Celebrate Canada Day with Fun Facts, Trivia & 2 Classic Videos

Celebrate Canada Day with some fun facts & trivia and a classic Canadian video!

FACTS:

• CAPITAL – Ottawa (originally named Bytown after Colonel John By, who headquartered there while building the Rideau Canal to connect the Ottawa River with Lake Ontario.)
• NATIONAL ICON – Beaver
• MOTTO – “From sea to sea”
• TREE – Sugar Maple

STATISTICS:

• CONFEDERATED – Canada became a country on July 1, 1867, when the British North America Act was passed by the British Parliament.
• POPULATION – 32,057,701
• LAND AREA (in km 2) – 9,984,670  (Canada is the second largest country in the world, behind Russia)

SOME CANADIAN INVENTIONS:

• Kerosene
• Instant Replay
• Wonderbra
• Plexiglas
• Egg carton
• The paint roller
• Cardiac pacemaker
• The garbage bag
• SONAR
• Table hockey game
• Easy-Off Oven Cleaner
• Caesar (cocktail)
• Telephone
• The Robertson screw
• Trivial Pursuit
• Electric wheelchair
• Walkie-Talkies
• Poutine
• Foghorn
• The electron microscope
• Peanut butter
• gas mask
• snow blower
• Yukon Gold potatoes
• Pablum
• Canadarm
• Insulin
• The IMAX film system
• Prosthetic hand
• The snowmobile
• The electric cooking range
• Pager

INTERESTING INFO:

• Canada has the longest coastline of any country in the world at 243,976 Km (151,600 miles).
• North America’s earliest undisputed evidence of human activity, 20,000-year-old stone tools and animal bones have been found in caves on the Bluefish River in northern Yukon.
• North America’s lowest recorded temperature was – 63 C (-81.4 F) at Snag, Yukon Territory, on February 3, 1947.
• The border between Canada and the United States; at 8,892 Km  (5,525 miles), including 2,475 Km (1,538 miles) between Canada and Alaska, it is the world’s longest border between two nations.
• The regent of England, currently Queen Elizabeth II, is the Canadian head of state.
• North America’s earliest undisputed evidence of human activity, 20,000-year-old stone tools and animal bones have been found in caves on the Bluefish River in northern Yukon.
• In 1497, John Cabot became the first explorer to reach Canada.
• Kanata is the St. Lawrence-Iroquoian word for “village” or “settlement.”
• The average life expectancy at birth for a Canadian is 81.16 years, the eighth highest in the world. (The United States ranks 46th, at 78.14 years).
• There has not been Saturday mail delivery in Canada in more that 35 years.
• While ice hockey is Canada’s most prevalent sport, lacrosse is the country’s official sport.
• Canadians consume more macaroni and cheese than any other nation on earth.
• The east coast of Canada was settled by Vikings around the year A.D. 1000. Archaeological evidence of a settlement has been found at L’anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland.
• Canada’s groundhog, Wiarton Willie, is an albino groundhog from Wiarton, Ontario.
• Alert, in Nunavut territory, is the northernmost permanent settlement in the world.
• Canadian James Naismith invented basketball to give his physical education students at the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, an indoor team sport to play during the long winters.
• The world’s strongest current is found in the Nakwakto Rapids at Slingsby Channel, British Columbia. The current has been measured at speeds up to 18.4 miles per hour.
• Newfoundland was the first part of Canada to be explored by Europeans. Ironically, it was the last area to become a province, in 1949
• Canada contains 9% of the world’s renewable water supply.
• Manitou Lake on Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron is the world’s largest lake within a lake.

Happy Canada Day everyone; stay safe and have fun!

Information contained in this post was obtained from ,  and .