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Canada is a country in
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's second-largest country by total area, with the world's longest coastline. Its border with the United States is the world's longest international land border. The country is characterized by a wide range of both meteorologic and
geological Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth s ...
regions. With a population of over 41million people, it has widely varying population densities, with the majority residing in urban areas and large areas of the country being sparsely populated. Canada's capital is
Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
and its three largest metropolitan areas are
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
,
Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, 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 cit ...
.
Indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...
have continuously inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years. Beginning in the 16th century, British 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 American colonies through
Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign 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
dominion A dominion was any of several largely self-governance, self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of self-governing colony, colon ...
of four provinces. This began an accretion of provinces and territories resulting in the displacement of Indigenous populations, and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom. This increased sovereignty was highlighted by the '' Statute of Westminster, 1931'', and culminated in the '' Canada Act 1982'', which severed the vestiges of legal dependence on the
Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...
. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a
constitutional monarchy Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited 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 making decisions. ...
in the Westminster tradition. The country's
head of government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...
is the
prime minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
, 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 Bicameralism, 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 ...
and is appointed by the governor general, representing the monarch of Canada, the ceremonial
head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...
. The country is a
Commonwealth realm A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state in the Commonwealth of Nations that has the same constitutional monarch and head of state as the other realms. The current monarch is King Charles III. Except for the United Kingdom, in each of the re ...
and is officially bilingual (English and French) in the federal jurisdiction. It is very highly ranked in international measurements of government transparency, quality of life, economic competitiveness, innovation, education and human rights. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and
multicultural Multiculturalism is the coexistence of multiple cultures. The word is used in sociology, in political philosophy, and colloquially. In sociology and everyday usage, it is usually a synonym for ''ethnic'' or cultural pluralism in which various e ...
nations, the product of large-scale immigration. Canada's long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its history,
economy An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...
, and
culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
. A
developed country A developed country, or advanced country, is a sovereign state that has a high quality of life, developed economy, and advanced technological infrastructure relative to other less industrialized nations. Most commonly, the criteria for eval ...
, Canada has a high nominal per capita income globally and its advanced economy ranks among the largest in the world by nominal GDP, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade networks. Recognized as a middle power, Canada's support for
multilateralism In international relations, multilateralism refers to an alliance of multiple countries pursuing a common goal. Multilateralism is based on the principles of inclusivity, equality, and cooperation, and aims to foster a more peaceful, prosperous, an ...
and internationalism has been closely related to its foreign relations policies of
peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities, especially military ones, intended to create conditions that favor lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed w ...
and aid for developing countries. Canada promotes its domestically shared values through participation in multiple international organizations and forums.


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 is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...
region used the word to direct French explorer
Jacques Cartier Jacques Cartier (; 31 December 14911 September 1557) was a French maritime explorer from Brittany. Jacques Cartier was the first Europeans, European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, wh ...
to the village of Stadacona. Cartier later used the word ''Canada'' to refer not only to that particular village but to the entire area subject to Donnacona (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 (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrenc ...
as ''Canada''. From the 16th to the early 18th century, ''
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
'' referred to the part of
New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, 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 Kingdom of Great Br ...
that lay along the Saint Lawrence River. Following the British conquest of New France, this area was known as the British Province of Quebec from 1763 to 1791. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called
Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, 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 the Province of Queb ...
and
Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...
. These two colonies were collectively referred to as
the Canadas The Canadas is the collective name for the provinces of Lower Canada and Upper Canada, two British colonization of the Americas, historical British colonies in present-day Canada. The two colonies were formed in 1791, when the British Parliament ...
until their union as the
Province of Canada The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...
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 A dominion was any of several largely self-governance, self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of self-governing colony, colon ...
'' 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 '' Canada Act 1982'', which brought the
Constitution of Canada The Constitution of 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 are an amalgamation of various ...
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 Canada Day, formerly known as Dominion Day, is the national day of Canada. A Public holidays in Canada, federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 1867, with the passing of the B ...
.


History


Indigenous peoples

The first inhabitants of North America are generally hypothesized to have migrated from
Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
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° north latitude in the Chukchi Sea; and on the south by the tip of the ...
and arrived at least 14,000 years ago. The Paleo-Indian archeological sites at Old Crow Flats and Bluefish Caves 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. Indigenous peoples in present-day Canada include the
First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...
,
Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...
, and
Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...
, the last being of mixed descent who originated in the mid-17th century when First Nations people married European settlers and their offspring subsequently developed their own identity. The Indigenous population 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. As a consequence of European colonization, the Indigenous population declined by forty to eighty percent. The decline is attributed to several causes, including the transfer of European diseases, 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 European Canadians are Canadians who can trace their Ancestor, ancestry to the continent of Europe. They form the largest Panethnicity, panethnic group within Canada. In the 2021 Canadian census, 19,062,115 people or 52.5% of the population sel ...
' 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
coureurs des bois A coureur des bois (; ) or coureur de bois (; ) were independent entrepreneurial French Canadians, French Canadian traders who travelled in New France and the interior of North America, usually to trade with Indigenous peoples of the Americas, ...
and voyageurs in their explorations of the continent during the
North American fur trade The North American fur trade is the (typically) historical Fur trade, commercial trade of furs and other goods in North America, beginning in the eastern provinces of French Canada and the northeastern Thirteen Colonies, American colonies (soon- ...
. These early European interactions with First Nations would change from friendship and peace treaties to the dispossession of Indigenous lands through treaties. From the late 18th century, European Canadians forced Indigenous peoples to assimilate into a western Canadian society.
Settler colonialism Settler colonialism is a logic and structure of displacement by Settler, settlers, using colonial rule, over an environment for replacing it and its indigenous peoples with settlements and the society of the settlers. Settler colonialism is ...
reached a climax in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A period of redress began with the formation of a reconciliation commission by the
Government of Canada The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federation, federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes Minister of t ...
in 2008. This included acknowledgment of
cultural genocide Cultural genocide or culturicide is a concept first described by Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944, in the same book that coined the term ''genocide''. The destruction of culture was a central component in Lemkin's formulation of genocide ...
, settlement agreements, and betterment of racial discrimination issues, such as addressing the plight of
missing and murdered Indigenous women Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women are instances of violence against Indigenous women in Canada and the United States, notably those in the First Nations in Canada and Native American communities, but also amongst other Indigenous peoples s ...
.


