Parliament Hill in Ottawa

Elizabeth II is the sovereign and head of state of Canada, and holds the executive, judicial and legislative powers. In practice, the monarch appoints a Governor General to represent her. Michaëlle Jean is the current Governor General.

The Prime Minister of Canada is the head of government. He is usually the leader of the political party that has the most seats in the House of Common. We currently have a minority government, which is when no party has a majority in the House of Common. Stephen Harper, leader of the Conservative Party has been Prime Minister since February 6, 2006; and Stéphane Dion, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, has been Leader of the Opposition since December 2, 2006

Canada is a very decentralized federation: each province has a lieutenant-governor, a premier and a legislature.

Canada’s two main political parties are the Liberal Party, and the Conservative Party. Other major parties include the Bloc Québécois and the New Democratic Party (NDP).

We also have a few smallest (and funniest) parties, such as:

• The Marijuana Party (former Bloc Pot) which aims at… well, legalizing marijuana
• The Western Block Party, which promotes the independence of Western Canada
• The Work Less Party, which aims to defend worker’s right

Business and private sector thrive in Toronto, but Ottawa is all about politics. The federal capital is indeed home the the nation’s Parliament and most of the federal ministries. It sometimes seems that everyone here is working for the government, directly or indirectly. Nowhere else in the country you will find people arguing at Starbucks about the latest cabinet reshuffle at Fisheries and Ocean or the appointment of a new policy analyst at Canadian Border Services Agency. Also known as CBSA. Because we all talk in acronyms here. Goes with the job!

And the last post close my Canadian-ism(s) series. Next week, I’ll start a 10 posts series on blogging. You’ll learn about WordPress and Blogger, plugins, how to set up a self-hosted blog, making money online and much more! I’ll publish it every Saturday — enjoy!

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Aboriginal people in Canada are recognized in the Canadian Constitution respectively as Indians, Metis, and Inuit.

• The Indians (or First Nations) live throughout most of Canada. There are 614 First Nations communities, most of them in British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
• The Métis (1% of the Canadian population) are descendants of marriages of Cree, Ojibway, Saulteaux, and Menominee to French Canadians, Scots and English (“métis” means “mixed” in French). They live in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario, and in the the Northwest Territories.
• The Inuits (about 150 000 people) live throughout most of the Canadian Arctic and subarctic: in Nunavut (“our land”); in Northern Quebec, Nunavik (“place to live”); in Labrador in Nunatsiavut (“Our Beautiful Land”); and in the Northwest Territories (Arctic Ocean and Yukon).

The course of Aboriginal history has been deeply altered since the settlers came to Canada. Indeed, the laws (like the Indian Act) they imposed would affect the relationship between the two parts.

When the Europeans arrived, they brought their own way of life and methods to a land that Aboriginals had owned for ever. However, after an initial period of wars and conflicts, treaties were signed and the relationship stabilized around the 18th century. But between 1763 and 1791, two acts would call for land cession negotiations. For the first time, the Aboriginal were expected to give up their rights to the land in order for large-scale colonial settlement to take place. Eventually, the balance of power began to shift as the British consolidated their empire and that gave way to a policy of assimilation of Aboriginals — as well as the attitude that they were not equal to British, but subjects.

Throughout the years, the federal government continued to pursue a policy of assimilation of Aboriginals. A dark page in Canadian history was when the government started placing Aboriginal children into Western Canadian residential schools during the late 1800s. Many Natives resisted with these moves to destroy their culture.

When Canada signed the Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, it was forced to re-examine its treatment of Aboriginals for the first time. Aboriginal civil rights became an ongoing concern in the 1970s, and they would make significant gains during this period. For example, the territory of Nunavut was created in 1999 following land claim.

Aboriginal people still face a number of issue in today’s Canada. A very high unemployment rate, substance abuse, crime, violence are not to be underestimated. Meanwhile,there are also claim to receive inadequate funding for education, and allege their rights have been overlooked.

Canada has now adopted some of the Inuit culture as a national identity: symbols are used (such as the inukshuk for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games), Inuit and First Nations’ art is displayed in the best galleries throughout the country and organizations promote and defend Aboriginals’ rights. The culture is still alive… and vibrant.

