All About Countries - Canada by allaboutcountries

Canada

Contents General Information

History 6 Nature 22

Canadian Personalities

People 32

Sir Frederick Grant Banting

Economy & Transportation

CĂŠline Marie Claudette Dion

Wayne Gretzky

James Eugene Carrey

Avril Ramona Lavigne

Bryan Guy Adams

Pamela Denise Anderson

James Francis Cameron

Ryan Rodney Reynolds

Keanu Charles Reeves

Culture 46

Canadian Cuisine

Poutine 88 Beaver Tails

Alberta beef and Montreal smoked meat

Halifax Donair

Montreal Bagel

Quebec Yellow Split Pea Soup

Tourtiere 95 Saskatoon Berry Pie

Butter Tarts

Nanaimo Bars

Caesar 99

Canada Travel

100

Toronto 101 MontrĂŠal 106 QuĂŠbec 112 Ottawa 116 Vancouver 120 Calgary 124 Edmonton 126 Winnipeg 130 Other Places

134

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General Information Canada is a country located in the northern part of North America. It is only bordered by the United States of America to the south and west. The country has access to the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, as well as to the Hudson and Baffin Bay. Canada covers an area of 9.984.670 km2, has a density of about 4 persons/km2 and its capital is located in the city of Ottawa, which hosts approximately 1.330.000 people. Canada’s national anthem is called “O Canada” and was written by Adolphe-Basile Routhier and Robert Stanley Weir on the music of C a l i x a Lavallée. The country’s motto is “A Mari Usque Ad Mare”, which translated to “From Sea to Sea”. Canada is organized as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy and is divided into 10 provinces and 3 territories. The country’s total population reaches up to about 35.500.000 people. Other important Canadian citizens living abroad can be found in countries like: United States of America (1.100.000), Hong Kong (300.000), United Kingdom (100.000), France (60.000) or Lebanon (45.000). The national day of Canada is celebrated on 1 July every year. Canada is a developed country and has the 15th highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the 10th highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, and education. Canada is a realm within the Commonwealth of Nations, a member of the Francophonie and part of several major international and intergovernmental institutions or groupings including the United Nations,

The Canadian Dollar (CAD) is the official currency of the country

the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the G7, the Group of Ten, the G20, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

Symbol

The flag of Canada, also known as l’Unifolié in French or Maple Leaf in English, is the national flag of Canada. It basically is a red flag with a white rectangle in the center in which there is a stylized eleven-pointed red maple leaf. Officially adopted in 1965, it was the first national flag in Canada to replace the Union Jack. The Canadian Red Ensign had been used informally since 1868 and was approved in 1945 by a council order for “all occasions or places where it may be desirable to fly a distinctive Canadian flag”. Searches for a new Canadian flag began in 1925 when a committee began investigating the possible project for a national flag. However, the work of this committee has never been completed. Later, in 1946, a secret parliamentary committee was appointed with a similar mandate and received more than 2.600 proposals. However, the Canadian Parliament has never been convened to vote for one of these projects. Earlier in 1964, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson said the government wanted to adopt a national flag. The Centenary of the 1967 Confederation celebration was approaching anyway, so it was proposed to vote again. In October 1964, after the elimination of many proposals, there were three possible options: a red flag with the fleur-de-lis, a design incorporating three oak leaves, and a red flag with a single maple-styled leaf white. Pearson himself preferred the three-leaf variant between two blue stripes. Two heraldic experts, both opting for the three-leaf design, played a decisive role in choosing the flag: Alan Beddoe, a retired naval captain and heraldic consultant of the Royal Canadian Navy and Colonel Fortescue Duguid, a herald and historian. In

approved as Canada’s official national colors in 1921 following King George’s proclamation. In 1957, the color of the maple leaf on the Royal Arms of Canada shield was changed from green to white background into red on a white background in recognition of Canada’s national colors.

Coat of Arms

1964, Prime Minister Lester Bowles Pearson formed a committee of 15 people to choose a flag. The controversy broke out when it came to choosing between the three projects submitted to the committee. The drawing of George Stanley and John Matheson based on the Royal Military College flag was finally selected. The graphic realization was done by Jacques Saint-Cyr. The flag was hoisted for the first time on 15 February 1965 and this date is nowadays celebrated as the Flag Day. Many other different flags were created for use by Canadian officials, government agencies and military forces. Most of these flags display the maple leaf motif. The Union Jack flag is also an official flag in Canada that is used to symbolize royalty. Red Ensign, a red flag with the Union Jack in the top corner, was created in 1707 as a flag of the British Navy. From about 1870 to 1904, it was used on land and at sea as the Canadian flag, with the addition of a shield containing on each quarter: Ontario, Québec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. At the end of the century, the shield was made from the stems of seven provinces that were then in the Confederacy. In 1924, this unofficial version of the Canadian Red Ensign was changed by a Council Order, and this shield was replaced by that of Canada, known as the Canadian Coat of Arms. At the same time, this new version was approved for use on Canadian government buildings abroad. A similar order in 1945 authorized its use on federal buildings in Canada until a new national flag was adopted. Historical evidence show that in the first crusade, Bohemond I, a Norman Lord, cut red crosses from his mantles, and distributed to the 12.000 Crusaders who carried them as distinctive signs. In the later crusades, each nation was distinguished by a cross of different color. France had a red cross, while England had a white cross. Again, in history, white and red were found to be colors of France or England. The red and white were

The Canadian coat of arms was originally borrowed from that of Great Britain. With the passing of time it has been changed and distinguished itself more and more from the British one. In the first quadrant of the coat of arms there are the three English golden lions. In the second quadrant there is the Scottish red, in the third quadrant there is the Irish golden harp and finally in the fourth quadrant there are the three golden lilies traditionally associated with France, which stand for Canadians of French origin. Below there are three maple leaves, representing all of Canada. The leaves were originally green, and their color changed to red in 1957. The crest is made up of a lion standing with majesty and its head being crowned with the imperial crown, as in Great Britain, but with the addition of a red maple leaf in his paw. The British Royal crown is placed above the crest, instead of below, as in the UK. On the left part there is an uncrowned English lion, while on the right one there is Scotland’s unicorn. The lion holds the Union Jack of the United Kingdom, while the unicorn holds a flag with the three gold lilies specific for France. The motto is A Mari Usque Ad Mare, Latin for “From Sea to Sea”. Another motto surrounding the shield is Desiderantes M e l i o r a m Patriam, Latin for “Desiring a Better Home” and it was added in 1994. This motto is that of the Order of Canada. Below the coat of arms there are the floral symbols of England (the rose), Scotland (the thistle), Ireland (the clover) and France (the lily). 5

by some anthropologists, the number of Amerindians settled within the present borders of the United States of America could have varied between two and eighteen million people or even forty million according to others. The margin of the gap therefore seems considerable. For North America, historians generally take into From Prehistory to Early European consideration the lowest number, two million, but that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean they are right. Under this assumption, it is Explorations (26.500 BC - 990 AD) While few documents attest their presence, estimated that about 1.7 million of the autochthonous archaeological excavations have traced the presence of population lived in the United States in the early 16th autochthonous peoples in Canada to more than 28.500 century, while the native population living in Canada ago in northern Yukon and more than 11.500 years ago numbered less than 300.000 inhabitants. in southern Ontario. As a result, some areas of Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s present territory have been inhabited by Amerindian The Vikings The first European explorations began on the and Inuit people since time immemorial. These native people would have arrived in America via migration coasts of Labrador and the Newfoundland Island, which through the Bering Strait, located between Alaska were visited by the Vikings, the Normans and probably and eastern Siberia, during the last glaciations of the the Basques since the 1st millennium. Around 982, a Pleistocene Epoch. Both Amerindian and Inuit people Norwegian Viking named Erik the Red was sentenced relied primarily on hunting, fishing and trapping. Each to exile for three years after having killed a man. He group of people was organized in specific regions and spent this time exploring the unknown beaches of had their own cultural characteristics, all of them related Greenland, where he established two colonies. Some to nature. Animism was, however, the main religion of of the colonies inhabitants later reached the Baffin Island and the Melville Peninsula. In 986, a ship that all indigenous peoples. Canada was therefore populated by the ancestors was headed towards these settlements discovered a new of the Amerindians. According to estimates realized forested land, probably Labrador and Newfoundland.

History

Eskimo Family

L’Anse aux Meadows Site

The account of this sighting is probably the first certain and clear testimony of the Europeans encounter with the coasts of America. Erik the Red’s son, Leif “The Lucky” Eriksson, settled for about a year (around 995) in a fertile area called Vinland, located west of Greenland. Archaeological excavations have proved that a Norwegian settlement was built on the L’Anse aux Meadows site, but nothing proves that it is the same Vinland that was mentioned in the Sage of Erik the Red. Around 1812, there was discovered at about 1.400 km from L’Anse aux Meadows a stone with inscriptions that some scholars have recognized as being ancient Norwegian.

Contact with the Europeans

In 1496, Henry VII of England appointed navigator John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) to discover a new sea lane for the spice route and to claim all the new eventually discovered lands for England. Cabot departed on 20 May 1497 from Bristol with a ship called Matthew. On 24 June, Newfoundland or Cape Breton was discovered. Encouraged by the sailor’s success, the King funded a second trip in May 1498, this time with five ships. Shortly after this expedition, the first Portuguese, English, French and Spanish fishermen

who had learned of the abundance of cod in the banks of Newfoundland thanks to Cabot’s expedition and then Jacques Cartier’s, started exploring the lands and waters of the region and borrowed from the natives the word Canada, which meant village. England, however, was not the only power interested in the new territories discovered beyond the Atlantic. Jacques Cartier, with a patent letter from King Francis I of France, arrived in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence on 29 June 1529. By 1535, Cartier had already established good relations with the Iroquois Indians. Cartier re-named the site of Hochelaga to Mont-Royal, from which Montréal, probably in honor of his travel companion, Claude de Pontbriand, son of Pierre de Pontbriand, Lord of Montréal in Périgod. The hypothesis that the name of the city comes from Cardinal Ippolito de’ Medici, administrator of the Archdiocese of Monreale in Sicily, has no documentary basis. In 1541, Cartier returned with over 400 colonists and five ships and founded the Charlesbourg-Royal fortress at Cap Rouge, 13 km from the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. In 1605, Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons, was appointed Governor of Acadia (a region that includes the present Maritime Provinces and most of Maine), founded a new fortress called Port Royal in Nova Scotia. It became the first stable European 7

Jacques Cartier at Hochelaga

Jacques Cartier claimed what is now Canada for France

settlement north of Florida. In 1545, the books and maps created by the first European explorers began to refer to this region as Canada. English explorers Martin Frobisher in 1576 and Henry Hudson in 1609-1610 tried in fact to find a new route towards Asia. In 1607, however, having lost the monopoly of fur trade in the new territories, the French decided to abandon the island. In 1610, Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt et de Saint-Just once again granted the monopoly to Henry IV of France and despite the fact that Queen Marie imposed the presence of some Jesuit missionaries to grant the required funding he decided to leave without them. In the following years however, the presence of Jesuits imposed by the French court caused considerable friction within the colony, leading to the excommunication of Charles de Biencourt, the Governor’s son. In 1613, René Le Coq de La Saussaye arrived in Port Royal with lots of ships, colonists and animals, as well as a subsidy from the Marquis of Guercheville, a strong supporter of the Jesuits. The convoy stayed only for a short period of time so that Father Pierre Briard and Father Énemond Massé (the two Jesuit missionaries present at Port Royal) could embark on the ship. The convoy then settled in the current Mount Desert Island off the coast of Maine, 8

where they searched for a location suitable for a new settlement. Shortly thereafter, the colonists were attacked and captured by Captain Samuel Argall, who was sent by the governor of the Virginia colony (English) to destroy any French settlement that was located within Britain’s claimed territories. The missionaries, alongside 13 other men, accompanied Argall to Jamestown and then returned to Port Royal where they took by surprise the soldiers working in the fields and have set the entire fort on fire. Meanwhile, around 1608, Samuel de Champlain founded along the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, in a place called by the Algonquian Indians “Québec” (meaning where the river narrows) a new settlement opened especially for fur trade and contacts with the indigenous surrounding nations. What would be the future city of Québec soon became the heart of New France. The French claimed Canada as its own territory and brought 6.000 settlers, who settled down the valley of the Saint Lawrence River and Acadia. Great Britain, who already had settlements on Newfoundland, following the arrival of new settlers, claimed the south of Nova Scotia, as well as the coasts surrounding the Hudson Bay. The first contact with the Europeans was disastrous for the native populations. European explorers and traders brought a large number of new diseases, such as smallpox, that ravaged entire villages. The Iroquois became fervent opponents of the French and the war between the two was relentless, especially as they joined the British armies in an attempt to weaken them. Basque fishermen (mainly whalers) began fishing in the Great Banks of the Atlantic coast since the 15th century. By the end of the 16th century, 900 people had already established in Canada. During the heyday of whaling, 2.000 people worked every summer off the eastern coasts of Canada. However, whale

Samuel de Champlain founded the city of Québec

hunting ended at the beginning of the 17th century as the two species of whales that were hunted were close to extinction and many of the whaling ships were required by the Spanish navy. The contacts between Basques and Native Americans reached such an intensity to the point that some lexical loans of the Basque language are found in the Algonquian languages of the Labrador Peninsula and there is sufficient evidence to say that the communication between Basques and Indians gave rise to the emergence of a mixed pidgin, usually known as Basque-Algonquin pidgin. British Royal Navy officer Sir William Edward Parry took part in several expeditions between 1818 and 1824 in the search of the Northwest Passage, while British Rear Admiral John Franklin also directed several expeditions (1819, 1825, 1845) in the search of the Passage. Between 1903 and 1906, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen conquered the ruthless north of Canada and sailed through the Northwest Passage. The West Coast of Canada was visited by Captain James Cook in 1778. The next to have contact with the area was George Vancouver, who between 1791 and 1795, explored the area and discovered the mouth of the Bella Coola River seven weeks before the arrival of Scottish

George Vancouver

Sir Alexander Mackenzie.

New France (1604-1756)

The first attempt to colonize Canada failed in 1541. Newfoundland was annexed to the British Empire by Sir Humphrey Gilbert in 1583. The first permanent French colony was that of Acadia in Nova Scotia, founded in 1604 by Samuel de Champlain. It was then followed in 1608 by the Québec colony. In 1627, Cardinal Richelieu founded a stock company named The Company of One Hundred Associates, which was meant to be the nucleus of the French civilization in the New World. In 1628, Sir William Alexander established a Scottish colony in present day Nova Scotia. The French founded new settlements in Trois-Rivières in 1634 and Montréal in 1642. In 1663, under the reign of King Louis XIV of France, the New France colony was transferred under the direct authority of the king and Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Finance Minister of France, urged a new administration for the province, similar to that of France. The fur trade in New France was granted as a monopoly to the West Indies Company. In 1670, the Hudson’s Bay Company was founded in order to allow the British Empire to exploit the region 9

but its bases fell following a French expedition in 1686. Several expeditions were sent from New France, such as that of Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette in 1673, who explored the Mississippi River, or that of René Robert Cavelier in 1682, who was appointed to obtain Louisiana. In 1689, the dynastic struggles in Europe provoked the beginning of a war between the English and French colonies from America, which ended in 1713 following the Treaty of Utrecht. The French ceded Newfoundland and the Hudson Bay to England, but retained the Cape Breton and Prince Edward Islands. The treaty didn’t prevent new skirmishes between the colonial powers in 1744. The conflicts between both factions led to an open war between them in 1754 in the Ohio Valley that reached its peak in 1756, with the beginning of the Seven Years War.

The Seven Years’ War (1756-1763)

Sir Humphrey Gilbert annexed Newfoundland to the British Empire

The Seven Years’ War consisted of a series of commercial conflicts and colonial rivalries between France and England that resulted in a war which affected Europe and its colonies. In North America, increasing immigration pushed the 400.000 English colonists to put

Political Map of Canada by 1750

The Victory of Montcalm’s Troops at Ticonderoga (by Henry Alexander Ogden)

pressure on the French territories, scarcely populated by some 70.000 settlers, but strongly protected by forts. The constant skirmishes were transformed in 1754 into an armed conflict in the Ohio Valley. Initially, Great Britain suffered a defeat at Fort Duquesne and failed to take Fort Crown Point in 1755. The French counterattacks succeeded at Fort William Henry, Fort George and Fort Oswego in 1756. However, the French forces

led by General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm-Gozon, Marquis de Saint-Veran, soon became incapable of receiving aid from the metropolis of France due to the British Royal Navy blockade. Nevertheless, the French managed to defeat the English at Fort Ticonderoga in 1758. The British led by James Wolfe managed to defeat the troops of the Marquis de Saint-Veran in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, near Québec in 1759. The British took the city and both the Marquis de Saint-Veran and James Wolfe died in the battle. On 8 September 1760, Montréal fell and the English totally occupied the New France colony. The Treaty of Paris signed on 10 February 1763 forced France to abandon its possessions in North America, except for the Saint Pierre and Miquelon Islands. France, however, maintained its fishing rights in the neighborhoods of Newfoundland. The majority of French settlers decided to remain in Québec despite turning into an English colony.

British Canada (1764-1867)

Under British rule the population grew rapidly. During the American War of Independence and after the war, thousands of loyalists to the crown took refuge in Canada, especially in Nova Scotia, and thus the colony of New Brunswick was created in 1784 to accommodate the 50.000 loyalists. At the end of the war in 1783, Canada

General James Wolfe’s aide-de-camp during the siege of Québec in September 1759

Signing of the Treaty of Ghent

was forced to cede Michigan to the United States, while in 1791 the country was divided into Upper and Lower QuĂŠbec. The desire of many citizens of the United States to expel the English from America and the resentment felt by loyalists against the newly founded nation of the United States following their expulsion from the old Thirteen Colonies threatened a war that was about to take place in 1794. The war eventually began in 1812 and ended in 1814, following the signing of the Treaty of Ghent on 24 December 1814. In 1818, the border between the United States and Canada was set at the 49Â° parallel, forcing Canada to abandon its Red River Colony (Selkirk Settlement) to the south of that parallel (founded in 1811) and to carry out a joint occupation of Oregon until its transfer to the United States in 1846. Meanwhile, the exploration of the territory followed its course and in 1789, Alexander Mackenzie arrived at the head of the river that bears his name, while in 1793, he arrived to the Pacific by land, thus realizing the first east to west crossing of North America north of Mexico. The explorations carried out by Simon Fraser and David Thompson, among others, allowed 12

Sir Alexander Mackenzie

British Canada by 1855

the discovery of what would be British Columbia. After resolving the problems between fur traders companies in 1821, the North West Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company were forcibly merged. Many immigrants arrived from Great Britain, especially from Scotland, between 1815 and 1825. Many of them came from the south through the Erie Canal linking the Great Lakes and New York. In 1837, a series of small rebellions took place: that of Louis-Joseph Papineau in Montréal and that of William Lyon Mackenzie in Toronto. Lord Durham (John George Lambton) was sent to solve this situation and he recommended that self-government be

increased and the two Canadas (Upper and Lower) be unified. The union was realized with difficulty and the increase of self-government was approved, offering the same representation to both territories in the House of Representatives. In 1846, the western boundary of the Rocky Mountains was moved to the Pacific Ocean and the discovery of gold on the Fraser River in 1858 stimulated the creation of British Columbia. The signing of the Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty (1854) produced an industrial growth. The American Civil War (1861-1865) seemed to threaten the survival of British America, for it was believed that a victorious North would avenge the British support to the South by invading the British colonies. That, coupled with economic motives, led to a series of meetings between politicians from different provinces in Charlottetown and Québec in 1864, during which it was decided to create the Canadian Confederation. The federal dominion was created in 1867 following the signing of The British North America Act. Québec, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia united within the Canadian Confederation. Canada suffered attacks between 1866 and 1870 from the Fenian Brotherhood (Bráithreachas na bhFíníní), an American branch of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, which sought to change the British policy on Irish independence. The Brotherhood’s first attack was on Fort Erie.

Fathers of Canadian Confederation

1885, prompting a Métis rebellion in Saskatchewan led by Louis Riel, who was eventually defeated at the Siege of Batoche. The first transcontinental services began in 1886. Sir John Alexander Macdonald died on 6 June 1891, leaving the conservatives without an effective leader and the 1896 elections were won by the liberals headed by Franco-Canadian lawyer Wilfrid Laurier. Also in 1896, a gold rush occurred in Yukón following the discovery of gold in the Klondike River. Canada had a symbolic participation in the First and Second Boer War. In 1905, Alberta and Saskatchewan became provinces within the Confederation. Between 1912 and 1914, oil companies began extracting oil from Alberta. In 1911, conservative Sir Robert Laird Borden was appointed as the new prime minister of the country and during his mandate the annual immigration increased to 400.000 people. Starting from 1914, new and more resistant strains of wheat allowed Canada to become one of the largest wheat exporters in the world.

Canada in the First World War (1914-1918)

Sir John Alexander Macdonald, First Prime Minister of Canada, in 1878

Autonomy of the Canadian Confederation (1867-1914)

The Confederation was called Dominion of Canada and continued to be subject to the absolute authority of the British crown. In 1869, a rebellion headed by Louis David Riel took place. After the failure of the revolt, in the following year, the Manitoba province was created and joined the Confederation on 15 July 1870 alongside the Northwest Territories (including Nunavut). Yukón was the last territory to become part of the dominion. The first prime minister of Canada, Sir John Alexander Macdonald was elected in 1867 and ruled, according to the census of 1871, about 3.7 million inhabitants, out of which ¾ were rural population. Macdonald extended Canada’s territory by adding British Columbia to the dominion on 20 July 1871 with the condition that in 10 years the Canadian Pacific Railway would get the railroad through the province. Prince Edward Island joined the Confederation in 1873. Macdonald was defeated by the liberals led by Alexander Mackenzie (politician) but thanks to the economic crisis economic, he was re-elected in 1878. The transcontinental railroad was completed in 14

Conservative Prime Minister Sir Robert Laird Borden responded to the war in Europe by mobilizing hundreds of thousands of volunteers. Out of the total 8 million inhabitants of the country, 620.000 went to war. 57.000 of them died. Canadian troops were deployed in Russia, Great Britain, France, Greece (Thessaloniki), Mesopotamia and Palestine. Newfoundland contributed with 12.000 men, out of whom 1.000 died in battles fought in Scotland, Belgium, France and Gallipoli. Canadian troops distinguished themselves during The Battle of Vimy Ridge by taking the hill on 15 April 1917 and the 3rd Battle of Ypres by taking the town of Passchendaele on 30 October 1917. The Canadian troops were under British command and formed by volunteers until 1917 when

Canadian troops at the Somme in November 1916

they were placed under Canadian command. The support for the British caused protests especially among the Franco-Canadians. Riots took place in Québec and four people died when the troops started opening fire. On 18 August 1918, Canadian and Australian troops broke through the enemy lines near Amiens, forcing the German soldiers back to Mons where on 11 November 1918, the German army would surrender, thus ending World War I. During the war, Canada also contributed with 30.000 mules and horses to the Allied Cavalry. A total of 556 merchant ships left the port of Halifax (Nova Scotia) for Great Britain and Canada spent 1.670 million $.