European colonization

It is believed that the first documented European to explore the east coast of Canada was Norse explorer
Leif Erikson Leif Erikson, also known as Leif the Lucky (), was a Norsemen, Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to set foot on continental Americas, America, approximately half a millennium before Christopher Columbus. According ...
. 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 () is an archaeological site, first excavated in the 1960s, of a Norse colonization of North America, Norse settlement dating to approximately 1,000 years ago. The site is located on the northernmost tip of the island of Newf ...
on the northern tip of
Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...
. No further European exploration occurred until 1497, when seafarer
John Cabot John Cabot ( ; 1450 – 1499) was an Italians, Italian navigator and exploration, explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England, Henry VII, King of England is the earliest known Europe ...
explored and claimed Canada's Atlantic coast in the name of
Henry VII of England Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509), also known as Henry Tudor, 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. Henr ...
. In 1534, French explorer Jacques Cartier explored the
Gulf of Saint Lawrence The Gulf of St. Lawrence is a gulf that fringes the shores of the provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, in Canada, plus the islands Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, possessions of France, in ...
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 establish seasonal whaling and fishing outposts along the Atlantic coast. In general, early settlements during the
Age of Discovery The Age of Discovery (), also known as the Age of Exploration, was part of the early modern period and overlapped with the Age of Sail. It was a period from approximately the 15th to the 17th century, during which Seamanship, seafarers fro ...
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, by the
royal prerogative The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, Privilege (law), privilege, and immunity recognised in common law (and sometimes in Civil law (legal system), civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy) as belonging to the monarch, so ...
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. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...
, founded St John's, Newfoundland, as the first North American English seasonal camp. In 1600, the French established their first seasonal trading post at
Tadoussac Tadoussac () is a village municipality in La Haute-Côte-Nord RCM (Regional County Municipality), on the north shore of the maritime section of the estuary of St. Lawrence river, in Côte-Nord region, Quebec, Canada. Geography Tadoussac is ...
along the Saint Lawrence. French explorer
Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; 13 August 1574#Fichier]For a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see #Ritch, RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December ...
arrived in 1603 and established the first permanent year-round European settlements at Port-Royal (Acadia), Port Royal (in 1605) and Quebec City (in 1608). Among the
colonists A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among the first settli ...
of New France, '' Canadiens'' extensively settled the Saint Lawrence River valley and
Acadians The Acadians (; , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French colonial empire, French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern Americ ...
settled the present-day
Maritimes The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of ...
, while fur traders and Catholic missionaries explored the
Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...
,
Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...
, and the Mississippi watershed to
Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
. 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 Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...
in 1610 along with settlements in the
Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies were the British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America which broke away from the British Crown in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and joined to form the United States of America. The Thirteen C ...
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 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...
. Mainland
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...
came under British rule with the 1713
Treaty of Utrecht The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaty, 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 vac ...
and Canada and most of New France came under British rule in 1763 after the Seven Years' War.


British North America

The Royal Proclamation of 1763 established First Nation treaty rights, created the Province of Quebec out of New France, and annexed
Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...
to Nova Scotia. St John's Island (now
Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...
) became a separate colony in 1769. To avert conflict in
Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
, the British Parliament passed the
Quebec Act The Quebec Act 1774 ( 14 Geo. 3. c. 83) () 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 was the expansion of the province's territory t ...
1774, expanding Quebec's territory to the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley. 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 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 (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
. 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 (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and set the terms of peace, ceding British North American 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, 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 is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...
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 port#seaport, seaport city located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. It is Canada's oldest Municipal corporation, incorporated city, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign ...
, 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 is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
) and English-speaking Upper Canada (later
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
), granting each its own elected legislative assembly. The Canadas were the main front in the
War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...
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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. Peace came in 1815; no boundaries were changed. Immigration resumed at a higher level, with over arrivals from Britain between 1815 and 1850. New arrivals included refugees escaping the
Great Irish Famine The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger ( ), the Famine and the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland lasting from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a historical social crisis and had a major impact o ...
as well as Gaelic-speaking Scots displaced by the
Highland Clearances The Highland Clearances ( , the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860. The first phase resulted from Scottish Agricultural R ...
. Infectious diseases killed between 25 and 33 percent of Europeans who immigrated to Canada before 1891. The desire for
responsible government Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive br ...
resulted in the abortive Rebellions of 1837. The Durham Report 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 Vict. c. 35), also known as the ''Act of Union 1840'', () was approved by Parliament in July 1840 and proclaimed February 10, 1841, in Montreal. It abolished the legislatures of Lower Canada and ...
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 The Oregon Treaty was a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846, in Washington, D.C. The treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute by settling competing American and British claims to ...
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) established the border along the Pacific coast, but, even after the US
Alaska Purchase The Alaska Purchase was the purchase of Russian colonization of North America, Alaska from the Russian Empire by the United States for a sum of $7.2 million in 1867 (equivalent to $ million in ). On May 15 of that year, the United St ...
of 1867, disputes continued about the exact demarcation of the Alaska–Yukon and Alaska–British Columbia border.


Confederation and expansion

Following three constitutional conferences, the ''
British North America Act, 1867 The ''Constitution Act, 1867'' ( 30 & 31 Vict. c. 3) (),''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, 1867'' (BNA Act), ...
'' officially proclaimed Canadian Confederation on July 1, 1867, initially with four provinces:
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. Canada assumed control of
Rupert's Land Rupert's Land (), or Prince Rupert's Land (), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin. The right to "sole trade and commerce" over Rupert's Land was granted to Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), based a ...
and the North-Western Territory to form the
Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...
, where the Métis' grievances ignited the Red River Rebellion and the creation of the province of
Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...
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 a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
and
Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...
became provinces in 1905. Between 1871 and 1896, almost one quarter of the Canadian population emigrated south to the US. To open the West and encourage European immigration, the Government of Canada sponsored the construction of three transcontinental railways (including the
Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...
), passed the '' Dominion Lands Act'' to regulate settlement and established the
North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian paramilitary police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory to ...
to assert authority over the territory. This period of westward expansion and nation building resulted in the displacement of many Indigenous peoples of the Canadian Prairies to "
Indian reserve In Canada, an Indian reserve () or First Nations reserve () is defined 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." ...
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 c ...
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 The ''Indian Act'' () is a Canadian Act of Parliament that concerns registered Indians, their bands, and the system of Indian reserves. First passed in 1876 and still in force with amendments, it is the primary document that defines how t ...
'' 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 the First World War. Volunteers sent to the Western Front later became part of the
Canadian Corps The Canadian Corps was a World War I corps formed from the Canadian Expeditionary Force in September 1915 after the arrival of the 2nd Canadian Division in France. The corps was expanded by the addition of the 3rd Canadian Division in December 19 ...
, which played a substantial role in the
Battle of Vimy Ridge The Battle of Vimy Ridge was part of the Battle of Arras, in the Pas-de-Calais department of France, during the First World War. The main combatants were the four divisions of the Canadian Corps in the First Army, against three divisions of ...
and other major engagements of the war. The Conscription Crisis of 1917 erupted when the Unionist Cabinet's proposal to augment the military's dwindling number of active members with
conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...
was met with vehement objections from French-speaking Quebecers. In 1919, Canada joined the
League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) 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 (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
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 The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; , FCC) was a federal democratic socialism, democratic socialistThe following sources describe the CCF as a democratic socialist political party: * * * * * * and social democracy, social-democ ...
(CCF) in Saskatchewan introduced many elements of a
welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the State (polity), 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 oppor ...
(as pioneered by
Tommy Douglas Thomas Clement Douglas (20 October 1904 â€“ 24 February 1986) was a Scottish-born Canadian politician who served as the seventh premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961 and leader of the New Democratic Party from 1961 to 1971. A Bap ...
) in the 1940s and 1950s. On the advice of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, 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 Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952 ...
, 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 the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. 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 Allies of World War II, Allied Amphibious warfare, amphibious landing on mainland Italy that took place from 3 September 1943, during the Italian campaign (World War II), Italian campaign of World War II. T ...
, the
Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...
, the Battle of Normandy, and the Battle of the Scheldt in 1944. Canada provided asylum for the Dutch monarchy while that country was occupied and is credited by the Netherlands for major contributions to its liberation from
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
. 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 led the
Dominion of Newfoundland Newfoundland was a British dominion in eastern North America, today the modern Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It included the island of Newfoundland, and Labrador on the continental mainland. Newfoundland was one of the orig ...
to relinquish responsible government in 1934 and become a
Crown colony A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony governed by Kingdom of England, England, and then Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain or the United Kingdom within the English overseas possessions, English and later British Empire. There was usua ...
ruled by a British governor. After two
referendums A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or advis ...
, 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, 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 The Canada Pension Plan (CPP; ) is a contributory, earnings-related social insurance program. It is one of the two major components of Canada's public retirement income system, the other being Old Age Security (OAS). Other parts of Canada's retir ...
, and Canada Student Loans; though, provincial governments, particularly Quebec and Alberta, opposed many of these as incursions into their jurisdictions. Finally, another series of constitutional conferences resulted in the ''Canada Act 1982'', the
patriation Patriation is the political process that led to full Canadian sovereignty, culminating with the '' Constitution Act, 1982''. The process was necessary because, at the time, under the '' Statute of Westminster, 1931'', and with Canada's agreemen ...
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'' (), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part of the '' Constitution Act, 1982''. The ''Char ...
''. Canada had established complete sovereignty as an independent country under its own monarchy. At the same time, Quebec underwent profound social and economic changes through the
Quiet Revolution The Quiet Revolution () was a period of socio-political and socio-cultural transformation in French Canada, particularly in Quebec, following the 1960 Quebec general election. This period was marked by the secularization of the government, the ...
of the 1960s, giving birth to a secular
nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...
movement. The radical Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) ignited the October Crisis 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 establishi ...
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 () was a series of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister of Canada, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and all 10 Canadian provincial Premier (Canada), premiers. It was intended to ...
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 () was a right-wing populism, right-wing populist and conservative List of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada that existed from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada- ...
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 In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
ruled unilateral secession by a province would be unconstitutional, and the Clarity Act 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 in 1985, the largest mass murder in Canadian history; the
École Polytechnique massacre École or Ecole 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 * Éco ...
in 1989, a university shooting targeting female students; and the Oka Crisis of 1990, the first of a number of violent confrontations between provincial governments and Indigenous groups. Canada joined the
Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...
in 1990 and was active in several peacekeeping missions in the 1990s, including operations in the
Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...
during and after the
Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...
, and in
Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...
, resulting in an incident that has been described as " the darkest era in the history of the Canadian military". Canada sent troops to Afghanistan in 2001, resulting in the largest amount of Canadian deaths for any single military mission since the
Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
in the early 1950s. In 2011, Canadian forces participated in the
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
-led intervention into the Libyan Civil War and also became involved in battling the
Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...
insurgency in Iraq in the mid-2010s. The country celebrated its sesquicentennial in 2017; three years later, the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada began on January 27, 2020, causing widespread social and economic disruption. In 2021, an announcement of the discovery of possible gravesites of over 200 Indigenous children found near a former Canadian Indian residential school, which aimed to assimilate Indigenous children for most of the 20th century, refocused media and public attention on the cultural genocide carried out against Canada's Indigenous peoples. A trade war involving the United States, Canada, and Mexico began on February 1, 2025, when U.S. president
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
signed orders imposing tariffs on goods from the two countries entering the United States.


