I went out to eat with friends tonight to the Maple Leaf Diner. Its menu definitely skews Canadian. I have never seen poutine on a menu anywhere else. Poutine is a dish of French fries and cheese curds smothered in beef gravy. There is also Canadian peameal bacon — the real Canadian bacon, butter tarts, Nanaimo bars and Molson beer. Apparently, a Canadian man married a Dallas woman and when he couldn’t find the food he was used to in Dallas, he opened a restaurant. Personally, I don’t think Canadians are renowned for their cuisine — more for ice hockey, mounted police and maple leaves. I once went to a Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Canada which is located on the Avon River. Its Shakespeare Festival attracted some of the world’s most celebrated actors including Alan Bates, Zoe Caldwell, Paul Scofield, Maggie Smith and Peter Ustinov.
Canadians are also known to be very nice people. In downtown Stratford, I saw a few stairs leading up to a store. On the wall beside the stairs was a button to push with a sign: “If You Have a Baby Carriage, Please Ring Bell and We Will Help You Carry It Up the Stairs.” You would never see that in America. Let’s learn more about the country that produces such wonderful people — Canada.
According to Wikipedia, Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean — covering 3.85 million square miles — making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Its southern and western border with the United States, stretching 5,525 miles is the world's longest binational land border. Canada's capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
Indigenous peoples have continuously inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years.
Beginning in the 16th century, British and French expeditions explored and later settled along the Atlantic coast. As a consequence of various armed conflicts, France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces. This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom. This widening autonomy was highlighted by the Statute of Westminster 1931 and culminated in the Canada Act 1982, which severed the vestiges of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy in the Westminster tradition. The country's head of government is the prime minister — who holds office by virtue of his or her ability to command the confidence of the elected House of Commons — and is appointed by the governor general, representing the monarch who serves as head of state. The country is a Commonwealth realm and is officially bilingual at the federal level. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom and education. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Canada's long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture.
A highly developed country, Canada has the 24th highest nominal per-capita income globally and the sixteenth-highest ranking in the Human Development Index. Its advanced economy is the ninth-largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade networks. Canada is part of several major international and intergovernmental institutions or groupings including the United Nations, NATO, G7, Group of Ten, G20, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development or OECD, World Trade Organization or WTO, Commonwealth of Nations, Arctic Council, Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and Organization of American States.
Etymology
While a variety of theories have been postulated for the etymological origins of Canada, the name is now accepted as coming from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word kanata, meaning "village" or "settlement." In 1535, Indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona. Cartier later used the word Canada to refer not only to that particular village but to the entire area subject to Donnacona, the chief at Stadacona; by 1545, European books and maps had begun referring to this small region along the Saint Lawrence River as Canada.
History
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples in present-day Canada include the First Nations, Inuit and Métis, the last being of mixed descent who originated in the mid-17th century when First Nations people married European settlers and subsequently developed their own identity.
The first inhabitants of North America are generally hypothesized to have migrated from Siberia by way of the Bering land bridge and arrived at least 14,000 years ago. The Paleo-Indian archeological sites at Old Crow Flats and Bluefish Caves are two of the oldest sites of human habitation in Canada. The characteristics of Indigenous societies included permanent settlements, agriculture, complex societal hierarchies and trading networks. Some of these cultures had collapsed by the time European explorers arrived in the late 15th and early 16th centuries and have only been discovered through archeological investigations.
The Indigenous population at the time of the first European settlements is estimated to have been between 200,000 and two million, with a figure of 500,000 accepted by Canada's Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. As a consequence of European colonization, the Indigenous population declined by 40 to 80%, and several First Nations, such as the Beothuk, disappeared. The decline is attributed to several causes, including the transfer of European diseases, such as influenza, measles and smallpox to which they had no natural immunity, conflicts over the fur trade, conflicts with the colonial authorities and settlers and the loss of Indigenous lands to settlers causing the subsequent collapse of several nations' self-sufficiency.
Although not without conflict, European Canadians' early interactions with First Nations and Inuit populations were relatively peaceful. First Nations and Métis peoples played a critical part in the development of European colonies in Canada, particularly for their role in assisting European coureur des bois and voyageurs in their explorations of the continent during the North American fur trade. The Crown and Indigenous peoples began interactions during the European colonization period, though the Inuit, in general, had more limited interaction with European settlers. However, from the late 18th century, European Canadians encouraged Indigenous peoples to assimilate into their own culture. These attempts reached a climax in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with forced integration and relocations. A period of redress is underway, which started with the appointment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada by the Government of Canada in 2008.
