Canada - - -

One thing to remember is the big size of Canada. Although it´s the second largest country in the world the population is only about 25.000.000 inhabitants. But the population isn´t equally distributed over the vast country. Most people live within 320km of the US-boarder in big cities like Toronto, Quebec, Calgary, Montreal and Vancouver. These cities are situated in the east of Canada except Vancouver which is situated in the west.
The distance from east to west is over 5.000 km. To give you a small impression, it takes two days and nights to cross the country by train.
Canada´s climate is of the extreme continental type, this means there are hot summers and cold winters. Ton five months so from November till march the temperatures are below zero.
The coldest international temperature ever observed was - was -63C, yet in parts of the country, the temperature also rises to 43C in mid-summer. This is a range of nearly 106C.
There is a basic divison in Canada´s society between the 40% of people who are of French origin and the 30% of people who are of English origin. The rest is made up of European immigrants such as Italians, Germans, Ukrainians and the Eskimos and Indians. The Indians and the Inuit, as Eskimos are also called, are the two native peoples of America.

Wildlife
Most of the country is a wilderness of forests and frozen wastelands. Emptiness is above all wide spread in the Northern Territorries.
In the unsettled areas of Canada there is a lot of different wildlife. To name all these animals there is to less time, so a couple of certain animals: moose, deer, beaver, bears, mountain lions, buffalos,... on land.
In water: walrus, seal, sea cows, along with a multitude of fish. There is also a great variety of birds like swans, geese, ducks, eagles, hawks,...


History
The earliest explorers, who sailed to Canada 504 years ago, is John Cabo. Other important explorers are Jaques Cartier and Samuel de Champlain, who founded the French Colony of Quebec in 1608.
The first European people who came to Canada were French trappers and traders. They settled along the St.Lawrence river east to the Missisippi. In the middle of the eighteenth century the British defeated the French in the Seven Years´war. In 1763 the peace Treaty of Paris gave all of North America east of the Mississippi to the British. But the French colonists were allowed to stay and keep their civil rights, language and religion. Even today Montreal and Quebec are the centres of French Canada.


Cities
As I have already mentioned the most important cities of Canada are Montreal, Quebec,..
In 1867, when Canada became a self-governing nation, only one-tenth of the population lived in cities. Today, eight out of ten Canadians live in the cities, and by the year 2000 this figure is expected to rise to nine out of ten. Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. Montreal is the second largest French-speaking city in the world after Paris, and this city is famous for its cultural life. Toronto, Canada´s largest city, is famous for the CN Tower (Canadian National Tower) which is the highest structure in the world. Major cities like Toronto and Montrael are great commercial centres.

Home Life
Two-thirds of Canadian families live in detached houses; one-third in flats. Houses are usually well insulated against the extreme cold and the extreme heat of the Canadian climate. Most houses are made of wood, expect in major cities.
A typical day for a Canadian child during the school year starts about 7.30am and ends at 3.30pm. Then for most children it is time for after-school activities. Breakfast usually includes orange juice, cereal with milk and sugar, toast and jam or honey, and a glass of milk.
Evening is family time. The evening meal is, for most families, a time to come together and share the news of the day. Television is especially popular in winter, because of the less daylight. The household menu generally reflects the family´s ethnic background, but there are regional specialities as well. Generally, all Canadian children like the popular foods - like hot doggs, hamburgers, ice-cream.

Education
Each province manages its own schools, so the education system varies from province to province. There are several types of school. A ´public school´ is one that is financed by taxes and is available to everyone, free. Canadians call a school that charges fees a ´private school´. Children attend elementary school from six to twelve. Then there are two years of junior high school, and finally, highschool.. Children must attend school until they are 16. After then they can go to a university or to a community college to continue their studies.
Children who go to a public school have two month holiday in the summer, a Christmas break, a mid-winter break of ten days in March, and various public holidays as well, depending on the province.
In the far north, children usually attend a ´live-in´ school for most of the year. These northern schools serve large areas, so the childrenhave to live at school because they can not travel 1500 km to school each morning in a big bus.


Sport and leisure
Canada is a land of lakes and rivers, trees and mountains, where many people enjoy the great outdoors in both winter and summer. The wilderness is never very far from the city centres. People who work all day in the city can, in every short time, get away from it all and go fishing on a quiet lake. Many people drive to cottage country at the weekend or during their holidays.
Summer sports include baseball, football, tennis, golf, biking and a great variety of water sports, such as water skiing, scuba diving, whitewater rafting, canoing and sailing. Ice Hockey, skating and skiing are the most popular winter sports for children. New immigrants have brought new sports to Canada. Soccer is growing increasingly popular, and rugby is also played.