Geography

By total area (including its waters), Canada is the second-largest country. By land area alone, Canada ranks fourth, due to having the world's largest area of fresh water lakes. Stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the east, along the Arctic Ocean to the north, and to the Pacific Ocean 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 is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...
(and hence the Kingdom of Denmark) to the northeast, on
Hans Island Hans Island (Inuktitut and , ; Inuktitut syllabics: ; , ; , ) is an island in the centre of the Kennedy Channel of Nares Strait in the high Arctic region, split between the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian territory of Nunavut a ...
, and a
maritime boundary A maritime boundary is a conceptual division of Earth's water surface areas using physiographical 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 located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
's
overseas collectivity The French overseas collectivities ( abbreviated as 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 and other French ...
of
Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Pierre and Miquelon ( ), officially the Territorial Collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon (), is a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, located near the Canada, Canadian prov ...
to the southeast. Canada is also home to the world's northernmost settlement, Canadian Forces Station Alert, on the northern tip of
Ellesmere Island Ellesmere Island (; ) is Canada's northernmost and List of Canadian islands by area, third largest island, and the List of islands by area, tenth largest in the world. It comprises an area of , slightly smaller than Great Britain, and the total ...
—latitude 82.5°N—which lies from the North Pole. In latitude, Canada's most northerly point of land is
Cape Columbia Cape Columbia is the northernmost point of land of Canada, located on Ellesmere Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut. It marks the westernmost coastal point of Lincoln Sea in the Arctic Ocean. It is the world's northernmost point of l ...
in Nunavut at 83°6′41″N, with its southern extreme at Middle Island in Lake Erie at 41°40′53″N. In longitude, Canada's land extends from Cape Spear, Newfoundland, at 52°37'W, to Mount St. Elias, Yukon Territory, at 141°W. Canada can be divided into seven physiographic regions: the
Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield ( ), also called the Laurentian Shield or the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), th ...
, the interior plains, the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands, the Appalachian region, the Western Cordillera, Hudson Bay Lowlands, and the
Arctic Archipelago The Arctic Archipelago, also known as the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, is an archipelago lying to the north of the Canadian continental mainland, excluding Greenland (an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, which is, by itself, much larger ...
. Boreal forests 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 great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...
, 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 (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawren ...
(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 Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salt (chemistry), salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include ...
. There are also fresh-water glaciers in the Canadian Rockies, the
Coast Mountains The Coast Mountains () are a major mountain range in the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the British Columbia Coast, Coast of British Columbia sout ...
, and the Arctic Cordillera. Canada is geologically active, having many earthquakes and potentially active volcanoes.


Climate

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 Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm to hot summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in central and eastern parts of the three northern-tier continents (North America, Europe, and Asia), typi ...
, where daily average temperatures are near , but can drop below with severe
wind chill Wind chill (popularly wind chill factor) is the sensation of cold produced by the wind for a given ambient air temperature on exposed skin as the air motion accelerates the rate of heat transfer from the body to the surrounding atmosphere. Its va ...
s. 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 Northern Canada (), colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada, variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three Provinces_and_territories_of_Canada#Territories, terr ...
is covered by ice and
permafrost Permafrost () is soil or underwater sediment which continuously remains below for two years or more; the oldest permafrost has been continuously frozen for around 700,000 years. Whilst the shallowest permafrost has a vertical extent of below ...
. 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. Canada's annual average temperature over land has risen 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 Acid rain is rain or any other form of Precipitation (meteorology), precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it has elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). Most water, including drinking water, has a neutral pH that exists b ...
, which has severely impacted waterways, forest growth, and agricultural productivity. Canada is one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters globally, with emissions increased by 16.5 percent between 1990 and 2022.


Biodiversity

Canada is divided into 15 terrestrial and five marine ecozones. These ecozones encompass over 80,000 classified species of Canadian wildlife, 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 An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...
, 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 is considered to be the largest intact forest 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 betw ...
, Canada has consisted of eight distinct forest regions. 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 or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...
. Approximately 13.8 percent of its territorial waters are conserved, including 8.9 percent designated as protected areas. Canada's first
National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...
, Banff National Park established in 1885 spans . Canada's oldest provincial park,
Algonquin Provincial Park Algonquin Provincial Park is an Ontario Ontario Parks, provincial park located between Georgian Bay and the Ottawa River, mostly within the Nipissing, Unorganized, South Part, Ontario, Unorganized South Part of Nipissing District. Established i ...
, established in 1893, covers an area of . Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area is the world's largest freshwater protected area, spanning roughly . Canada's largest national wildlife region is the Scott Islands Marine National Wildlife Area which spans .