Canada during the Interwar Period (19191938)

The 1920’s were of great prosperity for Canada. Liberal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King endeavored to get Canada to obtain the same selfgovernment as Great Britain, which was recognized at the Imperial Conference of 1929, being confirmed by

The Single Men’s Unemployed Association parading in Toronto, Canada

the Parliament in the 1931 Westminster Statute. The Great Depression of 1929 greatly affected Canada as the wheat market started to collapse. Falling wheat prices made it cheaper to buy from Argentina, Australia or the Soviet Union. Following the victory of conservative Richard B. Bennett in 1930, the gross national product fell from 6.100 million $ in 1929 to 3.500 million $ in 1933, while industrial production fell by half in the same period. In 1933, 20% of the active population was unemployed. During the same period of time, the worst situations were experienced in the Canadian Prairies where in 1931 hurricane winds ripped off the topsoil, in 1932 a plague of lobsters devoured the crops and 1933 signaled the beginning of an era of bad harvests because of the climate, which led to the founding of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), which later became the New Democratic Party, the Socialist Party of Canada. The Liberals obtained a crushing victory in 1935 and William Lyon Mackenzie King became once again Prime Minister. Despite pursuing an isolationist policy during the 1930’s, Canada supported Great Britain and declared war on Germany on 10 September 1939. Canadian WWI recruitment poster

Canada in the Second World War (1939-1945)

At the beginning of the war, the Canadian army consisted of 4.500 soldiers and 51.000 reservists without modern equipment. The Royal Canadian Air Force consisted of 20 squadrons of modern aircraft while the Royal Canadian Navy had 6 destroyers and many other smaller ships. The armed Canadians forces were quick to aid Great Britain and in December 1939 the first troops were already en-route to Europe, while other 250.000 Canadians were volunteering in the army. Canada has put its navy to the service of Great Britain and commanded 10 fighter squadrons before the end of 1940 when it took part in the Battle of Britain, being the main support of the United Kingdom until the intervention of the United States of America in 1941. The port of Halifax (Nova Scotia) was the main point of convoy creation for the dangerous crossing of the Atlantic. Throughout the Battle of the Atlantic, the Canadian Royal Navy and the Canadian Merchant Navy were crucial to the Allies victory. The Royal Canadian Navy managed to enroll until the end of the war 106.500 sailors on 471 warships. The Royal Canadian Navy sank 28 enemy submarines and many other enemy ships, losing 24 ships and 2.000 sailors. 12.000 Canadians

Royal Canadian Air Force recruitment poster

Canadian dead soldier during the Dieppe Raid

served in the Canadian Merchant Navy, out of whom 1.600 died. In November 1941, Canada sent almost 2.000 soldiers to Hong Kong. On 7 December 1941, Japan entered the war and on 8 December, Hong Kong was attacked and forced to surrender on 25 December 1941. 290 Canadians died during the fighting and another 300 died before the end of the war. On 19 August 1942, Canadian troops with the support of British commandos took part in the Dieppe Raid. The assault was a failure due to the German resistance and from the Dieppe Raid only 2.110 of the 5.000 Canadians who participated returned to England. Canada contributed with 300 heavy bombers to the bombing of Europe. From 1939 to 1945, the Royal Canadian Air Force enrolled 249.000 men and organized 86 squadrons, 47 of them being sent abroad. 17.000 of these men lost their lives during the battles. In April 1942, the federal government organized a referendum in order to allow forced recruitment and it was approved despite many French Canadians voting against. One of those who opposed the forced recruitment was Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who later became Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prime minister. It wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t necessary to carry out the forced enlistment until November 1944. Between 1944 and 1945 there were recruited 29.000 soldiers. This was the reason why the bulk of the Canadian army was formed by volunteers. In 1943, 1.5 million Canadians worked in ammunition factories, which enabled them to finish recovering from the effects of the Great Depression. Canadian troops took part in the Allied Invasion of Sicily and took part in the invasion of Italy in September 1943. In December 1943, the Canadian troops fought at the Battle of Ortona, south of the Adriatic, in a houseto-house battle. In 1944, Canada reinforced its troops in Italy and created the 1st Canadian Army Corps. The Canadian troops broke the Hitler Line south of Rome

Canadian troops took part in the Battle of Falaise Pocket

Canadian Rifleman at the Battle of Ortona, Italy in 1943

and the Gothic Line further north. In February 1945, the 1st Canadian Army Corps moved towards northwestern Europe. 93.000 Canadians served in Italy and 5.300 died in it. Canadian soldiers played an important role on 6 June 1944 (D-Day). As part of the Battle of Normandy, 14.000 Canadians raided and occupied Juno Beach, while the Royal Canadian Navy sustained the landing with 110 ships and 10.000 sailors. The Royal Canadian Air Force contributed with 15 fighter squadrons and fighter-bombers. There were also Canadians among the paratroopers that fought on D-Day, 359 of them dying during this battle. On 16 July 1944, Canadian troops contributed to the conquest of Caen and took part in the Battle of the Falaise Pocket in which, with a pincer movement, together with the French and American troops succeeded in surrounding a large part of the German troops in the Falaise Pocket and made them surrender on 21 August. In September 1944, Canadian troops headed northwards and conquered Boulogne-sur-Mer and Calais, while in April 1945 Canadian troops liberated much of Belgium. On 5 May 1945, the city of Oldenburg in northern Germany was occupied by Canadian troops. The war in Europe ended on 8 May 1945 with the victory of the Allies. In front of the Japanese threat, Canada responded by deploying 30.000 troops,

14 aviation squadrons and 20 warships in British Columbia. Canada cooperated with the United States to expel the Japanese from the Aleutian Islands. Before the surrender of Japan on 14 August 1945, a Canadian cruiser, the HMCS Uganda, took part in the Pacific War. 10 squadrons transported supplies in India and Burma (Myanmar), while communications specialists served in Australia. During the war thousands of Canadians of Japanese origins (15.000 to 22.000) were arrested, especially those living in British Columbia, and their goods were auctioned. In 1945, they were forced to choose to settle east of the Rocky Mountains or

HMCS Uganda Canadian Cruiser

of Canada doubled, reaching to about 18 million inhabitants, thanks in large part to the 1.5 million immigrants who arrived, mostly from Europe. In 1949, Canada joined NATO. Canada fought in the Korean War (1950-1953) under the UN mandate. In 1951, Canadian troops were sent to Europe. Canada played an active role in the creation of the UN Peace Force in 1956 after the Sinai insurgency when the Foreign Minister of Canada, Lester Bowles Pearson, presented before the UN General Assembly the proposal to send a peace contingent to solve the conflict. The election of conservative John George Diefenbaker in 1957 was followed by a crushing victory in 1958 after an early election. In 1960, the Liberals won for the first time the provincial elections of Québec, Jean Lesage being chosen as governor.

Canada between 1960 and 1981

William Lyon Mackenzie King (left), Prime Minister of Canada for 22 years

be deported to Japan. 10.000 of them decided to be expulsed and when in 1947 the Canadian government changed its mind, the vast majority of them chose not to return to Canada. More than 731.000 Canadians served in the army, out of which 16.000 were part of the German occupation forces. Canada lost 23.000 infantry troops, 17.000 pilots, 2.000 sailors and 1.600 merchant marine soldiers. Out of the total of 43.600 solders, 700 of them were killed in Newfoundland.

Canada between 1945 and 1960

New oil deposits were discovered in Alberta and new iron ore reserves in Ungava, in northern Québec, during the 1940’s. In the following decade, uranium resources were developed in northern Ontario and power plants were built throughout the country. Following the elections of 1948, after serving as prime minister for 22 years, William Lyon Mackenzie King was replaced by the liberal Louis St. Laurent. In 1949, Newfoundland and Labrador joined the Canadian Confederation. During 1950 and 1960 the population 18

The elections of 1962 saw a retreat of the conservatives and in 1963 John George Diefenbaker was defeated and replaced by liberal Lester B. Pearson, who governed in minority. During the 1960 decade, Canada experienced a boom of the independentism in Québec that resulted in the creation of the radical Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) supported by France and the moderate Parti Québécois (PQ) founded in 1968 under the command of René Lévesque. The 1965 elections failed to clarify the political situation. The Universal Exhibition of Montréal in 1967 was celebrated in the same year French president Charles de Gaulle visited Québec, giving support to the independent activists. The elections of 1968 were won by liberal Pierre Elliott Trudeau. In 1969, the Law of the Official Language that established the equality between French and English in all governmental activity was approved. In April 1970, the elections in Québec resulted in an absolute majority of the Liberal Party of Canada. In October 1970, the Front de libération du Québec kidnapped British diplomat James Cross and the Québec Minister of Labor, Pierre Laporte, thus provoking the October Crisis. The federal government declared the martial law (which was in force in Québec until April 1971) and the FLQ was outlawed. Pierre Laporte was killed and James Cross was released while the terrorists fled to Cuba. After the 1972 elections, the Liberal Party of Canada continued to maintain its power although it didn’t had an absolute majority. The Québec elections of October 1973 saw the triumph of liberal Robert Bourassa. Thus, the Liberals regained an absolute majority in the early

According to the Meech Lake Accord, Québec joined the 1982 constitution as a distinct society

Pierre Elliott Trudeau

elections of July 1974. The Québec elections of 15 April 1979 offered a great triumph to Ren Lévesque’s Parti Québécois. In the elections of 22 May 1979, Joe Clark’s Conservative Party of Canada had triumphed. In the elections of 18 February 1980, the Liberal Party of Canada obtained a great victory and Pierre Elliott Trudeau regained its position as prime minister of the country on 20 May 1980. The option of negotiating an “associate sovereignty” for Québec was voted in a referendum which only saw a 40% vote in favor. The vote, however, did not prevent the April 1981 elections in Québec which were won by the Parti Québécois.

Canada between 1982 and 1992

In 1981, the Parliament elaborated a new Constitution that was proclaimed in Ottawa on 17 April 1982 by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, but Québec did not ratify the new constitution. Due to the economic crisis, Pierre Elliott Trudeau resigned in 1984 and was replaced by John Napier Turner. The continuation of the economic crisis led the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to an overwhelming victory in the September 1984 elections as Brian

Mulroney became the new Prime Minister. To resolve the constitutional crisis, the governors of all the provinces met and signed the Meech Lake Accord on 3 July 1987, by which Québec joined the 1982 constitution as a “distinct society”. Canada signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the United States in 1988, which included the abolition of customs tariffs in 1998 as a step forwards towards the achievement of economic union. The elections of November 1989 were won by the Conservatives and the Free Trade Agreement was ratified by the Parliament in January 1989. However, the constitutional problems continued and on 29 June 1990, New Brunswick, Manitoba and Newfoundland refused to ratify the Meech Lake Accord, which was suspended. This forced a new constitutional reform to respond to the aspirations of all the provinces. It materialized in the Charlottetown Accord, signed on 22 August 1992, which was proposed for a referendum on 26 October 1992. However, it was rejected after obtaining only 42% of the votes in favor and obtaining the rejection of six provinces. Also in October, the expansion of the North American Free Trade Agreement to Mexico was signed. In May 1992, a government decision was approved to create a territory (Nunavut) in the Northwest Territories with self-government for the Inuit people.

Canada between 1992 and 1999

In February 1993, due to a mixture of economic problems and political discord, Brian Mulroney resigned and was replaced as Prime Minister and head of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada by Kim Campbell on 13 June 1993, ergo becoming the first 19

woman to occupy the position of Prime Minister of Canada. In the general elections of 25 October 1999, the Canadian Liberal Party obtained an incredible victory (the ruling Progressive Conservative Party of Canada went from 153 to 2 seats) that allowed liberal Jean Chrétien to take the reins of the government. During the 1990’s, Canadian troops were part of many missions of the UN Peace Forces in Western Sahara, Cambodia, former Yugoslavia, Haiti, East Timor and Sierra Leone. Canada also took part in the UN mission in Somalia in 1993. Canadians tortured to death Somali teenager Shidane Abukar Arone and produced the Somalia Affair which resulted in the dissolution of the elite regiment of the Canadian Airborne Regiment and the damage of the Canadian’s army reputation. The Québec elections of September 1994 saw the victory of the Parti Québécois that allowed it to carry out a new referendum on the independence of Québec in 1995, which was lost by a difference of 1.12% (50.000 votes) and registered a participation of 93%. Also in 1995, there was a fishing confrontation with Spain and the European Union due to the fishing rights of black freighter in the waters of the Northwest Atlantic, a conflict that resulted in a review of the fishing quotas and the withdrawal of a law that granted to Canada jurisdiction beyond 320 km. The 1997 national elections were won by Jean Chrétien and the Liberal Party of Canada. In January 1998, an ice storm in Ontario, southeastern Québec and New Brunswick left hundreds of thousands of homes without power, caused 15 deaths, thousands of victims and interrupted public services in what is the worst natural disaster in Canada’s history.

Canadian Military Forces

1995 Referendum on the Independence of Québec

At the request of the federal government, the Supreme Court decided on 19 August 1998 that since it is neither a colony nor militarily occupied, Québec can’t declare its independence unilateral. However, the Supreme Court’s decision stated that if in the face of an unequivocal question the majority of Québecois pronounced in favor of independence, the rest of Canada would be forced to negotiate with Québec. The 30 November 1998 elections in Québec were won by Lucien Bouchard of the Parti Québécois. On 1 April 1999, the government of a new territory of Canada, Nunavut, took the office.

Canada in the 21st century

Canada sent troops to Afghanistan in 2001, but declined to join the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Canada signed the Kyoto Protocol in 2002 in compliance with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and became the 99th country to accede to it. In 2006, the Conservative government of Stephen Harper succeeded Jean Chrétien’s Liberal government and wanted to withdraw the country from the Kyoto protocol considering the objectives as too idealistic and unachievable. The withdrawal did not please some provinces deeply involved in the protocol, such as Québec, which was benefiting economically and commercially from Europe. Thus, Canada has left the choice to its provinces to reinstate the protocol because the provinces have the necessary powers to issue legislation favorable to the fulfillment of the requests of this protocol. Only the provinces of Québec and Manitoba reinstated it. Provinces such as British Columbia and New Brunswick were eager to know more about it before making their decision. On 27 November 2006, the House of Commons of Canada voted almost unanimously in favor of a motion recognizing that “Québecers form a nation

Canadian Forces participating in Airborne Operations during Rapid Trident 2011

within a united Canada”, a mostly symbolic approach, but one that is a major step forward in consolidating the concept of the special status of the Francophone province. In English Canada, critics have rocketed, fearing that new arms will be given to Québec separatists. In 2011, Canadian forces participated in the NATO intervention into the Libyan civil war and also became involved in battling the Islamic State insurgency in Iraq in the mid 2010’s. A popular phenomenon invites

many Canadians to migrate to the southern states of the United States such as Arizona and Florida, the Caribbean and Oceania countries where winters are generally milder. These people, known as the Snowbirds, spend the winter there, usually six months, and come back to Canada during the summer to maintain their legal residency status. Since the first half of the 20th century, economic relations and business development made a step forward and are now present throughout the year. A strong presence of Québecers can be noticed in Maine, Old Orchard Beach and Ogunquit during the summer holidays. In 2017, Canadians celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation. Four days of Canadian holidays were more grandiose than the normal ones in order to mark this anniversary. The National Aboriginal Day, Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day (National Day of Québec and the Canadian Francophonie) and Canadian Multiculturalism Day featured in the program that celebrated Canada’s 150 years of existence. The culmination of these major celebrations took place on 1 July 2017. Several other activities were also planned for this event in different communities of the country. In addition, to celebrate the event, Canada’s various national parks granted free access throughout the 2017 anniversary year.

150th anniversary of Canada Day in 2017

Nature Landforms

The physical geography of Canada is very varied. The taiga prevails over most of the country, ice predominates in the Arctic areas in the north and in the Rocky Mountains, while the relatively flat prairie in the south-west facilitates agriculture. The Great Lakes feed the Saint Lawrence River in the south-east, where depressions gather most of the country’s population. The Appalachian Mountains range stretches from the state of Georgia in the south of the United States of America to the Gaspé Peninsula in Québec and the Atlantic Provinces, creating indented hills by the river valleys. The Appalachian Mountains are an ancient and eroded mountain range, of about 380 million years old. The major peaks of the Appalachian Mountains are: The Jacques-Cartier Peak (in Québec, at an altitude of 1.268 m) and Carleton Peak (in New Brunswick, at an altitude of 817 m). Part of the Appalachian Mountains host an endemic and rich flora and fauna. It is widely

considered that they weren’t covered by ice during the last glaciation. The southern part of the Québec and Ontario regions, more specifically in the Great Lakes area (bordered by the Ontario River on the Canadian side) and in the Basin of the Saint Lawrence River, is an alluvial plain. Prior to its colonization and the great 20th century urban development, this low altitude area located east of the Great Lakes was home to mixed forests that covered the almost flat area between the Appalachian Mountains and the Canadian Plateau. Much of the forest has been cut to make space for agriculture and timber exploitation, but the remaining part is nowadays well protected. In this part of Canada there is the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the largest estuary in the world. While the relief of these lowlands is flat and regular, the Monteregian Hills spread on an almost straight line along the area. The most well-known peaks of these hills are the Mount Royal and Mont Saint Hilaire. These hills are known for the rich deposits of ores that they contain. The northern part of the Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Québec provinces, as well as the continental part of Newfoundland and Labrador are situated on a high-grade metamorphic rocks base

Canadian Rockies

Saint Lawrence River

called the Canadian Shield. This plateau is basically a rocky eroded area with many lakes and rivers used to produce electricity, especially in the northern provinces of QuĂŠbec and Ontario. The plateau also includes the wetlands and lowlands from the Hudson Bay. The Torngat Mountains and the Laurentian Mountains belong to the mountainous area. The Canadian Shield is not so good for agriculture, although subsistence farming is practiced and there are many small dairy farms in many river valleys and around the lakes, especially in the southern parts. The taiga covers a large part of the plateau with a mixture of conifers that provide a valuable wood resource. The Canadian Shield is well known for its rich mineral reserves and deposits

Geologic Divisions of Canada

of emeralds, diamonds and copper. Canadian prairies are part of the vast sedimentary plain that extends into the Alberta Province, south of Saskatchewan Province, south-west of Manitoba, as well as much of the region between the Rocky Mountains and the Great Lakes in the north-west. The plain allows the expansion of agricultural lands that provide intensive crop cultivation in the southern provinces. However, some areas like Cypress Hills and Alberta Badlands are mostly hilly, while prairie provinces like Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have large wooded areas. The Pacific Cordillera, which is part of the American Cordillera, extends from the Rocky Mountains in the east all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Peace River Valley

Arctic Cordillera

Maligne Lake

The Canadian Rockies are part of the large continental division that extends from north to south through the western area of North and South America. The Columbia River and the Fraser River spring out of the Canadian Rockies and are the second, respectively the third largest rivers flowing to the west coast of the North American continent. Immediately west of the mountains there is a large, internal plateau that includes the Chilcotin and Cariboo regions in the central area of the British Columbia Province and the Nechako Plateau further north. The Peace River Valley, located in north-eastern British Columbia, is the most northern Canadian region where farming can be practiced, although it is part of the prairie. The dry and temperate climate of the Okanagan Valley in central and southern British Columbia provides ideal conditions for fruit growing and viticulture. Between this great plateau and the Pacific Cordillera there lies a second mountain range, the Coast Mountains. In the Coast Mountains there are the largest areas permanently covered with ice in the temperate zone. In the south of the coast of British Columbia, the Vancouver Island is separated from the mainland by the Juan de Fuca, Georgia and Johnstone straits. Within these straits there are other numerous islands, the most important being the Gulf Islands. To the north, near the border with Alaska, lies the Haida Gwaii Archipelago, which borders the Hecate Strait. In British Columbia, most of the forests are coniferous, with the exception of the regions located on the plateau or in the river valleys. The only tropical northern forests in Canada are located along the Pacific coast in the Coast Mountains, Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii Archipelago. Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s western area has many volcanoes and is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. More than 200 young volcano centers lie north of the Cascade Mountains

towards the Yukon Territory. Volcanoes are grouped into five belts containing volcanoes of certain types. The Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province was formed via the creation of flaws and rifts following the interaction between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate. The Garibaldi Volcanic Belt was formed via the subduction of the Juan de Fuca Plate under the North American Plate. The Wrangell volcanic field was formed as a result of the subduction of the Pacific Plate under the North American Plate at the extreme eastern extremity of the Aleutian Foss. Volcanism also appeared in the Canadian Plateau and contains more than 150 volcanic belts. Now they are eroded and deformed so they appear flat. Their age varies between 600 million and 2.8 billion years. Many of the ore deposits in Canada are associated with pre-Cambrian volcanoes. The pillow type of lava is about 2.6 billion years old and can be found in the Cameron River Volcanic Belt. Old volcanoes have played an important role in estimating the potential of Canadian ore deposits. Many volcanic belts contain ore deposits that are related to volcanism. Most of the Arctic is composed of seemingly endless and permanent tundra ice stretches. The Arctic area comprises geological regions of different types. The Arctic Cordillera is the northernmost mountain range in the world. The Arctic soil is mostly composed of permafrost, which makes building construction often difficult or even risky and agriculture impossible. The Arctic area, defined as everything north of the tree vegetation limit, covers most of the Nunavut province and the northern extremes of the Yukon, Manitoba, Ontario, QuĂŠbec and Labrador provinces. Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s two major flowing rivers are the Saint Lawrence River, which has its hydrographic basin in the Great Lakes area and flows into the Bay of Saint Lawrence, and the Mackenzie River, which flows into

Hudson Bay

the Arctic Ocean and drains much of north-west Canada. While the Saint Lawrence River is the largest river in Canada in terms of water volume at the mouth of the river, the Mackenzie River has the longest flowing stream. The Atlantic hydrographic basin drains all the Atlantic provinces, most of Québec and large parts of southern Ontario. It is drained by the Saint Lawrence River and its tributaries, the most important being the Saguenay River, the Manicouagan River and the Ottawa River. The Great Lakes and Nipigon Lake are also drained by the Saint Lawrence River. The Churchill River and the Saint John River are other important elements of the Atlantic basin. The Hudson Bay Basin drains more than a third of the Canadian territory. It covers the province of Manitoba, the northern provinces of Ontario and Québec, most of the Saskatchewan province, southern Alberta, the southwestern Nunavut territory and the southern half of the Baffin Island. This basin is very important in the fight against prairie drought and is also useful for electric power generation, especially in Manitoba, northern Ontario and Québec. Important elements of this basin are: Winnipeg Lake, Nelson River, North Saskatchewan River, South Saskatchewan River, Assiniboine River, and Nettilling Lake on Baffin Island. Lake Wollaston stretches across the Hudson Bay

and the Arctic Ocean and flows into both of them. It is the only lake in the world that naturally flows in two directions.