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The truth is, despite being influenced by American culture, Canada has a true distinct society.

Historically speaking, Canada has been influenced by European culture, especially British and French. Later on, it also incorporated Aboriginal culture into mainstream Canadian society. Various immigration waves shaped the country as well.

French culture is the most obvious example in Canada. Quebec, the province with the most francophones, as well as New Brunswick and pockets of French-speaking communities across the country, have a strong cultural identity. Relationship between French and English communities hasn’t always been easy and both parts occasionally resent each other… while the rest of us laugh about it. In 2006, the Canadian blockbuster, Bon Cop, Bad Cop, told the story of two cops, one from Quebec and the other from Ontario, who are forced to work together. The movie deals with both cultures’ stereotypes — and the tagline is actually “Shoot first, translate later”.

As for dealing with other cultures… as I explained in a few weeks ago, Canada adopted multiculturalism as a national politic. We are diverse, yet united. Although some issues do arise from time to time, Canadians are pretty relaxed about the open immigration politic and generally consider newcomers as Canadian, not as foreigners.

Politically speaking, even though Canadian and American governments are currently both right-wing, the Canadian Conservative Party is still more left-wing than the Republican Party. Both countries also recently disagreed diplomatically speaking. Indeed, in 2003, Canada chose not to join the United States’ “Coalition of the willing” during the invasion of Iraq and opted out of the war — an initiative of then Liberal PM, Jean Chretien. Canadian citizens were largely in favor of the government’s decision.

Canada also introduced some of the world’s most liberal social policies:

• Medical marijuana was legalized in 2001
• Gay marriage was legalized throughout the country in 2005 (starting in 2003)
  
• Health care in Canada is funded and delivered through a publicly funded health care system
• We have a welfare state and services include: unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation, family allowance, guaranteed income support, old age security etc.

As a left-wing supporter (come on, it wasn’t really a secret, was it!), I feel quite comfortable living in Canada. True, I’d rather have a Liberal PM but I like the general open-mindedness here and the balance between Socialism and the Capitalist word we live in seems to be about right.

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Granted, these pictures mostly depict Chinatown… well, we all have our favorite neighborhood, right? But the country is truly diverse: traditional Chinatowns and Little Italy area can be found close by Ukrainian, Russian, South-East Asian, Latino and Indian neighborhoods, and I bet you could find a community newspaper in almost every language on earth in Canada.

As a “new country”, Canada has always been a destination for immigrants. Event though the first draft of a Canadian citizenship was only created in 1910, four major waves of immigration have already taken place:

• The French settlement in Quebec and Acadia
• The English and Irish settlement
• A wave of immigrants from Western Europe right before WW1 and after WW2
• A current wave of immigrants mostly from Asia and India
  

Since the seventies, immigrants are mostly visible minorities from developing countries. According to Stats Canada, Canada has 34 ethnic groups with at least one hundred thousand members each and 13.4% of the population belongs to visible minorities. And the trend will continue: between 225,000–275,000 newcomers make Canada their home every year and we have the highest per capita immigration rate in the world.

Indeed, Canada has a pretty good immigration policy, welcoming skilled workers to fill labor market needs, reuniting families under the sponsorship program and caring for refugees with a good humanitarian program.

The result is a truly multicultural country with a rich ethnic diversity… and we’re proud of it! Multiculturalism was even adopted in Canada as a national policy. For example:

• Canada recognized dual citizenship
• It supports newspapers, TV programs (like OMNI2) in several languages (Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, Chinese…)
• It encourages minorities representation in the work force and in education
• It offers support and help for newcomers in Canada (translation services, immigration advices etc.)

Generally speaking, the Canadian society is an undivided whole although extremely diverse. Liberal immigration policies aren’t criticized much here unlike in some country and both the Conservative and the Liberals acknowledge Canada’s diversity and need for immigration. Of course, problems arise, generally revolving around the acceptance of traditional and religious dress in society… mixed with the fact any society is prone to the irrational fear that its identity might disappears overnight. Ignorance exists everywhere.

Canadian multiculturalism… a model to follow? I’d say yes!