Government and politics

Canada is described as a " full democracy", with a tradition of
liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...
, and an
egalitarian Egalitarianism (; also equalitarianism) is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds on the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all h ...
, moderate political ideology. An emphasis on
social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...
has been a distinguishing element of Canada's political culture. Peace, order, and good government, alongside an
Implied Bill of Rights The implied bill of rights () is a theory in Canadian jurisprudence which proposed that as a consequence of the British North America Act, certain important civil liberties could not be abrogated by the government. The significance of an implied ...
, are founding principles of
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 Provinces and territories of Canada, p ...
. At the federal level, Canada has been dominated by two relatively centrist parties practising "brokerage politics": the
centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...
leaning
Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. and generally sits at the Centrism, ...
and the
centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...
leaning
Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...
(or its predecessors). The historically predominant Liberals position themselves at the centre of the political scale. Five parties had representatives elected to Parliament in the 2025 election—the Liberals, who formed a minority government; the Conservatives, who became the
Official Opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''t ...
; the Bloc Québécois; the
New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...
(occupying the left); and the Green Party.
Far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...
and
far-left Far-left politics, also known as extreme left politics or left-wing extremism, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single, coherent definition; some ...
politics have never been a prominent force in Canadian society. Canada has a
parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their Election, democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of t ...
within the context of a
constitutional monarchy Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited 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 making decisions. ...
—the
monarchy of Canada The monarchy of Canada is Canada's Government#Forms, form of government embodied by the Canadian sovereign and head of state. It is one of the key components of Canadian sovereignty and sits at the core of Canadian federalism, Canada's cons ...
being the foundation of the executive,
legislative A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers ...
, 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., King of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia, List of Belgian monarchs, Belgium, Co-princes of Andorra, Andorra), of a people (e.g., List of Frankish kin ...
ing monarch is also monarch of 14 other sovereign Commonwealth countries and Canada's 10 provinces. The monarch appoints a representative, the governor general, on the advice of the
prime minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
, to carry out most of their ceremonial royal duties. The monarchy is the source of
sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...
and authority in Canada. However, while the governor general or monarch may exercise their power without ministerial advice in rare crisis situations, the use of the executive powers (or
royal prerogative The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, Privilege (law), privilege, and immunity recognised in common law (and sometimes in Civil law (legal system), civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy) as belonging to the monarch, so ...
) is otherwise 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 o ...
responsible to the elected
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...
and chosen and headed by the prime minister, the
head of government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...
. To ensure the stability of government, the governor general will usually appoint as prime minister the person who is the current leader of the political party that can obtain the confidence of a
majority A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...
of members in the House. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is one of the most powerful institutions in government, initiating most legislation for parliamentary approval and selecting for appointment by the Crown the governor general, lieutenant governors, senators, federal court judges, and heads of
Crown corporations Crown corporation () is the term used in Canada for organizations that are structured like private companies, but are directly and wholly owned by the government. Crown corporations have a long-standing presence in the country, and have a sign ...
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. The
Parliament of Canada The Parliament of Canada () is the Canadian federalism, federal legislature of Canada. The Monarchy of Canada, Crown, along with two chambers: the Senate of Canada, Senate and the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons, form the Bicameral ...
passes all federal statute laws. It comprises the monarch, the House of Commons, and the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
. While Canada inherited the British concept of parliamentary supremacy, this was later, with the enactment of the Constitution Act, 1982, all but completely superseded by the American notion of the supremacy of the law. Each of the 343 members of Parliament in the House of Commons is elected by simple plurality in an
electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...
or riding. The ''
Constitution Act, 1982 The ''Constitution Act, 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 the ''Constitution Act, 1982'' states that 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;
general elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...
still must be called by the governor general and can be triggered by either the advice of the prime minister or a lost confidence vote in the House. 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 Provinces and territories of Canada, p ...
divides government responsibilities between the federal government and the 10 provinces. Provincial legislatures are
unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...
and operate in parliamentary fashion similar to the House of Commons. Canada's three territories also have legislatures, but these are not sovereign, have fewer constitutional responsibilities than the provinces, and differ structurally from their provincial counterparts.


Law

The
Constitution of Canada The Constitution of 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 are an amalgamation of various ...
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'' ( 30 & 31 Vict. c. 3) (),''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, 1867'' (BNA Act), ...
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 overridden by any government; a notwithstanding clause allows Parliament and the provincial legislatures to override certain sections of the ''Charter'' for a period of five years. Canada's judiciary interprets laws and has the power to strike down acts of Parliament that violate the constitution. The
Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...
is the highest court, final arbiter, and has been led since 2017 by
Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...
, the Chief Justice of Canada. The governor general appoints the court's nine members on the advice of the prime minister and minister of justice. The federal Cabinet also appoints justices to superior courts in the provincial and territorial jurisdictions.
Common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...
prevails everywhere except Quebec, where civil law predominates.
Criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...
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; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...
. Canadian Aboriginal law 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. 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 healthcare through the Indian Health Transfer Policy, and exemption from taxation.


Provinces and territories

Canada is a federation composed of 10 federated states, called provinces, and three federal territories. These may be grouped into four main regions:
Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West, or Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a list of regions of Canada, Canadian region that includes the four western provinces and t ...
,
Central Canada Central Canada (, sometimes the ''Central Provinces'') is a Canadian region consisting of Ontario and Quebec, the largest and most populous provinces of the country. Geographically, they are not at the centre of Canada but instead overlap wi ...
,
Atlantic Canada Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (), is the list of regions of Canada, region of Eastern Canada comprising four provinces: New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. As of 2021, the landma ...
, and
Northern Canada Northern Canada (), colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada, variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three Provinces_and_territories_of_Canada#Territories, terr ...
(''
Eastern Canada Eastern Canada (, also the Eastern provinces, Canadian East or the East) is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of Hudson Bay/ Hudson Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces (from east to west): Newf ...
'' refers to Central Canada and Atlantic Canada together). Provinces and territories have responsibility for social programs such as
healthcare Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...
,
education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...
, and
social programs Welfare spending 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 specifically to social insurance pr ...
, as well as administration of justice (but not criminal law). Although the provinces collect more revenue than the federal government,
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 f ...
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 sovereignty from the Crown and power and authority from the ''Constitution Act, 1867'', whereas territorial governments have powers delegated to them by the
Parliament of Canada The Parliament of Canada () is the Canadian federalism, federal legislature of Canada. The Monarchy of Canada, Crown, along with two chambers: the Senate of Canada, Senate and the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons, form the Bicameral ...
and the commissioners represent the King in his federal Council, rather than the monarch directly. The powers flowing from the ''Constitution Act, 1867'', are divided between the federal government and the provincial governments to exercise exclusively and any changes to that arrangement require a
constitutional amendment A constitutional amendment (or constitutional alteration) is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly alt ...
, while changes to the roles and powers of the territories may be performed unilaterally by the Parliament of Canada.


Foreign relations

Canada is recognized as a middle power for its role in global affairs with a tendency to pursue multilateral and international solutions. Canada is known for its commitment to international peace and security, as well as being a mediator in conflicts, and for providing aid to developing countries. Canada and the United States have a long and complex relationship; historically close allies, they co-operate regularly on military campaigns and humanitarian efforts. Canada also maintains historic and traditional ties to the United Kingdom and to France, along with both countries' former colonies through its membership in the
Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the British Commonwealth or simply the Commonwealth, is an International organization, international association of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, 56 member states, the vast majo ...
and the . Canada is noted for having a positive relationship with the Netherlands, owing, in part, to its contribution to the Dutch liberation during the Second World War. Canada has diplomatic and consular offices in over 270 locations in approximately 180 foreign countries. Canada promotes its domestically shared values through participating in multiple international organizations. Canada was a founding member of the United Nations (UN) in 1945 and formed the
North American Aerospace Defense Command North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ; , CDAAN), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a Combined operations, combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air ...
together with the United States in 1958. The country has membership in the
World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...
, the Five Eyes, the G7 and the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...
(OECD). The country was a founding member the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) in 1989 and joined the
Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...
(OAS) in 1990. Canada ratified the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal D ...
(UDHR) in 1948, and seven principal UN human rights conventions and covenants since then.