Climate

The climate becomes increasingly harsh starting from the 50° parallel, which explains why Canada is a sparsely populated country. Canada is a very large country, which explains the difference in climate from an ocean to another. Mean monthly temperatures in winter can drop to -15°C even in the southern part of the country. Annual snowfall can be very plentiful, such as an average of 337 cm in Québec. As for summers, actual temperatures can rise to 35°C and sometimes up to 40°C in the Canadian Prairies. The humid continental climate is found in south-eastern Canada and on its Pacific coast. It is characterized by hot summers and cold winters. Heat strokes can occur in summer but with significant humidity. Precipitation is abundant throughout the year (700 mm to 1.000 mm), especially to the east. The Great Lakes winds are warm to the north and cool to the east. The average temperature in winter and summer varies by location. Winters can be hard in many regions of the country, especially in the interior provinces and in the meadows, where a continental climate with daily 25

Extent of Canadian Arctic Tundra

Köppen Climate Classification of Canada

average temperatures of -15°C is experienced, but can reach below -40°C during winter. In the interior regions, snow can cover the ground for almost six months, especially in the north. The coast of British Columbia enjoys a temperate climate, with a warm but rainy winter. On the east and west coasts, average temperatures generally do not exceed 20°C, while between the coasts, the maximum average temperature in summer ranges between 25 to 30°C, with occasional heat waves in the interior of the country that exceed 40°C. In Yukon, January averages reach -34°C, with a record of -63°C, the lowest temperature in North America. Snow covers the soil for 6 months in the central areas and 7 or 8 months in the north. At the northernmost points, snow is perpetual. In the prairie climate, summers are hot but winters are very cold because due to the altitude. Precipitation is rarer (350 mm to 400 mm in the southwest) because the mountains block the wet winds coming from the Pacific. The prairie regions experience the Chinook wind, which can change the temperature to 20°C in winter. In the west of the Canadian Rockies and at low altitudes, the climate is hot and humid, but it gets cooler and drier, depending by the altitude. The subarctic climate is predominant in the center of the Canadian Shield. Winters are colder than in the humid continental climate, with an average of -25°C to -30°C in January, while summers are short and 26

cool. On average there are two months per year that have an average temperature above 10°C with a few hot days. Precipitation is rare during winter, mostly occurring during summer, but in the Ungava-Labrador there is more snow than in the north-west. Ice covers the surface of the subarctic climate regions for 4 to 6 months. Blizzards can sometimes occur. The absolute minimum record occurred at Snag in February 1947 with a temperature of -63°C. The tundra climate, also known as the Arctic climate, is the climate covering the northernmost of the country. Winters are very long and very cold. At Alert Point in the Nunavut province, the average temperature in January is -33°C, while the average minimum temperature is -37°C and the absolute minimum recorded temperature was -53°C. In the Far North, winters last 10 months. Summer is a very cold season because the average temperature of the hottest month reaches less than 10°C. At Alert Point, the average temperature in July is 4°C. Precipitation is low throughout the year, the mean annual precipitation being only 138 mm. This phenomenon is known as arctic drought. The oceanic climate is present in the south-western Vancouver region, on the Pacific side. It is much more temperate than the Atlantic facade and is free of ice. It is also known as the maritime climate of western Canada. Unlike the humid continental climate, the thermal amplitude is low because the summers are cool and the winters are mild. Vancouver has a thermal amplitude of 15°C. Rainfall occurs more often in winter than in summer. The vegetation is very rich because the

Canadian Climate Regions

Bunchberry is the national flower of Canada

winter affects little of it and the humidity level is high. The east maritime climate is present on the Atlantic Islands (Nova Scotia and Newfoundland). Moisture is present year-round, winters are mild to cold and summers are warm and sometimes cool or cold in Labrador as in Saint John’s, Newfoundland with a monthly average of 16°C in August. The winters aren’t cold as they are mitigated by the occasional invasions of the Atlantic warm air. In Saint John’s, the average temperature in January is -3°C. The sea winds generally go from west to east and soften more the western coasts than the eastern coasts.

and shrubs. Taiga is the most extensive plant region and the one that best represents Canada. The boreal forest contains the highest concentration of trees in the country, among which the most common ones are white spruce, bamboo spruce, gray pine and mountain spruce. In the eastern region, to the south of the boreal forest, there is a huge forest surrounding the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River, consisting of a set of northern conifers and dewdrops, fir trees, pines, including majestic strobe pines, as well as oaks, maples, birch trees and other species of trees that are the unknown architects of the incredible Canadian autumn

Flora

In the Arctic, the tundra offers more than 900 plants of different species. The vegetation decreases as one approach the North Pole. One of the greatest riches of the country is represented by its forests. In the tundra, during the summer, birches and dwarf willows, herbs, mosses and evergreen flowers bloom. To the south of the tundra are the large coniferous forests formed by black and white fir trees, banks pines, aspens and whites, white birches, larches and balsamic pines. Starting from the Yukon Territory and the Labrador Peninsula extends the so-called taiga, while between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean there is a forest region composed of hardwood trees, with a predominance of deciduous trees such as yellow birch, red maple, sugar maple, ash, oak, walnut and elm. In the coastal area of the Pacific, thanks to the humidity of the area, there is a lush vegetation formed by conifers such as Douglas fir, red cedar, Sitka fir and western Canadian fir. At the far north, beyond the boundary of the forest, the desolate rocky plains of the Arctic tundra stretch out, whose vegetation is essentially composed of lichens and small wild flowers. The particularly stiff climate of this area prevents the growth of trees Famous Canadian Maple Tree

Lodgepole Pine

colors. The Canadian Rockies forest consists of subalpine species such as Engelman spruce, mountain fir and larch. In the high altitude areas, the poplar and the lodgepole pine are the most common. The pontederia, with its brightly-colored purple flowers and the long green arrow-shaped leaves, grows from Ontario to Nova Scotia, near ponds and shallow streams. The lily of the valley is a pretty tall plant with rose violet flowers growing on the edges of streets, canals and marshes. Currently, it is very little beloved because it reproduces very quickly, thus inhibiting the development of other aquatic plants. Along the forest paths, the Monotropa uniflora grows all over the country. This plant creeps into the woody soil debris in humid and shady places. It is a spectral-looking, whitecolored plant with very beautiful and colorful flowers. During the flowering period, the upper extremity of this plant bends forward, thus assuming the appearance of a pipe. North Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s forests are extremely diversified. 28

They include taigas that stretch between Newfoundland and Alaska, the coastal rainforest of western Canada and the myriad of temperate forests that still survive in remote areas. Together, these forests retain immense amounts of carbon, helping to prevent the greenhouse effect, and provide habitat to large mammals such as brown bear, puma and wolf that once populated the whole continent. In Canada it is estimated that primary forests provide the habitat for two thirds of the 140.000 species of plants, animals and microorganisms in the country. Several of these species have not yet been studied extensively by science. Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s forests also provide life to thousands of indigenous peoples, such as the Eyak and South-East Alaska Chugach, the Hupa and the Yurok of northern California. Of the aborigines of Canada (First Nation, Inuit and Mothis), at least 80% live in reserves and communities located in the boreal and temperate forests, which have historically provided them with food and shelter, as well as the appropriate form of their traditional lifestyle.

Pontederia

Fauna

Canadian fauna is very similar to that of Europe and North Asia. Among the carnivores there are numerous species of mustelids such as weasel, ermine, sable, marten and polecat. In addition to the brown bear and the polar bear, present in the Arctic regions, there are foxes, coyotes, lynxes, wolves, pumas and goats living throughout the country. Among the rodents, the most common is the beaver, while the hedgehog, the muscled mouse and hare are also common. In the southern areas there are several species of deer, including pronghorn,

Canadian Horse

caribou, elk, and bison. There are numerous species of birds, including kestrel, crane and buzzard. Particularly rich is the fish fauna in the inland waters and along the coasts. Among the animals that make up the Canadian fauna we can mention in the north species such as musk oxen, reindeer, polar bears, seals, foxes, wolves, stoats, Canadian lynx or red lynx. Between the provinces of

White Beluga

Elk Couple

Nova Scotia and Yukon one can see elks, the caribou can be found in the northern forests, while the whitetailed deer and the bison are seen only in national parks. The mountain ranges are usually inhabited by white chamois, mountain caribou and brown bears. Canadian geese and wild geese are the most well-known types of birds. There are many types of partridges, quails and goshawks, as well as numerous golden eagles, owls and crows. The most unique songbirds include orioles, robins, brambles and several kinds of finches. Among the marine species that can be found across the territory of Canada there can be mentioned: ducks, geese, cormorants, swallows and Sula. Bird lovers will find ideal territories throughout Canada, especially on the coast of Fundy Bay, where more than 350 species have recently been counted. On the other hand, the wealth regarding marine species is impressive. In British Columbia there can be found the following types of fish: salmon, pike, perch 30

and umbra. In the Atlantic there are cod, mackerel, swordfish and, especially, giant tuna. Typical freshwater fish are the trout and the Atlantic salmon. In the rivers of the QuĂŠbec region there are a lot of pikes, bass, trout and ouananiches, a kind of salmon. The musk, trout, sea bass, perch and sole are countless in the waters of Ontario. During the summer, belugas can be seen arriving in the bays of Newfoundland, Hudson or on the coasts of British Columbia, while during spring, the gray whales cross the west coast when emigrating from Mexico to Alaska. Canada has more than 40 species of reptiles, including turtles, lizards, and snakes. Of the major types of reptile, only crocodiles canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be found in Canada. The country has 25 species of snake, representing three families. Most Canadian snakes are members of the colubrid family, including several species of garter snake. Additionally, the western provinces of Alberta and British Columbia have species of pit viper, such as

the western rattlesnake. British Columbia has Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only species of boa, the rubber boa. Canada is home to 6 species of lizard, all of them living along the southern border with the United States. The huge territory of Canada contains many amphibians, including salamanders as well as frogs and toads. Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s salamanders can be found in all of its provinces, but none of them live in the three northern territories. The most important salamanders found throughout the country include the common spotted salamander of eastern Canada, as well as the rare pacific giant salamander of British Columbiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coastal rainforest. Frogs and toads are spread throughout Canada, though more of them can be found in the south. Canada is home to five families of frogs and toads, including the true frogs, true toads, and tree frogs, which are found in every province and territory except for Nunavut, which only has true frogs. The spadefoots are found in the prairie provinces and the magnedy are found in Southern Ontario, while the tailed frog is found only in British Columbia.

The Beaver is the national animal of Canada

Woodland Caribou

People Language

The two official languages of Canada are English and French, spoken by 56.3% and 28.7% of the population respectively. On 7 July 1969, the Law on National Languages has put French on an equal footing with English at the federal government level. Thus, the process that allowed Canada to be redefined as a bilingual nation was initiated. English and French have equal status in federal courts, in the Parliament and in all other federal institutions. The public has the right, where there is sufficient demand, to be served by the federal government in both English and French. Even though multiculturalism stands for the official politics, in order to become a Canadian citizen, it is imperative to speak whether English or French. 98% of Canadians can speak either one or both of the official languages. Despite the fact that the nation remains bilingual, most Canadians are fluent only in English. French is spoken mostly in Québec, as well as in New Brunswick, eastern and northern Ontario, Saskatchewan, the southern shores of Nova Scotia and southern Manitoba. Of those who speak French, 85%

Unilingual speakers of the minority official language map

The Bilingual Belt of Canada (Yellow – English; Brown – French)

live in Québec. French is designated as the official language in the province of Québec, where the provincial government does not promote the use of English. New Brunswick is the only official bilingual province. English is designated as the official language in all the other provinces. Several aboriginal languages have official status in the Northwest Territories. Inuktitut is the majority language in Nunavut and has official status in that territory. Unofficial languages are also important in Canada, where 5.000.000 inhabitants have one of the unofficial languages as their mother tongue (including those with more than one native language). Among the most important unofficial languages are Chinese (900.000 native speakers), Italian (500.000), German (450.000) and Punjabi (300.000). Support for bilingualism in Canada is mixed. Some people, mostly Anglophones living in Canadian provinces with a small French-speaking population, see bilingual federal policies as unnecessary and excessive government regulations, and for their detractors, the presence of French in Canadian products and road signs is a constant reminder of the policy. Many Québec nationalists, although benefiting from the Law on National Languages, see bilingual policies as an attempt to dilute their language and culture with English. The English-speaking community of Québec, like its French-speaking counterpart in British Canada, tends to be more in favor than against politics. Support for bilingualism seems to be stronger in the area known as the “bilingual belt”, which includes parts of Ontario, Manitoba, western Québec and Montréal, as well as the Maritime Provinces and weaker in western Canada, although there are supporters and detractors in all parts

Attested historical ranges of sign languages of the US and Canada excluding ASL and LSQ Indigo - Plains Sign Talk; Bleu – Inuiuuk; Green Hawai’i Sign Language; Blue - Maritime Sign Language; Yellow - Plateau Sign Language; Mauve – Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language; Brown Henniker Sign Language; Red - Sandy River Valley Sign Language

of the country. Groups like the Alliance for the Conservation of English in Canada, and books like Bilingual Today, French Tomorrow by Jock V. Andrew, have argued against the use of bilingualism, and more recently, the Reform Party of Canada has advocated for the revocation of this policy. In the 2004 election, Conservative Prime Minister Scott Reid, the party’s linguistic critic, raised controversy by suggesting that, if elected, his party would review Canada’s language policy and potentially reduce the supply of bilingual services. French immersion is an optional educational program that supports bilingualism. Some see its popularity as a support for bilingualism, while others, on the other hand, see it as elitism in public education. Enrollments in French immersion programs have grown significantly in most provinces. For Francophone students in Québec there is a similar program of English immersion, but it is often in conflict with the official linguistic policies of the Québec government. Although Québec is the only province with a French-speaking majority, there are French speakers in all the provinces and territories. Each of these

Bilingual Car Sign in Canada

Religion in Canada

groups has its own cultural institutions, history and identity: Acadians; Franco-Ontariens (Ontario); Franco-Manitobains (Manitoba); Fransaskois (Saskatchewan); Franco-Albertains (Alberta); French speakers from British Columbia; Franco-Terreneuviens (Newfoundland and Labrador); Franco-Tenois (Northwest Territories); Franco-Yukonais (Yukon) and Franco-Nunavois (Nunavut). In addition, Québec hosts an Anglophone community. Although only English and French have official status in Canada, all provinces have communities whose mother tongue is none of the official languages. In the particular context of Québec, they are called allophones. These communities often use their own languages in local areas and among themselves, although they usually adopt the majority language of their province as a second or third language. Aboriginal languages, such as Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, Chipewyan, Cree and Slavey have official status in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. Canada is a member of the International Organization of La Francophonie and the Assemblée Parlementaire de la Francophonie. In addition, the Association Francophone des Municipalités du Nouveau-Brunswick, the Québec Federation of Municipalities, the Union of Québec Municipalities, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities as well as the cities of Lévis, Québec, Sherbrooke, Gatineau, Montréal, Saguenay and Trois-Rivières are members of the International Association of Francophone Mayors.

Religious Affiliation in Canada

Those who said that they do not belong to any religion represent only 16% of the population. However, in British Columbia, 35% of the population said that they didn’t belong to any religion. Most Canadian Christians rarely visit the Church. By taking a closer look at the national observation of religious frequency such as the Project O, a series of global attitudes indicate that, on average, Canadian Christians are less faithful than those in the United States of America, but there are more religions recognized than in Great Britain or Western Europe. In 2002, 30% of Canadians responded to Pew researchers’ survey that religion is very important to them. A Gallup poll in 2005 showed that 28% of Canadians consider religion very important. Regional differences in Canada still exist. For instance, in both rural and urban British Columbia and Québec there are few people who celebrate the traditional religious holidays, while rural Alberta and Ontario reported high rates of religiousness. Weekly church attendance rates are disputed, with low estimates of 11% recorded for the Reid opinion poll, and up to 25% for the “Christianity Today” magazine. This American magazine reported that the three polls led by “Family Concentration”, “Canada – Time Magazine” and the “Vanier Institute of the Family” have shown a growing presence at church services for the first time in a generation. This result is similar to the statistics Religion presented by Canadian sociologist, Professor Reginald Canada doesn’t have an official church and the Bibby of Lethbridge University, who began studying government agrees with religious pluralism. At the religions in Canada since 1975. 2001 census, 72% of the total Canadian population said Although lower than in the United States, which they were either Roman Catholic or Protestant. The showed a constant 40% weekly presence rate at church Roman Catholic Church in Canada is by far the largest. 34

Basilica Notre Dame de Montréal is the most beautiful church in Canada

services since the Second World War, the rates of weakly church presence are higher than in northern Europe. Besides the Roman Catholic, Uniate and Anglican churches that together account for more than half of the Canadian population in terms of nominal followers, Canada also has smaller Christian groups such as the Orthodox Church. The Egyptian population in Ontario and Québec (especially in Toronto) recorded a large influx of Orthodox population in just a few decades. Correspondingly, the Ukrainian people of Manitoba and Saskatchewan are active participants at Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox services, while southern Manitoba was colonized by the Mennonites. The concentration of these small groups often differs greatly across the country. Baptists are especially numerous in the Maritimes (Eastern Canada). The Maritimes and the prairie provinces have an important number of Lutheran believers. The southern province of Ontario has a large number of German and Russian immigrants, including many Mennonites and Hutterites, as well as a significant number of Danish Reformats. Alberta recorded considerable immigration from the American territories. Thus, a remarkable minority of Mormons settled in that province. The

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claimed 178.102 members, out of which 74.377 were in Alberta at the end of 2007. According to Jehovah’s Witnesses’ annual report there are 112.000 active members in Canada. Non-Christian religions in Canada are strongly concentrated in metropolitan cities like Montréal, Toronto or Vancouver and on a smaller scale in middle cities such as Ottawa, Québec and Halifax. A possible exception is represented by Judaism, which was a minority religion even in small towns. An important factor in the spread of non-Christian religions has been represented by changes occurred in the trend of immigrants for the last 50 years. Increasing numbers of immigrants from Asia, the Middle East and Africa has led to an increase in Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh and Hindu communities. Canada is the home of other smaller religious minorities such as the universal Unitarians, Bahá’í and even pagans. The Islamic community in Canada is as old as the country itself. In 1871, four years after the founding of the state, 13 Islamic people were recorded in the census. The first Canadian mosque was built in Edmonton in 1938, now part of the Fort Edmonton Park Museum. Until the Second World 35

Knox Church in Edmonton, Alberta

War, Muslims were a distinct minority. It was only after the 1960’s that they began to immigrate to Canada in large numbers. According to the 2001 census, the Muslim population represented less than 2% of the total population, and in 2006 it reached 2.5%. In 2007, CBC introduced a local television station named Little Mosque on the Prairie, and in 2008 the Canadian Prime Minister came to the opening of Canada’s largest mosque, Baitun Nur. Sikhism has been present since 1897 with the arrival of Sikh soldiers at Queen Victoria’s jubilee. The Sikhs are one of the few loyal communities of the British Kingdom. The irony is that Sikh immigrants had the greatest restrictions compared to the Chinese and Japanese. Canadian politicians, trade unions, and even the press didn’t want the Asian work hand, yet British Columbia needed an extra hand of work, thus pushing on this plan. Of the nearly 5.000 Eastern Indians in Canada until 1907, 98% were Sikhs, mostly veterans 36

Canada’s population by provinces and territories

Immigrants and non-permanent residents of Canada by country of birth (2001)

of war. In 1908, Sikhs immigration was banned as the population gradually decreased. The Sikhs have proven to be as talented as their European competitors. After 1960, when immigration laws were liberalized and racist prejudices were removed, the number of Sikh immigrants increased rapidly. Large communities of Sikhs exist in all major cities of British Columbia and Ontario. The Sikhs have become an integral part of Canada’s culture and economy.