European colonization
It is believed that the first European to explore the east coast of Canada was Norse explorer Leif Erikson. In approximately 1000 AD, the Norse built a small encampment that only lasted a few years at L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland. No further European exploration occurred until 1497, when Italian seafarer John Cabot explored and claimed Canada's Atlantic coast in the name of King Henry VII of England. In 1534, French explorer Jacques Cartier explored the Gulf of Saint Lawrence where, on July 24, he planted a 33-foot cross bearing the words "Long Live the King of France" and took possession of the territory New France in the name of King Francis I. The early 16th century saw European mariners with navigational techniques pioneered by the Basque and Portuguese establish seasonal whaling and fishing outposts along the Atlantic coast. In general, early settlements during the Age of Discovery appear to have been short-lived due to a combination of the harsh climate, problems with navigating trade routes and competing outputs in Scandinavia.
In 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert — by the royal prerogative of Queen Elizabeth I — founded St. John's, Newfoundland, as the first North American English seasonal camp. In 1600, the French established their first seasonal trading post at Tadoussac along the Saint Lawrence. French explorer Samuel de Champlain arrived in 1603 and established the first permanent year-round European settlements at Port Royal in 1605 and Quebec City in 1608. Among the colonists of New France, Canadiens extensively settled the Saint Lawrence River valley and Acadians settled the present-day Maritimes, while fur traders and Catholic missionaries explored the Great Lakes, Hudson Bay, and the Mississippi watershed to Louisiana. The Beaver Wars broke out in the mid-17th century over control of the North American fur trade.
The English established additional settlements in Newfoundland in 1610 along with settlements in the Thirteen Colonies to the south. A series of four wars erupted in colonial North America between 1689 and 1763; the later wars of the period constituted the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War. Mainland Nova Scotia came under British rule with the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, and Canada and most of New France came under British rule in 1763 after the Seven Years' War.
British North America
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 established First Nation treaty rights, created the Province of Quebec out of New France, and annexed Cape Breton Island to Nova Scotia. St. John's Island — now Prince Edward Island — became a separate colony in 1769. To avert conflict in Quebec, the British Parliament passed the Quebec Act 1774, expanding Quebec's territory to the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley. More importantly, the Quebec Act afforded Quebec special autonomy and rights of self-administration at a time when the Thirteen Colonies were increasingly agitating against British rule. It re-established the French language, Catholic faith and French civil law there, staving off the growth of an independence movement in contrast to the Thirteen Colonies. The Proclamation and the Quebec Act, in turn, angered many residents of the Thirteen Colonies, further fueling anti-British sentiment in the years prior to the American Revolution.
After the successful American War of Independence, the 1783 Treaty of Paris recognized the independence of the newly formed United States and set the terms of peace, ceding British North American territories south of the Great Lakes and east of the Mississippi River to the new country. The American War of Independence also caused a large outmigration of Loyalists, the settlers who had fought against American independence. Many moved to Canada, particularly Atlantic Canada, where their arrival changed the demographic distribution of the existing territories. New Brunswick was in turn split from Nova Scotia as part of a reorganization of Loyalist settlements in the Maritimes, which led to the incorporation of Saint John, New Brunswick, as Canada's first city. To accommodate the influx of English-speaking Loyalists in Central Canada, the Constitutional Act of 1791 divided the province of Canada into French-speaking Lower Canada (later Quebec) and English-speaking Upper Canada (later Ontario), granting each its own elected legislative assembly.
The Canadas were the main front in the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom. Peace came in 1815; no boundaries were changed. Immigration resumed at a higher level, with over 960,000 arrivals from Britain between 1815 and 1850. New arrivals included refugees escaping the Great Irish Famine as well as Gaelic-speaking Scots displaced by the Highland Clearances. Infectious diseases killed between 25 and 33% of Europeans who immigrated to Canada before 1891.
The desire for responsible government resulted in the abortive Rebellions of 1837. The Durham Report subsequently recommended responsible government and the assimilation of French Canadians into English culture. The Act of Union 1840 merged the Canadas into a united Province of Canada and responsible government was established for all provinces of British North America east of Lake Superior by 1855. The signing of the Oregon Treaty by Britain and the United States in 1846 ended the Oregon boundary dispute, extending the border westward along the 49th parallel. This paved the way for British colonies on Vancouver Island (1849) and in British Columbia (1858). The Anglo-Russian Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1825) established the border along the Pacific coast, but, even after the US Alaska Purchase of 1867, disputes continued about the exact demarcation of the Alaska–Yukon and Alaska–BC border.
