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Thursday, May 9, 2024

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Introduction

Flag and Arms of Canada

Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's second-largest country by total area, with the world's longest coastline. Its border with the United States is the world's longest international land border. The country is characterized by a wide range of both meteorologic and geological regions. It is a sparsely inhabited country of 40 million people, the vast majority residing south of the 55th parallel in urban areas. Canada's capital is Ottawa and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.

Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy in the Westminster tradition. The country's head of government is the prime minister, who holds office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the elected House of Commons and is "called upon" by the governor general, representing the monarch of Canada, the ceremonial head of state. The country is a Commonwealth realm and is officially bilingual (English and French) in the federal jurisdiction. It is very highly ranked in international measurements of government transparency, quality of life, economic competitiveness, innovation, education and gender equality. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration. Canada's long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its history, economy, and culture.

A developed country, Canada has a high nominal per capita income globally and its advanced economy ranks among the largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade networks. It is recognized as a middle power for its role in international affairs, with a tendency to pursue multilateral and international solutions. Canada's peacekeeping role during the 20th century has had a significant influence on its global image. Canada is part of multiple international organizations and forums. (Full article...)

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Two models of Beringian wolves created by paleo-artists working at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre

The Beringian wolf is an extinct population of wolf (Canis lupus) that lived during the Ice Age. It inhabited what is now modern-day Alaska, Yukon, and northern British Columbia. Some of these wolves survived well into the Holocene. The Beringian wolf is an ecomorph of the gray wolf and has been comprehensively studied using a range of scientific techniques, yielding new information on their prey species and feeding behaviors. It has been determined that these wolves are morphologically distinct from modern North American wolves and genetically basal to most modern and extinct wolves. The Beringian wolf has not been assigned a subspecies classification and its relationship with the extinct European cave wolf (Canis lupus spelaeus) is not clear. (Full article...)

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Jennie Smillie Robertson (February 10, 1878 – February 26, 1981), known throughout her career as Jennie Smillie, was the first Canadian female surgeon and also performed the country's first major gynecological surgery. Born to farmers, she worked as a teacher to afford tuition for medical school before enrolling at the Ontario Medical College for Women which merged into the University of Toronto medical school during her time there. Due to a lack of options in Toronto, she completed her training in the United States. In 1911, she helped re-found her alma mater as today's Women's College Hospital after no Toronto hospital would let her perform surgery. She died at age 103. (Full article...)

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Panoramic view of skyline, Hamilton, Ontario

Credit: Nhl4hamilton

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A claimed sighting of Mussie from 2010

In Canadian folklore, Mussie is a creature said to live in Muskrat Lake in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is variously described, for example, as a walrus or as a three-eyed Loch Ness Monster-like creature.The legend of Mussie likely began around 1916, though legend claims that Canadian pioneer Samuel de Champlain wrote about it in the early seventeenth century. Mussie has become a part of the local culture and a fixture in the local tourism industry. (Full article...)

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The music of Canada reflects the diverse influences that have shaped the country. Indigenous Peoples, the Irish, British, and the French have all made unique contributions to the musical heritage of Canada. The music has also subsequently been influenced by American culture because of the proximity between the two countries. Since French explorer Samuel de Champlain arrived in 1605 and established the first permanent French settlements at Port Royal and Québec in 1608, the country has produced its own composers, musicians and ensembles. (Full article...)

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Teslin River at Johnson's Crossing, Yukon
Credit: Merops

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Current events

May 3, 2024 – Canada–India diplomatic row: Three Indian men are arrested in Canada and charged with the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year. The Canadian government is investigating whether the men had ties to the Indian government. (Reuters) (Toronto Star)
April 12, 2024 – War in Sudan: Canada pledges $132.2 million dollars to Sudan to help people affected by the country's ongoing humanitarian crisis. (Global News)
April 1, 2024 – Israel–Hamas war: Seven volunteers from the World Central Kitchen, including six British, Polish, Australian and Palestinian nationals and a dual American-Canadian citizen, are killed in an Israeli airstrike south of Deir el-Balah. (Al Jazeera)
March 31, 2024 – Haitian crisis: Canada deploys 70 members of its armed forces to Jamaica to train peacekeepers for a future intervention in Haiti. (CBC News)
March 9, 2024 – Israel–Hamas war: Canada and Sweden resume funding for UNRWA, which had been suspended following the UNRWA October 7 controversy. (BBC News)
March 6, 2024 – Killing of the Wickramasinghe family: A Sri Lankan family, of four children and their mother, are killed with the father injured in a mass stabbing at a residence in the suburb of Barrhaven, in Ottawa, Canada. A young man is arrested. (CBOT-DT)

Past Canadian events

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... that the Bancroft region is the only place in Canada and one of very few places in the world where uranium has been mined from pegmatite rock?
... that the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights has been described as "Canada's most prominent pro-gun group"?
... that Canadian cricketer Divya Saxena was accused of obstructing the field in an international match but was ruled "not out"?
... that Moses Judah Hays leased a block of buildings to the Canadian Parliament after its seat was burned down in 1849?
... that Canadian cyclist Bernie Willock, who missed out on competing at the Olympics due to the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott, later owned furniture stores?
... that three generations of a Muslim family were killed in London, Canada, last month?
... that Sheila Egoff, Canada's first professor of children's literature, returned to her library work immediately after retirement?

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The 400-series highways are a network of controlled-access highways in the Canadian province of Ontario, forming a special subset of the provincial highway system. They are analogous to the Interstate Highway System in the United States or the Autoroute system of neighbouring Quebec, and are regulated by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO). The 400-series designations were introduced in 1952, although Ontario had been constructing divided highways for two decades prior. Initially, only Highways 400, 401 and 402 were numbered; other designations followed in the subsequent decades. The network is situated almost entirely in Southern Ontario, although Highway 400 extends into the more remote northern portion of the province. (Full article...)