Military and peacekeeping

Alongside many domestic obligations, more than 3,000
Canadian Armed Forces The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; , FAC) are the unified Military, military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air commands referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Under the ''National Defenc ...
(CAF) personnel are deployed in multiple foreign military operations. The Canadian unified forces comprise the
Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...
,
Canadian Army The Canadian Army () is the command (military formation), 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 re ...
, and
Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) 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 environmental commands within the unified Can ...
. 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. In 2022, Canada's military expenditure totalled approximately $26.9 billion, or around 1.2 percent of the country's
gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performanc ...
(GDP)placing it 14th for military expenditure by country. Canada's role in developing ''peacekeeping'' and its participation in major peacekeeping initiatives during the 20th century has played a major role in its positive global image. Peacekeeping is deeply embedded in Canadian culture and a distinguishing feature that Canadians feel sets their foreign policy apart from the United States. Canada has long been reluctant to participate in military operations that are not sanctioned by the United Nations, such as the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
or the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Since the 21st century, Canadian direct participation in UN peacekeeping efforts has greatly declined. The large decrease was a result of Canada directing its participation to UN-sanctioned military operations through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, rather than directly through the UN. The change to participation via NATO has resulted in a shift towards more militarized and deadly missions rather than traditional peacekeeping duties.


Economy

Canada has a highly developed mixed-market economy, with the world's ninth-largest nominal GDP , at approximately . It 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 la ...
s, with a highly
globalized Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...
economy. In 2021, Canadian trade in goods and services reached $2.016 trillion.PDF version
.
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. In 2018, Canada had a trade deficit in goods of $22 billion and a trade deficit in services of $25 billion. The
Toronto Stock Exchange The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX; ) is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the List of stock exchanges, 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in th ...
is the ninth-largest stock exchange in the world by
market capitalization Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by ...
, listing over 1,500 companies with a combined market capitalization of over . The
Bank of Canada The Bank of Canada (BoC; ) is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation and Canada's central bank. Chartered in 1934 under the ''Bank of Canada Act'', it is responsible for formulating Canada's monetary policy,OECD. OECD Economic Surve ...
is the
central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...
of the country. The minister of finance and minister of innovation, science, and industry use data from
Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...
to enable financial planning and develop economic policy. Canada has a strong
cooperative banking Cooperative banking is retail and commercial banking organized on a cooperative basis. Cooperative banking institutions take deposits and lend money in most parts of the world. Cooperative banking, as discussed here, includes retail banking carr ...
sector, with the world's highest per-capita membership in
credit union A credit union is a member-owned nonprofit organization, nonprofit cooperative financial institution. They may offer financial services equivalent to those of commercial banks, such as share accounts (savings accounts), share draft accounts (che ...
s. It ranks low in the
Corruption Perceptions Index The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index that scores and ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as assessed by experts and business executives. The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entr ...
(14th in 2023) and "is widely regarded as among the least corrupt countries of the world". It ranks high in the Global Competitiveness Report (19th in 2024). Canada's economy ranks above most Western nations on
the Heritage Foundation The Heritage Foundation (or simply Heritage) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1973, it took a leading role in the conservative movement in the 1980s during the Presi ...
's Index of Economic Freedom and experiences a relatively low level of income disparity. The country's average household
disposable income Disposable income is total personal income minus current taxes on income. In national accounting, personal income minus personal current taxes equals disposable personal income or household disposable income. Subtracting personal outlays ( ...
per capita is "well above" the OECD average. Canada ranks among the lowest of the most developed countries for housing affordability and
foreign direct investment A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an ownership stake in a company, made by a foreign investor, company, or government from another country. More specifically, it describes a controlling ownership an asset in one country by an entity based i ...
. 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. The Canadian economy is dominated by the service industry, which employs about three-quarters of the country's workforce. Canada has an unusually important primary sector, of which the
forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...
and petroleum industries are the most prominent components. Many towns in northern Canada, where agriculture is difficult, are sustained by nearby mines or sources of timber. Canada's economic integration with the United States has increased significantly since the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. The Canada â€“ United States Free Trade Agreement (FTA) of 1988 eliminated tariffs between the two countries, while the
North American Free Trade Agreement The North American Free Trade Agreement (, TLCAN; , ALÉNA), referred to colloquially in the Anglosphere as NAFTA, ( ) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that created a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The ...
(NAFTA) expanded the free-trade zone to include
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
in 1994 (later replaced by the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement). As of 2023, Canada is a signatory to 15 free trade agreements with 51 different countries. Canada is one of the few developed nations that are net exporters of energy. Atlantic Canada possess vast offshore deposits of natural gas, and Alberta hosts the fourth-largest oil reserves in the world. The vast
Athabasca oil sands The Athabasca oil sands, also known as the Athabasca tar sands, are large deposits of oil sands rich in bitumen, a heavy and viscous form of petroleum, in northeastern Alberta, Canada. These reserves are one of the largest sources of unconventi ...
and other oil reserves give Canada 13 percent of global oil reserves, constituting the world's third- or fourth-largest. Canada is additionally one of the world's largest suppliers of agricultural products; the Canadian Prairies region is one of the most important global producers of wheat,
canola file:CanolaBlooms.JPG, Close-up of canola blooms file:Canola Flower.jpg, Canola flower Rapeseed oil is one of the oldest known vegetable oils. There are both Edible oil, edible and industrial forms produced from rapeseed, the seed of several ...
, and other grains. Canada's main exports are zinc, uranium, gold, nickel, platinoids, aluminum, steel, iron ore, coking coal, lead, copper,
molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mo (from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'') and atomic number 42. The name derived from Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lead ores. Molybdenum minerals hav ...
, cobalt, and cadmium. Canada has a sizeable manufacturing sector centred in southern Ontario and Quebec, with automobiles and
aeronautics Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design process, design, and manufacturing of air flight-capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. While the term originally referred ...
representing particularly important industries. The country's fishing industry is also a key contributor to the economy.


