Some posts on this site contain affiliate links, meaning if you book or buy something through one of these links, I may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you!). You can read my full disclosure policy here.
Happy Canada day! Across the country and around the world, Canadians are spreading the Canadian love and celebrating 147 years. After spending a couple Canada days out of the country, I’m excited to take in this year’s festivities.
I’ve always been a bit of a bookworm, reading all sorts of books,and collecting random bits of trivia. You can find me hanging out at pubs on trivia nights whenever I can get a team together. My favourite podcast is full of wacky and weird stories and plenty of trivia.
So in honour of Canada’s birthday, I’ll be sharing 25 things you didn’t know about Canada.
Geography
Courtesy of MapFight
1. Canada is the second largest country in the world, right after Russia. However, Canada is the 8th least dense country in the world, with most people living in cities. If it weren’t for immigration, Canada’s population would probably be shrinking.
2. The Canadian flag didn’t exist until 1965, and O Canada officially became the national anthem in 1980. Both being things we identify as Canadian and yet, they’re not even 50 years old!
3. The name “Canada” comes from the word “Kanata” used by the Iroquois, a native American tribe who lived in Quebec in the 16th century. It means village or settlement. The French explorers mistakenly took the word to mean the name of the whole area, not just the village.
Bilingual sign at Wilsons Beach, New Brunswick Photo: Jonathan
4. Canada is a bilingual country with English and French being official languages. However, only New Brunswick officially recognizes the equal status of French and English. Manitoba and the 3 territories also officially recognize them (and in the latter case, other languages too) as well, but have limited services in official languages other than English. Quebec is the only all-French province. However, every province provides its people with services in the other language if needed.
5. Step aside strange place names of the world. Canada is home to Pekwachnamaykoskwaskwaypinwanik – a lake in northeastern Manitoba. It’s name is Cree for “where the wild trout are caught by fishing with hooks.”
Pine Lake at Wood Buffalo National Park (Photo: Ansgar Walk)
6. Wood Buffalo National Park is Canada’s largest national park at 44 802 km². It straddles the border of Northern Alberta and southern Northwest Territories. It was created in 1922 to protect the world’s largest herd of roaming Wood Bison. This park is so large that it’s bigger than the country of Switzerland (41,285 km²), the Netherlands (41,850 km²) and Bhutan (38,394 km²), among many others.
Photo: Peter Vanderheyden
7. You can drive straight across the country on the Trans-Canada highway (also known as Highway 1) which runs across 5 time zones and 10 provinces from Victoria, BC to St. John’s, NF. But what about the islands? There are three ferry routes that are a part of the highway as well. You know you’re on the highway by the white-on-green maple leaf route markers
History
8. Something I learned in my history class in high school was that during the War of 1812, the British of Upper and Lower Canada (what would eventually become Canada) went to war with the US, by setting the White House on fire.
Photo: Marcin Wichary
9. The Hudson’s Bay Company is the oldest chartered trading company in the world still in operation and has become a symbol of Canada. Founded in 1670, the company began working in the fur trade industry. Since then it has grown to encompass a variety of retail goods from liquor to canned salmon to coffee and tea. Today the company is owned by an American, but continues to be a prominent retailer in Canada.
Food
10. When people come to Canada, everyone tells them to try poutine. In Quebec, poutine is slang for “a mess” which is certainly what you get when French fries and cheese curds are all drowned in a healthy portion of gravy. With its rise in popularity, poutine, and it’s gourmet version, is available now available everywhere from fast food to high-end restaurants. The only thing they have in common is the high-calorie count, but each bite is so worth it.
Photo: Tom Small
11. 80% of the world’s maple syrup is made in Canada and 91% of that is made in the province of Quebec alone. We also have a maple syrup reserve which made international headlines when thieves broke in and stole $18 million worth of the breakfast staple. The sticky caper is apparently getting turned into a movie too!
Read more: What is Canadian Food eh?
Photo: Jules
12. Canada is the largest exporter of green lentils in the world, accounting for over 80% of global exports. with 95% of it coming from Saskatchewan.
13. Sorry Americans, apparently Canadians love their Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. We consume 55% more boxed macaroni and cheese than any other nation in the world. Also, we call it Kraft Dinner (KD for short), not Kraft Macaroni & Cheese as in the US.
On Cities
14. Stanley Park in Vancouver is 1001 acres—making it 10% bigger than New York City’s Central Park. A 9 km path, known as the Stanley Park Seawall, runs the perimeter of the park and welcomes runners, cyclists and walkers alike.
