CANADA, Part 2. Page 8.

Population and immigration

In 2006 the census counted a total population of 31,612,897 in Canada. Population growth of 5.4% as
compared with 2001 comes chiefly from immigration. About three-quarters of Canada's population live
within 150 kilometers of the US border. A similar proportion live in urban areas concentrated in the
Quebec City-Windsor Corridor (notably the Greater Golden Horseshoe including Toronto and area,
Montreal, and Ottawa), the BC Lower Mainland (consisting of the region surrounding Vancouver), and the
Calgary-Edmonton Corridor in Alberta.

Left: Michaëlle Jean, (born September 6, 1957, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti) is the

current (27th) Governor General of Canada. Jean was appointed by Queen
Elizabeth II, on the recommendation of Prime Minister Paul Martin. Thus she is
ethnically of African background, and geographically comes from the Caribbean.

There are 43 ethnic groups numbering not less than 100 thousand members. The
largest ethnic group is English (21%), followed by French (15.8%), Scottish
(15.2%), Irish (13.9%), German (10.2%), Italian (5%), Chinese (4%), Ukrainian
(3.6%), and First Nations (i.e. Aboriginal people) (3.5%). Approximately, one third of
the census respondents identified themselves as "Canadian”. Canada's aboriginal
population is growing almost twice as fast as the Canadian average.

Canada has the highest per capita immigration rate in the world, driven by economic policy and family
reunification; Canada also accepts large numbers of refugees. Newcomers settle mostly in the major
urban areas of Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.

In common with many other developed countries, Canada is experiencing a demographic shift towards an
older population, with more retired citizens and fewer people of working age. In 2006, the average age of
the civilian population was 39.5 years.

Religion. Support for religious pluralism is an important part of Canada's political culture. According to
the 2001 census, 77.1% of Canadians identify themselves as being Christians; of this, Catholics make up
the largest group (43.6% of Canadians). The largest Protestant denomination is the United Church of
Canada, which was founded in 1925 as a merger of four Christian denominations. About 16.5% of
Canadians declare no religious affiliation, and the remaining 6.3% are affiliated with religions other than
Christianity, of which the largest is Islam numbering 1.9%, followed by Judaism at 1.1%.
 Page 9.

Education. Canadians are famous for being a very educated nation.

Canadian provinces and territories are responsible for education. Each
system is similar, while reflecting regional history, culture and
geography. The mandatory school age ranges from between 5–7 to 16–
18 years, contributing to a 99% adult literacy rate. Postsecondary
education (on the right) is also administered by provincial and territorial
governments, who provide most of the funding; the federal government
administers additional research grants, student loans and scholarships.
In 2002, 43% of Canadians aged between 25 and 64 had post-
secondary education; for those aged 25 to 34 the post-secondary
education rate reaches 51%.

Culture

Left: A Kwakwaka'wakw totem pole and traditional "big house"

in Victoria, British Columbia.

Canadian culture has historically been influenced by British,

French, and Aboriginal cultures and traditions. It has also
been influenced heavily by American culture because of its
proximity and migration between the two countries. The great
majority of English speaking immigrants to Canada in 1755-
1815 were Americans from the Lower Thirteen Colonies who
were drawn there by promises of land or exiled because of
their loyalty to Britain during the American War for Independence. American media and entertainment are
popular, if not dominant, in English Canada; conversely, many Canadian cultural products and
entertainers are successful in the U.S. and worldwide. Many cultural products are marketed toward a
unified "North American" or global market.

Aboriginal influences

There were, and are, many distinct Aboriginal peoples across Canada,
each with its own culture, beliefs, values, language, and history. Much
of this legacy remains celebrated artistically, and in other ways, in
Canada to this day. Part of the emblem of the Vancouver 2010 Winter
Olympics is an inukshuk, a rock sculpture that is made by stacking
stones in the shape of a human figure that is a part of Inuit culture (can
be seen on the right).

Art

The works of most early Canadian

painters followed European trends.
During the mid 1800s, Cornelius
Krieghoff, a Dutch born artist in
Quebec, painted scenes of the life of
the habitants (French-Canadian
farmers). At about the same time, the
Canadian artist Paul Kane painted
pictures of Indian life in western
Canada.

Left: Habitant Farm by Cornelius

Krieghoff, 1856
 Page 10.