Confederation and expansion
Following several constitutional conferences, the British North America Act 1867 officially proclaimed Canadian Confederation on July 1, 1867, initially with four provinces: Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Canada assumed control of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory to form the Northwest Territories, where the Métis' grievances ignited the Red River Rebellion and the creation of the province of Manitoba in July 1870. British Columbia and Vancouver Island — which had been united in 1866 — joined the confederation in 1871 on the promise of a transcontinental railway extending to Victoria in the province within 10 years, while Prince Edward Island joined in 1873. In 1898, during the Klondike Gold Rush in the Northwest Territories, Parliament created the Yukon Territory. Alberta and Saskatchewan became provinces in 1905. Between 1871 and 1896, almost one quarter of the Canadian population emigrated southward to the U.S.
To open the West and encourage European immigration, Parliament approved sponsoring the construction of three transcontinental railways including the Canadian Pacific Railway, opening the prairies to settlement with the Dominion Lands Act and establishing the North-West Mounted Police to assert its authority over this territory. This period of westward expansion and nation-building resulted in the displacement of many Indigenous peoples of the Canadian prairies to "Indian reserves," clearing the way for ethnic European block settlements. This caused the collapse of the Plains Bison in western Canada and the introduction of European cattle farms and wheat fields dominating the land. The Indigenous peoples saw widespread famine and disease due to the loss of the bison and their traditional hunting lands. The federal government did provide emergency relief, on condition of the Indigenous peoples moving to the reserves. During this time, Canada introduced the Indian Act, extending its control over the First Nations to education, government and legal rights.
Early 20th century
Because Britain still maintained control of Canada's foreign affairs under the British North America Act of 1867, its declaration of war in 1914 automatically brought Canada into World War I. Volunteers sent to the Western Front later became part of the Canadian Corps, which played a substantial role in the Battle of Vimy Ridge and other major engagements of the war. Out of approximately 625,000 Canadians who served in World War I, some 60,000 were killed and another 172,000 were wounded. The Conscription Crisis of 1917 erupted when the Unionist Cabinet's proposal to augment the military's dwindling number of active members with conscription was met with vehement objections from French-speaking Quebecers. The Military Service Act brought in compulsory military service, though it, coupled with disputes over French language schools outside Quebec, deeply alienated Francophone Canadians and temporarily split the Liberal Party. In 1919, Canada joined the League of Nations independently of Britain, and the Statute of Westminster 1931 affirmed Canada's independence.
The Great Depression in Canada during the early 1930s saw an economic downturn, leading to hardship across the country. In response to the downturn, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation or CCF in Saskatchewan introduced many elements of a welfare state as pioneered by Tommy Douglas in the 1940s and 1950s. On the advice of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, war with Germany was declared effective September 10, 1939, by King George VI, seven days after the United Kingdom. The delay underscored Canada's independence.
The first Canadian Army units arrived in Britain in December 1939. In all, over a million Canadians served in the armed forces during World War II and approximately 42,000 were killed and another 55,000 were wounded. Canadian troops played important roles in many key battles of the war, including the failed 1942 Dieppe Raid, Allied invasion of Italy, Normandy landings, Battle of Normandy and Battle of the Scheldt in 1944. Canada provided asylum for the Dutch monarchy while that country was occupied and is credited by the Netherlands for major contributions to its liberation from Nazi Germany.
The Canadian economy boomed during the war as its industries manufactured military materiel for Canada, Britain, China and the Soviet Union. Despite another Conscription Crisis in Quebec in 1944, Canada finished the war with a large army and strong economy.
Contemporary era
The financial crisis of the Great Depression had led the Dominion of Newfoundland to relinquish responsible government in 1934 and become a Crown colony ruled by a British governor. After two referendums, Newfoundlanders voted to join Canada in 1949 as a province.
Canada's post-war economic growth, combined with the policies of successive Liberal governments, led to the emergence of a new Canadian identity, marked by the adoption of the Maple Leaf Flag in 1965, the implementation of official bilingualism — English and French — in 1969 and the institution of official multiculturalism in 1971. Socially democratic programs were also instituted, such as Medicare, the Canada Pension Plan and Canada Student Loans, though provincial governments, particularly Quebec and Alberta, opposed many of these as incursions into their jurisdictions.
Finally, another series of constitutional conferences resulted in the UK's Canada Act 1982, the patriation of Canada's constitution from the United Kingdom, concurrent with the creation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Canada had established complete sovereignty as an independent country, although the monarch is retained as sovereign. In 1999, Nunavut became Canada's third territory after a series of negotiations with the federal government.
