Geography and Population
Canada is located in the northernmost part of North America. In terms of area, it is the third largest country in the world. Canada is divided into ten provinces and three territories. The provinces are Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. The three territories are the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon. As of 2019, there were over 35.8 million people living in Canada. The most populated cities were Toronto (5.9 million), Montreal (4.1 million), Vancouver (2.4 million), Calgary (1.3 million), and Ottawa-Gatineau (1.3 million). The main ethnic groups are Canadian (32.3 percent of the population), English (18.3 percent), Scottish (13.9 percent), French (13.6 percent), and Irish (13.4 percent). Canada has more freshwater than any other country in the world; nine percent of Canada is water.
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History: Introduction to the English Language
Under the rule of the English King Henry VII, John Cabot was the first to claim Newfoundland in 1497. The French later established their control of the land they called “Acadia,” or the present-day Maritime Provinces. Further, the French governor Samuel de Champlain “founded a settlement called Port Royal at the inlet to the St. Lawrence River in 1605 [and] [t]hree years later, in 1608, he established Nouvelle France inland on the St. Lawrence River in the vicinity of present-day Quebec City and Montreal” (Gold & McAlpine, 2010). As a result of the Treaty of Utrecht (1716) and The Treaty of Paris (1763), France was forced to give up its possession of Acadia and the colony in Quebec City. The dominance of the English language in Canada as one of the official languages should be attributed, at least in part, to England’s success in warfare.
Politics
Much like the United States, Canada is comprised of two main political parties - Conservatives and Liberals. Both parties gained support from a variety of occupations and socioeconomic groups in considerably equal proportions. The Liberal party consists primarily of individuals with an esteemed academic background, while the Conservatives are thought to be more 'prairie radical'. The differences between the two parties are rather blurred, and overlap in many cases, making it difficult for an individual to properly identify as Liberal or Conservative. Much the same as the United States, the majority of leaders in Canada have been wealthy white males, and leaders often use masculinity as a strategy in elections.
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ReligionOver half of the population is Catholic (39 percent) or Protestant (20.3 percent). Around 17 percent of the population practices other religions, such as Anglican, Baptist, and Lutheran while around 23.9 percent of the population were not religious. Although 74 percent of non-immigrants identify as Christian, the newly immigrated population is 41 percent Christian. A small proportion of these immigrants identify as Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, or Sikh, but rather a large proportion of immigrants (mostly East Asian) identified having "other" or "no religion."
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Languages
Education
According to the World Factbook, the average school life expectancy is 16 years. Canada also has a high percentage of Internet users, in which almost 90 percent of the total population (over 31 million people) have access to the Internet. One of the goals for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is to improve the education system in countries and “to shape policies that foster prosperity, equality, opportunity and well-being for all” (OECD, n.d.). In the OECD’s “Education Policy Outlook: Canada” report (2015), they found that Canada is ahead of the other countries’ averages in standardized tests and academic performances.