Short Story's Country: Canada

Brief History about the Country
The first inhabitants of Canada were native Indian peoples, primarily the Inuit (Eskimo). The Norse explorer Leif Eriksson probably reached the shores of Canada (Labrador or Nova Scotia) in 1000, but the history of the white man in the country actually began in 1497, when John Cabot claimed the territory for the British Crown. However, the French were who started colonization since Jacques Cartier’s landing in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1534. In 1608 the French settlers founded Quebec. In 1771 the English started to settle in the Great Lake’s regions. English and French fought among them for almost 80 years in Canada as a consequence of the wars between the metropolises in Europe. In 1759, the English conquered Quebec in a decisive battle and, in 1763 (after the Seven Years War 1756-1763), the treaty of Paris recognized the British control over Canada.

Etymology of the name

Geography
Canada is the largest country in America and the second in the world (only surpassed by Russia). It has a lot of big islands in the Atlantic Ocean, the Beauport Sea, Hudson’s Bay and in the St. Lawrence’s Gulf. Its landscape is very varied, for instance, in the East there are the great summits of the Rocky Mountains (Mt. Logan 5959 m); in the North is the tundra (Yukon) and the arctic (North Pole); there are prairies in the Center; in the South is a great region covered by forest, from this proceed the half of the world’s newspaper paper production. Canada has the seventh part of all world’s fresh water. Moreover it has some of the biggest lakes in the world: Superior, Huron, Ontario, Erie, Winnipeg, the Bear and the Slave. Its most important rivers are the Mackenzie, the St. Lawrence, the Yukon and the Columbia. The Hudson’s Bay is an enormous interior sea. Canada is one the first producers of Hydroelectric energy. Its climate is extremely varied; it goes from the middle to the arctic temperatures.

Canada in America

Government

Canada is a federation of ten provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan) and three territories (Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut). Formally considered a constitutional monarchy, Canada is governed by its own House of Commons. While the governor-general is officially the representative of Queen Elizabeth II, in reality the governor-general acts only on the advice of the Canadian prime minister.

Bilingualism: Pierre Elliot Trudeau introduced the Official Languages Bill, which encouraged bilingualism in the federal government In 1976, the Parti Québécois (PQ) won the provincial Quebec elections, and René Lévesque became premier. The Quebec government passed Bill 101 in 1977, which established numerous rules promoting the French-speaking culture; for example, only French was to be used for commercial signs and for most public school instruction. Many of Bill 101's provisions have since been amended, striking more of a compromise; commercial signs, for example, may now be in French and English, provided that the French lettering is twice the size of the English.

Canada's Anthem:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwn_0nonIa0

Anthem's history:
http://canadianhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/oh_canada_canadas_national_anthem

National Symbols

Important Facts:

Sovereign:	Queen Elizabeth II (1952)
Governor-General:	Michaëlle Jean (2005)
Prime Minister:	Stephen Harper (2006)
Land area:	3,511,003 sq mi (9,093,507 sq km);
Total land area:	3,855,102 sq mi (9,984,670 sq km)
Population (2009 est.):	33,487,208 (growth rate: 0.8%); birth rate: 10.2/1000; infant mortality rate: 5.0/1000; life expectancy: 81.2; density per sq km: 3
Capital (2004 est.):	Ottawa, Ontario, 1,142,700 (metro. area)
Largest cities (metropolitan areas) (2004 est.):	Toronto, 5,203,600; Montreal, 3,606,700; Vancouver, 2,160,000; Calgary, 1,037,100; Edmonton, 1,101,600; Quebec, 710,700; Hamilton, 710,300; Winnipeg, 702,400; London, 459,700; Kitchener, 450,100
Monetary unit:	Canadian dollar
Languages:	English 59.3%, French 23.2% (both official); other 17.5%
Ethnicity/race:	British Isles origin 28%, French origin 23%, other European 15%, indigenous Indian and Inuit 2%, other, mostly Asian, African, Arab 6%, mixed background 26%
National Holiday:	Canada Day, July 1
Religions:	Roman Catholic 43%, Protestant 23% (including United Church 10%, Anglican 7%, Baptist 2%, Lutheran 2%), other Christian 4%, Muslim 2%, none 16% (2001)
Literacy rate:	99% (2003 est.)

Now let us know Canada by videos and pictures:

Videos of Canada: http://uscw.canada.travel/
Please click here to watch some beautiful videos about this great country. Once you enter the page, click in the play button.

Photos of Canada:
Web site 1: http://www.canadaphotos.info/
Web site 2: http://www.canada-photos.com/

Here there are some pictures of Ottawa's downtown

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Cyrus Macmillan biography:

Cyrus Macmillan, PC, Ph.D (September 12, 1882 – June 29, 1953) was a Canadian academic, writer, and politician. Born in Wood Islands, Prince Edward Island, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1900 and a Master of Arts degree in 1903 from McGill University. He received a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1909 and started as a Lecturer at McGill. During World War I, he served with the 7th Canadian Siege Battery. After the war, he became an Associate Professor and in 1923 was appointed Chairman of the English department. From 1940 to 1947, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science.

In June 1930, he was appointed Minister of Fisheries in the cabinet of Liberal Prime Minister Mackenzie King. He was defeated in July's 1930 federal election in the Prince Edward Island riding of Queen's. In 1940, he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the riding of Queen's. He was defeated in 1945. From 1943 to 1946, he was the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of National Defence for Air. He is the author of McGill and Its Story, 1821-1921 (1921), Canadian Wonder Tales (1918) and Canadian Fairy Tales (1922).