Problems

Canadians are proud of their education and their pride is not without ground: Canada maintains high level of governmental investment in their education and ranks among the world's leader in per capita spending on public education. Canadians believe that the quality of education is directly related to thigh standard of living that the educational level is high for almost half the population over the age of 15 has some post-secondary schooling.But still there are some problems. The education system has been under constant strutting in recent years.

High School leavers have been found to perform (to fare) poorly in international testing. Students leaving high school have been called essentially illiterate by universities. Business leaders consider them poorly prepared for jobs in industry.

Universities

New Brunswick (Fredericton, 1785)?Dalhousie (Halifax, 1818)

McGill (Montreal, 1821) Toronto (1827) Laval (Quebec, 1852) Montreal (1876)

Quebec’s status. Quebec /kəˈbɛk/ or /kwɪˈbɛk/ (French: Québec [kebɛk]  is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level. Quebec is Canada's largest province by area and its second-largest administrative division; only the territory of Nunavut is larger. It is bordered to the west by the province of Ontario, James Bay and Hudson Bay, to the north by Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay, to the east by the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick. It is bordered on the south by the U.S. states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. It also shares maritime borders with Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia.Quebec is Canada's second most populous province, after Ontario. Most inhabitants live in urban areas near the Saint Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City, the capital. English-speaking communities and English-language institutions are concentrated in the west of the island of Montreal but are also significantly present in the Outaouais, the Eastern Townships, and Gaspé regions. The Nord-du-Québec region, occupying the northern half of the province, is sparsely populated and inhabited primarily by Aboriginal peoples. Sovereignty plays a large role in the politics of Quebec, and the official opposition social democratic Parti Québécois advocates national sovereignty for the province and secession from Canada. Sovereignist governments have held referendums on independence in 1980 and 1995; both were voted down by voters, the latter defeated by a very narrow margin. In 2006, the Canadian House of Commons passed a symbolic motion recognizing the "Québécois as a nation within a united Canada." While the province's substantial natural resources have long been the mainstay of its economy, sectors of the knowledge economy such as aerospace, information and communication technologies, biotechnology and the pharmaceutical industry also play leading roles. These many industries have all contributed to helping Quebec become the second most economically influential province, second only to Ontario.

population -over 30 mln. people, one of the most urbanized nations In common with many other developed countries, Canada is experiencing a demographic shift towards an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age. In 2006, the average age of the population was 39.5 years.

About 40% of Canadians are of British origin About 25% are of French origin Recently people of French decent constituted 30 %, but the figure continues to fall. The majority of French-Canadians live in Quebec, The English speaking population is descendants of immigrants from the UK and the USA. Over 3,5 mln. Canadians are of Scottish or Irish origin. Canada's 3rd largest ethnic group is German. Other European minorities are Ukrainian, Scandinavian, Italian, Dutch, Polish and Greek.

Canada's population is varied due to its "Open Door" policy of immigration which began in 1890's. Aboriginal peoples are Native Canadians = "First Nations":The Indians,Inuit (Eskimo),Métis They make 4% of Canada's total population The majority of native Canadians live in the three territories and Ontario

Besides every province has their aboriginal community. Inuit make the majority of population in Nunavut. The Native Indians number some 300 000. The live mostly on reserves and are excluded from the mainstream of the nation's life.

English and French are both official languages, but 20% speaks only French, while 13% speaks both French and English. The French speaking province is Quebec. French is the mother tongue of 82% of Quebec's population. The Official Languages Act (1982) makes the French language the equal of English in all branches of federal service.But the Act hasn't ended the English-versus-French struggle. Tensions between French-speaking Quebec and the other 9 provinces remain high. The tensions reached a new level of intensity in 1974, when the Quebec parliament passed a law making French the only official language of the province.