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Granted, I don’t get to see bears everyday, which is all in all probably a good thing. I mean, it’s not like they look like Winnie The Pooh — or so I’ve been told.

However, despite living in Ottawa’s close suburb, I get to see a bunch of animals on a daily basis. Rabbits run around the house and scare me when I go out for my last smoke at night. Squirrels are cute animals but they drive us nuts (no pun intended) in the summer, when they dig in potted plant and cause power outage by chewing on power lines (seriously). Raccoons are cute but also clever and persistent, and in residential and urban areas they can be considered as pest. They can open garbage cans with their hands and feast before the garbage truck even has a chance to come… Finally, skunks are best known for their strong odor secreted if frightened or disturbed. We usually don’t get too close to them in case of… but they don’t mind getting close to us!

Quite a few animals became Canadian symbols. The beaver, for example, which is on the 5¢ coin. Lots of places also bear the name of an animal: the cities “Moose jaw”, “Whitehorse” or “Goose Lake” for example. And generally speaking, Canadian are quite proud of their wilderness and fauna. A true animal kingdom, I’m telling ya!

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Yes, Canadian treats. Good. Sweet stuffs to help us survive harsh winter. Just have a look at that!

Canada’s trademark sweet is of course maple syrup and its many derivate products such as:

• Maple butter, a creamy spread
• Maple sugar, a simple sweet
• Maple toffee on snow, to be eaten outdoor
• Maple butter tart, nothing sweeter
• Maple ice wine, a dessert wine
• Maple vinaigrette, perfect for sweet salads
  

Among my favorite are also:

Beaver tails that are also a typical piece of Canadian-ism, although popular everywhere in North America : it’s a piece of fried dough, usually with some sweet spread on top (yes, maple syrup is of course a favorite!). Mostly eaten at festivals and during outdoor activities, it’s a winter favorite.

The famous butter tart is said to have evolved from pecan pie brought North by slaves from the US: the flaky pastry with a filling of butter, eggs and brown sugar is simply delicious… It’s probably the most characteristic Canadian pastry and one of our earliest known recipe.

Nanaimo bars are a West coast delicacy — yellow custard sandwiched between two outer layers of chocolate — are available throughout the country, all coffee shops serve it here, including Starbucks that popularized it abroad.

Montreal bagels, brought by Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, are almost as famous as their NY counterparts, while a bit smaller, denser and sweeter thanks to the honey added and are baked in wood-fired oven.

See, North American isn’t just about fast food and deep fried stuffs!

Oh man… I’m hungry now!

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Unless you’re from Russia or China, you will probably feel that Canada is a pretty big place. And you would be right: Canada occupies a large portion of North America and even if “the North” is very sparsely populated with only about 100,000 people (3/4 of us actually lives within 150 kilometers of the US border), we are hard to miss since the country covers 9,984,670 km². And if you’re from Russia, please let’s not argue about the Northwest Passage — it’s not like we can navigate it yet, okay?

A huge country with a relatively small population (a little bit under 32 million), the density is among the lowest in the world. The population is spread across ten provinces and three territories. Ad Mari Usque Ad Mare; from Sea to Sea is our motto… From the Maritimes to British Columbia, across the prairies and the mountains, there’s a lot of space… and a lot of roads to link us all.

As in the USA, Canada boasts a strong car culture. Truth is, unless you live in Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver, you will need a car to get around. I still remember back in France, where driving 60 kilometers to the seaside was considered as a relatively long trip… I live in a very close suburb, still a good 15 km from work. And I’m not even talking about people living in Ottawa’s furthest suburbs, like Kanata, 25–30 km away. Going to work, to the supermarket, to the movie theater isn’t really a matter of walking a couple of blocks. Drive, drive, drive.

Roads and streets are wide, and crossing them as a pedestrian can be quite scary the first time. French roads are usually one lane, and streets are old, narrow, winding and somewhat have a neighborhood feel. In Canada, streets and roads alike are built for cars not for people. Drives (no pun intended) me nuts sometimes.

For the huge roads, huge cars. SUV, 4x4, brand new from the GM factory and ready to eat asphalt. I sometimes quite don’t get why people keep on buying expensive cars here, since roads are quite bumpy (bye bye suspension!) and the steel frames get damaged very easily with the salt we spread on roads in winter. Yet, most suburban households have a two lanes driveway and make full use of their two or three cars.

