Encyclopedia
Canada is the world's
second-largest country by total area, occupying most of northern
North America. Extending from the
Atlantic Ocean to the
Pacific Ocean and northward into the
Arctic Ocean, Canada shares land borders with the
United States to the south and to the northwest.
Inhabited first by Aboriginal peoples, Canada was founded as a union of
British colonies, some of which had been
French colonies. Canada gained independence from the
United Kingdom in an incremental process that began in 1867 and ended in
1982 maintaining
Queen Elizabeth II as
Head of State.
Canada is a
federal constitutional monarchy and
parliamentary democracy, consisting of ten
provinces and three
territories, and defines itself as a
bilingual and
multicultural nation; both English and French are official languages. A technologically advanced and industrialized nation, its diversified
economy relies heavily on an abundance of natural resources and on trade, particularly with the United States, with which Canada has had a
long and complex relationship.
Origin and history of the name
The name
Canada comes from a
First Nations word,
kanata, meaning "village" or "settlement". In 1535, inhabitants of the area near present-day
Quebec City used the word to tell
Jacques Cartier the way to the village of Stadacona. Cartier used the word 'Canada' to refer to not only that village, but the entire area subject to Donnacona, Chief at Stadacona; by 1547, maps began referring to this and the surrounding area as Canada.
The French colony of Canada,
New France, was set up along the
Saint Lawrence River and the northern shores of the
Great Lakes. Later, it was split into two British colonies, called
Upper Canada and
Lower Canada until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon
Confederation in 1867, the name Canada was officially adopted for the new dominion, which was referred to as the
Dominion of Canada until the 1950s. As Canada increasingly acquired political authority and autonomy from
Britain, the federal government increasingly used simply
Canada on state documents and treaties. The
Canada Act 1982 refers only to
Canada and, as such, is currently the only legal name. This was reflected again in 1982 with the renaming of the national holiday from Dominion Day to
Canada Day.
History
Although Aboriginal tradition holds that the First Peoples inhabited parts of Canada since the dawn of time, archaeological studies date human presence in northern
Yukon to 26,500 years ago, and in southern
Ontario to 9,500 years ago. Europeans first arrived when the
Vikings settled briefly at
L'Anse aux Meadows circa AD 1000. The next Europeans to explore Canada's Atlantic coast included
John Cabot in 1497 and
Martin Frobisher in 1576, for
England; and
Jacques Cartier in 1534 and
Samuel de Champlain in 1603, for
France. The first permanent European settlements were established by the French at Port Royal in 1605 and
Quebec City in 1608, and by the English in
Newfoundland, around 1610. European explorers and trappers brought European diseases that spread rapidly through native trade routes and decimated the Aboriginal population.
For much of the
17th century, the English and French colonies in North America were able to develop in relative isolation from each other. French colonists extensively settled the
St. Lawrence River valley, while English colonists largely settled in the
Thirteen Colonies to the south. However, as competition for territory, naval bases, furs and fish escalated, several wars broke out between the French,
English and Native tribes. The French and Iroquois Wars erupted between the
Iroquois Confederation and the Algonquin, with their French allies, over control of the fur trade. A series of four
French and Indian Wars were fought between 1689 and 1763; these culminated with a complete British victory in the
Seven Years' War. By the terms of Treaty of Paris in 1763, Britain gained control of all of France's North American territory east of the
Mississippi River, except for the remote islands of
St. Pierre and Miquelon.
Following the war, the British found themselves in possession of a mostly French-speaking,
Roman Catholic territory, whose inhabitants had recently taken up arms against Britain. To avert conflict, Britain passed the Quebec Act of 1774, re-establishing the French language, Catholic faith, and French civil law in Quebec. The act had unforseen consequences for Britain, however, as it angered many residents of the Thirteen Colonies, helping to fuel the
American Revolution. Following the independence of the United States, approximately 50,000
United Empire Loyalists moved to Quebec,
Nova Scotia,
Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. As they were unwelcome in Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick was carved out of that colony for them in 1784. To accommodate the English-speaking Loyalists in Quebec, the province was divided into francophone
Lower Canada and anglophone
Upper Canada under the
Constitutional Act in 1791.
Canada was a major front in the
War of 1812 between the United States and British Empire and its successful defence had important long-term
effects on Canada, including the building of a sense of unity and nationalism among British North Americans. Large-scale immigration to Canada began in 1815 from Britain and Ireland. A series of agreements led to long-term peace between Canada and the United States, interrupted only briefly by raids made by political insurgents such as the Hunters' Lodges and the Fenian Brotherhood.
Following the failed
Rebellions of 1837, which demanded responsible government, colonial officials studied the political situation and issued the Durham Report in 1839. One goal—which proved unacceptable for the alliance of anglophone and francophone reformers that had rebelled in 1837—was to assimilate the French Canadians into British culture.
The Canadas were merged into a single, quasi-federal colony, the United Province of Canada, with the Act of Union . The signing of the
Oregon Treaty by Britain and the United States in 1846 ended the
Oregon boundary dispute, extending the border westward along the
49th parallel and ending joint occupation of the
Oregon Country/Columbia District. This led to the creation of the colony of
Colony of Vancouver Island in 1849 and, with the outbreak of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, the colony of
British Columbia in 1858, but both were entirely separate from the United Province of Canada. By the late 1850s, leaders in Canada launched a series of western exploratory expeditions, with the intention of assuming control of
Rupert's Land and the
Arctic region. The Canadian population grew rapidly due to high birth rates; high European immigration was offset by emigration to the United States, especially by French Canadians moving to
New England.
