Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Maple Leaf (кленовый лист)
The maple leaf is the characteristic leaf of the maple tree, and is the most widely recognized national symbol of Canada.
The maple tree is important to the Canadian economy and environment as well as being a beautiful and iconic part of the Canadian landscape. Thirteen species of maple are native to North America, and 10 of them are found in Canada. Throughout history, the maple leaf has gained importance as a Canadian symbol, to the point where it is now the most recognizable symbol of the country.
Red Ensign (флаг торгового флота Великобритании)
The Canadian Red Ensign is a former flag of Canada, used by the federal government though it was never adopted as official by the Parliament of Canada. It is a British Red Ensign, featuring the Union Flag in the canton, defaced with the shield of the Coat of Arms of Canada.
A mari usque ad mare (от моря до моря)
A Mari Usque Ad Mare (English: From Sea to Sea; French: D'un océan à l'autre) is the Canadian national motto. The phrase comes from the Latin Psalm 72:8 in the Holy Bible, which reads "Et dominabitur a mari usque ad mare, et a flumine usque ad terminos terrae" (King James Bible: "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth").
Canada Act 1982
Canada Act, also called the Constitutional Act of 1982, which made Canada a fully sovereign state. The British Parliament approved it on Mar. 25, 1982, and Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed it on Apr. 17, 1982. When Quebec residents voted (May, 1980) in a referendum not to seek sovereignty, Prime Minister Trudeau moved to create an amended constitution. The final document, agreed upon in Nov., 1981, by the federal government and every province except Quebec, combines the British North America Act of 1867, subsequent amendments to that act by the British Parliament, and new material resulting from 18 months of intense negotiations between federal and provincial powers.
It contains a Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees 34 rights including religious freedom, minority language education, and cultural tolerance. The Charter contains a clause which allows many rights to be overridden in federal or provinical legislatures by a "notwithstanding clause." Other parts of the Act recognize native treaty rights, increase the power provinces have over their natural resources, and provide an amendment formula, which requires approval of two-thirds (seven) of the provinces and 50% of the country's population. Quebec's attempts to oppose the Canada Act ended in Dec., 1982, when its claim to constitutional veto was rejected by the Supreme Court of Canada. Negotiations with Quebec continued with the Meech Lake Accord, which failed in 1990, and with subsequent federal initiatives.
Loonie
The Canadian one dollar coin (commonly called Loonie) is a gold-coloured one-dollar coin introduced in 1987. It bears images of a common loon, a bird which is common and well known in Canada, on the reverse, and of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse.
Totem Poles
Totem poles are monumental sculptures carved from large trees, mostly Western Red Cedar, by cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. The word totem is derived from the Ojibwe word odoodem, "his kinship group".
The totem pole is the signboard, genealogical record and memorial of Northwest Coast Aboriginal people. Crests carved on poles, usually erected at POTLATCHES, were lineage property and reflected the history of the lineage. Animals represented on the crests included the beaver, bear, wolf, shark, whale, raven, eagle, frog and mosquito; they were visual statements about group membership and identity. There were six principal types of poles: memorial or heraldic poles, grave figures, house posts, housefront or portal poles, welcoming poles and mortuary poles. Poles were skilfully carved of red cedar and were painted black, red, blue and sometimes white and yellow.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is both a federal and a national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal, provincial and municipal policing body. The RCMP provides policing services to all of Canada at a federal level, and also on a contract basis to the three territories, eight of Canada's provinces (the RCMP does not provide provincial or municipal policing in either Ontario or Quebec), more than 190 municipalities, 184 aboriginal communities, and three international airports.
Canadian Shield
The Canadian Shield region of Canada is a big region. It is the largest sub-region in the northern region of the country. It is 4.8-billon square km in area. It is located in northeast Alberta, northern Saskatchewan, northern Manitoba, southern N.W.T, Ontario (except for the peninsula), Quebec and Labrador. The largest bodies of water in this region are Great Slave Lake, Lake Athabasca, Reindeer Lake and part of Lake Superior. There are also many rivers in this region. The landscape in this region can be described as rocky with many different types of bodies of water.