• Rideau Canal • SGang Gwaay Natural Objectives: • Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks • Dinosaur Provincial Park • Gros Morne National Park • Joggins Fossil Cliffs • Kluane / Wrangell-St. Elias / Glacier Bay / TatshenshiniAlsek • Miguasha National Park • Mistaken Point World Heritage On UNESCO’s list there can be found 8 cultural • Nahanni National Park • Waterton Glacier International Peace Park objectives and 10 natural objectives in Canada: • Wood Buffalo National Park Cultural Objectives: • Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Demographics • Historic District of Old Québec An estimate for April 2017 calculated the total • Landscape of Grand Pré • L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site population of Canada at 35.500.000 inhabitants, an increase of 0.5% compared to the previous quarter. • Old Town Lunenburg • Red Bay Basque Whaling Station Population growth is mainly due to immigration and, to a lesser extent, to natural growth. About 80% of the Canadian population lives less than 150 kilometers away from the US border. A similar percentage lives in urban areas, concentrated mainly in the cities of Québec, the Windsor Corridor (Toronto, Montréal and Ottawa), the Lower Mainland of British Columbia (formed out of the region that surrounds it to Vancouver) and the CalgaryEdmonton Corridor in Alberta. According to the 2006 census, the largest ethnic groups of the country are Anglo-Canadians (21%), followed by French Canadians (15.8%), Scots (15.2%), Canada’s Population Development (1960-2010)

Ethnic Groups of Canada Canada Population Density Map

Irish (13.9%), Germans (10.2%), Italians (5%), Chinese (3.9%), Ukrainians (3.6%) and the descendants of the First Nations (3.5%). Approximately one third of the respondents identified their ethnic origin as Canadian. There are 600 tribes or recognized governments of First Nations, which group up to about 1.200.000 people. Canada has the highest per capita immigration rate in the world, driven by economic policy and family reintegration, and it is believed that between 240.000 and 270.000 new permanent residents arrived only in 2010. Canada also accepts large numbers of refugees. Most new immigrants settle in major urban areas such as Toronto and Vancouver. Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Aboriginal population is growing at almost twice the national rate and in the 2006 census, 3.8% of the Canadians surveyed said they were of indigenous origin. Another 16.2% of the population belonged to minorities of foreign origins. The most important minorities in the country are South Asians (4%), Chinese (3.9%) and African-Americans (2.5%). In 1961, less than 2% of the Canadian population (some 300.000 people) could be classified as a minority and less than 1% as Aboriginal. In 2006, 51% of the population of Vancouver and 47 % of Torontoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population were members of visible minorities. Between 2001 and 2006, the population of visible minorities increased by 27.2%. According to a 2005 forecast realized by Statistics Canada, the proportion of minorities could reach up to 23% by 2017. In 2007, almost one in five Canadians (19.8%) had been born abroad. Nearly 60% of new 38

immigrants come from Asia, including the Middle East. By 2031, one in three Canadians will belong to a distinct minority. Like most developed countries, the country is experiencing a demographic shift towards an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age. In 2006, the average age of Canadians was 39.5 years. The census results also indicate that, despite an increase in immigration since 2001, which gave Canada a higher rate of population growth than in the previous census period, the aging of the Canadian population wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t slower during the same period. The various immigration over the course of its history (and partly ongoing) has made Canada a highly varied country from an ethnic and cultural point of view. Unlike other countries, particularly the United States of America, where a strong tendency to assimilate the various immigrants to Anglo-Saxon culture has over time been established, in Canada, however, a multicultural model has been affirmed in the narrow sense, which tends to offer more space and protection to individuals of different origins, as it is explicitly stated in the Immigration Act. To describe this multicultural reality in Canada the term cultural mosaic is often used, as opposed to the US melting pot. However, it should be noted that in the long run, and of their spontaneous choice, immigrants are recognized and included in one of two historical cultural models, namely the French and Anglo-Saxon. The original inhabitants of Canada belong to many different groups. They were called Eskimos until recently, while today their name is Inuit. In their

language, Inuktitut, they are called “people”. They survive Province / Territory Capital relying on the resources offered by the sea and hunting, which is practiced via very advanced techniques. Sometimes, these peoples also visit the areas of the Alberta Edmonton tundra to exploit these territories. However, during the Second World War and the Cold War, the Arctic area British Columbia Victoria took on a strategic importance and this led to heavy Winnipeg changes in their lifestyle. Nowadays, almost everyone Manitoba lives in settlements, many of which have arisen during Fredericton or after the war, or were former commercial or scientific New Brunswick buildings. However, many Inuit still prefer nomadism. Newfoundland and Saint John’s Technology has also reached the Inuit people, which Labrador thanks to TV’s, satellites and phones they can also enjoy Yellowknife many of the comforts of modern life. The major cities Northwest Territories are served by frequent flights to and from the outermost Nova Scotia Halifax centers. The other natives of Canada are the so-called Nunavut Iqaluit First Nations, once known as “Indian Americans”. They, Ottawa albeit belonging to different ethnicities with diverse Ontario languages and cultures, have in common some goals Prince Edward Island Charlottetown such as to tear up the federal system’s control over the school system in order to establish schools run by Québec Québec City locals in order to protect their languages and cultures. Regina Many indigenous peoples see in political actions the Saskatchewan only way to redeem some injustices made to them in Yukon Whitehorse the past. The Assembly of First Nations is presided over by an elected Grand President and is the spokesperson for all indigenous peoples. The Grand President has The top 10 largest cities from Canada can be brought to the attention of political debates issues such seen in the following table: as alcoholism, drug addiction and violence, which are genuine plagues for these populations. City Region Population Canada is divided into 10 provinces and 3 territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut) 1 Toronto Ontario 6.000.000 as following:

Montréal

Vancouver British Columbia 2.500.000

Calgary

OttawaOntario-Québec Gatineau Edmonton Alberta

1.330.000

Québec

800.000

Québec City Winnipeg

Manitoba

780.000

Hamilton

Ontario

750.000

10 Kitchener

Ontario

525.000

6 7

Administrative Division of Canada

Québec Alberta

4.100.000 1.400.000

1.320.000

Economy & Transportation Economy

Canada is one of the richest nations in the world, with a high per capita income, and is a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the G8. The country has a mixed economy and ranks above the United States of America in terms of Index of Economic Freedom, where it also outperformed most Western European nations. The largest importers of Canadian goods are the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Japan. As in 2008, goods imported into Canada amounted to more than 442.9 billion $, of which 280.8 billion $ came from the United States, 11.7 billion $ from Japan and 11.3 billion $ came from the United Kingdom. In October 2009, Canada’s unemployment rate was at 8.6%. Provincial unemployment rates range from 5.8% in Manitoba to a maximum of 17% in Newfoundland and Labrador. In 2008, the country’s public debt was the lowest among the G8 members. In 2009, this debt increased by 6.100 million $ to a total of 463.700 million $. In the last century, the growth of manufacturing, mining and the service sector transformed the nation from a practically rural economy to a more industrial and urban one. Like other First World Nations, the Canadian economy is dominated by the tertiary sector, which employs about three-quarters of the Canadian population. Among the most developed countries, the country provides an unusual importance to its primary sector, where the oil and wood industries are two of the

Canada Export Tree Map

Canada and Free Trade Agreement Areas

most outstanding. The idea that Canada is the product of the exploitation of its natural wealth forms a historiographical vision perhaps influenced by the Annales School. In this respect, the works of H. A. Innis mention how the metropolis’ commerce founded the lines of communication based on raw materials and how they forged the political unity of this country. Canadian economic dependence on these raw products was demonstrated by the arrival of the Great Depression of 1929. Most of the national income came from exports, and two thirds of these exports consisted of raw materials. Canada is one of the few developed countries that are net exporters of energy. Atlantic Canada has large deposits of natural gas on its coasts and Alberta has significant reserves of oil and gas. The tar sands of Athabasca offer the country the

Canada is part of the NAFTA alongside the United States of America and Mexico

Toronto Financial District

third largest oil reserves in the world, behind those of Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. Canada is also one of the world’s largest suppliers of agricultural products as the Canadian prairies are one of the leading producers of wheat, rapeseed and other cereals. The country is also the largest producer of zinc and uranium, and is a primary source of many other mineral resources, such as gold, nickel, aluminum and plumb. Many cities in the north, where agriculture is difficult, are supported by the proximity of mines and sawmills. Canada also has a considerable manufacturing sector, concentrated in southern Ontario and Québec, with the automobile and aeronautical industries being the most important. Economic integration with the United States of America has increased significantly since the Second World War. This worries several Canadian nationalist groups, which are interested in cultural and economic autonomy as well as independence in an era of globalization, since most American goods and media have become ubiquitous throughout the country. The Canada-United States Automotive Products Agreement of 1965 opened the borders to trade within the automotive industry. In the 1970’s,

speculation about energy self-sufficiency and foreign ownership in the manufacturing sectors led the liberal government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to create the National Energy Program (NEP) and the Foreign Investment Review Agency (FIRA). In the 1980’s, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney abolished the NEP and changed the name of FIRA to Investment Canada in order to encourage foreign investment. In 1988, the USCanadian Free Trade Agreement eliminated the tariff barriers between the two countries, while in the 1990’s, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) expanded the free trade zone to include Mexico. In the middle of that decade, the liberal government of Jean Chrétien began publishing annual budget surpluses and began paying off the national debt. The 2008 economic crisis caused the economy to fall into recession, which could increase the unemployment rate by up to 10%. Canada has an old dispute with Brazil over subsidies that their largest aircraft companies (Canadian Bombardier and Brazil’s Embraer) receive. Both Bombardier and Embraer received substantial subsidies from their respective governments. The crisis began in 1996, when the Canadian government challenged 41

Coach Canada Bus

Transportation Economic Diversity of Canada (2015)

the subsidies provided to Embraer by the Brazilian government. The Brazilian government countered with similar arguments about Canadian government subsidies to Bombardier. Until today the conflict continues, which significantly affects the commercial relations between the two countries. Canada also has political and economic litigation with Spain. Spanish fishermen fish in the Grand Banks waters located east of Newfoundland and Labrador. These waters contain large banks of fish, but the population of many species is rapidly declining. In 2000, fishermen from Newfoundland and Labrador were banned from fishing in the Grand Banks near Newfoundland and Labrador, where most of the fast-growing species were located. In addition to the before mentioned problem, Spanish ships frequently entered Canadian waters. In 1995, the Spanish fishing vessel Estai was captured by Canadian naval forces in international waters. This led to protests from the Spanish government, which argued that its vessels had the right to fish in international waters. Spain sent a military vessel to protect Spanish fishing vessels. Even nowadays, the problem remains in limbo.

Ontario Highway 401

In total there are about 1.550.300 kilometers of roads in Canada, out of which 755.000 kilometers are paved, including 17.000 kilometers of highways. In 2011 there were about 21.500.000 vehicles registered on Canadian soil, of which 96.1% were vehicles under 4.5 tons, 2.3% were vehicles with a weight between 4.5 and 15 tons and 1.6% of vehicles in excess of 15 tons. Road transport accounts for 35% of the GDP generated by the transport sector, more than 25% derived from rail, water and air transport combined. Therefore, the roads are the main means of transport for passengers and goods in Canada. Roads and motorways were usually run by regional and communal authorities, up to the construction of the Northwest Highway System (the Alaska Highway) and the start of the Trans-Canada Highway project. The Alaska Highway was begun in 1942, during World War II, mainly for military purposes, more exactly to merge the resorts of Fort St. John, British Columbia with Fairbanks, Alaska. The transcontinental highway funded by a joint venture between the state and the regions of Canada began in 1949, and was backed by the decree named the Trans-Canada Highway Act, issued on 10 December 1949. The 7.821 kilometers of highways were completed in 1962, with a total disbursement of 1.4 billion $. As far as foreign transport is concerned, Canada has good road connections with the 48 American states to the south and Alaska. In addition to the Federal Ministry of Transport, which manages all of the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s road system, there are also ministries at regional level, such as Ontario and New Brunswick. These systems, unlike the ministry, are more able to intervene on problems regarding the maintenance of local road traffic and highways. The Canadian legislation on motorways is governed by the Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1971 and the Highway Traffic Act of 1990. Canadian roads are very safe, and the mortality rate on the roads is much

Canadian Pacific Track Train in Alberta

Toronto Metro

lower than that of other Western states. In 2006, Canada had a total of 72.000 kilometers of rails for passenger and freight transport, out of which only 31 km were electrified. In the same year, long-distance passenger transport was limited, while freight transport was widespread. The total turnover of Canadian railways in 2006 amounted to 10.4 billion $, of which only 2.8% came from passenger transport services. The Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway are the two most famous and important companies and both are among the industry’s biggest companies in North America. In 2006, 352 billion tons of goods were transported via rail, while 4.24 million passengers traveled via trains. 34.137 people were employed in the railway industry in 2006. National passenger transport services are guaranteed by VIA Rail, an independent Crown corporation. New Canadian cities have private regional lines: AMT operates in the Montréal Metropolitan Area, while GO Transit operates in the area of Toronto and finally in Vancouver the service is guaranteed by the West Coast Express. There are also other smaller companies, such as Ontario Northland and Algoma Central, which predominantly go through rural and unpopulated areas. Canada has rail connections with all 48 southern USA states but does not have direct connections to Alaska. The metro service is very regular and frequent as one only has to wait between 3 and 6 minutes to get on the next train. Tram lines operate regularly every two to five minutes. In most cases, the metro is connected to the train as well as to the bus and tram networks. In other localities there are urban line trains, as for example in Calgary. There are three rapid transit systems operating in Canada: the Montréal Metro, the Toronto Subway, and the Vancouver SkyTrain. Three cities have light

rail systems: the Calgary CTrain, the Edmonton Light Rail Transit, and the O-Train in Ottawa. Toronto has an extensive streetcar system. Commuter trains serve the cities and surrounding areas of Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver. Many of Canada’s cities have public transport systems, which generally are served by buses. Six Canadian cities, on the other hand, have a metro network, while three cities have computerized rail systems. In 2006, 11% of Canadians used public transport to reach their workplace. Instead, those who drove to their workplace amounted to 72.3%, while 6.4% went on foot and other 1.3% used bicycles. The

Montréal Metro Map

Tram in Toronto

Toronto Pearson International Airport

bus is a very economical mean of transportation and highly recommended to visit the most attractive places of the country. Canadian cities have a dense network of bus and tram lines, connected to each other with railway stations, commuter trains and metro network. There are numerous possibilities to acquire cards and coupons for the use of public transport. There are several passenger transport companies by road, but the two most important ones are Greyhound Lines of Canada Ltd. and Voyageur Colonial Bus Lines. Air transport contributes with 9% of the GDP generated from the transport sector, as reported in 2005. The most important airways carrier in the state is Air Canada, which in 2006 transported 34 million travelers and had 344 aircraft (including Air Canada Jazz). WestJet is Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s second largest company, was founded in 1996 and has 73 aircraft. The Canadian

aerospace industry has undergone a major breakthrough following the US-Canada Open Skies Agreement signed in 1995, when the market became more competitive for companies. The Canadian Transportation Agency is the official responsible for maintaining the minimum aircraft safety standards and conducting regular inspections of all air carriers. Out of the more than 1.700 airports, helicopters and watercourses recorded on Canadian soil, 26 are under the careful management of the National Airports System (NAS). This system deals with all airports that transport over 200.000 people each year, as well as the airports of the most populous cities or those from the capitals of some provinces. For these airports, the federal government entrusts their management to private companies. In terms of importance, after the major 26 airports, there are other 64 regional / local airports

Air Canada is the official air carrier of the country

formerly owned by the federal government, most of which have been transferred to other owners, especially the municipalities. The Toronto Pearson International Airport is Canada’s busiest airport, and is the only one to overtake the symbolic threshold of 30 million travelers, making it the most important Canadian airport in the world. In 2007, 94.5 million passengers flew out of the ten major airports in Canada. In 2004, 137.7 million tons of cargo were loaded and discarded through Canadian ports. The Port of Vancouver is the busiest in Canada, with more than 68 million tons of goods traded, which is the equivalent to 15% of all maritime trade in 2003. In terms of waterways transport, Transport Canada deals with many aspects regarding the control of goods arriving at national ports, as well as inbound and outbound traffic. Many of the Canadian ports, in terms of management, were entrusted by the federal government to private companies. The internal waterways are of approximately 3.000 kilometers and it also includes the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Transport Canada controls all watercourses and is concerned about navigation safety. The Saint Lawrence Seaway is one of the largest routes for inland navigation in the world. The main route taken by the hulls is through the river and through the Great Lakes. There are also other channels, but of lesser importance. The National Harbours Board operates Halifax, Saint John, Chicoutimi, Trois-Rivières, Churchill, and Vancouver. More than 300 ports across Canada are supervised by the Department of Transportation.

Prius Taxi in Vancouver

Most cities have at least three different taxi companies. The measured rates are usually regulated in the city and are not negotiable. If a fixed “flat rate” for any destination is wanted, one must agree with the driver before starting his or her trip. In the main cities, taxi drivers must have an identification issued by the city certifying that their activity is legal and that the unit complies with safety regulations. Although taxis are a good alternative to move around the largest cities in the country, they are not very cheap. However, they can be indispensable in winter, when it is not convenient to wait in the street at very low temperatures.

Old Port of Montréal

Culture Canadian Proverbs

1. Do not yell “dinner” until your knife is in the loaf. (Ne criez pas "dîner" jusqu'à ce que votre couteau est dans le pain.) 2. You can’t catch skunks with mice. (Vous ne pouvez pas attraper des mouffettes avec des souris.) 3. The Canadian spends half of his time explaining to the Americans that he is not British, and the other half explaining to the British that he is not an American. (Le Canadien passe la moitié de son temps à expliquer aux Américains qu'il n'est pas Britannique, et l'autre moitié à expliquer aux Britanniques qu'il n'est pas Américain.) 4. To save a tree, eat a beaver. (Pour sauver un arbre, mangez un castor.) 5. A roof that drips, a stove that smokes, a woman arguing, and a hungry pig: Here are four unbearable things. (Un toit qui dégoutte, un poêle qui fume, une femme qui dispute, et un cochon qui a faim : Voilà quatre choses insupportables.) 6. An umbrella is useless when you have your feet in the mud. (Un parapluie ne sert à rien quand on a les pieds dans la boue.) 7. Who is silent does not appear. (Qui se tait ne paraît pas.) 8. With age, we get older. (Avec l'âge, on vieillit. 9. Why complicate life when it can be simple. (Pourquoi se compliquer la vie quand on peut faire simple.) 10. When you talk about the sun, you will see its beams. (Quand vous parlez du soleil, vous verrez ses poutres.) 11. Each cook praises his own broth. (Chaque cuisinier loue son propre bouillon.) 12. Two things parents must offer their children: roots and wings. (Deux choses que les parents doivent offrir à leurs enfants : les racines et les ailes.) 13. Sometimes it's good to be deaf. (Il est bon quelquefois d'être sourd.) 14. Learn to think before acting. (Apprends à réfléchir avant d'agir.) 15. Money is not eaten. (L’argent ne se mange pas.) 16. A man without a wife does not resist the winter. (Un homme sans femme ne tient pas l'hiver.) 17. Before being a captain, you have to be a sailor. 46

(Avant d'être capitaine il faut être matelot.) 18. Happiness beautifies. (Le bonheur embellit.) 19. Where there are men, there is manhood. (Où il y a des hommes, il y a de l'hommerie.) 20. Generals die in their bed. (Les généraux meurent dans leur lit.)

Canadian Holidays Holiday

Period

New Year’s Day / Jour de l’An Family Day / Fête de la Famille (MB, PE, NS) March break / Congé de mars Good Friday / Vendredi Saint Easter Day Easter Monday / Lundi de Pâques Victoria Day / Fête de Victoria Canada Day / Fête du Canada August Civic Holiday / Premier lundi d'août Labour Day / Fête du travail

1 January 3rd Monday in February One full week during the month of March Variable (March/April) Variable (March/April) Variable (March/April) Monday on or before 24 May 1 July First Monday in August First Monday in September Second Monday in October 11 November

Thanksgiving / Action de grâce Remembrance Day / Jour du Souvenir Christmas / Noël 25 December Boxing Day / Lendemain de 26 December Noël

Canada is the world’s top producer of maple syrup

Traditional indigenous dancer at Manito Ahbee Festival

Aboriginal Totem Poles in Stanley Park, Vancouver, Canada

Ice Hockey is the favourite sport in Canada

The famous Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Inuit Family in Nunavut

canadian Personalities

Sir Frederick Grant Banting Sir Frederick Grant Banting (b. 14 November 1891 in Alliston, Ontario, Canada – d. 21 February 1941 in Musgrave Harbour, Dominion of Newfoundland, now Canada) was a Canadian medical scientist, physician, painter, and Nobel laureate noted as the co-discoverer of insulin and its therapeutic potential. In 1923, Banting and John James Rickard Macleod received the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Banting shared the award money with his colleague, Dr. Charles Best. As of November 2016, Banting, who received the Nobel Prize at the age of 32, remains the youngest Nobel laureate in the area of Physiology/Medicine. In 1923, the Government of Canada granted Banting a lifetime annuity to continue his work. In 1934, he was knighted by King George V. Frederick Banting was born in Alliston, Ontario, Canada as the youngest of the five children of William Thompson Banting and Margaret Grant. He made his first studies in Alliston. He started studying theology at the University of Toronto, but then abandoned it

Frederick Banting

and started studying medicine. He graduated in 1916. Frederick was part of the Canadian Army Medical Corps and participated in the First World War in France. In 1918, he was wounded in the Battle of Cambrai. Banting was assigned a Military Cross for the courage shown in the war. He worked for a short time in London, Ontario where he studied pediatric orthopedics and worked as a surgeon at the Hospital for Sick Children between 1919 and 1920. A year later, Banting became professor of orthopedics at the University of Western Ontario. Between 1921 and 1922, he was lecturer of pharmacology at the University of Toronto, where he also obtained the degree of doctor in 1922. Very soon, Banting became very interested in diabetes. Since the end of the 19th century, scientists had become aware of the relationship between the pancreas and diabetes. Some studies indicated that the disease was caused by a lack of a hormone secreted by the islets of Langerhans from the pancreas. Oscar Minkowski and others tried to isolate this hormone without success, while Nicolae Constantin Păulescu discovered pancreine (a pancreatic extract containing insulin) a few years earlier and tested it on dogs. Schafer named it “insulin” and thought that it was supposed to exercise control over sugar metabolism, so that its absence caused it to increase in blood and urine. Treatments have been tried on patients but failed because the hormone had to be destroyed by the proteolytic enzymes. On the other hand, the detection techniques of glucose in blood and urine were still unsafe. An article by Moses Baron in which it was said that the ligature of the pancreatic duct caused the degeneration of the cells that secreted trypsin, but that the islets remained intact attracted his attention. He thought he could use this procedure to get insulin. Frederick Banting contacted J.J.R. Macleod, professor of physiology at the University of Toronto, who provided him with the necessary information to be able to investigate in his laboratory. He then worked with Charles Best, a medical student, who was his assistant and later with chemist James B. Collip. In August 1921, they administered the insulin obtained from the islets of Langerhans to diabetic dogs, thus discovering that blood sugar and urine levels decreased and the typical symptoms of the disease disappeared. They repeated the experiments several times with different results, depending on the purity of the insulin they used. It was Collip who was in charge of obtaining an insuline that was as pure as possible. Together, they used it for the first time a few weeks later on a diabetic boy of 14 years

C. H. Best and Frederick Grant Banting in 1924

old. The medicine improved his health condition in an extraordinary way. The first description of the results obtained with the use of insulin in diabetes was contained in the article Pancreatic Extracts in the Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus, published in 1922 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Banting and Macleod received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1923. Previously, Banting and Best detailed the technique in an article published in the Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine in 1921 and 1922. Also, Banting, Best and Macleod prepared an article, which was entitled The Internal Secretion of the Pancreas, which was published at the meeting of the American Physiological Society in 1921. In 1926, Jacob Abel created the synthesis of insulin, a discovery he made known in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, with the name of crystalline insulin. In 1930, the Canadian Parliament granted an aid to Banting for the establishment of a research laboratory (the Banting Institute) and its university created a chair with its name. There he worked in different lines such as those related to silicosis, cancer and drowning. He was appointed honorary doctor at the Toronto General Hospital, the Hospital for Sick Children, and the Toronto Western Hospital. He also obtained the LL.D. degree (Queens) and D.Sc. degree (Toronto). Banting also received the tributes and merits of several scientific societies of his country and abroad. As an amateur painter, he was part of a government expedition to the Arctic. He married Marion Robertson in 1924 and together had a child. Frederick divorced in 1932 and five years later he married again with Henrietta Ball. When the Second World War started, he acted as a link between the British and American medical services.