Science and technology

In 2020, Canada spent approximately $41.9 billion on domestic
research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...
, with supplementary estimates for 2022 at $43.2 billion. , the country has produced 15
Nobel laureates The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...
in
physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
,
chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
, and
medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
. The country ranks seventh in the worldwide share of articles published in scientific journals, according to the
Nature Index The Nature Index is a database that tracks institutions and countries/territories and their scientific output since its introduction in November 2014. Originally released with 64 natural-science journals, the Nature Index expanded to 82 natural-sci ...
, and is home to the headquarters of a number of global technology firms. Canada 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 population. Canada's achievements in science and technology include the creation of the modern alkaline battery, the discovery of insulin, the development of the
polio vaccine Polio vaccines are vaccines used to prevent poliomyelitis (polio). Two types are used: an inactivated vaccine, inactivated poliovirus given by injection (IPV) and a attenuated vaccine, weakened poliovirus given by mouth (OPV). The World Healt ...
, and discoveries about the interior structure of the
atomic nucleus The atomic nucleus is the small, dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom, discovered in 1911 by Ernest Rutherford at the Department_of_Physics_and_Astronomy,_University_of_Manchester , University of Manchester ...
. Other major Canadian scientific contributions include the artificial cardiac pacemaker, mapping the
visual cortex The visual cortex of the brain is the area of the cerebral cortex that processes visual information. It is located in the occipital lobe. Sensory input originating from the eyes travels through the lateral geniculate nucleus in the thalam ...
, the development of the
electron microscope An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of electrons as a source of illumination. It uses electron optics that are analogous to the glass lenses of an optical light microscope to control the electron beam, for instance focusing it ...
,
plate tectonics Plate tectonics (, ) is the scientific theory that the Earth's lithosphere comprises a number of large tectonic plates, which have been slowly moving since 3–4 billion years ago. The model builds on the concept of , an idea developed durin ...
,
deep learning Deep learning is a subset of machine learning that focuses on utilizing multilayered neural networks to perform tasks such as classification, regression, and representation learning. The field takes inspiration from biological neuroscience a ...
,
multi-touch In computing, multi-touch is technology that enables a surface (a touchpad or touchscreen) to recognize the presence of more than one somatosensory system, point of contact with the surface at the same time. The origins of multitouch began at CE ...
technology, and the identification of the first
black hole A black hole is a massive, compact astronomical object so dense that its gravity prevents anything from escaping, even light. Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will form a black hole. Th ...
, Cygnus X-1. Canada has a long history of discovery in genetics, which include
stem cell In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can change into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of cell ...
s, site-directed mutagenesis,
T-cell receptor The T-cell receptor (TCR) is a protein complex, located on the surface of T cells (also called T lymphocytes). They are responsible for recognizing fragments of antigen as peptides bound to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules. ...
, and the identification of the genes that cause Fanconi anemia,
cystic fibrosis Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder inherited in an autosomal recessive manner that impairs the normal clearance of Sputum, mucus from the lungs, which facilitates the colonization and infection of the lungs by bacteria, notably ''Staphy ...
, and
early-onset Alzheimer's disease Early-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD), also called younger-onset Alzheimer's disease (YOAD), is Alzheimer's disease diagnosed before the age of 65. It is an uncommon form of Alzheimer's, accounting for only 5–10% of all Alzheimer's cases. Ab ...
, among numerous other diseases. The
Canadian Space Agency The Canadian Space Agency (CSA; ) is the national space agency of Canada, established in 1990 by the ''Canadian Space Agency Act''. The President of the Canadian Space Agency, president is Lisa Campbell (civil servant), Lisa Campbell, who took ...
runs an active space program focused on deep-space, planetary, and aviation research, along with rockets and satellites. Canada launched its first satellite, Alouette 1, in 1962. It contributes to the
International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...
and is known for its robotic tools, such as multiple Canadarms. Canada has initiated many long-term projects, including the Radarsat satellite series and the Black Brant rocket series.


Demographics

The
2021 Canadian census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canada, Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, whic ...
enumerated a total population of 36,991,981, an increase of around 5.2 percent over the 2016 figure. It is estimated that Canada's population surpassed 40,000,000 in 2023. The main drivers of population growth are
immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...
and, to a lesser extent, natural growth. Canada has one of the highest per-capita immigration rates in the world, driven mainly by
economic policy ''Economic Policy'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Oxford University Press, Oxford Academic on behalf of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, the Center for Economic Studies (University of Munich), and the Paris Scho ...
and family reunification. A record 405,000 immigrants were admitted in 2021. Canada leads the world in
refugee resettlement Third country resettlement or refugee resettlement is, according to the UNHCR, one of three Refugee#Durable solutions, durable solutions (voluntary return, voluntary repatriation and local integration being the other two) for refugees who fled thei ...
; it resettled more than 47,600 in 2022. New immigrants settle mostly in major urban areas, such as Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Canada's population density, at , is among the lowest in the world, with approximately 95 percent of the population residing south of the 55th parallel north. About 80 percent of the population lives within of the border with the contiguous United States. Canada is highly urbanized, with over 80 percent of the population living in urban centres. The majority of Canadians (over 70 percent ) live below the 49th parallel, with 50 percent of Canadians living south of 45°42′ (45.7 degrees) north. The most densely populated part of the country is the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor in Southern Quebec and Southern Ontario along the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. The majority of Canadians (81.1 percent) live in family households, 12.1 percent report living alone, and 6.8 percent live with other relatives or unrelated persons. Fifty-one percent of households are couples with or without children, 8.7 percent are single-parent households, 2.9 percent are multigenerational households, and 29.3 percent are single-person households.


Ethnicity

Respondents in the
2021 Canadian census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canada, Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, whic ...
self-reported over 450 " ethnic or cultural origins". The major panethnic groups chosen were: European (),
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
n (), Asian (), North American Indigenous (), African (), Latin, Central and South American (),
Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
(), Oceanian (), and other (). Over 60 percent of Canadians reported a single origin, and 36 percent reported having multiple ethnic origins, thus the overall total is greater than 100 percent. The country's ten largest self-reported ethnic or cultural origins in 2021 were
Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...
(accounting for 15.6 percent of the population), followed by English (14.7 percent), Irish (12.1 percent), Scottish (12.1 percent), French (11.0 percent), German (8.1 percent), Chinese (4.7 percent), Italian (4.3 percent), Indian (3.7 percent), and Ukrainian (3.5 percent). Of the 36.3million people enumerated in 2021, approximately 24.5million reported being "
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
", representing 67.4 percent of the population. The Indigenous population representing 5 percent or 1.8million people, 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 South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...
(2.6million people; 7.1 percent), Chinese (1.7million; 4.7 percent),
Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
(1.5million; 4.3 percent),
Filipinos Filipinos () are citizens or people identified with the country of the Philippines. Filipinos come from various Austronesian peoples, all typically speaking Filipino language, Filipino, Philippine English, English, or other Philippine language ...
(960,000 2.6 percent),
Arabs Arabs (,  , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...
(690,000; 1.9 percent), Latin Americans (580,000; 1.6 percent), Southeast Asians (390,000; 1.1 percent), West Asians (360,000; 1.0 percent),
Koreans Koreans are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Korean Peninsula. The majority of Koreans live in the two Korean sovereign states of North and South Korea, which are collectively referred to as Korea. As of 2021, an estimated 7.3 m ...
(220,000; 0.6 percent) and Japanese (99,000; 0.3 percent). Between 2011 and 2016, the visible minority population rose by 18.4 percent. In 1961, about 300,000 people, less than two percent of Canada's population, were members of visible minority groups. The 2021 census indicated that 8.3million people, or almost one-quarter (23.0 percent) of the population, reported themselves as being or having been a landed immigrant or permanent resident in Canada—above the 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 English and French (the
official language An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...
s) being the mother tongues of approximately 54 percent and 19 percent of Canadians, respectively. Canada's official bilingualism policies give citizens the right to receive federal government services in either English or French with official- language minorities guaranteed their own schools in all provinces and territories. Quebec's 1974 '' Official Language Act'' established French as the only official language of the province. Although more than 82 percent of French-speaking Canadians live in Quebec, there are substantial
Francophone The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...
populations in
New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...
,
Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
, and
Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...
, with
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
having the largest French-speaking population outside Quebec. New Brunswick, the only officially bilingual province, has an
Acadian French Acadian French () is a variety of French spoken by Acadians, mostly in the region of Acadia, Canada. Acadian French has seven regional accents, including Chiac and Brayon. Phonology Since there was relatively little linguistic contact with F ...
minority constituting 33 percent of the population. There are also clusters of Acadians in southwestern Nova Scotia, on Cape Breton Island, and in 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 Indigenous language groups, composed of more than 65 distinct languages and dialects. Several Indigenous languages have official status in the Northwest Territories.
Inuktitut Inuktitut ( ; , Inuktitut syllabics, syllabics ), also known as Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the North American tree line, including parts of the provinces of ...
is the majority language in Nunavut and is one of three official languages in the territory. As of the 2021 census, just over 7.8 million Canadians listed a non-official language as their
first language A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' ...
. Some of the most common non-official first languages include Mandarin (679,255 first-language speakers), Punjabi (666,585),
Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...
(553,380), Spanish (538,870),
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
(508,410), Tagalog (461,150), Italian (319,505), German (272,865), and Tamil (237,890). The country is also home to many
sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with #Non-manual elements, no ...
s, some of which are Indigenous.
American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that i ...
(ASL) is used across the country due to the prevalence of ASL in primary and secondary schools. Quebec Sign Language (LSQ) is used primarily in Quebec.


