death), cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases and diabetes—account for 65 percent of deaths in Canada.
In 2021, the Canadian Institute for Health Information reported that healthcare spending reached $308billion, or 12.7 percent of Canada's GDP for that year. Canada's per-capita spending on health expenditures ranked 4th among List of countries by total health expenditure per capita, health-care systems in the OECD. Canada has performed close to, or above the average on the majority of OECD health indicators since the early 2000s. Although Canada consistently ranks above the average on OECD indicators for wait-times and access to care, with average scores for quality of care and use of resources. The Commonwealth Fund, Commonwealth Fund's 2021 report comparing the healthcare systems of the 11 most developed countries ranked Canada second-to-last. Identified weaknesses were comparatively higher infant mortality rate, the prevalence of chronic conditions, long wait times, poor availability of after-hours care, and a lack of prescription drugs and dental coverage. An increasing problem in Canada's health system is a lack of healthcare professionals.
Education
Education in Canada is for the most part provided State school, publicly, funded and overseen by Government of Canada, federal, Provinces and territories of Canada, provincial, and local governments. Education is within provincial jurisdiction and the curriculum is overseen by the province. Education in Canada is generally divided into primary education, followed by secondary education and post-secondary. Education in both English and French is available in most places across Canada. Canada has a large number of universities, almost all of which are publicly funded. Established in 1663, Université Laval is the oldest Higher education in Canada, post-secondary institution in Canada. The largest university is the University of Toronto with over 85,000 students. Four universities are regularly ranked among the top 100 world-wide, namely University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, McGill University and McMaster University, with a total of Rankings of universities in Canada, 18 universities ranked in the top 500 worldwide.
According to a 2019 report by the OECD, Canada is one of the most educated countries in the world; the country ranks first worldwide in the number of adults having tertiary education, with over 56 percent of Canadian adults having attained at least an undergraduate college or university degree. Canada spends about 5.3 percent of its GDP on education. The country invests heavily in tertiary education (more than US$20,000 per student). , 89 percent of adults aged 25 to 64 have earned the equivalent of a high-school degree, compared to an OECD average of 75 percent.
The Compulsory education, mandatory education age ranges between 5–7 to 16–18 years, contributing to an adult literacy rate of 99 percent. Just over 60,000 children are Homeschooling in Canada, homeschooled in the country as of 2016. The Programme for International Student Assessment indicates Canadian students perform well above the OECD average, particularly in mathematics, science, and reading, ranking the overall knowledge and skills of Canadian 15-year-olds as the sixth-best in the world, although these scores have been declining in recent years. Canada is a well-performing OECD country in reading literacy, mathematics, and science with the average student scoring 523.7, compared with the OECD average of 493 in 2015.
Ethnicity
According to the 2021 Canadian census, over 450 "Ethnic origins of people in Canada, ethnic or cultural origins" were self-reported by Canadians. The major Panethnicity, panethnic groups chosen were; Ethnic groups in Europe, European (), North American (), Ethnic groups in Asia, Asian (), Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous (), List of ethnic groups of Africa, African (), Latin America, Latin, Central and South American (), Caribbean people, Caribbean (), Oceanian people, Oceanian (), and Other (). Statistics Canada reports that 35.5% of the population reported multiple ethnic origins, thus the overall total is greater than 100%.
The country's ten largest self-reported specific ethnic or cultural origins in 2021 were Canadian (accounting for 15.6 percent of the population), followed by English Canadians, English (14.7 percent), Irish Canadians, Irish (12.1 percent), Scottish Canadians, Scottish (12.1 percent), French Canadians, French (11.0 percent), German Canadians, German (8.1 percent), Chinese Canadians, Chinese (4.7 percent), Italian Canadians, Italian (4.3 percent), Indo-Canadians, Indian (3.7 percent), and Ukrainian Canadians, Ukrainian (3.5 percent).
