Facts and Photos to Feed your Curiosity

What is unique about Canada?  What is so amazing about these facts and photos that you may not believe it?   Here are some surprises that will blow your mind!  Canadian contributions help nourish your babies, keep you warm in the winter, give you the sports you watch, feed your family, launch the NASA space program…  Canadian contributions to World War II are equally impressive but obviously someone forgot to tell the world.  So next time you eat a peanut butter sandwich and watch a football game, give thanks to Canada, eh!

Size and Scenery

Yes, you may know that Canada is the second Largest country in the world. But did you know that all of Western Europe fits into Eastern Canada?  You cannot see even a fraction of Canada on one vacation.  It requires a lifetime trip.

Some western Canadians have never seen eastern Canada.  It is closer to fly from Vancouver to Honolulu (4357 km) or Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (3901 km) than to Montreal (4925 km).  Some eastern Canadians have never seen Western Canada.  It is closer to fly from Montreal to Dublin (4757 km) or Bogotá (4533 km) than to Vancouver.

We took a Swiss friend from Edmonton, Alberta via the Rocky Mountains to Vancouver.  Then we drove back via Dinosaur Provincial Park (PP)  to home. Our friend asked how many km we drove.  When I said about 3500 km, she squealed “that’s longer than driving from London to Moscow” (2,880 km)!!!

Dinosaur Provincial Park

Did you know that Dinosaur PP (Alberta) is the world’s richest source of Cretaceous Era dinosaurs? This was the era of Tyrannosaurus Rex and those nasty Velociraptors: so you must visit the real site of Jurassic Park, which is a misnomer as the T-Rex and raptors did not exist in the Jurassic era.

So why is this valley the world’s richest source of fossils?  Because it is very dry there is little erosion and the fossils have been preserved.  Dinosaur PP is the [mini] Grand Canyon of Canada but with less rainfall than in the Sahara Desert.  There are even small cacti growing so watch your step.  The needles can pierce running shoes!!

There have been a lot of “rushes” in Canada.  Between 1910 to 1917 there was even a Bone Rush as American and Canadian paleontologists competed to find complete fossil skeletons.  Over 300 Dinosaur PP fossil skeletons and countless other fragments are shown in museums in 30 countries around the world.

Prince Edward Island Red Rush

Is there anywhere in the world where the top tourist attraction is a house that is part of a work of fiction?  Green Gables House is the setting for Lucy Maud Montgomery’s book Anne of Green Gables (1908). Droves of Japanese tourists and other Anne with an E fans make their way to Prince Edward Island (PEI) to see it.  Why does Anne of Green Gables resonate with people around the world?

Where in the world is there a whole province with red rocks and soil?  Even the roads and beaches are red.  Even Anne Shirley’s hair is red.  There is a lot of oxidized iron on this island province.

You may have heard of the Klondike Gold Rush but you may not know that Dawson City was at that time the largest city in the West with 40,000 people. That may sound small today but for perspective, note that San Francisco only had a population of 25,000 in 1896.  Klondike Kate was the first woman Klondiker.  She opened up a restaurant, became the first female police constable, and the first female gold commissioner. And all because she was spurned in marriage – by her wealthy fiancé’s mother!

The Commissioner’s (governor’s) Mansion above was built to impress mining company executives who were contemplating investing in the Yukon.  No that is not typical Yukon architecture.  It is a Southern US mansion.  The Commissioner’s wife, Martha Black, was an American immigrant who hiked the Chillkoot Trail to join the Klondike.  All the old buildings are owned by Parks Canada which runs interpretive programs in period costumes that make the Klondike come alive.  Don’t miss them.

Dawson City today has only 2000 residents but they are still mining for gold.  Don’t trust those maps that make the Great North appear small.  The Yukon is 14% bigger than California with only 36,000 people!!

Rocky Mountains Nature Rush

Canada was the second country to create a national park and now has 46 of them. The five contiguous Rocky Mountain National and Provincial Parks are half the size of Switzerland with only three villages that existed before the parks were formed.

