Overview

Canada is the second largest country in a world, occupying most of North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean.  Canada shares their land border with United States of America. The total land area is 9,984,670 square kilometres.  Canada’s Capital is Ottawa but the largest and most renowned city is Toronto.

Canada is made up of 10 provinces: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Yukon Territory.   Each province and territory has its own capital city where the provincial or territorial government is located.

Canada has six different times zones: Newfoundland, Atlantic, Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific.  Canada also has the longest coastline in the world. 

The population of Canada is about 33 million people and the country has  two official languages which are English and French. Canada as a territory was explored by both the English and the French beginning in the late 15th century. Settlers from France reached Canada in 1534 and for two centuries, the English and French fought each other for control of the country. Today only one province in Canada is French speaking and this is Quebec where 85% of the residents speak French as their first language.  Quebec has a long history of independence and residents of Quebec refer to themselves as Quebecois or Quebecers.