Of the 36.3 million people enumerated in 2021 approximately 25.4 million reported being "White people, white", representing 69.8 percent of the population. The indigenous population representing 5 percent or 1.8 million individuals, grew by 9.4 percent compared to the non-Indigenous population, which grew by 5.3 percent from 2016 to 2021. One out of every four Canadians or 26.5 percent of the population belonged to a non-White and non-Indigenous visible minority, the largest of which in 2021 were South Asian Canadians, South Asian (2.6 million people; 7.1 percent), Chinese (1.7 million; 4.7 percent) and Black Canadians, Black (1.5 million; 4.3 percent).
Between 2011 and 2016, the visible minority population rose by 18.4 percent. In 1961, less than two percent of Canada's population (about 300,000 people) were members of visible minority groups. The 2021 Census indicated that
8.3 million people, or almost one-quarter (23.0 percent) of the population reported themselves as being or having been a Permanent residency in Canada, landed immigrant or permanent resident in Canada—above the 1921 Canadian Census, 1921 Census previous record of 22.3 percent. In 2021 India, China, and the Philippines were the top three countries of origin for immigrants moving to Canada.
Languages
A multitude of languages are used by Canadians, with Canadian English, English and Canadian French, French (the official languages) being the First language, mother tongues of approximately 54 percent and 19 percent of Canadians, respectively. As of the 2021 Census, just over 7.8 million Canadians listed a non-official language as their Mother-tongue, mother tongue. Some of the most common non-official first languages include Mandarin Chinese, Mandarin (679,255 first-language speakers), Punjabi language, Punjabi (666,585), Cantonese (553,380), Spanish (538,870), Arabic (508,410), Tagalog language, Tagalog (461,150), Italian (319,505), and German (272,865). Official bilingualism in Canada, Canada's federal government practices official bilingualism, which is applied by the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, commissioner of official languages in consonance with Section 16 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, section 16 of the ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' and the federal ''Official Languages Act (Canada), Official Languages Act''. English and French have equal status in federal courts, Parliament, and in all federal institutions. Citizens have the right, where there is sufficient demand, to receive federal government services in either English or French and official-Minority language, language minorities are guaranteed their own schools in all provinces and territories.
The 1977 ''Charter of the French Language'' established French as the official language of Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
. Although more than 82 percent of French-speaking Canadians live in Quebec, there are substantial Francophone populations in Demographics of New Brunswick, New Brunswick, Franco-Albertans, Alberta, and Franco-Manitoban, Manitoba; Franco-Ontarian, Ontario has the largest French-speaking population outside Quebec. New Brunswick, the only officially bilingual province, has a French-speaking Acadian minority constituting 33 percent of the population. There are also clusters of Acadians in southwestern Nova Scotia, on Cape Breton Island, and through central and western Prince Edward Island.
Other provinces have no official languages as such, but French is used as a language of instruction, in courts, and for 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. There are 11 Languages of Canada, Indigenous language groups, composed of more than 65 distinct languages and dialects. Several Indigenous languages have official status in the Northwest Territories. Inuktitut is the majority language in Nunavut, and is one of three official languages in the territory.
Additionally, Canada is home to many sign languages, some of which are Indigenous. American Sign Language (ASL) is spoken across the country due to the prevalence of ASL in primary and secondary schools. Due to its historical relation to the francophone culture, Quebec Sign Language (LSQ) is spoken primarily in Quebec, although there are sizeable Francophone communities in New Brunswick, Ontario and Manitoba.
Religion
Canada is religiously diverse, encompassing a wide range of beliefs and customs. Although the Constitution of Canada
The Constitution of Canada (french: Constitution du Canada) is the supreme law in Canada. It outlines Canada's system of government and the civil and human rights of those who are citizens of Canada and non-citizens in Canada. Its contents a ...
refers to God and the Monarchy of Canada, monarch carries the title of "Fidei defensor, Defender of the Faith", 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.
The practice of religion is generally considered a private matter throughout society and the state. With Christianity in decline after having once been central and integral to Canadian culture and daily life, Canada has become a Postchristianity, post-Christian, secularity, secular state. The majority of Canadians consider Importance of religion by country, religion to be unimportant in their daily lives, but still believe in God.