Everything is big. People (without necessarily being fatter, people look stronger and taller than in Europe), houses, farms, stores, movie theaters, schools, playgrounds, equipment, clothes, food portions, sport events and trends.

Living in a big country has its advantages. Sure, we might spend more on gas driving around all the time (and I wish we didn’t), but it’s relatively easy to find a place to leave since the occupation rate isn’t 100%, unlike in France right now. Buying a house is usually affordable as well in most suburbs — it gets trickier in TO, Montreal and Vancouver of course. We can also enjoy downtown parks (and even a government-owned farm in Ottawa!), the longest skating rink in the world (7.8 km!), a variety of cultures and the great geographical diversity throughout Canada.

Yet… everything looks so small that when I visit Europe now, I feel like I’m in Lilliput!

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Canada is a multicultural country. Today, according to the BBC , 20% of people living in Canada are foreign-born and 250 000 newcomers make Canada their home each year. These people will soon be Canadians are most of them will adapt to the North American way of life, while bringing some aspects of their own culture in Canada. Food, languages, customs, skills… we all win.

Yet, some are scared. Who are we? We all are the faces of Canada. The traditional Anglo-European face of the country is changing, that’s true. But Canada is very much alive. National identity isn’t something static and we don’t have to look alike to form a country. A lot of things make Canada a distinct country, from the trivial little things to political choices, from geographical places to special people, from values we share to things that bring us together.

In 2008, I’ll apply for Canadian citizenship. I first came here in 2002 and I’ll be one of these foreign-born. French. Canadian. And a citizen of the world.

What defines Canada? I’m starting a series on our icons, from people to places, from everyday life’s items to sports, from trademarks to customs. Don’t expect anything too deep: this is Canada the way I see it. I don’t bring answers. I just want to share, and I will with you every Saturday — enjoy!

Zhu

Canada is now a multicultural countries, but was founded by French and English settlers. As I wrote a few months ago in Two Solitudes And One Loneliness, the language issue is complex and highly political. It’s also one of Canada’s most touchy subject, so it’s hard to speak without offending anyone.

The province of Quebec’s official language is French, and the province of New-Brunswick is officially bilingual. For the other provinces and territories, it’s a bit of a grey area… English is most widely spoken but there are French communities almost everywhere: in Ontario (the Franco-Ontariens), in Manitoba, in Alberta…

French’s history in Canada is quite painful. English has for long dominated the country, economically, politically and socially. But starting in the 70’s, a bilingualism politic became one of the cornerstones of the government of Pierre Trudeau.

The first Official Languages Act was adopted by Parliament in 1969. Its three main objectives were: the equality of English and French in Parliament, within the Government of Canada, the federal administration; the preservation and development of official language communities; the equality of English and French in Canadian society. The principles of bilingualism in Canada were also protected in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms of 1982.

It is today wrong to say that the whole country is bilingual, but it is also wrong to deny the obvious progress. It is now easy to get service in both French in English at the federal government level, and more and more young people are educated in both languages. I’m pretty optimistic, and a language politics takes time to take effect in my opinion.

This “stop/ arrêt” sign on the picture (“arrêt” is French for “stop”) was found on Parliament Hill. This is an example of the bilingualism politic at the provincial level.

Funny thing though is that the stop sign in France is just… “stop”. Yes, “stopper” is a verb in France! I had never seen “arrêt” signs before I came to Canada and most of my friends back home find it quite funny.

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Canada is a multicultural country. Today, according to the BBC , 20% of people living in Canada are foreign-born and 250 000 newcomers make Canada their home each year. These people will soon be Canadians are most of them will adapt to the North American way of life, while bringing some aspects of their own culture in Canada. Food, languages, customs, skills… we all win.

Yet, some are scared. Who are we? We all are the faces of Canada. The traditional Anglo-European face of the country is changing, that’s true. But Canada is very much alive. National identity isn’t something static and we don’t have to look alike to form a country. A lot of things make Canada a distinct country, from the trivial little things to political choices, from geographical places to special people, from values we share to things that bring us together.

