Canada

Canada adopted their flag on February 15, 1965.  The Maple Leaf on the flag has been a national emblem for more than 150 years.  The red represents the sacrifice made by the Canadians during the Great War.   The white of the flag represents the snowy north of Canada.

      In 1535 Jacques Cartier explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  That same year France laid claim to the new lands.  Humphrey Gilbert claimed Newfoundland and its fisheries in 1583.  In 1713 France, according to the Treaty of Utrecht, gave Britain the Hudson Bay, Newfoundland, and much of Eastern Canada.  After being defeated by the English at Quebec and having Montreal taken by the English, France gave up its Cadandian colony in 1763.  The British Parliment then gave French Candadians politcal and religious freedoms in 1774.  In 1837 a rebellion broke out in Quebec and Ontario provinces.  Later in 1848, Quebec and Ontario joined together and became the Province of Canada and formed their own Parliment.  Nova Scotia and New Brunswick later joined them and formed a confederation called the Dominion of Canada in 1867.  In 1931, the Dominion of Canada were granted complete independence by the Statute of Westminster.  In 1980, Quebec tried to gain independence, but was unsucessfull.  Then in 1998 a second independence was defeated.

 Country Stats

Official Name: Canada

Capital: Ottawa

Official Language: English and French

Official Religion: none

National Anthem: O Canada

Government: Confederation with a parliamentary democracy

Chief of State: British Monarch, through a governer-general

Head of Government: Prime Minister

Population: 31,006,347

Currency: Candian Dollar

Literacy: 97%