According to the 2021 census, Christianity in Canada, Christianity is the largest religion in Canada, with Roman Catholics having the most adherents. Christians, representing 53.3% of the population in 2021, are followed by people having Irreligion in Canada, irreligion/no religion at 34.6%. Other faiths include Islam in Canada, Islam (4.9%), Hinduism in Canada, Hinduism (2.3%), Sikhism in Canada, Sikhism (2.1%), Buddhism in Canada, Buddhism (1.0%), Judaism in Canada, Judaism (0.9%), and Mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous spirituality (0.2%). Rates of religious adherence are steadily decreasing. Canada has the Sikhism by country, second-largest national Sikh population, behind Sikhism in India, India.
Culture
Canada's culture draws influences from its broad range of constituent nationalities, and policies that promote a "just society" are constitutionally protected. Canada has placed emphasis on equality and inclusiveness for all its people. Multiculturalism in Canada, The official state policy of multiculturalism is often cited as one of Canada's significant accomplishments, and a key distinguishing element of Canadian identity. In Quebec, cultural identity is strong, and there is a Culture of Quebec, French Canadian culture that is distinct from English Canadian culture. As a whole, Canada is in theory a cultural mosaic of regional ethnic subcultures.
Canada's approach to governance emphasizing multiculturalism, which is based on selective Economic migrant, immigration, social integration, and Dissent, suppression of far-right politics, has wide public support. Government policies such as publicly funded health care, Income taxes in Canada, higher taxation to redistribute wealth, the Capital punishment in Canada, outlawing of capital punishment, strong efforts to Poverty in Canada, eliminate poverty, Gun politics in Canada, strict gun control, a social liberal attitude toward Feminism in Canada, women's rights (like Abortion in Canada, pregnancy termination) and LGBT rights in Canada, LGBTQ rights, legalized Euthanasia in Canada, euthanasia and Cannabis in Canada, cannabis use are indicators of Canada's political and Canadian values, cultural values. Canadians also identify with the country's foreign aid policies, peacekeeping roles, the National Parks of Canada, National park system and the ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms''.
Historically, Canada has been influenced by Culture of the United Kingdom, British, French culture, French, and Indigenous cultures and traditions. Through their language, Native American art, art and First Nations music, music, Indigenous peoples continue to influence the Canadian identity. During the 20th century, Canadians with African, Caribbean and Asian nationalities have added to the Canadian identity and its culture. Canadian humour is an integral part of the Canadian identity and is reflected in its Canadian folklore, folklore, literature, music, art, and media. The primary characteristics of Canadian humour are irony, parody, and satire.
Symbols
Themes of nature, pioneers, trappers, and traders played an important part in the early development of Canadian symbolism. Modern symbols emphasize the country's geography, cold climate, lifestyles and the Canadianization of traditional European and Indigenous symbols. The use of the maple leaf as a Canadian symbol dates to the early 18th century. The maple leaf is depicted on Canada's Flag of Canada, current and Canadian Red Ensign, previous flags, and on the Arms of Canada. Canada's official tartan, known as the "Regional tartans of Canada, maple leaf tartan", has four colours that reflect the colours of the maple leaf as it changes through the seasons—green in the Spring (season), spring, gold in the early autumn, red at the first frost, and brown after falling. 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.
Other prominent symbols include the national motto "" ("From Sea to Sea"), the sports of ice hockey and lacrosse, the beaver, Canada goose, common loon, Canadian horse, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Rockies, and more recently the totem pole and Inuksuk. Material items such as Canadian beer, maple syrup, tuques, canoes, nanaimo bars, butter tarts and the Quebec dish of poutine are defined as uniquely Canadian. Canadian coins feature many of these symbols: the loon on the Loonie, $1 coin, the Arms of Canada on the 50-cent piece (Canadian coin), 50¢ piece, the beaver on the Nickel (Canadian coin), nickel. The penny (Canadian coin), penny, removed from circulation in 2013, featured the maple leaf. An image of the previous monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, appears on Canadian dollar, $20 bank notes, and on the obverse of all current Canadian coins.