The Great lakes
The Great Lakes, sometimes disambiguated as the Laurentian Great Lakes, are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada–United States border, which connect to the Atlantic Ocean through the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes Waterway. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth, containing 21% of the world's surface fresh water. The total surface is 94,250 square miles (244,106 km2), and the total volume (measured at the low water datum) is 5,439 cubic miles (22,671 km3). The lakes are sometimes referred to as the North Coast or "Third Coast" by some citizens of the United States.
The lakes have been a major source of trade through this area, and they are home to a large number of aquatic species. Many invasive species have been introduced due to trade in the area, and some threaten the biodiversity of the area.
Western Cordillera
The North American Cordillera is the North American portion of the American Cordillera which is a mountain chain (cordillera) extending up and down the western side of the Americas. The North American Cordillera covers an extensive area of mountain ranges, intermontane basins, and plateaus in western North America, including much of the territory west of the Great Plains. It is also sometimes called the Western Cordillera, the Western Cordillera of North America, or the Pacific Cordillera.
The precise boundaries of this cordillera and its subregions, as well as the names of its various features, may differ depending on the definitions in each country or jurisdiction, and also depending on the scientific field; this cordillera is a particularly prominent subject in the scientific field of physical geography. Of all the physiographic features in North America, the North American Cordillera is among the most impressive, and the most diverse.
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains (or the Rockies) are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than 3,000 miles (4,830 km) from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States. Within the North American Cordillera, the Rockies are somewhat distinct from the Pacific Coast Ranges and the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada which all lie farther to the west.
The Rocky Mountains were formed from 80 million to 55 million years ago by the Laramide orogeny. Since then, erosion by water and glaciers have sculpted the mountain range into dramatic valleys and peaks. At the end of the last ice age, humans started to inhabit the mountain range. After Europeans, such as Sir Alexander MacKenzie and the Lewis and Clark expedition, started to explore the range, minerals and furs drove the initial economic exploitation of the mountains, although the range itself never became densely populated.
First Nations People
The First Nations are the various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis.[not in citation given] There are currently over 630 recognized First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The total population is nearly 700,000 people. Under the Employment Equity Act, First Nations are a "designated group", along with women, visible minorities, and persons with physical or mental disabilities. They are not defined as a visible minority under the Act or by the criteria of Statistics Canada.
The term is also used outside of Canada among supporters of the Cascadian independent movement as well to refer to tribes within the Pacific Northwest region that straddles the US and Canada.
The term First Nations (most often used in the plural) has come into general use for the indigenous peoples of the Americas located in what is now Canada, except for the Arctic-situated Inuit, and peoples of mixed European-First Nations ancestry called Métis. The singular, commonly used on culturally politicized reserves, is the term First Nations person (when gender-specific, First Nations man or First Nations woman). A more recent trend is for members of various nations to refer to themselves by their tribal or national identity only, e.g., "I'm Haida," or "We're Kwantlens," in recognition of the distinctiveness of First Nations ethnicities.
Inuit
The Inuit (Inuktitut: ᐃᓄᐃᑦ, "People") are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Greenland, Canada, the United States, and eastern Siberia. Inuit is a plural noun; the singular is "Inuk". The Inuit languages are classified in the Eskimo-Aleut family.
The Inuit live throughout most of the Canadian Arctic and subarctic in the territory of Nunavut; "Nunavik" in the northern third of Quebec; "Nunatsiavut" and "Nunatukavut" in Labrador; and in various parts of the Northwest Territories, particularly around the Arctic Ocean. These areas are known in Inuktitut as the "Inuit Nunangat". In the United States, Inupiat live on the North Slope in Alaska and on Little Diomede Island. In Russia, they live on Big Diomede Island. The Greenlandic Inuit are the descendants of migrations from Canada and are citizens of Denmark, although not of the European Union.
Metis
The Métis are one of the Aboriginal peoples in Canada who trace their descent to mixed First Nations and European heritage. The term was historically a catch-all describing the offspring of any such union, but within generations the culture syncretised into what is today a distinct aboriginal group, with formal recognition equal to that of the Inuit and First Nations. Mothers were often Cree, Ojibwe, Algonquin, Saulteaux, Menominee, Mi'kmaq or Maliseet. At one time there was an important distinction between French Métis born of francophone voyageur fathers, and the Anglo-Métis or Countryborn descended from English or Scottish fathers. Today these two cultures have essentially coalesced into one Métis tradition. Other former names—many of which are now considered to be offensive—include Bois-Brûlés, Mixed-bloods, Half-breeds, Bungi, Black Scots and Jackatars.