Read the Canadian Rockies Spectacular Scenery post for an overview of the must-see places.  But based on our years of living there, the Icefield Parkway is THE Must See.  Peyto Lake (my photo above) is on the Icefield Parkway.

Athabasca Glacier is the most visited in North America. Instead of just viewing it from afar, get a unique experience by hopping on a snowmobile bus and drive on the glacier.

While driving the Trans-Canada expressway in Banff NP, be sure you notice the bridges built for wildlife not cars. The overpasses are lined with fauna-friendly trees and bushes. The Trans-Canada Highway is longest highway in the world at 7,604 km (4,725 miles) in length.

Vancouver

Vancouver has one of the best scenic backdrops of any city in the world. It has a combination of Pacific Ocean and coastal mountains, which are even prettier when covered by snow. There are even beaches right in the centre of the city. Like Istanbul it has city on both sides of a strait. But unlike highly urbanized Istanbul, the extent of the vista in Vancouver is so vast that you sometimes cannot believe there is a big city here.

Fjords & Fundy

Canada has the largest amount of coastline in the world.  The Bay of Fundy between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have the highest tides in the world.  The Bay of Fundy NP and Hopewell Rocks are great places to visit.  But please make sure you get off the beach or rocks before high tide, which can reach an incredible 16 meters (53 feet).

Move over Norway and New Zealand, British Columbia (BC) has a lot of fjords, vertical valleys to the sea carved by glaciers.  There is no road along the BC coast because of the numerous and extremely wide and deep fjords. They also carve through higher and more alpine mountain scenery than those of Norway.

BC has the largest ferry service in the world linking the whole coast up to the start of Alaska. You can take a car ferry up the Inside Passage to see the scenery.  One can only appreciate the need for such a long ferry service by the distances involved. The area of BC (944,735 sq km) is 7% bigger than France and UK combined, 21% larger than Turkey, and 35% bigger than Texas!

Geography and Resources

Canada has the third largest oil reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. It is also the largest producer of uranium and a major producer of forestry products. About 30% of Canada is covered by forest.  It is a world leader in producing hydroelectricity, a word invented by Canadians.

Canada has more freshwater lakes than all the other countries in the world together!!  The Great Lakes shared with USA are the largest fresh water lakes in the world. But did you realize that they were created by the largest bulldozer (joke) in the world. A monstrous ice field one mile thick spread from the Rockies across most of Canada.

British Columbia is on the Pacific Ring of Fire . BC has a lot of volcanoes but most are dormant.  The majority of the eruptions happened in the Miocene Era (6–10 million years ago) and Pliocene Era (2–3 million years ago).  Deep layers of ash and microscopic glass shards have been found as far away as Newfoundland, Ireland and Northern Europe! Who knew Canada was volcanic?

Volcanic heat and pressure are needed to produce jade. Northern BC is the world’s largest producer of green nephrite jade.  Jade is more valuable today than gold

Sports

Did you know that Canadians invented the two sports considered the most “American” — football and basketball?  Hockey was derived from an Indian sport.  The Rideau Canal in Ottawa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the world’s longest skating rink at 7.8 km.  That’s in the winter only.  In the summer sail your boat through the locks.

Food and Clothing Inventions

This powerful mural of some local natives can be seen along the Chemainus Mural Trail in BC.  First Nations or FN (as they are now called) invented many things that are needed to survive in Canadian winter (prior to central heating and cars): winter parkas, snow goggles, moccasins, mukluks, snow shoes, and camouflage (for both hunting and warfare), birch bark canoes, and maple syrup. FN used black willow bark as a painkiller, which after ingestion turns into salicylic acid, the main ingredient of aspirin.  Can you imagine life without corn and potato chips/fries? You can thank the FN including the FN located in our neighbours to the south.

Who knew that peanut butter, North America’s favourite spread, was invented by Canadians?  Other modern foods created in Canada include Pablum cereal (babies love it), butter tarts (adults love it), and Hawaiian Pizza (Australians love it).  Let’s not forget ginger ale, poutine, and Thousand Island salad dressing.  Canada has the most doughnut shops per capita in the world.  Don’t forget to try Nanaimo Bars above.  If you visit Nanaimo, BC please go on the Nanaimo Bar Trail – yes it actually exists – and try the special ones.