The Jack Pine by Tom Thomson, 1916 The Red Maple by A.Y. Jackson, 1914

In the first quarter of the 20th century a group of landscape painters called the Group of Seven aimed to
develop the first distinctly Canadian style of painting. All these artists painted large, brilliantly colored
scenes of the Canadian wilderness.

The founders of the group Tom Thomson (died in 1917), J. E. H. MacDonald, Arthur Lismer, A.J. (Alfred
Joseph) Casson, Frederick Varley, Frank Johnston and Franklin Carmichael met as employees of the
design firm Grip Ltd. in Toronto. In 1913, they were joined by A. Y. Jackson and Lawren Harris. They often
met at the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto to discuss their opinions and share their art. Tom Thomson
(who died in 1917) and Emily Carr were closely associated with the Group of Seven, though neither were
ever official members.

This group received financial support from Harris (heir to the Massey-Harris farm machinery fortune) and
Dr. James MacCallum. Harris and MacCallum jointly built the Studio Building in the Rosedale ravine to
serve as a meeting and working place for the new Canadian art movement.

Theatre

Canada has a thriving stage theatre scene. Theatre festivals draw many tourists in the summer months,
especially the Stratford Festival of Canada in Stratford, Ontario, and the Shaw Festival in Niagara On The
Lake, Ontario. The Famous People Players are only one of many touring companies that have also
developed an international reputation. Canada also boasts the world's second largest live theatre festival
the Edmonton Fringe Festival.

Fringe theatre is a term used to describe alternative theatre, or entertainment not of the mainstream. In
London, United Kingdom, the Fringe is the term given to small scale theatres, many of them located above
pubs, and the equivalent to New York's Off-Broadway or Off-Off-Broadway theatres.

Left: Edmonton International Fringe

Festival. Nancy Bromley of Vibe Tribe
performs a sword dance. Vibe Tribe is a
unique theatre of music and dance that
uses the tradition of Improvisational Tribal
Style Bellydance. They employ swords, hula
hoops and fireworks using music and styles
from around the world (on the right).
 Page 11.

Right: Shakespeare’s statue at the Festival

Theatre in Stratford, Ontario.

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival (formerly

known as the Stratford Festival of Canada) is an
annual celebration of theatre running from April to
November in the Canadian city of Stratford,
Ontario. Theatre-goers, actors, and playwrights
flock to Stratford to take part — many of the
greatest American and Canadian actors play roles
at Stratford. It was one of the first and is still one
of the most prominent arts festivals in Canada.

The Festival's primary mandate is to present

productions of Shakespeare's plays, but it also
produces a wide variety of theatre from Greek
tragedy to contemporary works, including
musicals. Shakespeare’s works typically
represent about a quarter of the Festival's
offerings. The Festival Fringe runs during the
season, and features music concerts, readings
from major authors, lectures, and discussions
with actors or management.

Left: Stratford Festival Theatre interior.

Sports

Canada's official national sports are ice hockey in the winter and lacrosse in the summer. Ice hockey is a
national pastime and the most popular spectator sport in the country. It is the most popular sport
Canadians play, with 1.65 million active participants in 2004. After hockey, other popular spectator sports
include curling and football.

Ice hockey

The modern form of ice hockey (on the left) began in

Canada in the late 1800s, and is widely considered
Canada's national pastime, with high levels of participation
by children, men and women at various levels of
competition. Young Canadian players can begin to compete
in the amateur league at the age of 7. The most popular
leagues are the amateur Canadian Hockey League, and
the professional National Hockey League, which has six
teams in Canada: the Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa
Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames,
Edmonton Oilers, and Vancouver Canucks.

The National Hockey League (NHL) is a professional

ice hockey league composed of 30 teams in North
America. It is considered to be the premier
professional ice hockey league in the world, and one of
the North American major professional sports leagues. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional
sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the league champion at the end of each.
There are more Canadian players in the in the National Hockey League (NHL) than from all other
countries combined. Such stars as Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Guy Lafleur and Bobby Orr have
become national heroes in Canada. Wayne Gretzky won a gold medal in the 1992 Olympic Games.

Page 12.

Hockey Night in Canada is a longtime national Saturday night television broadcast featuring Canadian
NHL teams produced by CBC Sports. Hockey Night consistently remains one of the highest-rated
programs on Canadian television. It is also the world's oldest sports-related television program still on the
air.