The Métis homeland includes regions scattered across Canada, as well as parts of the northern United States (specifically Montana, North Dakota, and northwest Minnesota).
15. North American Indians
North American Indians (also Native Americans) are the original inhabitants of the Americas. The Native Americans of North America are typically considered to be all those tribes north of Central Mexico. While technically part of North America, most archaeologists tend to place the civilizations of Central Mexico into a separate category. Tribes in North America maintained a wide variety of subsistence patterns, from hunting and gathering, to intensive agriculture. North America is also home to two of the most unusual groups of hunter-gatherers, the Northwest Coast tribes, and the Aleuts. The first Native Americans are believed to have migrated from Asia via the Bering land bridge, the exposed continental shelf through Alaska between Asia and North America during the last Ice Age.
While the American Indian population once numbered over 100 million, over 90% were killed by European diseases augmented by changes in the natural habitat caused by the new arrivals.
John Cabot
John Cabot (about 1450-1499) was an Italian-born English explorer and navigator. In Italy, he is known as Giovanni Caboto (which is his original name).
Cabot was born in Italy but moved to England in 1495. At the request of King Henry VII of England, Cabot sailed to Canada in 1497, commanding the small ship called "Matthew." Cabot landed near Labrador, Newfoundland, or Cape Breton Island (the exact spot is uncertain) on June 24, 1497. One of John Cabot's three sons, the explorer Sebastian Cabot, accompanied him on this trip. Cabot claimed the land for England.
Cabot explored the Canadian coastline and named many of its islands and capes. The mission's purpose was to search for a Northwest passage across North America to Asia (a seaway to Asia). Cabot was unsuccessful, although he thought that he had reached northeastern Asia.
Cabot undertook a second, larger expedition in 1498. On this trip, Cabot may have reached America, but that is uncertain. Cabot's expeditions were the first of Britain's claims to Canada.
Jacques Cartier
After Columbus landed in the Western Hemisphere in 1492, European rulers sent explorers across the Atlantic to the Americas to claim territory and discover riches. The Spanish, Portuguese, English, Dutch and French all wanted a piece of the "New World" for themselves. Sometimes we forget that the "new world" was not new at all, but the ancient home of many people who were called "Indians" by the Europeans.
Jacques Cartier came from the French court of King Francis I to explore North America. In 1534, on his first voyage, he explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In Chaleur Bay, he met aboriginal people for the first time. They were Micmac people, and their meeting was the first time that the French and the natives traded furs. For centuries to come, fur trading would be important in the development of the North American colonies.
When Cartier sailed farther up the gulf and into the Bay of Gaspé, he and his men were greeted warmly by a group from the Iroquoian nation of Stadaconé. They had come from their home, which is now the site of Québec City, on a fishing expedition.
The story goes that Cartier asked the chief, Donnacona, what the land was called. The chief, who was inviting Cartier into their camp, replied "kanata," their word for village, as well as their name for the area around their home, Stadaconé. Maybe Cartier understood Donnacona, or maybe he did not, but "Canada" has remained the name of the whole vast territory that comprises our country.
Cartier sailed back to France with two of Donnaconna's sons, then returned again to Canada. On his second voyage, he sailed up the St. Lawrence River and visited the site of Montréal. He opened the door to French settlement of the rich land, and later colonists followed.
At first the aboriginal people were friendly, but many became hostile when they understood that their old way of life could not survive with the arrival of so many strangers. The struggle to establish peace and understanding between the people of the First Nations and the European settlers has continued during the many centuries since Cartier's arrival.
Stadacona
Stadacona was a 16th-century St. Lawrence Iroquoian village near present-day Quebec City.
French explorer and navigator Jacques Cartier, travelling and charting the Saint Lawrence River, reached it on 7 September 1535. He returned to Stadacona to spend the winter there with his group of 110 men. At the time, the chief of the village was Donnacona. Jacques had abducted many of the aboriginals from Stadacona and later on, after Donnacona had died, a new chief was put in the place to fill in for Donnacona.
Samuel de Champlain later chose the location of this village to establish the colony of l'Habitation, the start of the settlement of Quebec.