Technical Inventions

Technical inventions used around the world include electric cooking range, time zones and standard (Greenwich) time, egg carton, sonar, insulin, electron microscope, cardiac pacemaker, Easy-Off Oven Cleaner, paint roller, plexiglass, plastic garbage bag, alkaline battery, IMAX movies, and even Wonderbra. The first caulking gun was made from a cake icing decorator tube.

Transportation

The National Resource Council developed nylon parachutes, propeller de-icers, and auto-inflating life jackets as part of Canada’s World War II effort!  Major inventions include the snowmobile, the first commercial jetliner and kerosene distillation. You may not have personally used a kerosene lamp but you probably have used kerosene — it’s also called jet fuel

Communications

The most significant Canadian invention was made by Alexander Bell – the telephone! You can visit his labs in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and enjoy the tour along the cliff hugging Cape Breton Trail shown above.  Other communication inventions were the modem, the pager, and radio telephony.

History

Origin

We are all immigrants to Canada except the aboriginal peoples, now called First Nations.  But John Cabot was not the first European explorer to reach Canada (1497).  The Vikings settled L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland around 1000 AD!  And they kept it a secret.

Canada got its name when two Iroquois youths told French explorer Jacques Cartier in 1535 about the route to Kanata, the village.  They meant Quebec City not the suburb of Ottawa where the Senators hockey team plays.  Jacques Cartier used the name [Lower] Canada for the whole region (Québec) as well as the village.  But there were all kinds of other names proposed during confederation talks in 1865.  Thomas D’Arcy McGee said did you really want to wake up the next day and be called a Tuponian or Hochelagan?  Thank god reason prevailed!

Quebec City

If you want to see a bit of Europe without leaving North America then come to the “village”.  Founded in 1608, Quebec City is the only walled city in the continent and it’s filled with old French architecture.  The British conquered Quebec City in 1759 during the Seven Years’ War.  But did you know they had to do it twice?  The British were too wimpy to stay in Quebec over the winter so their ships sailed back home.  The French and their Indian allies retook Quebec during the winter!  But they lost control in the spring because it was a British warship that was the first to return.

Fort Louisbourg

Fort Louisbourg (Nova Scotia) was France’s main coastal defence of its Canadian colony.  Louisbourg was also the third largest port in North America and exported fish and cod liver oil to Europe!  It was one of the early targets of the British during the Seven Years’ War.  It is well worth visiting this national historic site to see French colonists and soldiers in costume and in character, even when they talk to you.

The Seven Years’ War was not solely about Canada.  It was the first war fought by multiple European powers (even Sweden) on multiple continents.  Prime Minister William Pitt had a strategy that he could damage France by taking away its colonies.  The result of the war was that France was kicked out of Canada and India.  This victory marked the point at which Britain became the supreme imperialist power in world history.

The French did not really want Canada.  The Treaty of Paris ending the Seven Years’ War gave France the option to keep one colony.  France chose to keep the very small but sugar-rich island of Guadeloupe!  Wow, how history could have been different!

Fur Trade

It was the fur trade that opened up Canada and created Montreal, the world’s second largest French speaking city after Paris.  The power of the fashion industry is amazing. Who knew that the beaver top hat fashion was inspired by Swedish soldiers during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48)?  Fort St James above was the last HBC fur trading post: it was still open until 1951!!

Did you know that the beaver is North America’s largest rodent? That rodent is Canada’s national animal for good reason.  I tried to canoe through a beaver dam during a summer camp canoe trek.  Beaver 1 Me 0.  Plus we had to patch a hole in the wood canoe using boiled tree sap as glue.

The bulk of Canada was not even a colony of Great Britain prior to independence.  Rupert’s Land (the north-west region) was 40% of the area of Canada.  But it was owned and administered solely by the Hudson’s Bay Company.   HBC is the oldest company in all of North America and it is still going strong.