Lacrosse

Lacrosse was named Canada's National sport by

Parliament in 1859, and since 1994 has been the official
summer sport of Canada.
Lacrosse (on the right) is a full contact team sport played
using a solid rubber ball and long handled racket called a
crosse or lacrosse stick. The head of the crosse has a
loose net strung into it that allows the player to hold the
lacrosse ball. Offensively the object of the game is to use
the lacrosse stick to catch, carry, and pass the ball in an
effort to score by ultimately hurling the ball into an
opponent's goal. Defensively the object is to keep the
opposing team from scoring and to dispossess them of
the ball through the use of stick checking and body
contact.

Curling is a team sport with similarities to bowls

and shuffle board, played by two teams of four
players each on a rectangular sheet of carefully
prepared ice. Teams take turns sliding heavy,
polished granite stones down the ice towards the
target (which is called the house). Two sweepers
with brooms accompany each rock and use timing
equipment and their best judgment along with
direction from their other teammates to help direct
the stones to their resting place. The complex
nature of stone placement and shot selection has
led some to refer to curling as "chess on ice".

Ukrainians in Canada

The first Ukrainian immigrants to Canada were Iwan Pylypow and Wasyl
Eleniak,who arrived in 1891 and brought several families to settle in 1892.
Pylypow helped to found the Edna-Star Settlement, the first and largest
Ukrainian block settlement. But it was Dr Josef Oleskow who is considered
responsible for the large Ukrainian Canadian population by promoting Canada
as a destination for immigrants from Western Ukraine (the Austrian crown lands
of Galicia, and Bukovyna), in the late 1890s. Ukrainians from Eastern Ukraine,
which was ruled by the Russian monarchy, also came to Canada, but in smaller
numbers than those from Galicia and Bukovyna.

Right: Ukrainian fifteen-kopiyka stamp commemorating the centenary of

Ukrainian settlement in Canada, 1891-1991.
Early Ukrainian immigration to Canada was largely agrarian, and at first Ukrainian Canadians
concentrated in distinct block settlements in the parkland belt of the Prairie Provinces: Alberta,
Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. While the Canadian Prairies are often compared to the steppes of Ukraine,
it should be noted that the settlers came from Galicia and Bukovyna which are not steppe lands, but are

Page 13.

wooded areas in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. This is why Ukrainians coming to Canada
settled in the wooded aspen parklands, in an arch from Winnipeg to the Peace River Country of Alberta,
rather than the open prairies further south. As well the feudal nature of land ownership in Austrian Empire
meant that in the Old Country people had to pay the pan (landlord) for all their firewood and lumber for
building. Upon arriving in Canada, the settlers often demanded wooded land from officials so that they
would be able to supply their own needs, even if this meant taking land that was less productive for crops.
They also attached deep importance to settling near to family, people from nearby villages or other
culturally similar groups, furthering the growth of the block settlements. By 1914, there were also growing
communities of Ukrainian immigrants in eastern Canadian cities, such as Toronto, Montreal, Hamilton,
and Windsor. Many of them arrived from the provinces of Podillia, Volyn, Kyiv and Bessarabia in Russian
Ukraine. In the early years of settlement Ukrainian immigrants faced considerable amounts of
discrimination at the hands of native-born
Canadians, an example of which was the
internment.

The Ukrainian Canadian internment was part

of the confinement of "enemy allies" in Canada
during and for 2 years after the end of World War
I, lasting from 1914 to 1920. About 5,000
Ukrainian men of Austro-Hungarian citizenship
were kept in twenty-four internment camps and
related work sites, also known, at the time, as
concentration camps. Another 80,000 were
registered as "enemy aliens" and obliged to
regularly report to the police. The government
confiscated whatever little wealth the interned
had.

Above: Commemoration of the Castle Mountain Internment Camp in Banff National Park - the statue is
entitled, simply, “Why?”

Since World War II, most Ukrainians coming to Canada have tended to move to cities in the East, and
there are now large Ukrainian communities in Toronto and Montreal. In fact more Ukrainians live in the
East today than on the Prairies. However, because they make up a much greater percentage of the
population in the West, especially in rural areas of the parkland belt, the Ukrainian cultural presence is
more keenly felt in western Canada.

