I am proud to be a Canadian Sasquatch and proud of the Canadian values of diversity, multiculturalism, compassion, equality, and our rights and freedoms. I am also proud of our prime minister, Justin Trudeau, who has remained polite, professional and focused in the face of personal and national attacks from Drumpf and his minions. This is not to say that we don’t have our foibles because we do. But here are 151 facts about Canada that you may not know.
Despite the fact Canada is more than 150 years old, the country is much younger than many other nations.
Still, a lot can happen, and a lot can change, in a century and a half, and our country has metamorphosed many times over that period.
As Canada hits its 151st birthday, here are 151 things to know about Canada’s weather, climate, land, history and people.
1. Canada’s coldest temperature: -63oC
Canada’s coldest day on record is also North America’s coldest day. And it was terrifyingly cold.
The small Yukon hamlet of Snag recorded a temperature -62.8° C on 3 February 1947. It was so cold, in fact, the joke was that the meteorologists couldn’t toast the new record because their alcohol was frozen at the bottom of their thermometers.
The frigid air was so still that exhaled breath made a hissing noise, and lingered in the air for several minutes. Dogs could be heard barking from kilometres away, and exposed skin froze in less than three minutes.
2. Hottest temperature: 45oC
Two communities share the dubious honour of once having been Canada’s hottest-ever places.
On July 5, 1937, at the height of the Great Depression, Midale and Yellowgrass each reached a daytime high of 45oC, almost 20 degrees above either town’s average July highs.
16. Canada is the world’s second most tornado-prone country
Canada sees the second largest number of recorded tornadoes per year: Around 80-100, according to Environment Canada. However, those are just the tornadoes that are confirmed by investigators, and doesn’t count tornadoes that may have gone undetected or uninvestigated in the more empty parts of Canada’s enormous geography.
Even so, that’s well behind the United States, which records 1,000 to 1,200 per year.
17. Canada’s strongest earthquake: West Coast, 1700
Canada’s strongest-known earthquake was an estimated Magnitude 9.0 monster that destroyed at least one village in what is now British Columbia, and caused numerous other deaths when it struck in the Cascadia Subduction Zone, just off the B.C. coast, in January 1700.
Aside from First Nations accounts, it also appears in records in Japan, where people marked a small “orphan tsunami” that had reached the island from all the way across the Pacific.
37. Humidex is a Canadian invention
Thermometer says 25oC, but it “feels like” 30? Meteorologists try to account for that using humidex.
Short for humidity index, it’s actually a Canadian invention, in use since 1965.
38. Canadians also invented the UV index
Another Canadian invention is the UV index, a measure of the strength of the sun’s rays on a given day (UV stands for Ultra-Violet).
First developed in 1992, it was adopted worldwide by the World Health Organization and U.N. Environmental Program.
42. Canada’s national animal: The mighty beaver
The beaver was declared a symbol of the nation in 1975, after centuries of playing an important role in Canada’s development.
Its pelt made it the target of fur traders and trappers, fuelling the growth of the Hudson’s Bay and North West companies, with some 100,000 pelts being exported per year, such that the animal was almost wiped out. Now in no danger of extinction, they’re found in every province and territory.
48. Churchill, Man., is the polar bear capital of the world
The Manitoba port of Churchill has a good claim to being the capital of a polar bear kingdom that stretches across the Arctic region, with the bears a top tourist draw as they roam the shores of Hudson Bay waiting for the water to freeze.
The bears are found all across Canada’s northern coasts, though they are under pressure due to climate change, which is shrinking the sea ice on which they rely for hunting. They are considered a vulnerable species.
54. Second largest country by land area: 9,984,670 km2
We’ve got a lot of land! Canada owns the second-largest chunk of real estate on Earth, at around 9,984,670 km2.
That puts us slightly ahead of China and the United States, though still way behind Russia, which is around 17,000,000 km2 in area.
55. Longest coastline in the world: 202,080 km
Canada has the world’s single largest ocean coastline, at around 202,080 km according to the measure used by the CIA World Factbook.
If that sounds a little longer than it looks, keep in mind Canada owns numerous islands, including its sprawling Arctic archipelago. Those islands actually account for more than half of the total coastline, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia.
56. Canada owns a LOT of the Arctic
A large part of Canada’s territory is included in its Arctic archipelago, a collection of more than 36,500 islands, 94 of which are larger than 130 km2.
According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, it’s also the largest collection of High Arctic territory held by any nation, with the exception of Greenland, which is mostly ice-covered.
These are 11 of 151 facts about Canada. Click through the Weather Network article for the other 140. While you’ll see poutine listed as a Canadian “delicacy”, there is another equally well known delicacy which is very sweet and very tasty, especially if you are a chocolat lover — Nanaimo Bars which originated in the BC city of Nanaimo. Feast your eyes and salivate! In addition to the traditional bar, my personal favourites are raspberry, mint and Bailey’s Irish Cream (not shown).
Happy Canada Day
Bonne Fête Canada
RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!
