Portal:Canada

Saturday, March 15, 2025

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Introduction

Flag and Arms of Canada

Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's second-largest country by total area, with the world's longest coastline. Its border with the United States is the world's longest international land border. The country is characterized by a wide range of both meteorologic and geological regions. With a population of just over 41 million people, it has widely varying population densities, with the majority residing in urban areas and large areas of the country being sparsely populated. Canada's capital is Ottawa and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.

A developed country, Canada has a high nominal per capita income globally and its advanced economy ranks among the largest in the world by nominal GDP, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade networks. Recognized as a middle power, Canada's strong support for multilateralism and internationalism has been closely related to its foreign relations policies of peacekeeping and aid for developing countries. Canada promotes its domestically shared values through participation in multiple international organizations and forums. (Full article...)

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The Yukon Quest, formally the Yukon Quest 1,000-mile International Sled Dog Race, is a sled dog race scheduled every February since 1984 between Fairbanks, Alaska, and Whitehorse, Yukon, switching directions each year. Because of the harsh winter conditions, difficult trail, and the limited support that competitors are allowed, it is considered the "most difficult sled dog race in the world", or even the "toughest race in the world"—"even tougher, more selective and less attention-seeking than the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race." The originator envisioned it as "a race so rugged that only purists would participate." (Full article...)

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Current events

March 14, 2025 – 2025 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election: Mark Carney is sworn in as the 24th Prime Minister of Canada. (CBC News)
March 12, 2025 – 2025 United States trade war with Canada and Mexico, Canada–United States relations: Canadian finance minister Dominic LeBlanc announces retaliatory tariffs on CAD$29.8 billion (US$20.7 billion) of goods from the United States after U.S. president Donald Trump announced additional tariffs on Canadian metals. (DW)
March 11, 2025 – 2025 United States trade war with Canada and Mexico: U.S. President Donald Trump announces that he will raise tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium imports from 25% to 50%. (BBC News); Ontario Premier Doug Ford suspends planned surcharges on electricity in the US. Trump backs off afterwards, though his original plan to impose 25% tariffs will go as planned. (AP); Trump's trade counselor Peter Navarro says that 50% tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum won't take effect on Wednesday. (Reuters)
March 10, 2025 – 2025 United States trade war with Canada and Mexico: Ontario Premier Doug Ford announces that the province will charge 25% more for electricity supplied to the United States, which includes the states of Michigan, Minnesota, and New York. (AP)

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Wintery sunrise (and sunset) at 3PM in January over March Lake, Yukon

Credit: grampymoose

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Men's field lacrosse game between North Carolina and Duke in April 2009

Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively modified by European colonists, reducing the violence, to create its current collegiate and professional form. (Full article...)

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The History of women in Canada is the study of the historical experiences of women living in Canada and the laws and legislation affecting Canadian women. In colonial period of Canadian history, Indigenous women's roles were often challenged by Christian missionaries, and their marriages to European fur traders often brought their communities into greater contact with the outside world. Throughout the colonial period, European women were encouraged to immigrate to Canadian colonies and expand the white population. After Confederation in 1867, women's experiences were shaped by federal laws and by legislation passed in Canada's provincial legislatures. (Full article...)

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Canadian peacekeeper in 1976 wearing the distinctive blue helmet
Credit: HoCComms

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Arthur Lewis Watkins Sifton PC PC (Can) KC (October 26, 1858 – January 21, 1921) was a Canadian lawyer, judge and politician who served as the second premier of Alberta from 1910 until 1917. He became a minister in the federal cabinet of Canada thereafter. Born in Canada West (now Ontario), he grew up there and in Winnipeg, where he became a lawyer. He subsequently practised law with his brother Clifford Sifton in Brandon, where he was also active in municipal politics. He moved west to Prince Albert in 1885 and to Calgary in 1889. There, he was elected to the 4th and 5th North-West Legislative Assemblies; he served as a minister in the government of premier Frederick Haultain. In 1903, the federal government, at the instigation of his brother (who was then one of its ministers), made Sifton the Chief Justice of the Northwest Territories. After Alberta was created out of a portion of the Northwest Territories in 1905, Sifton became the first Chief Justice of Alberta in 1907 and served until 1910. (Full article...)

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... that as a teenager in a B'nai B'rith camp in Canada, Holocaust survivor and future Canadian ambassador Fred Bild learned English from his camp counselor, future actor William Shatner?
... that Gil Kim played professional baseball in the Netherlands, China, Australia, Spain, and Venezuela, scouted in Mexico and the Dominican Republic, and coaches in Canada?
... that Canadian heritage minister Pascale St-Onge was the bassist in an all-lesbian alternative rock quartet?
... that Edwin Atwater and his brother were the first people to import glass into Canada?
... that journalist Jacques Poitras spent a month repeatedly crossing the "Imaginary Line" separating New Brunswick and Maine in order to publish a book about it?
... that Saulteaux linguist Margaret Cote was the first person in Saskatchewan to teach a First Nations language in a public school?
... that Robert Home was sent by the British Army to Canada in 1864 to report on the defence of the frontier against the eventuality of an American invasion?

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The Northern Star Award, formerly known as the Lou Marsh Trophy, the Lou Marsh Memorial Trophy and Lou Marsh Award, is a trophy awarded annually to Canada's top athlete, professional or amateur. It is awarded by a panel of journalists, with the vote taking place in December. It was first awarded in 1936, named in honour of Lou Marsh, a prominent Canadian athlete, referee, and former sports editor of the Toronto Star. The trophy is made of black marble and stands around 75 centimetres high. The words "With Pick and Shovel" (the name of Marsh's long-running Star column) appear above the engraved names of the winners. The voting panel consists of sports media voters from across the country including representatives from the Toronto Star, The Canadian Press, FAN590, The Globe and Mail, CBC, Rogers Sportsnet, CTV/TSN, La Presse and the National Post. (Full article...)