The English-versus-French struggle is only a part of the separatist movement in Quebec. It is the movement foe Quebec's independence. It's a political issue. Some separatist extremists resorted to terrorism. In October 1970 separatist terrorists in Montreal kidnapped a British diplomat and Quebec's labor minister. The problem of Quebec's place in the Canadian confederation remains unsolved. Many immigrants use their mother tongues. As far as the original indigenous languages are concerned, some groups of Native Indians and Inuit speak them. But in other Native Indian Communities only the older people know their mother tongue. But some words of Indian or Inuit languages are commonly used, for example: muskeg, igloo,kayak

Roman Catholics - 46%Protestants - 41%Catholics are a majority since Canada was settled by Catholics of France and Ireland. Protestants came from England and Scotland. Since Canada's population is varied there are almost all the world's regions presented there: Judaism (the considerable Jewish community in Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg) Hinduism and Islam (have been brought to Canada by more recent immigration) Buddhism (has been brought to Vancouver and Toronto by the Chinese)

Though there are a lot of religions in Canada, the role of formal religion is diminishing. Fewer people attend churches.

Most of the National Indians have been converted into Catholicism. But nowadays there is a small but growing movement back to the original spiritual beliefs of the Native Indians. Support for religious pluralism is an important part of Canada's political culture. According to the 2001 census, 77.1% of Canadians identify 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 (9.5% of Canadians), followed by the Anglicans (6.8%), Baptists (2.4%), Lutherans (2%), and other Christians (4.4%). About 16.5% of Canadians declare no religious affiliation, and the remaining 6.3% are affiliated with non-Christian religions, the largest of which is Islam (2.0%), followed by Judaism (1.1%).

CANADA. WILD LIFE. NATURE PROTECTION

Canada, lying within the fifteen terrestrial and five marine ecozones. The largest marine ecozone is the Arctic Archipelago whereas the terrestrial ecozone is the Boreal Shield. The main biomes of Canada are Tundra, Boreal forest, Mixed forest, Broadleaf forest, Prairies, Rocky Mountains, and Temperate coniferous forests which hosts significant biodiversity.

Fauna of Canada

The fauna of Canada can be grouped into mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, birds, and insects. Canada is known for its mammals such as american bison, arctic hare, badger(барсук), beaver(бобёр), black bear, bobcat(рысь рыжая), brown bat, Canada Lynx, reindeer (caribou), coyote, grizzly bears, red fox, lemming, meadow mice, moose(американский лось), mountain lion, mule deer, musk ox (овцебук), muskrat(ондатра), polar bear, porcupine(дикобраз), prairie dog(луговая собачка), pronghorn antelope, raccoon(eнот), pinniped (seal), skunk(скунс), snowshoe hare, walrus(морж), wapiti, weasel(горностай), whale, white tailed deer, wolverine(росомаха). To name a few of the birds identified with Canada would be the American Robin, Bicknell's Thrush, Black-capped Chickadee, Blue Jay, Burrowing Owl, Canada Goose, Canvasback, Downy Woodpecker, Gray Jay, Great Blue Heron, Great Horned Owl, Greater Snow Goose, Killdeer, Loons, Piping Plover, Purple Martin, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, and Whooping Crane. The biology survey of Canada cites that there are approximately 55,000 species of insects, and 11,000 species of mites (клещ) and spiders.

Flora of Canada

According to environment Canada the nation of Canada hosts approximately 17,000 identified species of trees, flowers, herbs, ferns, mosses and other flora. Some trees native to Canada are Black Spruce (чёрная ель), White Spruce, Balsam Fir (пихта бальзамическая), Larch (лиственница), Lodgepole Pine, Jack Pine, Trembling & Large-Toothed Aspen, Cottonwood and White Birch, and Balsam Poplar (тополь индейский).

Recent extinctions

The exploitation of land and forest resources by humans along with hunting and trapping for food and sport has led to the extinction of many species in Canada in recent times. Woodland caribou(северный олень), present in several provinces, are threatened by hunting, wolf predation, as well as habitat disturbance from forestry activities, roads, mining and exploration, pipelines and oil and gas production. The Newfoundland population of marten is threatened by habitat loss, accidental trapping and prey availability.

National symbols of Canada

The beaver's emblematic status originated from the fact much of Canada's early economic history was tied to the fur trade in beaver fur, which was used to make Euroopean fashionable hats. Another reason for the beaver's status in Canadian heraldry is that the beaver represents the symbol of industry. The Beaver was adopted as the national emblem in 1975.

The Canadian Horse was declared an official Canadian symbol in 1909 and commonly appears in images with the Mounties.

The Maple leaf and maple tree is the national flora symbol of Canada. The leaf was declared approximately 1860 and the maple tree 1996.