Life in Canada: 4 More Topics of Interest

Social Justice in Canada

Canada is a social democracy that has embraced such concepts as universal health care and a safety net of social benefits, marriage equality, multiculturalism, and more. We are known for being polite to the point of apologetic, but really the atmosphere is more one of live and let live. There is great diversity of culture, religious and political thought, and lifestyle in Canada, particularly in the large cities.

While some people are still not as tolerant as they could be, most Canadians are in favour of leaving their neighbours to their own personal choices. We do not feel that government should interfere with issues such as sexuality and marriage, medical decisions such as the one to have an abortion, or any religion or culture or philosophy that is practised peacefully in private or in a group of like-minded people.

There is no death penalty in Canada. Medical marijuana is legal across the country, as is same-sex marriage. Our current government is the first ever to have a gender-balanced cabinet, in which 50% of all Cabinet Ministers are women. The cabinet also includes a whole range of diversity – people of different ethnicities including Indigenous people, disabled people, veterans, and more. Our government also just made history by proposing Bill C-16, which will enshrine gender identity and gender expression in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms and our Criminal Code, so that transgender people’s rights will be recognized officially under the law.

Education in Canada

Free public education is a right of all children who live in Canada. In most provinces school starts around age 5 and continues for thirteen years until high school graduation. Our school system is generally divided into preschool (up to age 6 when children enter grade one,) elementary school from grades 1-6, and secondary school from grades 7-12. Depending on the population in a region, secondary education may be divided into junior high school and high school.

Special education services must be offered free of charge to all students who need them, but services vary vastly from one region to another, and sometimes even in the same city.

Education is mostly in English, though almost all regions also offer some French instruction. French immersion programs are popular, and in some regions where there is sufficient demand there are schools that offer French mother tongue instruction. In Quebec, education is mostly dispensed in French. The exception is the English schools in the Montreal area.

Recreation and Cuisine

Everybody associates Canada with hockey, but we’re also the originators of lacrosse, ringette, and basketball. The Americans will try to claim basketball, but the man who first taught it was a Canadian who was teaching in the United States!

Canada is also known for its maple syrup, which is so well known in the world that some people think our “paper” money smells like maple! Actually, Canadian bank notes are now made of polymer and not paper (or cotton, which is what our money was previously made of.) And for denominations smaller than $5, we use a coin. Canadian $1 and $2 coins actually have special names that were so popular that the government recognized them officially!

Aside from maple, Canadian beef and dairy products are well known around the world. In our coastal regions we are known for our fish and seafood. In our prairie regions for our wheat, canola, and other grains. Where I live in British Columbia, the fruit takes center stage. Cherries, apples and grapes are major crops in this region, but we also grow many types of berries, nuts, and stone fruits like peaches.

Canadian Specialties

Because salmon was traditionally central to the diet of many First Nations who made BC their home, this fish has a very high profile here. Candy smoked salmon is a regional delicacy that is served as a finger food. It was a way to preserve the abundant fish harvest so it could be eaten throughout the year. Today people make the traditional recipe using honey or maple syrup, but they also spice it up with such ingredients as chili peppers. It’s delicious!

The beaver tail is a Canadian confection made from batter fried into the shape of a beaver’s tail. It is then served with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, or with other sweet ingredients. The beaver was one of the driving forces of the Canadian economy in our pioneer days, and this mainstay of the fur trade is still one of our country’s official symbols to this day.

Poutine is a Québécois creation that has now spread throughout the rest of North America and indeed the whole world. It is a combination of French fries, curd cheese, and gravy. The hot fries and gravy melt the cheese, turning it into a very rich and gooey treat.

The curd cheese used to make poutine is a special preparation of cheddar that is difficult to get outside of Quebec. The cheese was first made in the 1950s when there was a need to process a very large quantity of milk quickly, and not enough space to store it in the cool temperatures necessary to preserving it. A smart cheese manufacturer played with the recipe for cheddar cheese, and created a curd-based version that could be salted and made more quickly than regular cheddar. The salt meant the cheese could be stored at room temperature for up to a week, and the faster process allowed more milk to be processed in a shorter time frame, so no loss and no waste! The frugality of curd cheese makes it dear to my heart – and so does the addictive taste!