Welcome to Canada, your super friendly northern neighbour! 

Established as a country in 1867, we gained independence from the British with the introduction of the Canada Act in 1982 giving us our own Constitution, although we do remain part of the Constitutional Monarchy. 

We are the 2nd biggest country in the world with a land mass of 9,984,670 km². We really don't have a lot of people in our country though, coming in as 37th with a estimated Q2 2015 35,749,600 which is actually smaller than the state of California which has 38.8 million people. We actually only have 11% of the US's population. Canada is one of the least densely inhabited countries in the world. 

Canada is made up of 10 provinces and 3 territories (those are the three on the top!) Contrary to popular belief, Toronto is not the capital of Canada (although it is the Capital of Ontario, the province I live in!). Our Capital is Ottawa, which you can see located on the map with a red star. 

Fun fact: an estimated 75% of Canadians live within 161km (100 miles) of the US border which means most of Canada is actually uninhabited. Look at all that beautiful untouched nature! 

Official Language: English and French 
Religion: Roman Catholic, Protestant 

Official Sport: Hockey (winter), Lacrosse (summer)

Fun Fact: While the Federal Government of Canada official language is French and English, the only province that is officially bilingual at the Provincial political level is New Brunswick! Québec is the only province that has declared that its official language is French.

Since Canada is super close to the North Pole, Santa Claus relies on Canada Post to deliver messages to him. He even has his own special mailing code. If you write him a letter, he actually writes back. I use to write to him every Christmas. 

Don't believe me? Give it a try this Christmas. 

Santa Claus
North Pole

Canada

H0H 0H0 

Fun Fact: Cajuns came from Canada!

That's right, you didn't misread that! Cajun people in present day New Orelans and Louisiana. Back in the 1600s, France had a colony that covered the area of the Canadian Provinces Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island as well as part of Québec as well as present day Maine in the USA to the Kennebec River. This colony was separate from the French colony in Canada (the rest of modern day Québec poutine, and became known as the Acadians as the area they settled was called Acadia. 

They lived there peacefully for almost 80 years before the British Siege of Port Royal in 1710. They lived under British rule for the next 45 years after the British won the siege. During the French and Indian War which was our little part in the Seven Years War that was going on in Europe at the time, British colonial officers began to suspect that the Acadians were helping the French soldiers. From 1755-1764 British soldiers as well as New England legislators and militia carried out what became known as the Great Expulsion, deporting approximately 11,500 Acadians from the maritime regions. Many Acadians migrated to the Spanish colony of Luisiana (present day Louisiana state) where they developed what is now known as Cajun culture. 

There are currently 96, 145 Acadians in Canada and 30,001 in the US. They often speak a French called Acadian French, with many in Moncton New Brunswick speaking Chiac and English as well. Louisiana Cajun descendants speak maple a dialect of American English called Cajun English with several also speaking Cajun french, which is a close relative of the original dialect from Canada but has been influenced by Spanish and Western African languages. 

So Cajun is an offshoot of Acadians. While not every Cajun can trace their ancestry back to Canada as there were many Acadians in Maine, lots of Cajuns can. 

If you read all of this you get a prize! PM Addy with the two secret words found in the blurb about Acandians and you will receive a Canadian bumper!