Canada

About Natives, Immigrants and Poutine

Canada. Just the country north of the USA?

Between the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Ocean lies Canada. It is the second largest country by area in the world. The first human presence is supposed to have been in circa 24,500 BC and in the late 15^th century there were about two million Natives living in the area. The population decreased pretty fast as soon as the Europeans captured the land due to new infectious diseases and conflicts between both groups. During the Age of Colonization the land was inhabited by mainly the British and the French. After both parties fought the Seven Years' War, Canada became a bilingual and bicultural country, leaving the English and French settlers in peace with each other. 

Canada is governed as a federal parliamentary democracy and it is still a constitutional monarchy, making Queen Elizabeth II the head of state. Current Prime Minister is Stephen Harper and the Parliament is in Ottawa, Canada’s capital. 

The world's largest coastline with a vast maritime terrain, 8 different geoclimatic regions, forests that prevail the country, ice covers the north, the impressive Rocky Mountains, flat prairies, the Great Lakes and the famous Niagara Falls. As you can see, Canada’s geographical features are so widely spread and varied, you can not call it “just Canada”. Politically the country is divided into ten provinces.

Today Canada is one of the most immigrated countries. It is famous for its multiculturalism and xenophilia. Unlike other countries, Canadian nationalism is not about ethnocentricity but about securing their sovereignty. Since Canada has historically been influenced by the United Kingdom and the United States, they are very keen on being independent. Multiculturalism is even a value for most Canadians, which differs them so much from other countries (especially the US, which they are always compared to). Because Canada is a typical immigration country with many different ethnics, the society is heterogeneous and you can consider it as a "low context culture". Unlike the USA, Canada includes it's aboriginal past into nowaday's society. In gift shops you can buy small totem poles and the Native's culture was part of the Olympics opening ceremony in Vancouver.

Just like the extremely diverse society, so is the cuisine. Canada is a very young country, unlike Europe, and local or regional dishes need time to evolve. Thus they adapted their immigrant’s meals. One of the very few Canadian recipes is Poutine: fries with gravy and cheese. Sounds gross but still delicious. Of course Canada is famous for it's unique maple syrup. Compared to non-american countries, the food is more unhealthy and what Europeans would consider junk food, is a regular meal in many households, e.g. Kraft dinner (Mac and cheese).

Economically Canada is highly globalized. It pursues a high level of economic freedom and their GDP per capita is one of the highest in the world. Considering the country’s size, products have to travel a long way, making a good infrastructure essential (see chart below). As said before, Canada is geographically diverse and big in size. The nature’s importance is also shown in the economy, because natural resources are the biggest economic sector for exports (especially fishery, forestry, agriculture, petroleum and mining.

Important numbers:

Area	9,984,670 km²
Population	33,476,688
Population density	3.73/km²
Population growth (2001-2011)	+7.9%
Net migration rate	5.63/1000 people
GDP (nominal)	$1.736 trillion
GDP  per capita	$50,436

 

Transport:

Roads	1,400,000 km
Airports	310 (10 major)
Railway	72,093 km
Harbours	300