The Canadian way of life

Canada is an immense country. It is very diverse in its people, its landscape, its

climate, and its way of life. However, Canadians do share the same important

values. These values guide and influence much of our everyday life. These are

values of pride, a belief in equality and diversity and respect for all individuals in

society. Women, men, children and seniors are all equally respected in Canada.

Canadians may be different from each other but it is these shared values that

make Canada a friendly, caring, peace loving and secure society in which to live.

For nine consecutive years (1994-2002), a United Nations survey found Canada to

be among the top three places in the world to live. Conducted every year, the

survey evaluates quality of life in 174 countries, using over 200 performance

indicators. Canada earned particularly high marks for its access to education, high

life expectancy (due to universal health care system); and low crime and violence

rates. Canada continues to remain in the top five on the list. In addition, Canada's

largest cities -- Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal -- have been recognized as

world-class cities in which to live and work, for their cleanliness and safety and for

their cultural activities and attractive lifestyles.

Geography

Canada is the worlds second-largest country (9,976,140 km2), surpassed only by

the Russian Federation. The country is encased by the worlds longest coastline.

Distances in Canada can be vast. Consider the Trans-Canada Highway, which at

7,821 km long is longer than the distance from London to Bombay. More than 50

percent of Canadas land is blanketed with rich forest ranges, accounting for 10

percent of the worlds remaining forests and 20 percent of the worlds remaining

wilderness areas.

Canada is made up of ten provinces and three territories. The provinces from west

to east are: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec,

New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and furthest east, the province

of Newfoundland and Labrador. The territories are the Yukon, the Northwest

Territories (NWT), and Nunavut, Canadas newest territory, formed in 1999 out of

the eastern part of the NWT and the homeland of the native Inuit.

Canadas terrain incorporates a number of mountain ranges: the Torngats,

Appalachians and Laurentians in the east; the Rocky, Coastal and Mackenzie

ranges in the west; and Mount St. Elias and the Pelly Mountains in the north. At

6,050 m, Mount Logan in the Yukon is Canadas tallest peak.

There are some two million lakes in Canada, covering about 7.6% of the Canadian

landmass. Canada shares four of the five Great Lakes, the largest sources of fresh

water in the world, with the United States. The largest lake situated entirely in

Canada is Great Bear Lake (31,326 km2) in the Northwest Territories.

At 3,058 km long, the St. Lawrence is Canadas most important river, providing a

seaway for ships from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. The longest

Canadian river is the Mackenzie, which flows 4,241 km through the Northwest

Territories.

Canada has six time zones. The easternmost, in Newfoundland, is three hours and

30 minutes behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). The other time zones are the

Atlantic, the Eastern, the Central, the Rocky Mountain and, farthest west, the

Pacific, which is eight hours behind GMT.

Despite the enormous size of this country, approximately 80 percent of all the

people in Canada live in a concentrated area of cities and towns within 100

kilometres of the U.S. border.