15. Underneath the city of Toronto, is a system of pedestrian walkways called PATH connecting 1200 stores and restaurants, 50 office towers, 20 parking garages, 5 subway stations and a railway station. With 30 km of walkways, it is the largest underground shopping complex according to the Guinness World Records. It’s a welcomed relief from the heat of summer and the biting cold of winter.
Photo: Pierre-Olivier Fortin
16. Quebec City is the only walled North American city north of Mexico. It was also the first city in North America to be placed on the UNESCO world heritage site. It’s also completely gorgeous and one of my favourite places. Go there!
Photo: Emma Bishop
17. Residents of Churchill, Canada, leave their cars unlocked to offer an escape for pedestrians who might encounter Polar Bears. Am I crazy enough to want to go see these bears in real life?
You can spot the cross on Mont Royale on the right behind the Montreal skyline. Photo: Asif A. Ali
18. There’s a law in Montreal that keeps skyscrapers within reason. No building is allowed to be taller than the cross on top of Mount Royal (232.5 m above sea level) which overlooks the city.
Claims to Fame
Canadian cheer during the Vancouver 2010 games
19. Canada holds the record for the most gold medals ever won at the Winter Olympics and it was done on home turf at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics with 14 gold medals! Overall we won 26 medals in those games. It was a great time to be in Vancouver.
Photo: Rachel Titiriga
20. The Royal Canadian Mint, in addition to making coins for Canada, also produces currency for other countries. In total 89 other countries get their coins from Canada. Its longest continuous contract for producing foreign coins is with Barbados – more than 30 years.
Photo: My Sudbury – Out Sudbury
21. Speaking of money, Canada is also home to the world’s largest coin. Known as the Big Nickel, it’s located in Sudbury, Ontario and is a 9 metre replica of a 1951 Canadian Nickel.
Photo: Tamara
22. Famous Canadians include: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Reynolds, Mike Myers, Ryan Gosling, William Shatner, and Michael Buble.
Photo: Great Beyond
23. Apparently, Santa is Canadian too. If you send a piece of mail to the North Pole, H0H 0H0, then you’ll get a letter back from Santa.
Photo: Kat Kam
24. Canada also made many contributions to the world, some of which may be surprising. Like Sandford Fleming introducing the concept of standard time, the idea of using insulin as a treatment for diabetes, to the creation of IMAX movies. Not bad! Here are 16 more things you might not know were invented in Canada.
Photo: Phil Roeder
25. And finally, a fact that I can get behind. Trivia nerds unite! It was a pair of Canadians who created the game of Trivial Pursuit.
There are so many fascinating things about Canada and found so many more interesting facts beyond what is listed here. I’ve already started on my next list! Want more facts and history about Canada? Check out The Canadian Encyclopedia and Historica Canada.
What is your favourite little-known fact about Canada? Happy Canada Day everyone!
P.S. 150 Awesome Things to See, Do and Taste in Canada & 9 Reasons Why I Love Canada and Why You Should Too
Fact check: I was aiming for accuracy and sourced all my facts. If you see something that doesn’t look right, let me know in the comments or contact me!
If you’re new to Pack Me To, welcome! Stay on top of my adventures on Facebook and follow me on Twitter & Instagram.
OOoh look at my latest post! It’s Canada-related!!! 😛 Seriously – I learnt a LOT about Canada today. Or as our moronic Prime Minister called it in his recent journey there, ‘Canadia’.
NIce work!
Haha, there lots of stuff out there on politicians screwing up Canada. There was a rather large story concerning our southern neighbours that I didn’t include, but it was indeed very funny. And hurray for Quebec City! It’s so beautiful!
Awesome facts- my cousin married a guy from the North Pole, he went to the North Pole High School and everything. He is my favourite relative. Hands. Down.
Oh wow! That is so cool! Can you imagine that on your resume? Doesn’t matter that if you graduated years ago, you gotta keep it on just for laughs and to catch the recruiter’s eye 😉
…Ah, the 3 major M’s of Canada: maple syrup, mac ‘n cheese, & Michael Bublé–love it!!…
Awesome list! I kind of heard about unlocked cars, but thought that was a joke 🙂
And maple syrop is a total yum! I like to add some in my coffee.
I totally thought it was a joke too! But multiple sources confirmed it. Who knows if they still do it though :S
I like your 3 M’s! Time to think up some more for my next list 🙂
Thank you for this amazing list – there were lots of things that as a Canadian, I didn’t know! We are headed to Quebec City soon 🙂 And I have seen the Big Nickel in person…it is quite the huge nickel! haha. Happy Canada Day, Adelina!