On 21 February 1941, he was on board a Lockheed Hudson bomber who was to undergo the Atlantic crossing to get to England but the motive of the journey is still unclear. He was supposed to meet the counterparts and persuade them to use biological weapons only as the last option in the event of a German invasion of England. Another hypothesis was the constant demand of Banting to work on the front line, a request that several times hadn’t been accepted by Canadian officers who considered him more useful in the country. The plane fell, Banting survived the impact, but the left clavicle had dampened his lungs. He managed to get out of the plane and take a short stroll in the snow before crashing on the ground. In 1941, he died following this plane crash in Newfoundland. Frederick Grant Banting was buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto. It is being said that his enormous willpower helped him cure the wounds of the pilot before dying. From his first marriage he had a son, William Banting. William worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, always keeping a certain distance from his father’s legacy. He died in 1998. The “Banting treatment” refers to the treatment of obesity through a restricted regime, especially in sugar, flours and fats. The lunar crater Banting is named after the Canadian scientist.

Frederick Banting with a dog in his laboratory

Céline Marie Claudette Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion (b. 30 March 1968 in Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada) is a Canadian singer and businesswoman. Born into a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record. Dion first gained international recognition in the 1980’s by winning both the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest where she represented Switzerland. Following a series of French albums during the 1980’s, she signed on to Epic Records in the United States. In 1990, Dion released her debut English language album, Unison, establishing herself as a viable pop artist in North America and other English speaking areas of the world. Céline grew up in a large family of musicians, being the youngest of the 14 children of the Dion family. The Dion Family had many concerts while Céline was still a young child. After opening a piano bar, Céline, aged just 5 years old, delighted the loyal customers with her suave voice. At the age of 12 years old, Céline recorded a demo of a song composed together with her mother. They sent the tape to manager and producer Rene Angélil. After hearing the tape, he immediately wanted to see Céline and signed her immediately with the condition of having absolute control over her career. His record label funded Céline’s first album, La Voix du bon Dieu. By the age of 18 years old, Céline recorded 9 albums in French and in 1988 she won the Eurovision Song Contest held in Dublin, Ireland, while representing Switzerland. Her voice was heard throughout Europe, but also in the Middle East, Australia and Japan and

Céline Dion

thus she started gaining notoriety. Her first English album sold 1 million copies worldwide. The song for The Beauty and the Beast has made her famous in America. The album has sold over 12 million copies worldwide. Also, the song If You Asked Me To was ranked No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 list and ranked her No. 1 on the list of contemporary singers, which led Céline on the road to success on her first US tour. From that point on, her career has been increasingly thriving and The Colour of My Love album from 1993 has brought her even more fame. In 1994, Céline married Rene Angélil, with whom she already had an amorous life since the time he divorced his second wife in 1980. The ceremony was celebrated throughout Canada and was held at the Notre Dame Church in Montréal. The reputation of the pop diva has started to increase even more starting from 1996 when she released the album Falling Into You, which included the song Because You Loved Me, the soundtrack of the movie Up Close and Personal. Céline Dion won the Grammy Award for the best pop album of that year. The following year, in 1997, Céline gained huge glory for the song on Titanic’s soundtrack. My Heart Will Go On has won 11 Academy Awards, including the one for the Best Musical. The song ranked 1st in the Billboard Hot 100 list and sold along with the Let’s Talk About Love album around 50 million copies worldwide. Céline Dion received the Quebec National Order, the region’s highest honor in April 1998. Also during the same year she appeared alongside other pop divas such as Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan and Shania Twain on the Divas Live TV show on VH-1. The year 1998 proved to be very good for the Canadian artist as she managed to win many other awards, including the one for the best singer of the year and for the best album of the year. Her tour took place in more than 14 countries. It began in the summer of 1998 and ended with a concert in Montréal on 31 December 1999 in honor of the new millennium. Céline Dion came on the market with another No. 1 song, I’m Your Angel, in a duet with singer R. Kelly. At the beginning of 2000, Dion announced that she would take a break in her career in order to focus on family life. After several attempts and treatments to have children, in vitro fertilization has finally worked for her. On 25 January 2001, Céline brought Rene Charles to the world and on 23 October 2010, at the age of 42, the Canadian diva gave birth to two twin boys. After two years of break, in 2002, Céline Dion returned and launched the album A New Day Has Come, which

Céline Dion performing Taking Chances in Montreal, Canada (2008)

was the top song in over 17 countries. Following the partnership with photographer Anne Geddes, Céline released the album Miracle: A Celebration of New Life (2004) then released another two French albums. Even though she doesn’t dominate the world music lists anymore, Céline Dion remains an astonishing artist and a successful woman, an extraordinary mother and a sensitive soul. Forbes magazine ranked her 2nd richest singer after Madonna in June 2009, with earnings at around 100 million $ in 2008. In August 2014, Céline Dion canceled all of her shows starting from 22 March 2015 in order to focus on her 72 years old husband, whose was diagnosed again with skin cancer after previously being cured for it in 1999 for the first time. Dion said: “I want to dedicate all my powers and my energy to healing my husband, and to do that, it is very important for me to dedicate as much time to him and our children as possible.” In addition, the diva had to fight against her health problems as she apparently was suffering from inflammation of the neck muscles, which led to the impossibility of singing in Las Vegas on 29 July 2014. Dion apologized for the inconvenience and thanked the spectators for their understanding and devotion over the years. The singer’s new French album, Encore un Soir, was released on 26 August 2016. It featured fifteen songs performed

in French and, according to the singer, had a personal choice of songs. Encore un Soir topped the music charts of France, Canada, Belgium and Switzerland, and has sold more than 1.1 million copies worldwide. In 2016 and 2017, Dion toured Europe and Canada. On 9 September 2016, the song Recovering was written for her by Pink after Céline’s husband, René Angélil died in January 2016. Dion also recorded How Does a Moment Last Forever for the movie The Beauty and the Beast, released in March 2017. She returned to sing My Heart Will Go On at the Billboard Music Awards 2017. Her compilation, Un Peu De Nous is a summary of her concerts in Europe during July and August 2017. In 1999, Céline Dion received a star on the Canada Walk of Fame and in 2004 she received another one on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She dedicated the latter to her father, who died a month earlier. In 2007, she was ranked by Forbes magazine as the 15th richest woman in entertainment, with a fortune estimated at 250 million $. In May 2008 she received the Legion of Honor, the highest honor granted by the French government. In August of the same year she received an honorary doctorate in music from the Laval University in Quebec. In October 2010, she was named Goodwill Ambassador for a program created by the United Nations in 1999. Céline Dion shared this recognition with actress Susan Sarandon. Céline Dion became a businesswoman after opening her restaurant franchise Nickels Grill & Bar in 1990. In 2003, Dion signed a contract with Coty, Inc. to launch her own line of fragrances, Céline Dion Parfums. Her latest perfume, Signature, was put on the market in September 2011. Since its foundation, Céline Dion Parfums has made more than 850 million $ in retail sales. In October 2004, Air Canada hired the singer as part of its promotional campaign to publicize new service products. You and I, a song performed by Céline, was composed by advertising executives who worked for Air Canada.

Céline Dion together with her husband, husband René Angélil, in 2012

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Gretzky (b. 26 January 1961 in Brantford, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played twenty seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed “The Great One”, he has been called “the greatest hockey player ever” by many sportswriters, players, and the league itself. He is the leading scorer in NHL history, with more goals and assists than any other player. He garnered more assists than any other player scored total points and is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season, a feat he accomplished four times. In addition, he tallied over 100 points in 16 professional seasons, 14 of them consecutive. At the time of his retirement in 1999, he held 61 NHL records: 40 regular-season records, 15 playoff records, and six All-Star records. As of 2015, he

Wayne Gretzky

still holds 60 NHL records. Gretzky’s paternal grandparents were Polish immigrants who arrived in Canada at the beginning of the 20th century from the village of Mogilev, Imperial Russia, now Belarus. His athletic abilities were transmitted to him from his father, Walter Gretzky, a great hockey fan who didn’t have contact with highlevel sport though. Considered the greatest player in the history of this sport, Wayne began to skate at the age of 2 years old when he used spending his time on ice or in the yard, encouraged by his father and grandmother. He was the classic child prodigy. At the age of 10, he had scored 378 goals and 139 assists in just 85 games with the Nadrofsky Steelers. His first adventure in juvenile sport started with a local team when he grew older because he was far beyond the potential of those aged the same as him. By the time he became a teenager, Gretzky made waves in Canada with his style of play. He was elected the third in 1977 in the Ontario Junior League, where he proved his great qualities at Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. His next step towards the status of NHL star was his promotion in 1978 to the National Junior Championships in Quebec, where Gretzky represented Canada and dominated the entire tournament. At the age of 17 years old, Wayne signed with Indianapolis Racers, a team that activated at that time in the World Hockey Association. Due to the club’s financial problems, Gretzky played only 8 matches for the Racers. The team was losing 40.000 $ after each played match. Then his agent, Nelson Skalbania, intervened and offered him the opportunity to choose between Jets Winnipeg and Edmonton Oilers. Following Skalbania’s advice, Gretzky chose Edmonton Oilers, but the move turned out to be much harder than it seemed. Although 850.000 $ was announced as the transfer sum, Edmonton Oilers owner Peter Pocklington paid only 700.000 $ to Indianapolis Racers. However, the money was not enough for the team and Indianapolis Racers folded at the end of that year. At the age of 18 years old, when Wayne Gretzky was allowed to play in the NHL, Peter Pocklington signed with the Canadian player a 10 year contract, the longest contract in the history of hockey, with an option for another 10 years. In the autumn of 1979, as he engaged in his first season at the highest level, Gretzky quickly started to dominate the competition, managing 51 goals and 86 assists; performance that helped him win the “Hart Memorial Trophy”, a trophy awarded to the most valuable player. It was the first time in hockey history ever when someone managed to win this prize

Wayne Gretzky in a New York Rangers uniform in 1997

in their NHL debut season. With Gretzky breaking record after records, Edmonton Oilers was able to win the Stanley Cup in the 1984, 1985, 1987 and 1988 seasons. Throughout the 1981-1982 season, “The Great One” broke down a 35 year old record, scoring 50 goals in as many matches. At the end of the season, Wayne Gretzky set another hard to beat record, reaching for the first time the 200 point barrier in a single season. He scored 92 goals and gave 120 decisive passes and with 212 points in 80 games, he became the only player in the history of the NHL to break the 200-point barrier in a single season. It was a remarkable performance, taking into account that in his best year until then he

scored 163 points, out of which 52 were goals. After that remarkable season, Wayne became the idol of many ice hockey lovers and the Canadian government issued an official currency, the Wayne Gretzky dollar. Also in the 1981-1982 dream season he received the “Sportsman of the Year” award from the prestigious Sports Illustrated magazine. Being indispensable for the Edmonton Oilers, the inevitable took place at the end of the 1988 summer when he was sold to the Los Angeles Kings, the Canadian club receiving more players in exchange. It has been for a long time speculated that his departure from Edmonton Oilers took place because of his marriage to Janet Jones, 55

who asked him to leave Canada for sunny California. However, another theory states that the NHL didn’t want such a talent to be wasted at Edmonton and forced him to come to Los Angeles so that the League could attract even more sponsors. Wayne Gretzky spent 8 years with the Los Angeles Kings. He was named the captain of the team and had an immediate impact on the ice as he scored his first goal of that season after his first shot. That was the Los Angeles Kings’ best start of the season so far, with the team qualifying in the play-off that year despite the outsider status that Gretzky and his colleagues had in the duel with Edmonton Oilers. His team, the Los Angeles Kings, came back from 1-3 and defeated the Edmonton Oiler with the score of 4-3. For the second time in his career, Wayne Gretzky finished second in the top scoreboard, again received the Hart Memorial Trophy and the Press Association named him the “Male Athlete of the Decade”. In his first season at Los Angeles Kings, the city saw a remarkable growth with Gretzky leading the team as his mere presence on the ice attracted more and more curiosity from the audience in a city where hockey didn’t mean much. The LA Kings claimed that they have played several matches with full audience. Many claim that Gretzky’s arrival at Los Angeles Kings has greatly contributed on putting California on the ice hockey map. In region, two new teams were founded since then: the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and San Jose Sharks. In February 1996, Wayne Gretzky joined St. Louis Blues in a trade for Craig Johnson, Patrice Tardif, Roman Vopat and drafts Peter Hogan & Matt Zultek. The transaction took place amid the grievances of his Los Angeles Kings team mates. However, his accommodation at the St. Louis Blues didn’t turn out to be as expected and after a single season at the team, where Gretzky was immediately named captain, he left for the New York Rangers. Criticized by coach Mike Keenan for his poor performances after scoring 37 goals in 31 matches, he declined the 15 million $ for three years contract offer that he received from St. Louis Blues and chose to go to New York as a free contract player. After just one season spent at St. Louis Blues, Wayne Gretzky dressed in the New York Rangers’ t-shirt and delighted the audience that came to see him play at Madison Square Garden. He played for more than three years in New York, his only performance with the team being the accession to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1997 when the New York Rangers lost in five matches the duel against Philadelphia Flyers despite the Canadian’s very good performances as he managed to 56

score 10 goals and 10 assists in the play-off. For the first time in his career, he was not named captain, being the third in the hierarchy. The 1998-1999 season was the last for Gretzky as a professional player. He managed to reach the 1.000 goals milestone, surpassing Gordie Howe’s record of 1.071 goals, with 1.072 goals scored in both the WHA and the NHL. The Great One’s performance wasn’t as expected and he finished the first season of his career in which he didn’t reach the average of 1 point per game, managing to score only 9 goals. In mid-April 1999, Wayne Gretzky played his last official match on Canadian territory in a 2-2 match against the Ottawa Senators. A few days later, in his last match for the New York Rangers, he announced that he would end his career as a professional ice hockey player. Wayne Gretzky finished his career after establishing 62 records, among which there can be mentioned: • Most goals scored: 1.016 in NHL • The youngest player to score 50 goals in a season • The player with more than 200 points scored per season: 4 times • Most Hart Memorial Trophy adjudged: 9 • Most trophies in career: 31 • Most points gathered in a single season (play-off + regular season): 255 Not long after his retirement, Wayne Gretzky was appointed executive director of Canada’s ice hockey team. With him in the staff, the Canadian ice hockey national team ended the 50 years lack of trophies and won the gold medal in 2002 at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Canada defeated the United States of America with the score of 5-2. Although Gretzky had said he wouldn’t participate in any exhibition game, on 22 November 2003, Gretzky returned to the ice field once again to help celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Edmonton Oilers as an NHL team. The Heritage Classic was the first NHL game to be played outdoors and was held at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton. After the NHL game, the Mega Stars match took place where Wayne Gretzky and many of his team mates from the retired Oilers (Messier, Fuhr, Kurri, Lowe, etc.) played against a group of Montréal Canadiens players such as Claudio Lemieux and Lafleur in front of 57.167 fans (an NHL record) in cold weather, as well as millions more on television. The Edmonton Oilers won the game with the score of 2-0, while the Montréal based team later won the game in the regular season with the score of 4-3. The game was later released for sale on a DVD entitled “Heritage Classic: A November to Remember”.

Wayne Gretzky in a New York Rangers uniform in 1997

James Eugene Carrey James Eugene Carrey (b. 17 January 1962 in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian actor, comedian, impressionist, screenwriter, and producer. He is known for his highly energetic slapstick performances. He became famous thanks to the roles he played in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask and Dumb and Dumber. His comedies are based on gestural humor and grimaces, which will later become his trademark. He then played more serious roles in movies such as The Truman Show, Man on the Moon, for which he won two Golden Globes, or in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Jim Carrey was born in Newmarket, Ontario as the son of Kathleen Oram, a housewife, and Percy Carrey, a business accountant and amateur musician. He has three older siblings, John, Patricia and Rita. Jim was raised in a devout Catholic family of French, Irish

Jim Carrey

and Scottish ancestry on the maternal side, and French Canadian (the original surname being Carré) on the father’s side. When his family moved to Scarborough, Ontario, Carrey was just 14 years old. He attended the Blessed Trinity Catholic School in North York for two years, the Agincourt Collegiate Institute for another year and briefly the Northview Heights Secondary School for the remainder of his secondary school years. Carrey lived in Burlington, Ontario for 8 years and attended Aldershot High School. In an interview for the Hamilton Spectator magazine on February 2007, Carrey commented: “If my career in show business hadn’t panned out I would probably be working today in Hamilton, Ontario at the Dofasco steel mill.” Looking from Burlington Bay to Hamilton, I could see the smelters, and thought “That’s where the big jobs are.” At that time, he already had experience working in a science experiment center in Richmond Hill, Ontario. In 1977, at the age of 15, encouraged by his father, he started imitating Elvis Presley, James Stewart and Jerry Lewis in a cabaret from Toronto. In 1979, under the direction of Leatrice Spevack, Carrey began performing live humor at Yuk Yuk’s club in Toronto, where he started having regular paid shows in February 1981, shortly after his 19 years birthday. A critic of the newspaper Toronto Star said that Carrey was “the birth of an authentic star”. At the beginning of the 1980’s he decided to emigrate to Los Angeles, California and began working at The Comedy Store, where he was discovered by humorist Rodney Dangerfield, who signed the young man to open his tour performances. Then Carrey turned his attention to the film and television industry, auditioning to be a cast member of the 1980-1981 season of the NBC show, Saturday Night Live. Carrey was not selected although he hosted the show in May 1996 and again in January 2011. His first major role on television was that of Saltan Tarkenton, a young animation producer of the NBC mini-series, The Duck Factory, broadcasted from 12 April 1984, until 11 July of the same year. Carrey continued working on small films and television roles, which led to a friendship with his fellow comedian Damon Wayans, with whom he co-starred in the 1988 film Earth Girls Are Easy, in the roles of aliens. When Wayans’s brother, Keenen Ivory Wayans, started a comedy show for Fox called In Living Color, Carrey was hired as a cast member whose unusual characters included Fire Marshall Bill and female bodybuilder Vera de Milo. Carrey made his film debut in Rubberface (1981). Later that year, he won the leading role in Damian

Wax Statue of Jim Carrey at Madame Tussaud

Lee’s Canadian comedy revolving around skiing, Copper Mountain, which included his impersonation of Sammy Davis Jr. Given the fact that the film lasted less than an hour and that it consisted mainly in musical performances by Rita Coolidge and Ronnie Hawkins, it was not considered an authentic film. Two years later, in 1985, Carrey got his first major role in the black humor comedy Once Bitten. He played the role of Mark Kendall, a virgin teenager seduced by a 400 years old vampire played by Lauren Hutton. After this movie, he had secondary roles in films such as Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Earth Girls Are Easy (1988) and The Dead Pool (1988). Jim Carrey didn’t become a true star until starring in the 1994 comedy Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, which premiered a few months before the end of In Living Color. The movie was harshly criticized and the Canadian actor was nominated in 1995 for the Golden Raspberry Award, given for the worst new star. However, the movie was well received by the public

despite being ridiculed by critics. The character of Ace Ventura became a popular icon and the movie made Jim Carrey a superstar. It was a commercial success, just like his other two movies of that same year: The Mask and Dumb and Dumber. In 1995, he played the Riddler in Batman Forever and played again the role of Ace Ventura in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. Both films were successful at the box office. Jim Carrey’s following movie, The Cable Guy, directed by Ben Stiller, raised 20 million $, a record amount of money for a comedy film. The film didn’t receive good reviews from the critics and the specialized press, but Carrey quickly recovered with the movie Liar Liar, when he returned to his original style of comedy. The Canadian accepted a slight salary reduction in order to play a more serious role in The Truman Show (1998), a science fiction film highly praised by critics. Many people thought he would be nominated for the Oscar Awards and although the film 59

Jim Carrey at the inauguration of the “I love you Philip Morris” movie in Paris, France

was nominated for three other awards, Carrey didn’t receive any nominations. However, for his performance on The Truman Show, Jim Carrey won a Golden Globe Award for the best dramatic actor, being one of the few actors to win the award and not be nominated for the Oscar Award, as well as an MTV Movie Award for the best male performance. That same year, he appeared as a fictional version of himself in the final episode of The Larry Sanders Show by Garry Shandling, in which he deliberately stripped down the character played by Shandling. In 1999, Carrey got the role of comedian Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon. In spite of being acclaimed by the critics, he wasn’t nominated to the Academy Awards, although he obtained a Golden Globe Award to the best actor in a comedy or musical. In 2000, the Canadian actor returned to work with the Farrelly brothers in the comedy Me, Myself & Irene. The movie tells the story of a policeman with multiple personality who falls in love with a woman played by Renée Zellweger. The film raised 24 million $ in its first weekend and 90 million $ in total. In 2003, Jim Carrey went back to work with filmmaker Tom Shadyac in the comedy Bruce Almighty. Gaining more than 242 million $ in the United States of America and more than 484 million $ worldwide, the movie became the second highest grossing comedy of all time. His performance in the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) received critical acclaim and 60

he was expected to receive an Oscar nomination. The movie won the Oscar for the best original script and his co-star Kate Winslet received a nomination for the same award for her performance. Carrey, on the other hand, was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. In 2004, he played the role of villain Count Olaf in the movie Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, based on the juvenile novel of the same name. In that same year he was incorporated into the Canadian Walk of Fame. In 2005, Jim Carrey starred in a new version of Fun with Dick and Jane, where he played Dick, a husband who becomes a bank robber after losing his job. In 2007, Carrey collaborated again with Joel Schumacher, director of Batman Forever, for the main role in the movie The Number 23, a psychological thriller co-starring Virginia Madsen and Danny Huston. In the film, Carrey played the role of a man who became obsessed with the number 23 after having found a book about a guy with the same obsession. The Canadian actor has stated that he considers less tempting to repeat a character than to interpret a new one. The only time he played the same role was with Ace Ventura and Lloyd in Dumb & Dumber To (2014). As of December 2010, Carrey’s films grossed more than 2.3 trillion $ in total. To this day, Jim confesses that he owes everything to his father as it was he who encouraged him to take on the stage and who, later, pushed him towards Los Angeles. In 2011, the Canadian comedian played the role of Mr. Popper in Mr. Popper’s Penguins. Carrey also starred in Jeff Wadlow’s Kick-Ass 2, where he played the role of Sal Bertolinni / Colonel Stars and Stripes. Jim Carrey received US citizenship on 7 October 2004 and now maintains dual nationality, American and Canadian. In Canada he has a star on the Toronto Walk of Fame since 1998. Carrey spoke of his episodes of depression in November 2004 in an interview for 60 Minutes TV show. Jim has also launched public awareness campaigns via the Internet about political repression in Myanmar (Burma). Carrey is a great admirer and friend of Eckhart Tolle. Carrey has been a critic of the scientific consensus that there is no evidence of linkages of MMR vaccination in the development of autism and he wrote an article questioning the merits of vaccination and vaccine research for Huffington Post. With Jenny McCarthy, Carrey led a march in Washington D.C. to advocate for the elimination of toxins in children’s vaccines with the belief that children have received “many vaccines, too soon, many of them are toxic.”