Map of the dominant self-

identified ethnic origins of
ancestors per census division.
Actual physical origins of
ancestors may be different.
Ukrainian-plurality areas are
highlighted in light blue. Note that
Ukrainians are a significant
minority elsewhere; and that,
numerically, most Ukrainians
Canadians live in cities.
 Left: The world's largest pysanka was erected in Vegreville Alberta in
1974, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police.

Culture
Page 14.

Having been separated from Ukraine, Ukrainian Canadians have developed their own distinctive
Ukrainian culture in Canada. To showcase their unique hybrid culture, Ukrainian Canadians have created
institutions that showcase Ukrainian Canadian culture such as Edmonton's Shumka Dance Ensemble,
among the world's elite Ukrainian dancers, or the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, where Ukrainian
pioneer buildings are displayed along with extensive cultural exhibits.

Right: A Ukrainian dance troupe at the British Columbia Ukrainian

Cultural Festival.

Ukrainian Canadians have also contributed to Canadian culture as a

whole. Actress and comedienne Luba Goy, painter William Kurelek,
for example, are well known outside the Ukrainian community.

Historically Ukrainian Canadians were among Canada's poorest and

least educated minorities, but as the process of cultural integration
has accelerated, this is no longer the case and Ukrainian Canadians are near the national economic
average.

Perhaps one of the most lasting contributions Ukrainian Canadians have made to the wider culture of
Canada is the concept of multiculturalism which was promoted as early as 1964 by Senator Paul Yuzyk.
During and after the debates surrounding the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism
Ukrainian leaders, such as linguist Jaroslav Rudnyckyj, came out in force against the notion of English -
French biculturalism which they believed denied the contributions other peoples had made to Canada.
Partly in response to this, Prime Minister Trudeau shifted Canada to a policy of official multiculturalism.

Language. In addition to the official English and French, many prairie public schools offer Ukrainian
language education for children. Generally this is the local Canadian Ukrainian dialect, rather than
Standard Ukrainian.

As of the Canada 2001 Census, 148,085 people in Canada claimed Ukrainian as their sole "mother
tongue", the dialect was not specified.

Total speakers Percentage of provincial total

British Columbia 13,600 0.35%
Alberta 33,970 1.15%
Saskatchewan 19,650 2.04%
Manitoba 26,540 2.40%
Ontario 48,620 0.43%
Quebec 5,125 0.07%

Politics. The Ukrainians have long been at the heart of Canadian socialism. Many Ukrainians were anti-
Soviet but a strong minority supported the Communist Party of Canada, and formed an important bloc
with that group. They were also important in other Marxist organizations like the Ukrainian Labour Farmer
Temple Association (UFLTA). Ukrainians also played a central role in the formation of the Co-operative
Commonwealth Federation and the New Democratic Party.

Left: Ramon John Hnatyshyn (March 16, 1934 – December 18, 2002) was
Canada's twenty-fourth Governor General, serving from 1990 to 1995.
The nationalist movement was also an important part of the community. After Ukraine became
independent Canada was one of the first nations to recognize Ukraine. Later Ukrainian Canadians were
vital in fundraising to build the Embassy of Ukraine in Ottawa. As well Canada has recognized the
Holodomor (Ukrainian Famine) as an act of genocide.

Page 15.

Religion. Most Ukrainians who came to Canada from Galicia were Greek Catholic and those from
Bukovyna were Ukrainian Orthodox. However people of both churches faced a shortage of priests in
Canada. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic clergy came into conflict with the Roman Catholic hierarchy
because they were not celibate and wanted a separate governing structure. At the time, the Russian
Orthodox Church was the only Eastern Orthodox Church that operated North America, because they had
arrived first via Alaska, and traditionally Eastern Orthodox churches are territorially exclusive. However,
Ukrainians in Canada were suspicious of being controlled from Russia, first by the Tsarist government
and later by the Soviets. Partially in response to this, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada was
created as a wholly Ukrainian Canadian controlled alternative. As well the Ukrainian Greek Catholic
clergy were eventually given a separate structure from the Roman Church. Today many Ukrainian
Canadians follow other religions such as Protestantism or none at all.

Left: St. Volodymyr's

Ukrainian Orthodox
Cathedral, Toronto.

Right: St. George's Ukrainian

Catholic Cathedral,
Saskatoon.