Thanks for reading Lauren! Happy belated Canada Day to you too. I didn’t know half of these things either so don’t feel bad. Canada is a pretty cool country when you see it like this. And hurray for Quebec City! <3 that city. Enjoy!
This is a fun post! I never knew too much about Canada, but the more I learn, the more I’m convinced that I need to visit it!! I totally want to see a polar bear in the wild too, and I think it’s awesome that the residents of Churchill leave their car doors unlocked! Happy Canada Day!
Thanks Anna! It’s pretty surprising all these things about Canada. Many of these I learned as I was writing it. Such a bad Canadian 🙁
Anna I love poutine and Quebec…It’s interesting that the mint produces coins for other countries…cool facts!
The mint fact was the coolest fact I learned. I had no idea!
Belated happy Canada Day. Nice to know you’ve defeated America three times in War!
I’ve got to be honest, there are so many of these facts that I didn’t know before. Thank heavens I clicked through and opened otherwise I’d never have known Trivial Pursuit was Canadian, I love that game!
Thanks for reading Dale! I learned a lot of surprising things while putting this piece together. Canada is tres cool.
I’d love to take a road trip along the Trans-Canada highway – I bet the scenery is stunning! And to live in a town where you may run into a polar bear – yikes! So many interesting tidbits – thanks for sharing!
Thanks Dana! The scenery along the Trans-Canada Highway is indeed very stunning – especially through the Rockies. It changes so much throughout the country too! A very cool ride.
Great facts! I liked #5. Wonder if anyone got that word in a spelling bee? haha I love #10! Poutine is YUMMY! #17 scares me! But awesome fact to know!! Fun reading! Thanks!
That would be a horrendous word for a spelling bee! I wonder how you would even say it. Yay, any poutine fan is all right in my books 🙂
I love fun facts! And this post was really fun to read. I notice a certain famous young Canadian singer missing from your list, by the way. 😉
Thanks Deia! And ahem, I’m not sure who you’re talking about 😛
Definitely some fun facts here about Canada that I didn’t know!
Happy Canada Day! I have yet to try poutine but I’m not sure I’d like it since I don’t eat cheese. But I do love fries!
Can’t go wrong with fries and gravy 🙂
Wow! I learned so much and I’ve lived in Canada my entire life! I also really want to go see the polar bears in Churchill. What an amazing experience that would be!
I think I knew like maybe 5 or 6 of these things. Everything else I found floating around on the internet. Pretty terrible for a Canadian! And yes, that polar bear experience would be unreal!
Wow, great list. I didn’t know that 80% of maple syrup was made in Canada.
Thanks Carmen! There are so many surprising things about Canada 🙂
Fun facts! Though the U.S. and Canada have never gone to war. In 1812, Britain and the U.S. fought a war over Canada, but the end was a draw, not a victory for either side. The Brits may have set the White House on fire, but the Americans promptly kicked them out. Canada wasn’t even a country until 1867. (Sorry, history nerd here.)
I was hoping you’d clear up that whole Commonwealth thing and why Canada still has a British queen!
Actually you’re right. I had done some further reading on it & dug up my old history notes. My history teacher likes to claim we won, but it was really more of a draw. I meant to correct it. Thanks for the reminder! Re: commonwealth & queen, wait for installment #2! 😉
Actually, Canada did not win the War of 1812 against the US, nor did the
British troops who arrived in Washington DC to set the White House ablaze come down from Canada. That attack on the US capital was also a hit-and-run attack. They didn’t stick around long afterward. Also, the War of 1812 ended with an armistice, not a surrender of the US.
In 1867, Canada finally became Canada. Before then, it was two territories called Upper Canada and Lower Canada. In 1947, Canada passed the Canadian Citizenship Act and Canadians finally became, well, Canadians. Before 1947, they were all British subjects.
Hi Adele! Thanks for your comment. You’re absolutely right. I didn’t explain it clearly enough and I’ve actually been meaning to fix it all up (and most of it was suppose to be tongue in cheek which clearly I’m dismal at when putting it in writing). Thanks for the reminder to fix it up!
thanks for sharing your experience it realy helped.
Happy canada day
– Most Expensive mobile phone plan in the world
– Most expensive public transportation
– Most unpredictable weather, work
Such an informative blog, thank you for sharing. I really enjoy reading it.