Religion

Canada is religiously diverse, encompassing a wide range of beliefs and customs. The
Constitution of Canada The Constitution of 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 are an amalgamation of various ...
refers to God; however, Canada has no official church and the government is officially committed to
religious pluralism Religious pluralism is an attitude or policy regarding the diversity of religion, religious belief systems co-existing in society. It can indicate one or more of the following: * Recognizing and Religious tolerance, tolerating the religio ...
. Freedom of religion in Canada is a constitutionally protected right. Rates of religious adherence have steadily decreased since the 1970s. With Christianity in decline after having once been central and integral to Canadian culture and daily life, Canada has become a post-Christian,
secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...
state. Although the majority of Canadians consider religion to be unimportant in their daily lives, they still believe in God. The practice of religion is generally considered a private matter. According to the 2021 census,
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
is the largest religion in Canada, with
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
s representing 29.9 percent of the population having the most adherents.
Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...
overall representing 53.3 percent of the population, are followed by people reporting irreligion or having no religion at 34.6 percent. Other faiths include
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
(4.9 percent),
Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...
(2.3 percent),
Sikhism Sikhism is an Indian religion and Indian philosophy, philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups, major religio ...
(2.1 percent),
Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
(1.0 percent),
Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
(0.9 percent), and Indigenous spirituality (0.2 percent). Canada has the second-largest national Sikh population, behind
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
.


Health

Healthcare in Canada is delivered through the provincial and territorial systems of
publicly funded health care Publicly funded healthcare is a form of health care financing designed to meet the cost of all or most healthcare needs from a publicly managed fund. Usually this is under some form of democratic accountability, the right of access to which are se ...
, informally called Medicare. It is guided by the provisions of the '' Canada Health Act'' of 1984 and is universal. Universal access to publicly funded health services "is often considered by Canadians as a fundamental value that ensures national healthcare 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 drug A prescription drug (also prescription medication, prescription medicine or prescription-only medication) is a pharmaceutical drug that is permitted to be dispensed only to those with a medical prescription. In contrast, over-the-counter drugs c ...
s,
dentistry Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the Human tooth, teeth, gums, and Human mouth, mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, dis ...
and
optometry Optometry is the healthcare practice concerned with examining the eyes for visual defects, prescribing corrective lenses, and detecting eye abnormalities. In the United States and Canada, optometrists are those that hold a post-baccalaureate f ...
. Approximately 65 to 75 percent of Canadians have some form of supplementary health insurance; many receive it through their employers or access secondary social service programs. In common with many other developed countries, Canada is experiencing an increase in healthcare expenditures due to a demographic shift toward an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age. In 2021, the average age in Canada was 41.9 years. Life expectancy is 81.1 years. A 2016 report by the 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
OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...
countries, contributing to approximately 2.7 million cases of
diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...
. Four chronic diseases—
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
(leading cause of death), cardiovascular diseases,
respiratory diseases Respiratory diseases, or lung diseases, are pathology, pathological conditions affecting the organs and tissues that make gas exchange difficult in Breathing, air-breathing animals. They include conditions of the respiratory tract including the t ...
, and diabetes—account for 65 percent of deaths in Canada. There are approximately 8million people aged 15 and older with one or more disabilities 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. In 2022, Canada's per-capita spending on health expenditures ranked 12th among 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, ranking 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's 2021 report comparing the healthcare systems of the 11 most
developed countries A developed country, or advanced country, is a sovereign state that has a high quality of life, developed economy, and advanced technological infrastructure relative to other less industrialized nations. Most commonly, the criteria for eval ...
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, and hospital capacity.


Education

Education in Canada is for the most part provided publicly, funded and overseen by federal, provincial, and
local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...
s. Education is within provincial jurisdiction and a province's curriculum is overseen by its government. Education in Canada is generally divided into
primary education Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...
, followed by secondary and
post-secondary education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational school ...
. 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, is the oldest post-secondary institution in Canada. The nation's three top ranking universities are the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
, McGill, and the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...
. The largest university is the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
, which has over 85,000 students. According to a 2022 report by the OECD, Canada is one of the most educated countries in the world; the country ranks first worldwide in the percentage of adults having tertiary education, with over 56 percent of Canadian adults having attained at least an undergraduate college or university degree. Canada spends an average of 5.3 percent of its GDP on education. The country invests heavily in tertiary education (more than 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 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 homeschooled in the country as of 2016. 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.


Culture

Historically, Canada has been influenced by
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
, French, and Indigenous cultures and traditions. During the 20th century, Canadians with African, Caribbean, and Asian nationalities have added to the Canadian identity and its culture. Canada's culture draws influences from its broad range of constituent nationalities, and policies that promote a just society are constitutionally protected. Since the 1960s, Canada has emphasized
human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
and inclusiveness for all its people. 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 French Canadian culture that is distinct from English Canadian culture. As a whole, Canada is in theory a
cultural mosaic Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, attitudes, and habits of the individuals in these g ...
of regional ethnic subcultures. Canada's approach to governance emphasizing multiculturalism, which is based on selective
immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...
,
social integration Social integration is the process during which newcomers or minorities are incorporated into the social structure of the host society. Social integration, together with economic integration and identity integration, are three main dimensions o ...
, and suppression of far-right politics, has wide public support. Government policies such as publicly funded health care, higher taxation to redistribute wealth, the outlawing of capital punishment, strong efforts to eliminate poverty, strict gun control, a social liberal attitude toward
women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...
(like pregnancy termination) and
LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, Gay men, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the Capital punishmen ...
, and legalized
euthanasia Euthanasia (from : + ) is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different Legality of euthanasia, euthanasia laws. The British House of Lords Select committee (United Kingdom), se ...
and cannabis use are indicators of Canada's political and cultural values. Canadians also identify with the country's foreign aid policies, peacekeeping roles, the national park system, and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.