In 2008, I’ll apply for Canadian citizenship. I first came here in 2002 and I’ll be one of these foreign-born. French. Canadian. And a citizen of the world.

What defines Canada? I’m starting a series on our icons, from people to places, from everyday life’s items to sports, from trademarks to customs. Don’t expect anything too deep: this is Canada the way I see it. I don’t bring answers. I just want to share, and I will with you every Saturday — enjoy!

Zhu

One of the reason we can stand the cold weather and long winters is… hockey, Canada’s national sport. Think soccer for Brazil, NFL football for the US or cricket for India. That popular. The hockey season ends with the Stanley Cup play-offs, then finals. I don’t have statistics, but I would bet that productivity at work dramatically decreases during that time!

Hockey is a really fun sport to watch. The game usually lasts 60 minutes (plus overtime if needed) and it’s a speedy game. A famous rivalry in Canada opposes Toronto’s Maple Leaf to basically the rest of the country. But Canada also love playing Russia, Sweden, Finland, and of course the USA.

Hockey is also famous for its fights, an established aspect of the sport. Elbowing, high-sticking, roughing are perfectly acceptable… and expected.

I’m not a sports person myself, but I must admit I like hockey. First, going to a game is really fun. The atmosphere is very friendly and fans of the two teams respect each other even if taunting is part of the game. Nothing like with soccer in Europe where fans are put meters apart with the anti-riots cops in-between. Second, even if you don’t understand all the rules and the lingo, you won’t be bored watching the players skate at a pretty amazing speed and hit each other (blood is bonus). A period is only twenty minutes long besides. Finally, Canadians take hockey seriously and being able to quote a great hockey moment (fight, scoring, penalty…) is the best way to make new friends!

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Canada is a multicultural country. Today, according to the BBC , 20% of people living in Canada are foreign-born and 250 000 newcomers make Canada their home each year. These people will soon be Canadians are most of them will adapt to the North American way of life, while bringing some aspects of their own culture in Canada. Food, languages, customs, skills… we all win.

Yet, some are scared. Who are we? We all are the faces of Canada. The traditional Anglo-European face of the country is changing, that’s true. But Canada is very much alive. National identity isn’t something static and we don’t have to look alike to form a country. A lot of things make Canada a distinct country, from the trivial little things to political choices, from geographical places to special people, from values we share to things that bring us together.

In 2008, I’ll apply for Canadian citizenship. I first came here in 2002 and I’ll be one of these foreign-born. French. Canadian. And a citizen of the world.

What defines Canada? I’m starting a series on our icons, from people to places, from everyday life’s items to sports, from trademarks to customs. Don’t expect anything too deep: this is Canada the way I see it. I don’t bring answers. I just want to share, and I will with you every Saturday — enjoy!

Zhu

Obvious Canada #1 icon: the weather. When you think of Canada, you have the mental picture of a frozen tundra. Can’t blame you, because it’s pretty accurate! Weather changes are often drastic and we can go from +40C in the summer to –40C in the winter.

I took the first picture on the left in the summer, at sunset. This is the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa. The second picture was taken during last year’s Winterlude. In front of the actual building is an ice replica of the Parliament.

The weather here has a price. I’m not talking about the zillions weather channels and weather-related websites, but also about the snow clearing budget. The last big storm buried Ottawa in debt, as the Ottawa Citizen explains. Salting roads, clearing snow in the streets, closing schools and sometimes services comes at a — pretty high — price Snow removal sometimes turns into a big issues, and I’m not even talking about the dreaded ice rains and ice storms that can destroy crops and paralyze a city faster than you can say “oh shit”.

Yet, Canadians love to brag about the weather, and I like to indulge too, as in Blizzard, checked or Through The Storm. If you wait for the bus in and it’s –40C outside, chances are that someone waiting with you will comment: “oh, that’s nothing… back in the 70s, it was at least –50C for six months a year!”. If you’re shoveling snow on your driveway, passerby may say: “well, the 1990 storm was much worse, trust me on that eh!”. Basically, the weather was always colder, the storms were always bigger, the rain was much wetter… long time ago. Preferably when you weren’t here or too young too witness.

I’m tellin’ ya. They like it. And so do I.

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