Happy Canada Day!
Fun Facts About Canada:
Canada came into being as a country on July 1, 1867 when the British Parliament passed the British North America Act.
At 3,855,103 square miles, Canada is the second largest country in the world, behind Russia. To give you an idea of the size of Canada the entire United Kingdom can fit comfortably in the southern half of the Province of Ontario.
Canda's population density is 8.6 people per square mile, making Canada the ninth-most sparsely populated nation in the world.( A friend of mine once told me that this means that the population of Canada can fit into the state of California).
Or to put it another way despite being a huge country, Canada has the fourth lowest population density in the world, with only three people living per square kilometer! Almost half of the population in Canada were born in other countries.
Half of the country is covered with forests, which should come as no surprise considering one-tenth of the world’s forests are here.
The longest highway in the world is the Trans-Canada Highway which is over 7604 kilometers (4725 miles) in length.
Montreal is the world’s second largest French speaking city after Paris.
The highest tides in the world occur in the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick.
Kanata is the St. Lawrence-Iroquoian word for "village" or "settlement. This is thought to be the origin of the name Canada
Newfoundland was the first part of Canada to be explored by Europeans. Ironically, it was the last area to become a province, in 1949.
Canadian James Naismith invented basketball to give his physical education students at the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, an indoor team sport to play during the long winters
Ice hockey is Canada's official national game.a The modern game of ice hockey was developed in Canada, based on games that have been played since the tenth century.c The rules were first published in the Montreal Gazette in 1877
The baseball glove was invented in Canada in 1883
Canada has the longest coastline of any country in the world at 151,600 miles
The world’s largest totem pole was raised in Victoria in 1994 and stands 54.94 metres tall (180.2 feet). (I can see this from my balcony window :) )
The license plate for cars, motorbikes and snowmobiles in Nunavut is in the shape of a polar bear
The Rideau Canal in Ottawa, A UNESCO world heritage site, has the world’s longest skating rink in the winter
A black bear cub from Canada named Winnipeg (or “Winnie,” for short) was one of the most popular attractions at the London Zoo after it was donated to the zoo in 1915. Winnie became a favorite of Christopher Robin Milne and inspired the stories written by his father, A.A. Milne, about Winnie-the-Pooh
Superman was co-created by a Canadian Joe Shuster and American Jerry Siegal. The character was created while Shuster was visiting Siegal in Cleveland in 1934.
Canada is lucky to have 9% of the world’s renewable water supply
Canadian inventions include the game Trivial Pursuit (Scott Abbot and Chris Haney), the telephone (Alexander Graham Bell),
and the snowmobile (Joseph-Armand Bombardier).
Graeme Ferguson co-invented IMAX. There are over 500 IMAX theaters in 45 countries.
Insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas was first isolated at the University of Toronto in 1921-22 by Dr. Frederick Banting and Charles Best
Inspirational Canadians include Terry Fox who attempted a one-legged cross country run for cancer research & Rick Hansen, a paraplegic athlete who completed an around the world marathon for spinal cord injury research. To give you an idea of what Terry Fox accomplished he began his marathon in St.John's, Newfoundland. He ran one-legged as his other leg had been amputated due to cancer. He ran the equivalent of a marathon a day (approx. 42KM or 26mi) with an artificial leg. He hoped to raise $1 for everyone of Canada's then 24 million people (1980). He planned to run the length of Canada, ending in Victoria BC. He made it as far as Thunder Bay Ontario until his cancer forced him to stop. He had run for 143 days for 5,373 kilometres (3,339 mi). He managed to raise 1.7 million. His mother, Betty Fox, was one of eight people to carry the Olympic Flag into BC Place Stadium at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, BC. The games saw the Terry Fox Award bestowed on Olympic athletes who embodied Fox's characteristics of determination and humility in the face of adversity.
Sometimes to be funny people play the game "Name 5 Famous Canadians", the joke being that nobody can name any! :D
Don't worry, sometimes even Canadians can't play this game either! So just for fun here are some famous Canadians:
In no particular order: Bryan Adams, Celine Dion, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Michael Buble, Avril Lavigne, Justin Beiber, Michael J Fox, Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, Mike Meyers, Jim Carrey, Steppenwolf, the Guess Who, Barenaked Ladies, William Shatner, Ryan Reynolds, Sarah McLachlan, Nelly Furtado (from Victoria BC!), kd Lang, Diana Krall, Shania Twain, Leonard Cohen, Lucy Maud Montgomery (who wrote Anne of Green Gables), Margaret Atwood, Alanis Morissette, Wayne Gretsky, Alice Monroe, Peter Jennings, Alex Trebek (who hosts Jeopardy), Morley Safer (of 60 Minutes fame), Steve Nash (basketball), Mike Weir (golf), Keanu Reeves, Avril Lavigne, Pamela Anderson, Matthew Perry ( of Friends), Kim Cattrall (of Sex in the City) Deborah Cox, Kiefer Sutherland, Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Kids in the Hall, Blue Rodeo, the Tragically Hip (otherwise known as Canada's "House Band"), Paul Gross ( our hunky Mountie from "Due South" fame), Leslie Nielson, Christopher Plummer, Jason Priestly, Fay Wray (King Kong)
I didn't even know some of these!
Happy Canada Day, eh?!