Literature
Canadian literature is often divided into French- and English-language literatures, which are rooted in the literary traditions of France and Britain, respectively. The earliest Canadian narratives were of travel and exploration. This progressed into three major themes that can be found within historical Canadian literature: nature, frontier life, Canada's position within the world, all three of which tie into the garrison mentality. In recent decades, Canada's literature has been strongly influenced by immigrants from around the world. Since the 1980s, Canada's ethnic and cultural diversity has been openly reflected in its literature. By the 1990s, Canadian literature was viewed as some of the world's best.
Numerous List of Canadian writers, Canadian authors have accumulated international literary awards, including novelist, poet, and literary critic Margaret Atwood, who received two Booker Prizes; Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel laureate Alice Munro, who has been called the best living writer of short stories in English; and Booker Prize recipient Michael Ondaatje, who wrote the novel ''The English Patient'', which was adapted as a The English Patient (film), film of the same name that won the Academy Award for Best Picture. L. M. Montgomery produced a series of children's novels beginning in 1908 with ''Anne of Green Gables''.
Media
Canada's media is Press Freedom Index, highly autonomous, Censorship by country, uncensored, Multicultural media in Canada, diverse and very regionalized. The ''Broadcasting Act (1991), Broadcasting Act'' declares "the system should serve to safeguard, enrich and strengthen the cultural, political, social and economic fabric of Canada". Canada has a well-developed media sector, but its cultural output—particularly in Cinema of Canada, English films, Television in Canada, television shows, and List of Canadian magazines, magazines—is often overshadowed by imports from the United States. As a result, the preservation of a distinctly Canadian culture is supported by federal government programs, laws, and institutions such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).
Mass media in Canada, Canadian mass media, both Newspapers of Canada, print and Canadian online media, digital and in both official languages, is largely dominated by a "Media ownership in Canada, handful of corporations". The largest of these corporations is the country's national public broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which also plays a significant role in producing domestic cultural content, operating CBC Radio, its own radio and CBC Television, TV networks in both English and French. In addition to the CBC, some provincial governments offer their own public educational TV broadcast services as well, such as TVOntario and Télé-Québec.
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. In an effort to reduce the amount of foreign-made media, government interventions in television broadcasting can include both regulation of content and public financing. Taxation in Canada, Canadian tax laws limit foreign competition in magazine advertising.
Visual arts
Art in Canada is marked by thousands of years of habitation by its indigenous peoples. Historically, the Catholic Church was the primary patron of art in New France and early Canada, especially Quebec, and in later times, artists have combined British, French, Indigenous and American artistic traditions, at times embracing European styles while working to promote nationalism. The nature of Canadian art reflects these diverse origins, as artists have taken their traditions and adapted these influences to reflect the reality of their lives in Canada.
The Canadian government has played a role in the development of Canadian culture through the department of Canadian Heritage, by giving grants to art galleries, as well as establishing and funding art schools and colleges across the country, and through the Canada Council for the Arts (established in 1957), the national public arts funder, helping artists, art galleries and periodicals, and thus contributing to the development of Canada's cultural works. Since the 1950s, works of Inuit art have been given as gifts to foreign dignitaries by the Canadian government.
Canadian visual art has been dominated by figures such as painter Tom Thomson and by the Group of Seven (artists), Group of Seven. The Group of Seven were painters with a nationalistic and idealistic focus, who first exhibited their distinctive works in May 1920. Though referred to as having seven members, five artists—Lawren Harris, A. Y. Jackson, Arthur Lismer, J. E. H. MacDonald, and Frederick Varley—were responsible for articulating the group's ideas. They were joined briefly by Frank Johnston (artist), Frank Johnston and by commercial artist Franklin Carmichael. A. J. Casson became part of the group in 1926. Associated with the group was another prominent Canadian artist, Emily Carr, known for her landscapes and portrayals of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast.
