Five Facts About Canada

My friend Lance is a USA American.

     He knows many things about Canada, more than he lets on.

          But he feigns ignorance.

Last week I gave him a jigsaw puzzle with a map of Canada

          showing the 10 provinces and 3 northern territories.

Lance is my inspiration for a new blog series:

     “Facts about Canada”, in sets of 5 facts per blog:

1. Canada became a nation on July 1, 1867.

          The coming together was called Confederation,

               and the country was named the Dominion of Canada.

          July 1^st is the national holiday each year,

               and we call it Canada Day

                    (formerly Dominion Day).

2. There were four original provinces:

        Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick & Nova Scotia.

             (Previously, these had been separate British colonies.)

3. Canadian “Indians” are called “First Nations”.

        There are 700,000 First Nations people living in Canada.

             There are over 630 recognized First Nations governments

                  or bands.

4. Canadian “Eskimos” should be called “Inuit”.

        There are about 50,000 Inuit in Canada,

             half of them in the northern territory of Nunavut.

5. Canada’s 2010 population is 34 million persons.

        compared to USA’s 310 million. (California: 37 million)