Jim Carrey in Madrid, Spain

Avril Ramona Lavigne Avril Ramona Lavigne (b. 27 September 1984 in Belleville, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian singersongwriter and actress. By the age of 15, she had appeared on stage with Shania Twain and by the age of 16, she had signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records worth more than 2 million $. In 2002 she released her debut album, Let Go, emphasizing a skate punk persona in which she has been often referred by critics and music publications as The Pop Punk Queen due to her achievement and impact in the industry. Lavigne is considered a key musician in the development of pop punk music since she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music. Since her professional debut, Lavigne has sold more than 40 million albums and over 50 million singles worldwide,

Avril Lavigne

making her the 3rd best selling Canadian female artist of all time, behind Celine Dion and Shania Twain. Avril Ramona Lavigne is the second child of the Judith-Rosanne (born Loshaw) and Jean-Claude Lavigne couple, two French-Canadian workers. She also has a bigger brother named Matthew and a younger sister named Michelle. Despite the fact that her name comes from French and means â&#x20AC;&#x153;Aprilâ&#x20AC;?, Lavigne prefers the pronunciation of English phonetics. Since the age of 2 years old, Avril learned to play gospel and country music and soon she started singing in the church choir, but also at local festivals. In her adolescence, the young interpreter admired the rock music of Janis Joplin and Alanis Morissette and her passion for music determined her to learn to sing on the guitar herself. In 1998, when she was 13 years old, Lavigne was among the 20.000 participants of an interpretation contest in which the grand prize consisted in a recital together with Shania Twain. Avril won the competition and soon she was contacted by Cliff Fabri, who would become her first manager. Later, folk music singer Steve Medd attended one of her concert performances and invited her to collaborate with him to record songs for his own studio albums: Quinte Spirit (1999) and My Window to You (2000). At the age of 15 years old, Avril Lavigne gave up her studies and her parents agreed to move to New York to pursue a musical career. In this city, the performer became passionate about rock music and recorded a demonstration disc that attracted the attention of producer L.A. Reid. In December 2001, Arista offered the artist a promotional contract, estimated at 1 million $. The artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s debut album was released on 4 June 2002 under the representation of Arista Records. Initially, the album was entitled Anything But Ordinary but at the last minute it was renamed to Let Go. The first promoted single, Complicated, enjoyed huge success in Australia, where it occupied the highest position in the musical rankings. At the same time, the song ranked 2nd in the US Billboard Hot 100 hierarchy. On the Metacritic specialized website, the Let Go album received positive reviews from the critics, gaining 68 points out of 100. In Canada, the album received the diamond disc, confirming sales of over 1 million copies. Also, at international level, the album gained popularity with eighteen million copies being sold. In 2005, Avril Lavigne entered the Guinness World Records, being the youngest performer to occupy the first position in the UK Albums Chart. While the Let Go album occupied first place in the UK rankings, Apple revealed that its

own digital store reached the threshold of 10 million marketed products, the figure being reached after selling the Complicated single. At the end of the decade, the New York Times conglomerate published the best pop album of the 2000’s and Complicated figured on the 11th place. In the U.S. the Let Go album was sold in over eight million copies and received six platinum discs. The album is also considered to be the best-selling album of an interpreter during the year 2002. According to IFPI, Let Go was one of the best albums in the world in 2003 and the RIAA website included it in the rankings of the best albums in the history of the United States. Also, the Rolling Stone American magazine produced a list of the best 100 songs of the 2000’s and Complicated ranked 8th. In the hierarchy of albums, the Let Go album occupied an honorary 4th place. In 2003, Avril received five Grammy Awards nomination: for the Best Artist, The Debut of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year and Best Rock Performance, but did not win in any category. However, Lavigne won four of the six awards she was nominated for in the Juno Awards: Best Single - Complicated, Album of the Year, Best Pop Album and The Debut of the Year. The singer’s second single, Sk8er Boi, was released in October 2002 and helped the artist to win numerous awards such as Best Pop Video at the MTV Video Music Awards. During the year 2003, the artist began her first tour entitled Try To Shut Me Up. Together with Kelly Osbourne, Lavigne presented the MTV Video Music Awards 2003 and in November she released her first concert album, My World, on DVD. During 2003, two other single discs were marketed: I’m with You and Losing Grip. Both songs have gained popularity in the Anglophone countries. The second studio album of the artist, entitled Under My Skin, was launched internationally on 25 May 2004. The disc contained more elaborate melodic lines than the Let Go album and the lyre theme was love. Desiring to change her musical style, Lavigne ended up collaborating with the Matrix team of producers, with whom she recorded her discographic material. Among the creators of the Under My Skin album were Butch Walker, Raine Maida, Don Gilmore and Ben Moody, the American vocalist of the Gothic Metal band Evanescence. In its release week, the album received the platinum certificate in Japan and dominated the UK Albums Chart. Later, it ranked on the 1st position in the Billboard 200 hierarchy and received three platinum discs, confirming sales of more than 3 million copies. The first single, Do Not Tell Me, was released in the

spring of 2004 and was accompanied by an adjacent video. The song has been commercially successful in Europe, where it has won leading positions in the specialist rankings. At the same time, Under My Skin was successful in Brazil, where it was sold in over 125.000 copies and received a platinum disc. Also, the next singles compositions: My Happy Ending and Nobody’s Home received individual platinum certificates. At the international level, the artist’s second studio album was marketed in nine million copies and was awarded a triple platinum certificate by the RIAA. The latest song on Under My Skin, entitled Slipped Away, was a tribute to her grandfather, who died in 2003, while Lavigne was on the Try To Shut Me Up tour. During 2004, the singer began a new series of concerts entitled The Bonez Tour. The reward for the performer’s musical performance was represented by the two World Music Awards prizes she got for the Best Pop-Rock Artist and Best Canadian Artist categories. Lavigne also received five nominations for the Juno Awards and triumphed at the Interpret of the Year, Public Favorite, and Best Pop Music Album categories. In July 2004, Lavigne released an acoustic EP disc exclusively for the US audience. Entitled Live Acoustic, the disc contains both songs from the singer’s debut album: Let Go, as well as popular songs like My Happy Ending or Nobody’s Home. At the end of 2005, the artist released a new concert album entitled Live at Budokan: Bonez Tour, which was recorded during The Bonez Tour. At the beginning of 2006, when Avril Lavigne began composing new songs for her next discography, Fox Entertainment Group contacted her to compose a song for the Eragon movie soundtrack. The artist accepted the offer and created two ballads, of which only one was chosen to be promoted. The song, entitled Keep Holding On, was a challenge at the time for the performer, who was uncertain about the compatibility of her creation with the narrative story of the film. The song was released in digital format on 28 November 2006. In the same year, Avril Lavigne married punk music performer Deryck Whibley, a founding member of the Sum 41 group. The Catholic ceremony took place on 15 June in the Montecito American community and counted 110 guests. The two grooms met in 2004 and their engagement took place in June 2005 in Venice during a gondola ride. Avril Lavigne debuted in the cinematographic industry in early 2006 with the launch of the animated movie Over the Hedge. Having Bruce Willis and Steve Carell as plateau colleagues, Lavigne received the role 63

Lavigne during a press conference in Hong Kong

of an opossum named Heather. In April 2007, Avril Lavigne resumed her musical career, releasing her 3rd studio album in her career. Entitled The Best Damn Thing, the album was composed in the pop-punk style. The album gained the 1st position in the Billboard 200 chart, being sold in over 286.000 copies in the first seven days. The disc also dominated the European and Japanese rankings. Producers of this discography include Dr. Luke (who worked with artists such as Kelly Clarkson and Pink), Deryck Whibley (Sum 41), Rob Cavallo (Green Day and My Chemical Romance) and Butch Walker. One of the idols of the performer, bassist Travis Barker recorded the drums instrumental passages. Five songs were promoted from this album: Girlfriend, duet Girlfriend Remix along with Lil Mama, When You’re Gone ballad, Hot and the song with the same name as the album: The Best Damn Thing. All of these singles benefited from promotion and adjacent 64

videos. In 2007, the About.com site produced a list of the best pop songs, and Girlfriend occupied position number 39 out of 100. According to an interview with the Reuters news agency, Lavigne wanted The Best Damn Thing to be “cheerful, confident, emotional” and different from what she had recorded so far. Thus, she abandoned the “dark” style in favor of a mix of glam rock and pop punk. In a conversation with Brazilian reporters from Capricho, the interpreter claimed that her main sources of inspiration were interpreters such as Coldplay or Alanis Morissette. In the hierarchy of the most commercial albums of 2007, The Best Damn Thing ranked 4th, being the best product of the Sony BMG record label. The song Girlfriend marked the largest sales in 2007 in the digital field with over 7.3 million digital downloads being distributed internationally, according to IFPI. Only in Asia the album was sold in 2 million copies and in the U.S. it received the platinum disc, confirming one million sold copies. Also, in Japan, the disc was commercially successful and internationally it was sold in six million copies. Throughout the The Best Damn Thing era, Lavigne has won numerous awards, including two World Music Awards for Best Pop Music Artist and Best Canadian Artist, has won two trophies at the MTV Europe Music Awards, received a Teen Choice Award at the “Best Summer Song” for Girlfriend and was nominated for five Juno Awards. In November 2007, two new movies were released in which Lavigne had secondary roles: The Flock, where the singer received the role of Beatrice Bell, a killer’s girlfriend and Fast Food Nation in which Lavigne played the role of an activist. Both films received mediocre reviews and had poor earnings. In March 2008, the artist began a new international tour entitled The Best Damn Tour to promote the homonymous album. In August 2008, one of the ruling parties in Malaysia tried to cancel Avril Lavigne’s concert in Kuala Lumpur, the singer choreographies being considered “too sexy”. According to some political people, the interpreter’s recital was a negative example for the youth. On 21 August 2008, MTV announced that the singer’s recital had been approved by the Malaysian government. In the spring of 2008, Avril Lavigne released a new EP album entitled Control Room - Live EP. The recording of the material was done during a concert performed by the performer in Los Angeles. A few months later, in September, a new concert album was released entitled The Best Damn Tour - Live in Toronto. The disc was distributed internationally only in a DVD format.

The Canadian artist singing in Sankt Petersburg, Russia

In September 2009, Avril Lavigne unofficially separated from her husband, Deryck Whibley and said that the reason she could no longer continue her marriage was that between them there were “irreconcilable differences”. The singer didn’t ask for financial support from her husband and vice versa. At the end of the trial, Lavigne thanked her ex-husband “for all these years spent together” and considered herself blessed for “still being friends.” While designing new pieces for her own clothing line, Lavigne contacted Disney directors and expressed her desire to compose a song for the soundtrack of Alice in Wonderland. The director of the film, Tim Burton, immediately accepted the offer and the dark song was composed in a short time with the help of a piano, a tool that defined the melodic line of the composition. The song entitled Alice has received mixed reviews by specialist critics, while Canadian publication Calgary Herald said about the song that it was “one of the best compositions in the performer’s career”. Others criticized her harshly for the way she “seeks to become Amy Lee and yells as she tries to sing the high notes.” The song has obtained mediocre positions in international rankings. The 4th studio album of the performer, Goodbye Lullaby, represented a return to the old music style of the singer, mostly acoustic. Being launched internationally in March 2011, the material received mixed reviews from specialist critics: while some journalists appreciated the performer’s efforts to mature from a musical point of view, there were people who criticized her for the “general monotony” of the album. To promote the Goodbye Lullaby album, Avril Lavigne extracted single songs What the Hell and Smile, two compositions that occupied high or medium positions in the Anglophone world rankings. The Goodbye Lullaby album was to be called a “commercial failure” by the US online press, though in the first week it occupied the 4th position in the Billboard 200 with over 87.000 copies sold. However, the material enjoyed success in Asia and received multiple platinum discs in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In June 2011, just three months after the launch of Goodbye Lullaby, Avril Lavigne talked in an interview about her future discographic album: “Goodbye Lullaby was delicate, but I want my next album to be more pop, more fun”. At the end of 2011, Avril confirmed that she had signed a contract with Epic Records, led by L.A. Reid. Lavigne contributed with two songs to the soundtrack of the Japanese animated film One Piece Film:Z: How You Remind Me and Bad Reputation. The main song 66

The Canadian singer in 2013 at Today TV Show

on the artist’s 5th album, Here’s to Never Growing Up, produced by Martin Johnson from the Boys Like Girls band, was released in April 2013 and reached the top 20 in the Billboard Hot 100, Australia and the United Kingdom. The second single, Rock n Roll, was released in August 2013 and the 3rd single, Let Me Go, to which she collaborated with her husband, Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger, was released in October 2013. The album entitled Avril Lavigne was released on 1 November 2013 and was sold in 125.000 copies in the United States. In Canada she received a Golden Disc and a Juno Award nomination for the Pop Album of the Year. In mid-2014, Lavigne sang in the opening tour of Backstreet Boys’ In a World Like This Tour and appeared on the stage of Summer Sonic music festival in Tokyo. In an April 2015 interview accorded to Billboard, Avril Lavigne announced that she wanted to release a new single, Fly. The launch took place on 26 April and was linked to the Special Summer Olympics 2015. In the same interview, she also said she wanted to release a Christmas album.

Avril Lavigne singing in Brasilia, Brazil in 2014

Bryan Guy Adams Bryan Guy Adams (b. 5 November 1959 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, guitarist, photographer, philanthropist and activist. Adams rose to fame in North America with his 1983 album Cuts Like a Knife and turned into a global star with his 1984 album Reckless, which produced some of his best known songs, including Run to You and Summer of '69. At the age of 10 years old, his uncle gave him his first guitar, something that his father, a career diplomat, did not approve. Soon his parents divorced so the future singer went to live with his mother and brother to the city of Vancouver. Bryan Adams spent part of his childhood and adolescence in Portugal, given the profession of his father (ambassador). He lived in Birre, near Cascais, about 25 km from Lisbon. This helped him learn the Portuguese language. At the age of 15 years old, he left school, joined a band as a singer and started

The Canadian artist in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2006

touring Canada. In 1979, Adams made his first musical contribution and together with Jim Vallance (drummer of the Prism group, with whom he happened to meet at a record store), they performed a duet, recorded a demo and after several failed attempts at record label companies they received their first offer from the A&M company. His first album was recorded under the patronage of A&M Records in 1980 and was entitled Bryan Adams. In 1981, he released his second album: You Want It - You Got It. In this album, Bryan and Jim had collaborated on keyboards with Tommy Mandel, on bass with Brian Stanley and on drums with Mickey Curry. Bryan Adams played the guitar and the piano. The album highlighted the Lonely Nights song that would mark the style of some of his future songs. In 1983, Bryan had collaborated with guitarist Keith Scott and bassist Dave Taylor and recorded with them his third studio album entitled Cuts Like a Knife, under the record label A&M Records. This was his first big success, all thanks to songs like Cuts Like a Knife, Straight From The Heart, This Time and The Best Was Yet To Come. The latter was a song written and posthumously dedicated to Dorothy Stratten, Canadian playmate of the Playboy magazine who was murdered by her husband on 14 August 1980. Also, Bryan Adams won his first Platinum Disc. This album was produced by Bryan Adams and Bob Clearmountain. The year 1984 would turn to be culminating in the career of Bryan Adams, since thanks to the release of his album Reckless, he won several awards and recognitions such as the Juno Awards. Songs like Heaven, Summer of ‘69, Run To You, Somebody and the duet with Tina Turner, It’s Only Love, are considered classic rock songs. The song Kids Wanna Rock was another of the emblems that the Canadian rocker illuminated in this album. All songs on this album were composed by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance and it was produced by Bryan Adams and Bob Clearmountain. In 1987 it was released one of his not so successful albums (compared to his previous album): Into The Fire, Bryan’s 5th album. Songs like Hearts On Fire and Heat Of The Night enjoyed relatively successful. This album was produced by Bryan Adams and Bob Clearmountain. In 1988, in Werchter, Belgium, Bryan realized what until now is considered his most prodigious concert: Live! Live! Live!, which was attended by more than 50.000 people. In this concert, Bryan song some of his classic hits, especially Cuts Like a Knife and Reckless. Originally, it had been arranged that the concert would be broadcasted on TV, but such was the

Bryan Adams

success achieved and the magnitude of the event and attendance of the public, that it was decided to record it entirely and put it on the market. In 1990, Bryan Adams participated in The Wall - Live in Berlin, one of the largest and most high paid concerts-album in history, in which many rock artists accompanied the organizer, Roger Waters, ex-component of the legendary band Pink Floyd. In addition to Bryan himself, the legendary band Scorpions and Sinead O’Connor also participated. Bryan interpreted: Young Lust and Empty Spaces (the first he played alone, while the second one he song in a duet with Roger Waters). Later that year, Bryan participated in the Rock Festival in Chile, held at the National Stadium in Santiago, along with Eric Clapton and David Bowie. In 1991, he released Waking Up The Neighbors, whose most notable songs were (Everything I Do) I Do It For You (the soundtrack of the movie Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves), Thought I’d Died And Gone To Heaven, Can’t Stop This Thing We Started, Do I Have To Say The Words?, There Will Never Be Another Tonight and All I Want Is You. This album had the peculiarity that it was completely re-recorded when Bryan Adams contacted producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange.

In 1993, he released the album So Far So Good, which contained 13 of his best songs as well as a new song, Please Forgive Me. The dog that appears in the Please Forgive Me video belonged to the owner of the recording studio and became attached to Bryan Adams. When he finished recording this album, Bryan thought about what cover should it have and then it occurred to him the idea to label the title of the album in one of the tires of his Land Rover and to take a photo of it. It then appeared on the cover of the album. In 1994, he formed with Sting and Rod Stewart an unforgettable trio for the song All For Love (the lyrics of this song were written in one night). That same year he participated in “Pavarotti and Friends 2”, a concert that brought together outstanding artists invited to sing along with the famous tenor Luciano Pavarotti. These concerts were recorded and edited as an album. For example, in “Pavarotti and Friends 2”, Bryan with Pavarotti both appear on the cover. Luciano Pavarotti sang Please Forgive Me, O sole mio, All For Love, La Traviata and Libiamo ne’lieti calici along with Bryan Adams and other artists and the Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. In 1995 the song Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman, a ballad-flamenco version that included the participation 69

Bryan Adams in Hamburg, Germany in 2007

of Spanish guitarist Paco de Lucía, who collaborated at the request of Bryan Adams, was released. Bryan contacted Paco de Lucía’s manager who informed him that the artist was not available since he was on vacation outside of Spain. A few days later, Bryan luckily found out that Paco de Lucía was on vacation on the same island where he was recording. The song was part of the soundtrack of the movie Don Juan de Marco. In 1996, Bryan Adams recorded a new duet, this time with Barbra Streisand, and resulted in I Finally Found Someone. That same year he composed songs for Michael Jackson and released the album 18 ‘Till I Die. This 9th studio album included songs like Let’s Make A Night To Remember, The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You, 18 ‘Till I Die, and Star. The album was produced by Bryan Adams and Robert John “Mutt” Lange. Bryan Adams released the song Hey Elvis in tribute to Elvis Presley. In 1997, the MTV television network decided to give the Canadian singer the opportunity to record his own MTV Unplugged, an album that represented a challenge for every artist, since not only were the famous versions of acoustic guitars and simple percussion recorded, but also represented a legacy of musicality, award, and respect for so many years of work. The was released on the market with three 70

new songs, Back To You, A Little Love and When You Love Someone. Later, a DVD was also released. Later, it would also be released for DVD. In 1998, Bryan Adams released the album On A Day Like Today, of which the best known and most successful song was When You’re Gone, sung in a duet with ex-Spicegirl Melanie Chisholm (Melanie C). The singles that were released from this album were When You’re Gone, On A Day Like Today, Inside Out and Cloud Number Nine. In 1999, Adams released a new compilation album entitled The Best Of Me, which contained classic tracks from the album Reckless, including the track of the same name from the album and a bonus track of a concert that took place at that time in South Africa (but these bonus tracks were only available in the international version of the album). The tour of this album coincided with the abandonment of Dave Taylor and Tommy Mandel. It was mistakenly thought that the separation of these members occurred during the tour of the album On A Day Like Today. In addition, during this time, which would go on until 2002, Bryan Adams would be seen not with the guitar in his hands as he was usually seen, but instead chose to take the electric bass. It must also be said that the staging of the band was radically changed as the three of them changed their costumes in immaculate white

together with the color of the instruments. In the year 2000, Chicane in collaboration with Bryan Adams released the single Do Not Give Up. That same year, Bryan Adams released two DVD’s that summarized the promotional tour of the album The Best Of Me: Live At The Budokan and Live At Slane Castle. The recording of both DVD’s took place in the same year. The first was recorded in Japan and the second in Ireland. In 2002, Bryan and his band were hired to make together with the renowned composer Hans Zimmer and other musicians the soundtrack of a DreamWorks movie that would be coming out that year: Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. It is a cartoon movie which told the story of a wild and untamable steed, whose freedom was disturbed and deprived by man. Bryan also composed other songs, one of them performed along with Sarah McLachlan, Do Not Let Go, thus achieving an extensive compilation also released under the form of an album. It is noteworthy that this album is very special as in it there can be found a tenacious musicality, a contrast between ballad, rock and a great incorporation of Hans Zimmer with the symphony orchestra and instruments belonging to the ancient American indigenous cultures (the latter is clearly detailed, for example, in the song Brothers Under The Sun). That year, Bryan recorded the French version of the album (whose music, obviously, corresponds to the French version of the movie) Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. That year, he integrated two new members to his band: bassist Norm Fisher and pianist Gary Briet. In 2002, he collaborated with Russian director Andrei Konchalovski in the movie awarded with the Silver Lion at the Venice International Film Festival: House of Fools, set in a psychiatric asylum in Chechnya. Bryan played the role of himself appearing in the hallucinations of a young patient with his song Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman reproduced in several sections of the movie. In the middle of the year 2004, Bryan Adams released the album Room Service, recorded during one of the bands tours in backstage and hotel rooms, hence the title of the album. Although the album didn’t get massive sales, Bryan argued that this album expressed the way he really was and what he liked to do, since part of the lyrics of the songs were mostly made and corresponded to the artist’s personal life. In the single Room Service, 2 acoustic tracks were included: Room Service and Open Road. Also, he edited two additional singles: Open Road and Flying. On 2 July 2005, Bryan and his band were part of one of the most renowned international concerts around

the world. This was the Live 8, aimed at raising funds to combat poverty and took place around the world. The event took place on a sunny day at Barrie Park Place in Ontario, Canada, and bands such as Motley Crüe, Simple Plan and Tragically Hip were present among many others. Bryan sang the following repertoire: Back To You, All For Love, Open Road and This Side Of Paradise, thus gaining the admiration of many. Also, his 3rd DVD was recorded that year. It was entitled Live In Lisbon and it was formidable since there were no longer three musicians as in the previous DVD, but five, in addition to maintaining an impressive image quality, very good sound, stage, repertoire, presentation and audience. In February 2007, he participated as a guest artist in the International Song Festival of Viña del Mar, in Chile, one of the most important musical events in Latin America. In 2008, Bryan Adams released his 12th album entitled 11. On 12 February 2010, Bryan along with Nelly Furtado performed the song Bang The Drum at the Opening Ceremony of the XXI Olympic Games held in Vancouver, Canada, at the BC Place Stadium. In 2010, a live compilation album called Bare Bones was released, where songs like You’ve been a friend to me from Cuts like a knife, I do it for you, Heaven and others were included. In 2011, he appeared in the television program The X Factor in United Kingdom in which he played the song When You’re Gone with the semifinalists of the contest. Asked to choose his favorite participant and despite considering it disloyal to others he pointed to Amelia Lily as his favorite. Amelia finally finished 3rd behind Marcus Collins. In 2012, the Canadian singer released an album of his concerts in the United Kingdom, called Tonight in Babylon. By 2015, Bryan Adams said he would release a new studio album with new songs. This was entitled Get Up and was produced by Jeff Lynne.