Music
Canadian music reflects a Music of Canadian cultures, variety of regional scenes. Canada has developed a vast music infrastructure that includes church halls, Chamber music, chamber halls, Music school, conservatories, academies, performing arts center, performing arts centres, record company, record companies, radio stations and television music video channels. Government support programs, such as the Canada Music Fund, assist a wide range of musicians and entrepreneurs who create, produce and market original and diverse Canadian music. The Canadian music industry is the sixth-largest in the world, producing internationally renowned List of Canadian composers, composers, List of Canadian musicians, musicians and List of bands from Canada, ensembles. Music broadcasting in the country is regulated by the CRTC. The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences presents Canada's music industry awards, the Juno Awards, which were first awarded in 1970. The Canadian Music Hall of Fame, established in 1976, honours Canadian musicians for their lifetime achievements.
Anthems and nationalistic songs of Canada, Patriotic music in Canada dates back over 200 years as a distinct category from British patriotism, preceding Canadian Confederation by over 50 years. The earliest work of patriotic music in Canada, "The Bold Canadian", was written in 1812. "The Maple Leaf Forever" written in 1866, was a popular patriotic song throughout English Canada and for many years served as an unofficial national anthem. The official national anthem, "O Canada", was originally commissioned by the lieutenant governor of Quebec, Théodore Robitaille, for the 1880 Fête nationale du Québec, St. Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony and was officially adopted in 1980. Calixa Lavallée wrote the music, which was a setting of a patriotic poem composed by the poet and judge Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier. The text was originally only in French before it was adapted into English in 1906.
Sports
The History of Canadian sports, roots of organized sports in Canada date back to the 1770s, culminating in the development and popularization of the major professional games of Ice hockey in Canada, ice hockey, Lacrosse in Canada, lacrosse, curling, Basketball in Canada, basketball, Baseball in Canada, baseball, Soccer in Canada, association football and Canadian football. Canada's official national sports are ice hockey and lacrosse. Other sports such as Volleyball in Canada, volleyball, skiing, cycling in Canada, cycling, swimming (sport), swimming, badminton, tennis, bowling and the study of martial arts are all widely enjoyed at the youth and amateur levels. Great achievements in Canadian sports are recognized by Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, while the Lou Marsh Trophy is awarded annually to Canada's top athlete by a panel of journalists. There are numerous other sport "halls of fame" in Canada, such as the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Canada shares several Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada, major professional sports leagues with the United States. Canadian teams in these leagues include seven franchises in the National Hockey League, as well as three Soccer in Canada#Major League Soccer, Major League Soccer teams and one team in each of Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association. Other popular professional competitions include the Canadian Football League, National Lacrosse League, the Canadian Premier League, and the various curling tournaments sanctioned and organized by Curling Canada.
Canada has enjoyed success both Canada at the Winter Olympics, at the Winter Olympics and Canada at the Summer Olympics, 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. Most recently, Canada hosted the 2015 Pan American Games and 2015 Parapan American Games in Toronto, the former being one of the largest sporting event hosted by the country. The country is scheduled to co-host the 2026 World Cup, 2026 FIFA World Cup alongside Mexico and the United States.
See also
* Index of Canada-related articles
* Outline of Canada
* List of Canada-related topics by provinces and territories, Topics by provinces and territories
Notes
References
Further reading
Overview
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Culture
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Demography and statistics
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Economy
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Previous surveys
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Foreign relations and military
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Geography and climate
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Government and law
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History
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Social welfare
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External links
Overviews
from University of Colorado Boulder, UCB Libraries GovPubs
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Canada profile
from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD
Canadiana: The National Bibliography of Canada
from Library and Archives Canada
Key Development Forecasts for Canada
from International Futures
Government
Official website of the Government of Canada
Official website of the Governor General of Canada
Official website of the Prime Ministers of Canada
Travel
Canada's official website for travel and tourism
Studies
A Guide to the Sources
from International Council for Canadian Studies
{{Authority control
Canada,
1867 establishments in Canada,
Countries in North America
English-speaking countries and territories
Federal monarchies
Former British colonies and protectorates in the Americas
French-speaking countries and territories
G20 nations
G7 nations
Member states of NATO
Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations
Member states of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie
Member states of the United Nations
Northern America
States and territories established in 1867
OECD members