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 The maple leaf is the characteristic leaf of the maple tree. It is most widely recognized as the national symbols of Canada, national symbol of Canada. History of use in Canada By the early 1700s, the maple leaf had been adopted as an emblem by ...
as a Canadian symbol dates to the early 18th century. The maple leaf is depicted on Canada's current and previous flags and on the Arms of Canada. Canada's official tartan, known as the " maple leaf tartan", reflects the colours of the maple leaf through the seasons—green in the spring, gold in the early
autumn Autumn, also known as fall (especially in US & Canada), is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southern Hemisphe ...
, red at the first frost, and brown after falling. The Arms of Canada are closely modelled after those 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 Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...
and
lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...
, the
beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...
, Canada goose,
common loon The common loon or great northern diver (''Gavia immer'') is a large member of the loon, or diver, family (biology), family of birds. Reproduction, Breeding adults have a plumage that includes a broad black head and neck with a greenish, purpli ...
, Canadian horse, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Rockies, and, more recently, the totem pole and Inuksuk. Canadian beer,
maple syrup Maple syrup is a sweet syrup made from the sap of maple trees. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in late winter and early spring. Ma ...
, tuques, canoes, nanaimo bars, butter tarts, and
poutine Poutine () is a dish of french fries and cheese curds topped with a hot brown gravy. It emerged in Quebec in the late 1950s in the Centre-du-Québec region, though its exact origins are uncertain, and there are several competing claims regar ...
are defined as uniquely Canadian. Canadian coins feature many of these symbols: the loon on the $1 coin, the Arms of Canada on the 50¢ piece, and the beaver on the
nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...
. An image of the monarch appears on $20 bank notes and the obverse of 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 of historical Canadian literature: nature, frontier life, and Canada's position within the world, all of which tie into the garrison mentality. In recent decades, Canada's literature has been strongly influenced by immigrants from around the world. By the 1990s, Canadian literature was viewed as some of the world's best. Numerous Canadian authors have accumulated international literary awards, including novelist, poet, and literary critic
Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and an inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight chi ...
, who received two
Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...
s; Alice Munro, who received a
Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...
; and Booker Prize recipient
Michael Ondaatje Philip Michael Ondaatje (; born 12 September 1943) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer and essayist. Ondaatje's literary career began with his poetry in 1967, publishing ''The Dainty Monsters'', and then in 1970 the critically a ...
, who wrote the novel '' The English Patient'', which was adapted as a film of the same name that won the
Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards (also known as Oscars) presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film a ...
. L. M. Montgomery produced a series of children's novels beginning in 1908 with '' Anne of Green Gables''.


Media

Canada's media is highly autonomous, uncensored, diverse, and very regionalized. The ''
Broadcasting Act Broadcasting Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom that relates to broadcasting. The Bill for an Act with this short title will usually h ...
'' 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 English films, television shows, and
magazines A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
—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 The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...
(CBC), the
National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...
(NFB), and the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; ) is a public organization in Canada tasked with the mandate as a regulatory agency tribunal for various electronic communications, covering broadcasting and telecommunic ...
(CRTC). Canadian mass media, both print and
digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...
, and in both official languages, is largely dominated by a " handful of corporations". The largest of these corporations is the country's national
public broadcaster Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive ...
, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which also plays a significant role in producing domestic cultural content, operating its own radio and 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 TVO (stylized in all lowercase as tvo), formerly known as TVOntario, is a Canadian Public broadcasting, publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It operates ...
and
Télé-Québec The (; ), branded as () (formerly known as ), is a Canadian French-language public educational television network in the province of Quebec. It is a provincial Crown corporation owned by the Government of Quebec. The network's main studios an ...
. 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. Canadian tax laws limit foreign competition in magazine advertising.


Visual arts

Art in Canada is marked by thousands of years of habitation by Indigenous peoples, 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. Modern painting in Canada has been greatly influenced by several major movements that have emerged over the years. One of the most prominent movements is the
Group of Seven The Group of Seven (G7) is an Intergovernmentalism, intergovernmental political and economic forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union (EU) is a "non- ...
, which was founded in 1920, aimed to capture the wilderness in their artwork. Associated with the group was Emily Carr, known for her landscapes and portrayals of the
Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast The Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are composed of many nations and tribal affiliations, each with distinctive cultural and political identities. They share certain beliefs, traditions and prac ...
. The mid-20th century saw the rise of
abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a Composition (visual arts), composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. ''Abstract art'', ''non-figurative art'', ''non- ...
in Canada, with artists like Jean-Paul Riopelle and Paul-Émile Borduas. The 1960s and 1970s saw the emergence of conceptual art, with artists such as
Michael Snow Michael James Aleck Snow (December 10, 1928 – January 5, 2023) was a Canadian artist who worked in a range of media including film, installation, sculpture, photography, and music. His best-known films are ''Wavelength'' (1967) and '' La Rég ...
and Ian Carr-Harris. This era also saw the emergence of Indigenous artists like Norval Morrisseau, who combined traditional Indigenous techniques with modern art styles. In more recent years,
contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...
has seen a revival of
figurative art Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork (particularly paintings and sculptures) that is clearly derived from real object sources and so is, by definition, representational. The term is often in contrast to abstract a ...
, with artists such as Kent Monkman and Shuvinai Ashoona.


Music

Canadian music reflects a variety of regional scenes. Canada has developed a vast music infrastructure that includes church halls, chamber halls, conservatories, academies, performing arts centres, record companies,
radio stations Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio signal, audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a lan ...
, and television
music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
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. As a result of its cultural importance, as well as government initiatives and regulations, the Canadian music industry is one of the largest in the world, producing internationally renowned 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. The Canadian Music Hall of Fame honours Canadian musicians for their lifetime achievements. Anthems and nationalistic songs of Canada, Patriotic music in Canada dates back over 200 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. "O Canada" also served as an unofficial national anthem for much of the 20th century and was adopted as the country's official anthem in 1980.


Sports

Canada's official national sports are Ice hockey in Canada, ice hockey and Lacrosse in Canada, lacrosse. Other major professional games include curling, Basketball in Canada, basketball, Baseball in Canada, baseball, Soccer in Canada, soccer, and Canadian football, football. Great achievements in Canadian sports are recognized by numerous "Halls of Fame" and museums, such as Canada's Sports 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, 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 curling tournaments hosted by Curling Canada. Canadians identified hockey as their preferred sport for viewing, followed by soccer and then basketball. In terms of participation, swimming was the most commonly reported sport by over one-third (35 percent) of Canadians in 2023. This was closely followed by cycling (33 percent) and running (27 percent). The popularity of specific sports varies; in general, the Canadian-born population was more likely to have participated in winter sports such as ice hockey (the most popular young adult team sport), Ice skating, skating, skiing and snowboarding, compared with immigrants, who were more likely to have played soccer (the most popular youth team sport), tennis or basketball. Sports such as golf, Volleyball in Canada, volleyball, badminton, bowling, and martial arts are also widely enjoyed at the youth and amateur levels. Canada has enjoyed success both Canada at the Winter Olympics, at the Winter Olympics and Canada at the Summer Olympics, at the Summer Olympics—particularly the Winter Games as a "winter sports nation"—and has hosted high-profile international sporting events such as the 1976 Summer Olympics, the 1988 Winter Olympics, the 2010 Winter Olympics, the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, the 2015 Pan American Games and 2015 Parapan American Games. The country is scheduled to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup alongside Mexico and the United States.


See also

* Index of Canada-related articles * List of Canada-related topics by provinces and territories * Outline of Canada


Notes


References


Further reading

Overview * Culture * * * Demography and statistics * * * Economy * * –
Previous surveys
* Foreign relations and military * * Geography and environment * * * * Government and law * * History * * * , Social welfare * * *


External links

Overviews

from University of Colorado Boulder, UCB Libraries GovPubs
Canada profile
from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD
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
{{Coord, 60, N, 110, W, region:CA, display=title Canada, 1867 establishments in Canada, Countries in North America Countries and territories where English is an official language Federal monarchies Former British colonies and protectorates in the Americas French-speaking countries and territories G20 members 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