Bryan Adams during a concert in Peterborough in 2009

Pamela Denise Anderson Pamela Denise Anderson (b. 1 July 1967 in Ladysmith, British Columbia, Canada) is a Canadian actress and model. Anderson is best known for her roles on the television series Home Improvement, Baywatch and V.I.P. after rising to fame as Playmate of the Month for Playboy magazine in February 1990. Anderson has also appeared in films such as Raw Justice (1994), Barb Wire (1996) and Blonde and Blonder (2008) and was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2006. Pamela Anderson was born in Ladysmith, British Columbia, a town located nearly 90 km northwest of Victoria, British Columbia, as the daughter of Carol, a waitress, and Barry Anderson, a furnace repairman. Her great grandfather, Juho Hyytiäinen, was Finnish, a native of Saarijärvi. He left Finland in 1908 and changed his name to Anderson when he arrived as

Pamela Anderson

an immigrant. Pamela also has Dutch ancestry from her mother. The newborn Pamela Anderson gained fame as the “Centennial Baby” of Canada because she was thought to have been the first baby born on Canada’s Centennial Day (she was born at 4:08 in the morning). However, in Campbell River, Upper Island there was reported a baby born two hours earlier on Canada Day. After her birth, her parents and brother, Gerry Anderson, moved to the Comox village. After graduating from the École Highland Secondary School in 1985, Pamela moved to Vancouver and worked as a gym instructor. During the summer of 1989, Pamela went with her friends to a British Columbia Lions game at BC Place Stadium. At some point during the game, she was shown on the stadium screen wearing a Labatt Beer T-shirt, causing the crowd to scream. The officials asked her go down to the field and she received a standing ovation from the crowd. Labatt offered her a modelling contract and she accepted. At the end of 1989, Pamela decided to pose for the Playboy erotic magazine. She appeared on the cover of Playboy in October 1989 (accredited as Pamela Anderson Ilicic) and decided to move to Los Angeles to continue her modeling career. She was playmate in February 1990 and has appeared 12 times on the cover of Playboy magazine in the 1990’s decade and the following one. After moving to Los Angeles in 1990, Pamela Anderson began to participate in auditions for television programs. At the end of 1990, she appeared in an episode of the televising series Charles in Charge entitled “Teacher’s Pest”. Later, she participated in two episodes of the sitcom Married ... with Children, called “Al With Kelly” and “Route 666: Part 2”. In 1991, she was hired to play a secondary role in the series Home Improvement. Nevertheless, her jump to international fame took place in 1992, when she began interpreting the role of lifeguard C.J. Parker in the television series Baywatch. The Canadian actress left Home Improvement after two seasons and continued with her work in Baywatch until 1997. Her performance in this last series made her to be one of the best paid actresses in television. During that period she also starred in the movie Barb Wire (1996), which received mostly negative reviews and commercially didn’t go so well, besides making special appearances on television programs such as Days of our Lives, The Nanny (in the episodes entitled “Danny’s Dead and Who’s Got the Will?” and “The Heather Biblow Story”) and Saturday Night Live. In September 1998, Pamela Anderson returned to television with a new series entitled V.I.P.

Superstar model and TV celebrity, Pamela Anderson poses with crew members assigned to the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan

(1998-2002), where he played the role of Vallery Irons. That role helped her develop as a comedy actress and the series reached a total of four seasons. In March 2001, an intruder named Christine Roth was arrested while sleeping in a guest bedroom in Pamela’s mansion. She was only accused of misconduct for invading property and not the most serious crime of harassment. Roth pleaded guilty to the charge of property trespassing and was deported to her home country, France. In 2004, Pamela returned to the world of entertainment and in May of that year, she appeared nude on the cover of Playboy magazine. Later, she posed nude for Stuff and GQ magazines. Many noticed that the size of her breasts was larger than in the 2003 photographs. Pamela Anderson became a naturalized US citizen on 12 May 2004, while maintaining her Canadian citizenship to support her parents (or at least her mother) with a green card. She has lived in Southern California since 1989. The actress has spoken frequently about her private life. On an appearance at David Letterman’s show in 2004, she said she hadn’t had a boyfriend for a while and when Letterman asked her how was she coping, she replied: “There’s not a square corner left anywhere in

my house!”. This phrase, which alluded to a technique of masturbation, left Letterman blushing and speechless, while the audience shouted. Pamela Anderson stood out because of the enormous artificial volume of her breasts. In 2004, Pamela Anderson published the book Star, co-authored with Eric Shaw Quinn, in which she describes a teenager who does different things to achieve fame. Later, she began touring the United States of America, signing autographs for fans at Wal-Mart stores throughout the country. Her second book, the sequel Star Struck, published in 2005, talks about her life with Tommy Lee and about the hard work in the lives of celebrities. In January 2005, Pamela Anderson confessed that she had new breast implants, ensuring that she didn’t feel the same without them. Anderson also confirmed that the new implants were even larger than the previous ones. On 13 April 2005, Anderson starred in an FX channel comedy called Stacked, where she played the role of Skyler Dayton, a party entertainer who goes to work at a bookstore. Stacked was canceled on 18 May 2006 after only two seasons, although some episodes had not aired. On 14 August, Comedy Central 73

Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Sergei Ivanov met with delegate from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Pamela Anderson, in Russia

created the Roast of Pamela Anderson to honor the sex symbol of the previous decade. During her final speech at the Roast, Pamela referred to her breasts as “Pancho and Lefty.” In December 2005, NBC censored a report of Pamela Anderson dancing without a bra on the song The Red Piano by Elton John. NBC said the tape was inappropriate for primetime. The video with Pamela was shown on huge screens while Elton John was playing a song. Pamela Anderson was without a bra, but with stars painted on her breasts. In March 2006, it was announced that Pamela Anderson would receive a star on the Canadian Walk of Fame in honor of her years as a model and actress. She was the second model to receive a star. In April 2006, the Canadian model hosted the Juno Awards of Canada, being the first non-singer and model star to do so. In 2006, in the movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious by director Larry Charles, Pamela Anderson was mentioned a lot because the main character of the movie sought to abduct and marry her. Anderson appears in person at the end of the 74

film faced with Borat in a kidnapping scene. She started recording a comedy, Blonde and Blonder, shortly after. Since 1 June 2007, she appeared as an assistant in The Beauty of Magic, the show of Dutch illusionist Hans Klok in Las Vegas. In July 2010, she was censored in Canada due to a PETA campaign in which Pamela appeared in a photograph in which her naked body was marked in the same way bovines are marked during the cutting. Chest, shoulder, ribs and tail, were some of the words that the former Baywatch star had written on her body for the advertising of the organization that seeks to reduce meat consumption in the world. In June 2015, Pamela Anderson received the saber blows with which the supposed prince of Montenegro, Stefan Cernetic, named her Countess of Gigli, Italy. Kneeling, demure and wearing an elegant white dress, she received the “honor” at a ceremony held in Genova. Cernetic awarded her the title for her activism in the defense of animals, especially marine life. Two years later, it was discovered that Stefan Cernetic was a fraudster who acted like a false noble.

Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock

James Francis Cameron James Francis Cameron (b. 16 August 1954 in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian filmmaker, inventor, engineer, philanthropist, and deep-sea explorer. After working in special effects, he found major success after directing and writing the science fiction action film The Terminator (1984). He then became a popular Hollywood director and was hired to write and direct Aliens (1986). Three years later he followed up with The Abyss (1989). He found further critical acclaim for his use of special effects in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). After his film True Lies (1994), Cameron took on his biggest film at the time, Titanic (1997), which earned him Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Film Editing. James Cameron is the son of electrical engineer Philip Cameron and nurse and artist Shirley Lowe. His paternal great-grandfather emigrated from Balquhidder, Scotland, in 1825. Cameron grew up in Chippawa, Ontario, and studied at the Stamford Collegiate School in the town of Niagara Falls. His family moved to Brea, California in 1971, when James was 17 years old. He attended secondary school at the Sonora and Brea Olinda

James Cameron

High Schools. Since childhood, Cameron showed great interest in science. He discovered his definitive vocation at the age of 15, when he saw A Space Odyssey (1968) by Stanley Kubrick. He was hypnotized and fascinated by the movie’s visual effects. He began filming with a 16 mm camera inventing space adventures and initially creating mostly his own visual effects, soon expanding his ability to direct movies, but with minimal knowledge. In 1973, he enrolled at Fullerton College to study physics, though he later dropped out of these studies to start English literature. He stopped studying in the fall of 1974 and worked in several places, including as a mechanic and truck driver. It was at this time that he began to learn to create special effects in a self-taught way. He went to the library of the University of Southern California and consulted any thesis that the graduates had written about optical impression, film projection or transfer of dyes, generally speaking whatever it was about cinema technology. In 1978, he began his relationship with Sharon Williams. The following year, when Star Wars premiered, he decided to dedicate himself to the film industry. Aided by his friend William Wisher, he created some projects and eventually was hired by the talent search company New World Pictures and started as a special effects creator. He started directing movies with the help of Italian producer Ovidio G. Assonitis. Cameron is one of the film creators that had greatly contributed to science fiction movies. Out of his eight films, six belong to this genre. Since his debut, he showed a predilection for futuristic stories. While working as special effects supervisor for Roger Corman, he electrified an artificial arm in a very clever way, which earned him to be hired as a director for Piraña 2, but the experience was disastrous and Cameron was fired after only shooting the movie for three weeks. Even so, Cameron’s own motifs can be seen in the film, such as the wreck under the sea. Cameron soon gained fame as a skilled screenwriter. He was hired to write the script of two sequels, while he was writing what he hoped was his first film as director, respectively: Rambo: First Blood Part II, Aliens and The Terminator. James Cameron was in a hotel in Rome for the filming of a commercial advertisement, but one night he suffered fevers and dizziness. He described how in the middle of the night he woke up and drew something that today is an icon of the cinema: a Terminator emerging from a fireball. He knew that after the first film no one would hire him and that he had to write an own plot to be able to continue as a director. This was the beginning of his first movie and one of the most

James Francis Cameron speaking at a TED Conference

important he has directed. In the plot, last generation computers became aware of themselves and decided to exterminate humanity. However, human resistance would overcome the machines and artificial intelligence would try to change things by sending a Terminator, a machine with a human appearance, into the past, to kill the mother of the future human leader. The film reaped a fabulous commercial success and excited the critics. Before releasing his previous film, Cameron had already signed to do the second part of Alien by Ridley Scott. He continued investigating and perfecting his style, also building a coherent world of science fiction that encompassed and perfected what had been suggested in the first film. He experienced a new public success that strengthened him to direct his complex third feature film. Cameron had already written a scenario for the story of the movie The Abyss in his adolescence, when he was obsessed by the deep sea and anxious to build a story about his fantasies about it. The project was the most expensive in history to date and Cameron demanded an almost inhuman effort from his team to complete it. The effort was so much that the main actor, Ed Harris, stopped talking to him. Cameron agreed to make the movie Terminator 2 when Mario Kassar announced it unexpectedly at the Cannes Film Festival. Working against the clock, he managed to bring together one of his most complete and best cohesive works, expanding a universe that enriched even more. The film showed surprising special effects for the time (1991). His next project, True Lies, was a comedy, an

adaptation of a French film. Once again, he exceeded the budget of his previous film to set it up as the most expensive film in history, and for the third time he had Arnold Schwarzenegger playing the role of a secret agent. Before the premiere of Terminator 2, Schwarzenegger suggested to Cameron the idea of making an adaptation of the French comedy La Totale!. The recording began after the premiere of Terminator 2, and the story was about a secret agent spy who led a double life as a married man whose wife believed he was a computer salesman. Schwarzenegger played the role of Harry Tasker, a spy charged with stopping a terrorist plot with the intention of attacking the United States with nuclear weapons. Jamie Lee Curtis and Eliza Dushku played the characterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family, while Tom Arnold was his spy partner. Cameronâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s production company, Lightstorm Entertainment, signed with 20th Century Fox for the production of True Lies. Produced with a budget of 115 million $ and released in 1994, the film earned 146 million $ in North America and 232 million $ abroad. It was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Visual Effects category. In 1997, after going through various difficulties and exceeding the budget, Cameron premiered Titanic, based on the sinking of the transatlantic ship. The plot focused on the young Jack and Rose, whose love story was truncated by the sinking of the ship. The film received eleven Oscars, including best film and best director. In addition, his 5th wife, Suzy Amis, made a cameo appearance as the man who was checked at the beginning of the movie, when the Titanic was going to set sail. In June 2005, Cameron announced that he was working on a project initially entitled Project 880 in parallel with Battle Angel. Both films were going to be shot in 3D. In December, the director said he wanted to shoot Battle Angel first, followed by Avatar. However, in February 2006, he changed the objectives for his two new film projects and decided to start with Avatar. He mentioned that, if they were successful, he would start two trilogies. James Cameron had declared he had written the screenplay for the film in 1995 and had already designed the characters, scenarios and effects for the film. However, he could not carry out the project because the film technology of that time was not up to everything he wanted, so he kept a script and focused on Titanic, for which he started filming in 1996. In 2005, after analyzing the script of the film that had been kept for years, he finally decided to carry out the project relying 77

on new film technologies that he knew were viable to make history. Avatar was released in some countries on 17 December 2009 and in others on the 18th of that same month. With an estimated budget of 270 million $, it raised more than 2.700 million $ worldwide, thus surpassing Titanic, which until then had been the highest grossing film in history and, in turn, set a new record: it was the first film to surpass 2.000 million $ and the first to reach that amount in 17 days since its premiere. Much of the footage was composed of computer generated animation images. After the movie won three Óscar awards, in 2010 he decided to re-release the film, but this time with previously unreleased scenes. Later in a Los Angeles Times interview on the occasion of the film’s release in DVD and Blu-Ray format, the Canadian movie director confirmed a sequel to Avatar after reconsidering his artistic direction. In 2012, he made public the premiere of the second and third part of the movie in a time of six years, whose second part would be set in the oceans of Pandora, home of the fictitious Na’vi. In 2013, there has been published that there would be not two, but three sequels of Avatar. The cast has been shooting these films for a while and they are supposed to be released in December 2017, 2018 and

James Cameron speaking at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con International

2019. However, in March 2016, Cameron said that the first of these films would not be released in December 2017, as it would be delayed. Cameron’s first projects in this decade have included underwater documentaries about the tragic end of the German battleship Bismarck (Expedition: Bismarck, 2002), Ghosts of the Abyss and a documentary about the marine fauna of the great depths, Aliens of the Deep. He was also a producer in the new version of Solaris. In an interview in 2003 about his documentary Ghosts of the Abyss, he mentioned that he will do everything possible to make movies in 3D from then on. He planned to create a 3D project on the first trip to Mars. On 26 February 2007 he announced that, together with Simcha Jacobovici, had documented the discovery of the Talpiot Tomb, which was supposed to be the tomb of Jesus. Discovered in 1980 by Israeli construction workers, the names of the tomb correlate with the names of Jesus and several people closely associated with him. Cameron also relies on DNA tests, archaeological evidence and Bible studies to support his claim. The documentary entitled The Lost Tomb of Jesus was broadcasted on the Discovery Channel on 4 March 2007. On 26 March 2012, the Canadian descended to a depth of almost 11 km in the sea, right in the Marianas Trench, where he recorded 2 hours and 36 minutes in the Deepsea Challenger submarine for a personal project and in collaboration with NASA and National Geographic, he has shot several films in 2D and 3D for some documentaries. In 2016, he produced a documentary on Atlantis for National Geographic Channel that has been shot in various places in the Mediterranean (Greece, Sardinia, Malta, Santorini), Spain (Cádiz, Huelva, Seville, Jaén, Ciudad Real, Badajoz, and places under the sea in the Gulf of Cádiz) and the Azores. The documentary Atlantis Rising premiered on 29 January 2017 on National Geographic Channel (USA) and on National Geographic Spain as The Resurgence of Atlantis on 5 March 2017. James Cameron is reputed to be very demanding with his actors and to take them to the limit of their abilities. His passion for his work as a filmmaker and documentary maker has led him to visit the RMS Titanic and the remains of the battleship Bismarck in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. Pushed by his conservationist concerns, Cameron sent a letter to Brazilian President Ignacio Lula Da Silva asking him not to build a hydroelectric plant that he planned in the Amazon. James Cameron considered himself an agnostic, but later acknowledged his atheism.

James Cameron at a ceremony to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in December 2009

Ryan Rodney Reynolds Ryan Rodney Reynolds (b. 23 October 1976 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) is a Canadian actor. He portrayed Billy Simpson in the YTV Canadian teen soap opera Hillside (1991), Michael Bergen on the ABC sitcom Two Guys and a Girl (1998–2001), Marvel Comics characters Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity (2004), and Wade Wilson / Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and Deadpool (2016), the latter earning him a Golden Globe Award nomination. Ryan Reynolds was born in the city of Vancouver, province of British Columbia, Canada as the son of Jim Reynolds, a food wholesaler and semiprofessional boxer, and Tammy, a retail salesperson. He is the youngest of four siblings, of whom two are police officers. In the year 1994, Reynolds graduated from Kitsilano Secondary School in Vancouver. Later,

The Canadian actor during a press conference

he studied at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, but abandoned his studies in order to pursue an acting career. Ryan Reynolds’ career began in television productions such as Hillside (1993), in which he played in 13 episodes and was distributed in the US by Nickelodeon under the name of Fifteen. He also starred in other TV movies such as The Marshal (1995), The X-Files (1996) or Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (1996), starring Melissa Joan Hart. The television series Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place (1998-2001) was the one that made him famous in the United States. His first important roles in movies were in Van Wilder: Animal Party (2002) and Blade: Trinity (2004), starring Wesley Snipes, a film that grossed 128 million $ worldwide. He subsequently starred in films such as the remake of The Amityville Horror (2005) that enjoyed a surprise success in the American billboard as it grossed 65 million $. In addition to it, he also appeared in Smokin’ Aces (2006), a movie where Ben Affleck was the main protagonist. That same year he also appeared in Just Friends, along with Amy Smart and Anna Faris. His first role in a blockbuster was with Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), starring Hugh Jackman in the role of Wolverine. The movies grossed 85 million $ only in the first weekend and it grossed 373 million $ internationally. A year before, he starred in the drama Fireflies in the Garden (2008), which also starred actors Julia Roberts and Willem Dafoe. In the following year, Reynolds starred in Adventureland (2009), where he was part of a cast that included Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart. The film received mostly positive comments. Also in 2009, the Canadian actor starred in the romantic comedy The Proposal (2009), along with actress Sandra Bullock. In that movie he played the role of a man who was forced by his boss to marry her so that she would not be deported to Canada. The film grossed 317 million $ worldwide and was defined by some critics as “cool and fun”. He then starred in the thriller Buried (2010), directed by Spanish director Rodrigo Cortés, in which he played the role of a man who was buried alive. All of the movie’s action took place in the coffin in which the protagonist only had a lighter, a mobile phone and 90 minutes of oxygen. The film received good reviews from the critics and the Canadian actor was praised for his performance. That year, Ryan was a candidate for the Goya Awards for the best male leading actor. In 2011, Reynolds starred in the adaptation to the big screens of the comics Green Lantern, where he worked with actors

such as Tim Robbins or Peter Sarsgaard. The reception of the movie at the box office was far from what was expected by the studio distributor, Warner Bros. That same year he played Jason Batemanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best friend in the comedy The Change-Up. In January 2012, after being selected for the leading role alongside Reese Witherspoon to play the couple of famous painters Walter and Margaret Keane

in the movie Big Eyes, produced by Tim Burton and directed by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, Tim Burton decided to change the leading actor duo in April 2013 by choosing Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams instead of their places. In June 2012, Ryan Reynolds was officially chosen to play Conrad MacLeodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading role in the upcoming remake of Highlander. However, in June 2013, the actor decided to abandon the project. In July

Ryan Reynolds at the 2015 San Diego Comic Con International 81

Actor Ryan Reynolds at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival

2012, a year after his first refusal, Ryan Reynolds decided to offer two new pilot projects to FOX via his company DarkFire: an animated television series entitled Lowe Rollers and a comedy television series entitled Murder in Manhattan. In August 2012, he joined the cast of the movie The Captive (2014), directed and co-written by Atom Egoyan. Filming began in February 2013 in southern Ontario. In October 2012, he was chosen to play one of the leading roles in Jon Favreau’s upcoming movie: Battle for Bonneville. In March 2013, in an interview about a possible Green Lantern sequel and his involvement in his role as Hal Jordan / Green Lantern in Justice League, Ryan Reynolds explained: “If you’re doing an adaptation of comics you have to do it. Joss Whedon and Christopher Nolan understood everything. If they want to make a movie like that, it might interest me. On Green Lantern, I saw how difficult it is to do something credible and how confusing it can be when you don’t really know where 82

you are going or how to enter the world and please the fans. It is for this reason that I am very interested in joining the Justice League team. A great scenario and a good director could always change things”. In April 2013, he obtained the leading role in Tarsem Singh’s film Self/ less. The release date was announced for 26 September 2014 but it was then postponed to 27 February 2015. In June 2013, he was chosen for the leading role in the movie Mississippi Grind by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. In April 2014, Ryan Reynolds was in negotiation with The Weinstein Company to join the cast of Simon Curtis’ film Woman in Gold in the role of Randol Schoenberg, alongside Helen Mirren and Daniel Brühl. A month later, he got the role. In August 2014, Ryan Reynolds joined the cast of Criminal, alongside Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman and Tommy Lee Jones. In September 2014, 20th Century Fox gave the green light and confirmed the launch of the production of the movie Deadpool with a release date scheduled for 12 February 2016, still with Ryan Reynolds in the leading role. In December 2014, the film’s start date was confirmed for March 2015. In October 2015, Ryan Reynolds was in negotiations for the leading role of Truth in Advertising. In November 2015, he won the leading role in The Hitman’s Bodyguard alongside Samuel L. Jackson and Gary Oldman. In February 2016, he won the leading role in Daniel Espinosa’s Life, alongside Rebecca Ferguson and Jake Gyllenhaal. Ryan Reynolds has confirmed that he would be starring in the 2018 scheduled movie Deadpool 2. From 2002 to 2007, Reynolds was romantically linked with singer Alanis Morissette, and the couple became engaged in 2004. However, in July 2006, People magazine reported that the couple had split up, although none of the two confirmed this news. In February 2007, the couple mutually decided to dissolve their commitment. On 5 May 2008, it was announced that he was engaged to actress Scarlett Johansson and that they got married on 27 September that same year. On 14 December 2010, Ryan and Scarlett announced the end of their marriage. On 9 September 2012, the Canadian actor married actress Blake Lively in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. On 6 October 2014, they announced that they were expecting their first child. On 31 December 2014, the actor along with Blake Lively became the parents of a girl named James in New York. On 14 April 2016, Ryan confirmed the second pregnancy of his wife. On 30 September 2016, the couple became the parents of another girl whom they called Ines.