Following the Great Coalition, the
Charlottetown Conference the
Quebec Conference of 1864, and the London Conference of 1866, the three colonies—Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick—undertook the process of
Confederation. The British North America Act created "one dominion under the name of
Canada", with four provinces: Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. After Canada assumed control of Rupert's Land and the
North-Western Territory, which together formed the
Northwest Territories in 1870, inattention to the Métis led to the
Red River Rebellion and ultimately to the creation of the province of
Manitoba and its entry into Confederation in July 1870. British Columbia and Vancouver Island and the colony of
Prince Edward Island joined the Confederation in 1871 and 1873, respectively. To connect the union and assert authority over the western provinces, Canada constructed three trans-continental railways, most notably the
Canadian Pacific Railway, encouraged immigrants to develop the prairies with the Dominion Lands Act, and established the
North West Mounted Police. As settlers went to the prairies on the railway and the population grew, regions of the Northwest Territories were given provincial status forming
Alberta and
Saskatchewan in 1905.
Canada automatically entered the
First World War in 1914 with Britain's declaration of war, and sent formed divisions, composed almost entirely of volunteers, to the Western Front to fight as a national contingent. Casualties were so high that Prime Minister
Robert Borden was forced to bring in conscription in 1917; this move was extremely unpopular in Quebec, resulting in his Conservative party losing support in that province. Although the Liberals were deeply divided over conscription, they became the dominant political party.
In 1919, Canada joined the
League of Nations in its own right, and in 1931 the Statute of Westminster confirmed that no act of the
British Parliament would extend to Canada without its consent. At the same time, the worldwide
Great Depression of 1929 affected Canadians of every class; the rise of the
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation in Alberta and Saskatchewan presaged a welfare state as pioneered by
Tommy Douglas in the 1940s and 1950s. After supporting appeasement of Germany in the late 1930s, Liberal Prime Minister
William Lyon Mackenzie King secured Parliament’s approval for
entry into the Second World War in September 1939, after Germany invaded Poland. The first Canadian Army units arrived in Britain in December 1939. The economy boomed during the war mainly due to the amount of military
materiel being produced for Canada, Britain, China and the Soviet Union. Canada finished the war with one of the largest militaries in the world. In addition, throughout the
Vietnam War, thousands of American draft dodgers fled to and settled in various parts of Canada. Increased immigration, combined with the baby boom, an economic strength parallelling that of the 1960s United States, and reaction to the
Quiet Revolution in Quebec, initiated a new type of Canadian nationalism.
At a meeting of First Ministers in November 1981, the federal and provincial governments agreed to the
patriation of the constitution, with procedures for amending it. Despite the fact that the Quebec government did not agree to the changes, on 17 April, 1982, Canada, by Proclamation of Queen Elizabeth II, patriated its Constitution from Britain, thereby making Canada wholly sovereign, though the two countries continue to share the same monarch.
After Quebec underwent profound social and economic changes during the
Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, some Québécois began pressing for greater provincial autonomy, or partial or complete independence from Canada. Alienation between English-speaking Canadians and the Québécois over the language, cultural and social divide had been exacerbated by many events, including the Conscription Crisis of 1944. While a referendum on
sovereignty-association in 1980 was rejected by a solid majority of the population, a second referendum in
1995 was rejected by a margin of just 50.6% to 49.4%. In 1997, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled
unilateral secession by a province to be unconstitutional; Quebec's sovereignty movement has continued nonetheless. , and a
parliamentary democracy with a
federal system of
parliamentary government and strong democratic traditions.
Canada's constitution governs the legal framework of the country and consists of written text and unwritten traditions and conventions. The Constitution includes the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees basic rights and freedoms for Canadians that, generally, cannot be overridden by legislation of any level of government in Canada. It contains, however, a "notwithstanding clause", which allows the federal parliament and the provincial legislatures the power to override some other sections of the Charter temporarily, for a period of five years.
The position of
Prime Minister, Canada's head of government, belongs to the leader of the political party that can obtain the confidence of a majority in the
House of Commons. The Prime Minister and his or her cabinet are formally appointed by the
Governor General However, the Prime Minister chooses the cabinet, and by convention, the Governor General respects the Prime Minister's choices. The
Cabinet is traditionally drawn from members of the Prime Minister's party in both legislative houses, and mostly from the House of Commons. Executive power is exercised by the prime minister and cabinet, all of whom are sworn into the
Privy Council of Canada and become Ministers of the Crown. The Prime Minister exercises a lot of political power, especially in the appointment of other officials within the government and civil service.
Michaëlle Jean has served as
Governor General since September 25, 2005 and
Stephen Harper, leader of the
Conservative Party, has served as Prime Minister since February 6, 2006.
The
federal parliament is made up of the Queen and two houses: an elected House of Commons and an appointed
Senate. Each member in the House of Commons is elected by
simple plurality in a "riding" or electoral district; general elections are called by the Governor General when the Prime Minister so advises. While there is no minimum term for a Parliament, a new election must be called within five years of the last general election. Members of the Senate, whose seats are apportioned on a regional basis, are chosen by the Prime Minister and formally appointed by the Governor General, and serve until age 75.
Canada's four major political parties are the
Conservative Party of Canada,
Liberal Party of Canada,
New Democratic Party 