In 1869, HBC rejected an American government offer of CA $10,000,000 to buy Rupert’s Land.  Blame it on the Brits!  That would have been quite a steal considering the $7 million spent to buy much smaller Alaska.  Instead, the British government pressured HBC to sell it to Canada for $1.5 million.  That was quite a deal, except HBC never paid for it in the first place!!

Confederation

The reason for the West to join the Canadian confederation was … the Gold Rush.  No, not the Klondike in the Yukon, that was way after in 1896.  It was the gold rushes along the Fraser River and Barkerville in BC. Unlike the American gold rushes, there were no robberies or murders in the Klondike because you could not just hop on a horse and get away. There were no roads or even trails. During the winter you were stuck in Dawson as the there were no boats running.

Canadian provinces are bigger than most countries in the world and have more power than American states for various reasons.  But a key difference is that each province owns and receives royalties for the resources of its territory.

Wars

Americans have invaded Canada twice, in 1775 and 1812.  They lost both times.  The Americans used British military tactics with straight rows of soldiers advancing.  The Canadians and their Indian allies used Indian guerilla warfare tactics to defeat a much larger army.  Canada has never invaded or colonized any country.

During World War 2, Canada had the third-largest navy and the fourth largest air forceafter the US, Russia and UK. Most allied pilots were trained in Canada. A very little known fact was that Canadian and British special forces and spies trained at Camp X in Ontario.  The facility was operated by the Canadian military with close ties to Britain’s MI-6. Camp X also opened to train agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and American Office of Strategic Services (OSS), now called the CIA, before the USA joined World War II.

Canada was also made responsible for escorting supply convoys in the northwest Atlantic, sinking more than 30 German U-boats. That is also why Canada led the invention of sonar and the development of more advanced radar detection.

Canadians liberated Netherlands, which meant also feeding them since they were starving thanks to the Nazis.  Canadian army and special forces stopped the advance of the Soviets into West Germany at the end of the war.  By contrast, Canada eliminated its nuclear weapons in 1984.

Space Travel

Canada was the third country in space and was considered to have the most advanced space program in 1962.  As a result of Canada’s cancelled Avro Arrow jet, many of the top Avro engineers headed south and designed NASA’s Gemini and Apollo spacecraft.

Speaking about space travel, guess who created Superman?  – a Canadian.  BTW, Canada is the world’s most educated country since over 50% of the population have college degrees.

Multiculturalism

Toronto

Toronto is considered the most culturally diverse city in the world.  Toronto’s population is made up of 51 per cent of residents born outside of Canada and home to 230 different nationalities.  It is the largest Greek city in the world.  The Toronto Metropolitan area is the third largest in North America with the highest number of high-rises (condos) being constructed.

Vancouver

Vancouver is not far behind with 50% of its residents born outside of Canada and 45% of its residents are originally from Asia! As a result, there are diverse cultural and culinary influences not only in these two cities but throughout the country.

Entertainment Industry

Toronto is the third largest centre for English live theatre after New York and London, UK.  Toronto and Vancouver are the top movie and TV show producers in North America after Hollywood and New York.  There is a reason why the top film festival TIFF is held in Toronto.  Many major shows are filmed in Toronto, such as Orphan Black and the Handmaid’s Tale. If you like science fiction most of your favourite TV shows and movies were filmed in and around Vancouver.  Many so-called American actors and singers are actually Canadian.

Edmonton Heritage Festival

Most Canadians preserve their cultural duality, also called “hyphenated Canadians”; i.e. we refer to ourselves as Italian-Canadian, Chinese-Canadian, et al.  Canada even allows its citizens to multiple passports.

The province of Alberta even has a Heritage statutory holiday on the first Monday in August.  The Edmonton Heritage Festival is a three-day event to sample delicious food from 100 ethnic groups, see free dance and music performances, and experience Canada’s multiculturalism.

The Indian dancer above is using the hand gesture for namaste, a Hindi word for hello/good-bye, which literally means “I bow to the God in you”.  Namaste!