Ryan Reynolds

Keanu Charles Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves (b. 2 September 1964 in Beirut, Lebanon) is a Canadian actor, director, producer, and musician. Reeves is best known for his acting career beginning in 1985 and spanning over more than three decades. He gained fame for his starring role performances in several blockbuster films, including comedies from the Bill and Ted franchise (1989–1991), action thrillers Point Break (1991) and Speed (1994), and the John Wick franchise, as well as the psychological thriller The Devil’s Advocate (1997), supernatural thriller Constantine (2005) and science fiction/action series The Matrix (1999-2003). He has also appeared in dramatic films such as Dangerous Liaisons (1988), My Own Private Idaho (1991), and Little Buddha (1993), as well as the romantic horror Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). Keanu Reeves was born in Beirut, Lebanon, as the son of geologist Samuel Nowlin Reeves and Patricia Bondo, whose maiden name was Taylor. Reeves’ mother

Keanu Reeves at the premiere of the movie John Wick (2014)

is English, while his father is of Chinese and Hawaiian descent with some English and Portuguese ancestors. Samuel had settled in the city for work and met Patricia in a casino, who also had found a job in the Lebanese capital. Keanu’s name derives from Hawaiian and means “Fresh breeze over the mountains.” After his father has abandoned him and subsequently divorced his wife, Samuel Reeves returned to Honolulu, while Patricia moved with the children to Canada, where Keanu and his sister, Kim, grew up. They toured different parts of the world such as Australia, New York and Toronto. Keanu had several stepfathers. His mother was again pregnant and he had another sister named Karina Miller. From a very young age, Reeves felt an inclination for ice hockey, an activity that he dedicated himself to more intensely during his school years. His nickname was “The Wall”. After appearing in numerous television programs and in films with little critical and commercial repercussion, Reeves got his first important role as Scott Favor in My Own Private Idaho (1991), along with River Phoenix, a film directed by Gus Van Sant. That same year he made a cameo appearance in singer’s Paula Abdul music video for the single Rush, Rush. This was followed by the role of FBI rookie agent Johnny Utah in Point Break (1991), along with Patrick Swayze, directed by Kathryn Bigelow. For this movie, he was awarded the 1992 MTV Movie Awards for the most attractive actor. Then he played in movies like Dracula (1992) by Bram Stoker, directed by Francis Ford Coppola; the mystical Little Buddha (1993) by Bernardo Bertolucci, where he played the role of Prince Siddhartha; as well as the international success Speed (1994), along with Sandra Bullock and Dennis Hopper, directed by Jan de Bont. The latter movie grossed 350 million $ worldwide and was well received by the film press and critics. Reeves decided not to play in the sequel Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997), which ended up being a failure of critics and box office. Later he played in movies like Johnny Mnemonic (1995), which didn’t had big success at the box office, the romantic drama A Walk in the Clouds (1995) along Spanish actress Aitana Sánchez-Gijón or the thriller Chain Reaction (1996), in which he appeared on the cover poster with Morgan Freeman and Rachel Weisz. In the following years, Keanu played in the drama The Devil’s Advocate (1997) with Al Pacino and Charlize Theron (which grossed 152 million $ worldwide) and The Matrix (1999), which received a great reception by the public and specialized critics, managed to gross 463 million $ at the international box office and nowadays is considered a cult film. This movie had two sequels: The

Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003). The Matrix saga became one of the favorites of the public and is enjoying great popularity even today. Before both sequels, Reeves starred in films such as the comedy The Replacements (2000) with Gene Hackman; the thriller The Gift (2000), one of his best performances to date, in which he starred alongside actors such as Cate Blanchett, Hilary Swank or Giovanni Ribisi; the drama Hard Ball (2001); and the romantic drama Sweet November (2001) in which he appeared on the cover poster with Charlize Theron. In December of 1999, his then-girlfriend, Jennifer Syme, gave birth at eight months of gestation to a stillborn baby with leukemia, which they called Ava. Eighteen months later, her girlfriend, aged twenty-nine, died in a car accident. After the Matrix sage, the actor played a supporting role in the romantic comedy Something’s Gotta Give (2003) which starred Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton and was directed by Nancy Meyers. The movie grossed 266 million $ in the box offices worldwide. After a short break away from the cinema screens, Keanu then participated in small films such as Thumbsucker (2005) or A Scanner Darkly (2006), as well as in big productions such as the fantastic thriller Constantine (2005), again with Rachel Weisz, and the romantic drama The Lake House (2006), along with Sandra Bullock. The two movies grossed 230 and 114 million $ respectively. Reeves then took a new break until 2008, when he reappeared with the police thriller Street Kings (2008) in which he played alongside Chris Evans, Forest Whitaker and Hugh Laurie. This film had little impact at the box office and didn’t receive much praise from the press. Then he got a role in The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), a remake of the 1951 homonymous film, which enjoyed a new public success and grossed 233 million $ worldwide. In 2009, he returned to enter the independent productions with The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009) in which he shared the cover poster with Robin Wright Penn, Monica Bellucci, Winona Ryder and Julianne Moore. In 2011, Reeves recorded Side by Side, an interesting documentary about digital technology and the way it revolutionized cinema in recent years. Directed by Christopher Kenneally, it was produced and presented by Keanu. The actor interviewed several famous directors and others not so well known to speak on the subject, besides giving his opinion on the eternal debate of filmic vs digital and the resurgence of 3D cinema. The documentary was presented at the 62nd edition of the Berlin International Film Festival on 14

February 2012. On 25 December 2013, the movie 47 Ronin premiered, in which Keanu played the role of a samurai. With a current aesthetic, the story was mixed with fantastic elements and an epic-warrior tone. The movie was seen in 3D theaters. Since February 2012, Keanu Reeves was shooting films in China and Hong Kong. He made his debut behind the cameras with a film set in modern times which paid tribute to the oriental classics of martial arts. That is the central idea of Man of Tai Chi, a film in which he also acted in the role of a villain and spoke in both English and Chinese. In October 2014, he starred in the action thriller John Wick. The film, starring Reeves as a retired assassin, received positive reviews and a good result at the box office, being labeled “excellent” by the popular opinion site Rotten Tomatoes. In February 2015, Reeves joined the project The Neon Demon, a horror film by director Nicolas Winding Refn. In 2015, he shot the movie Knock Knock, by Eli Roth, together with Lorenza Izzo and Ana de Armas. In 2017, the second part of John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 2 was released.

Keanu Reeves at the premiere of the movie The Lake House (2006)

Keanu Reeves

canadian Cuisine

Steps:

Poutine Ingredients:

• 5 medium sized potatoes • 1 teaspoon curcuma • 1 teaspoon sweet paprika • 150g mozzarella • Olive oil (for frying) For gravy: • 2 tablespoons butter • 2 tablespoons flour • 500 ml beef soup • Salt and Pepper

1. Boil the potatoes in salt water for 10 minutes. 2. Drain and cover them with sweet paprika, curcuma, salt, pepper and olive oil. 3. Put the potatoes in the preheated oven at 220°C and leave them for 30-35 minutes. Stir occasionally. 4. For the sauce, warm the butter to medium heat and mix it with flour. Stir frequently for approximately 12 to 15 minutes. 5. Add beef soup, salt and pepper. Bring it to boiling point. Reduce the fire to low and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes. 6. Place the potatoes on plates, pour the sauce then add the mozzarella strips. 7. Serve warm.

Poutine

Beaver Tails

Ingredients: • • • • • • • • • • • •

½ cup warm water 5 teaspoons yeast 1 cup warm milk 1/3 cup sugar ½ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 eggs 1/3 cup of oil 5 cups wheat flour Oil (to fry) Granulated sugar Cinnamon

Steps:

1. In a bowl, stir the yeast with water and a little sugar. Leave it for a while so that the yeast grows 7. and dissolves. Then stir the rest of the sugar, milk,

vanilla, eggs, salt, oil and most of the flour to create the dough. Knead for about 10 minutes and then put it in a bowl greased with oil. Put the dough in a plastic bag and close it. Let the dough grow for about 40 minutes. It can also be put it in the fridge if you do let the dough return to room temperature before continuing. When the dough is ready, make a ball as big as a golf ball. With a rolling pin spread it in an oval shape and place it on a towel while you prepare the oil for frying. For the frying part, use a big pot because the dough must float in the oil while it is fried. While frying one, continue with the rolling pin to knead the following ones. Let them brown well. Depending on the size of the beaver tails you can fry two at the same time. When they are ready, put them to drain on paper towels to remove the excess oil. Cover the beaver tails with granulated sugar and cinnamon powder. Shake them a little to remove the excess sugar that is left over. You can also cover them with Nutella, M&M’s or other combination of flavours.

Beaver Tails

Alberta beef and Montreal smoked meat

Ingredients:

For the Alberta Beef: • 300g Alberta beef roast • 50g egg pasta • 50g shredded red cabbage • 10g pea germs • 4 pieces of asparagus • 100g broccoli • 1 liter vegetable oil for cooking in an oil bath • 20g flour • Salt and Pepper

(soaked in water for 5 minutes)

Steps:

Marinade for beef: • 1 tablespoon soy sauce • A pinch of garlic powder • A pinch of black pepper • 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar • 2 teaspoons brown sugar • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard • 3 teaspoons vegetable oil • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce • 1 teaspoon lemon juice

For the Alberta Beef: 1. Mix all the ingredients for the marinated sauce and stir them for a few minutes. 2. Put the beef in the marinade sauce, cover and refrigerate for two hours. Turn on the grill at 220°C. Heat the vegetable oil in a deep pan over medium heat. 3. Steam the broccoli and asparagus and then put the aside or cook them on the grill. 4. Mix the flour, salt and pepper in a large bowl then fry in oil bath until the composition becomes crisp and get a brownish-golden color. 5. Separate the egg pasta and place them in the form of a bird’s nest then fry them in an oil bath until it swells and becomes crisp. Place on a plate. 6. For the pasta sauce heat a pot to medium heat. Heat the vegetable oil then put the garlic cloves and stir until the pasta gets a slightly golden color. Add half of the soup base and all the ingredients for the sauce. 7. Boil and reduce the heat to let the sauce boil for a while until the composition thickens. If it’s too thick, you can make it thinner with the rest of the soup base. Leave to boil for 10 minutes until the flour taste disappears, then adjust the flavor. 8. Put the pea germs, broccoli and asparagus under the crisp pasta. Then add the shredded red cabbage. 9. Fry the grill steak to medium heat, then cut into large cubes and place the pieces on top of the pasta nest. Pour the pasta sauce over the beef. Serve hot.

For the Montreal Smoked Meat: • 10g peppercorns • 7g coriander seeds • 7g cumin seeds • 10g fennel seeds • 5g mustard seeds • 5g dry mustard powder • 15g celery seeds • 2 allspice berries • 15g smoked paprika • 2 cloves of garlic (minced) • 30g brown sugar • 20g Salt • 1,1 beef brisket (with fat on) • 250 ml red wine • 3 slices double smoked bacon • 500g wood chips (such as apple, cherry or maple);

For the Montreal Smoked Meat: 1. Rub half of the spice mixture over the beef brisket. Let the brisket sit overnight. 2. Preheat the oven to 120°C. 3. Fit the rack of a roasting pan into a roasting pan. Add wine to the roasting pan and then place the brisket on the rack. Cover the brisket with the slices of bacon and cover with foil. Slow cook for 3 hours or until meat is tender 4. Remove from oven and add the remaining spice mixture. Smoke the brisket with the wood chips in a smoker over low flame for about 20 to 30 minutes. 5. Wrap the wood chips loosely with foil paper and poke holes in the foil paper. Add wood chips to barbecue on medium high heat. When the chips start to smoke turn grill to low heat. Put the meat on upper part of grill.

For the Pasta Sauce: • 2 chopped garlic cloves • 15g sugar • 15 ml soy sauce • 150 ml soup base • 15 ml vegetable oil • 15 ml flour • 1 tablespoon of melted butter • Salt and Pepper

3. When everything is mixed, form a curl shaped sort of cake and place it in the oven. Put some aluminum Halifax Donair foil beneath it. Turn the oven at 150ºC and let it bake for 2 hours. Take it out and let it cool completely. Let it rest in the refrigerator before slicing the meat. Ingredients: 4. For the sauce, mix the last three ingredients together • 1 and a half kg of lean beef (chopped) (condensed milk, garlic powder and white vinegar) • 2 teaspoons wheat flour and whisk for a couple of minutes. A very thick • 2 teaspoons dried oregano sauce will be obtained and it will thicken even more • 4 teaspoons sweet paprika once refrigerated. • 2 teaspoons onion powder 5. Once the meat has cooled in the fridge, slice it into • 4 teaspoons garlic powder thin slices so that you get meat chips. • 1 and ½ teaspoons black pepper 6. Prepare the Pan lavash or durum. Cut the tomato • 1 teaspoons salt into cubes, thinly slice the onion and proceed to • Pan lavash or dürum assemble the donair. • 2 chopped tomatoes 7. To mount the donair, heat a Pan lavash bread with • 1 chopped onion its surface slightly soaked in water. Put it in a hot pan • 300g grated mozzarella cheese (optional) and leave it approximately 30 seconds on each side. • 300 ml condensed milk Cook the roasted meat in the same hot pan, either • 1/3 cup white vinegar simply to heat it or to obtain a crunchy texture, to • 1 teaspoon garlic powder your personal taste. 8. Place the cooked meat in the softened Pan lavash Steps: bread, in whose upper part you will have spread a 1. First of all, slice the meat and cut it into cubes. generous spoonful of sauce. Add the cut tomatoes Process the meat until a ball of meat forms. Perform and the sliced onions. Roll it up or wrap it in this operation in two or three batches, depending aluminum foil. on the size of the food processor. 9. Accompany the Halifax donair with some fried 2. Once the meat is well chopped, mix it with the rest potatoes and a green salad. of the ingredients in a large bowl then knead it well.

Halifax Donair

continue stirring adding water little by little. 3. Transfer the composition to a flat surface and knead Montreal Bagel well until the mixture is smooth and homogeneous. 4. Place the dough in a clean bowl, lightly grease the surface with a little olive oil and let it stand for about Ingredients: an hour. Take back the dough, deflate it and divide • 500g flour it into 20 portions. Form balls that will be flattened • 180 ml warm water with the palm. • 130 ml tepid milk 5. With your thumb, make a hole in the center of each • 30g butter portion and gently widen it by forming the bagel. • Honey 6. Place the well-spaced bagels on a slightly greased • A dry yeast cube baking tray. Spice them with egg mixed with milk • Salt and honey. • Egg mixed with milk 7. Let them rise for another hour. Turn the oven to • Poppy seeds and sesame seeds 200°C and boil some water in a large frying pan. When the water starts forming bubbles drop a few Steps: bagels and bake for a minute. Make sure they aren’t 1. Dissolve the yeast in a bowl with lukewarm milk sticking to the pot. and a teaspoon of sugar. 8. Drain well and put the bagels on a baking tray. 2. Sift the flour into a large bowl and add salt. Mix the Sprinkle, if desired, with sesame or poppy seeds and salt with flour well and add the melted butter and bake until well browned. honey. Stir again. Combine the yeast mixture and

Montreal Bagel

Quebec Yellow Split Pea Soup Ingredients: • • • • • • • • • • • •

500g unsmoked ham hock 2 tablespoons butter 2 carrots (peeled and diced) 1 celery root (diced) 1 medium onion (diced) 2 cups dried yellow split peas (rinsed) 1 bay leaf 1 teaspoon dried savory 1 teaspoon dried thyme 4 cups chicken broth 3 cups water Salt and pepper (to taste)

Steps:

1. Trim off and discard the skin from ham hocks. 2. In a large soup pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery and onion then cook everything, stirring regularly, until softened, for about 10 minutes. 3. Stir in the dried split peas, bay leaf, dried savory and thyme then cook for another 5 minutes. 4. Add 4 cups of chicken broth and 3 cups of water then add the ham hock. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the peas become very soft and the soup is thickened. Cook for about 1 and a half to 2 hours. 5. Take off the bay leaf and remove the ham hock to a plate. Let the ham hock cool a bit, then remove any meat and add to soup. Take off the fat and bone. 6. Stir to combine the meat with soup. Taste and generously season with salt and pepper.

Quebec Yellow Split Pea Soup

Tourtiere Ingredients: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

315g flour 1 teaspoon mustard powder ½ teaspoon lemon skin ½ teaspoon salt 230g cold butter (cut into cubes) Juice from 1 lemon 270g potatoes (cut into cubes) 2 tablespoons oil 650g chopped pork 6 cloves of garlic (finely chopped) 2 small onions (minced) 1 minced carrot 120ml apple cider ½ teaspoon celery seeds ½ teaspoon crushed pimento ½ teaspoon nutmeg ½ teaspoon cinnamon ½ teaspoon ginger powder 2 bay leaves 1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons of milk Pepper

Steps:

1. Mix the flour with mustard powder, lemon skin and salt. Add the butter and knuckle with your fingers. Put the lemon juice and 7 tablespoons of cold water and mix until the dough begins to form. 2. Put the dough on the countertop, divide it into two equal parts and form two discs. Cover them in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for 1 hour. 3. Boil the potatoes in salted water until they soften. Drain and pass them. Leave aside. 4. Put the oil in a pot over medium heat and fry the pork into it for 4 minutes. Add the garlic, onion and carrot and cook for another 20 minutes until the pork browns and the vegetables soften. 5. Add the apple cider and spices and cook for another 3 minutes until the liquid evaporates. Let it cool down. Heat the oven to 200°C. 6. Place one of the dough discs on a flat surface and use a rolling pin until it reaches a thickness of 0,5 cm. Place it in a pie tray of a 23 cm diameter, leaving the excess dough to hang over the edges. Pour the stuffed pork composition and place the other dough disc on top, rolling it in the same manner the same as the first. 7. Press, cut the excess edges and bend them in. Press the edges with a fork to form a beautiful pattern. Grease with a beaten egg and make an X in the middle. 8. Bake for 50 minutes until the dough turns brown.

Tourtiere

Saskatoon Berry Pie

Saskatoon Berry Pie Ingredients: • • • • • • • •

2 discs frozen homemade pie pastry 500g Saskatoon berries 50 - 75g white sugar 3 tablespoons flour Zest of one lemon 2 to 3 tablespoons butter 1 egg Demerara sugar (for crust)

Steps: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Heat the oven to 220°C Roll out the bottom pastry and place in a pie plate. Add a tablespoon of sugar on the bottom pastry. Put the berries together with sugar, flour and the lemon zest in a bowl. Toss gently in order to combine and fill the pie plate with berries. 5. Add the butter and roll out the top crust. Brush with a whisked egg and sprinkle sugar on top. 6. Bake the Saskatoon berry pie for about 15 to 20 minutes at 220°C, then decrease the temperature to 175°C and let it cook for an hour. Let the pie cool.

• 1/2 cup walnuts (crushed)

Butter Tarts Ingredients: • • • • • • • •

12 unbaked tart shells 3/4 cup raisins 1/4 cup butter (softened) 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup maple syrup 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 egg (lightly beaten)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 220°C. Place the tart shells on a baking sheet and sprinkle raisins into the bottom of each of them. 2. Beat together the butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract and salt in a bowl. Whisk in the egg. Pour the mixture into tart shells and sprinkle each tart with crushed walnuts. 3. Bake in the preheated oven until the pastry becomes light brown and the filling is bubbly. It should take about 15 minutes. Cool the butter tarts for at least 15 minutes.

Butter Tarts

Steps:

Nanaimo Bars Ingredients: • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

100g bitter chocolate 2 cups powdered sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence 2 tablespoons vanilla pudding powder 3 tablespoons liquid whipped cream 1/2 cup butter (without salt) 1 cup shredded coconut 1/2 cup almonds 1 and 1/4 cup graham biscuits 5 tablespoons cocoa 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup butter (without salt) 1 big egg (beaten) 2 tablespoons butter (without salt)

1. Wrap a baking tray and leave the edges a little longer so you can easily remove the cake from the tray. 2. For the bottom layer, mix the butter, sugar and cocoa powder on the bain-marie until it is homogenized. Slowly pour the mixture over the beaten egg, stirring continuously. Add the graham biscuits, almonds and shredded coconut. Press the mixture well in the covered tray. 3. For the middle layer of the Nanaimo bar, mix the butter with liquid cream, vanilla pudding powder, vanilla essence and powdered sugar. Once you obtain a fluffy cream, pour it over the cocoa and biscuits layer. 4. For the top layer of the cake, melt the chocolate and butter on the bain-marie. Allow to cool a little, then pour over the cream layer and refrigerate until it hardens, for about an hour. 5. Remove the Nanaimo cake from the tray using the edges of the baking paper left over the tray. Cut it into bars and serve with coffee, tea or milk.

Nanaimo Bars

Caesar

CAnada Travel

100

Toronto

Toronto Eaton Center

101

Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Wonderland

Hockey Hall of Fame

102

Canadian National Tower

Royal Aquarium of Canada

Saint Lawrence Market South

Royal Ontario Museum

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103

Lake Ontario

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104

Distillery District of Toronto

Toronto City Hall

Art Gallery of Ontario

105

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106

Saint Joseph Oratory

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107

Notre Dame Basilica

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108

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Place Jacques Cartier

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Mary Queen of the World Cathedral

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109

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110

Lachine Canal

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113

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114

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115

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116

Parliament Hill

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117

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118

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119

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122

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125

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130

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131

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Other Places

134

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135

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136

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Whistler in British Columbia

137

Algonquin Provincial Park

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138

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139

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140

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141

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142

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143

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144

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145