At the same time, Quebec underwent profound social and economic changes through the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, giving birth to a secular nationalist movement. The radical Front de libération du Québec or FLQ ignited the October Crisis with a series of bombings and kidnappings in 1970, and the sovereignist Parti Québécois was elected in 1976, organizing an unsuccessful referendum on sovereignty-association in 1980. Attempts to accommodate Quebec nationalism constitutionally through the Meech Lake Accord failed in 1990. This led to the formation of the Bloc Québécois in Quebec and the invigoration of the Reform Party of Canada in the West. A second referendum followed in 1995, in which sovereignty was rejected by a slimmer margin of 50.6 to 49.4%. In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled unilateral secession by a province would be unconstitutional and the Clarity Act was passed by parliament, outlining the terms of a negotiated departure from Confederation.
In addition to the issues of Quebec sovereignty, a number of crises shook Canadian society in the late 1980s and early 1990s. These included the explosion of Air India Flight 182 in 1985, the largest mass murder in Canadian history; the École Polytechnique massacre in 1989, a university shooting targeting female students; and the Oka Crisis of 1990, the first of a number of violent confrontations between the government and Indigenous groups. Canada also joined the Gulf War in 1990 as part of a United States–led coalition force and was active in several peacekeeping missions in the 1990s, including the UNPROFOR mission in the former Yugoslavia. Canada sent troops to Afghanistan in 2001 but declined to join the United States–led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
In 2011, Canadian forces participated in the NATO-led intervention into the Libyan Civil War and also became involved in battling the Islamic State insurgency in Iraq in the mid-2010s. The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada began on January 27, 2020, with wide social and economic disruption.[123] In 2021, the remains of hundreds of Indigenous people were discovered near the former sites of Canadian Indian residential schools. Administered by the Canadian Catholic Church and funded by the Canadian government from 1828 to 1997, these boarding schools attempted to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture.
Culture
Canada's culture draws influences from its broad range of constituent nationalities, and policies that promote a "just society" are constitutionally protected. Canada has placed emphasis on equality and inclusiveness for all its people. Multiculturalism is often cited as one of Canada's significant accomplishments and a key distinguishing element of Canadian identity. In Québec, cultural identity is strong, and there is a French Canadian culture that is distinct from English Canadian culture. However, as a whole, Canada is, in theory, a cultural mosaic — a collection of regional ethnic subcultures.
Canada's approach to governance emphasizing multiculturalism, which is based on selective immigration, social integration and suppression of far-right politics, has wide public support. Government policies such as publicly funded health care, higher taxation to redistribute wealth, outlawing of capital punishment, strong efforts to eliminate poverty, strict gun control — alongside legislation with a social liberal attitude toward women's rights like pregnancy termination, LGBTQ rights, assisted euthanasia and cannabis use — are indicators of Canada's political and cultural values. Canadians also identify with the country's foreign aid policies, peacekeeping roles, national park system and Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Historically, Canada has been influenced by British, French and Indigenous cultures and traditions. Through their language, art and music, Indigenous peoples continue to influence the Canadian identity. During the 20th century, Canadians with African, Caribbean and Asian nationalities have added to the Canadian identity and its culture. Canadian humor is an integral part of the Canadian identity and is reflected in its folklore, literature, music, art and media. The primary characteristics of Canadian humor are irony, parody and satire.
Symbols
Themes of nature, pioneers, trappers and traders played an important part in the early development of Canadian symbolism. Modern symbols emphasize the country's geography, cold climate, lifestyles and the Canadianization of traditional European and Indigenous symbols. The use of the maple leaf as a Canadian symbol dates to the early 18th century. The maple leaf is depicted on Canada's current and previous flags and on the coat of arms of Canada. Canada's official tartan, known as the "Maple leaf tartan," has four colors that reflect the colors of the maple leaf as it changes through the seasons — green in the spring, gold in the early autumn, red at the first frost and brown after falling. The coat of arms of Canada are closely modeled after the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom with French and distinctive Canadian elements replacing or added to those derived from the British version.
Other prominent symbols include the national motto "A Mari Usque Ad Mare" or "From Sea to Sea," sports of ice hockey and lacrosse, beaver, Canada goose, common loon, Canadian horse, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canadian Rockies and more recently the totem pole and Inuksuk or manmade stone landmark. Material items such as Canadian beer, maple syrup, tuques or knit caps, canoes, Nanaimo bars, butter tarts and the Québec dish of poutine are defined as uniquely Canadian. The Nanaimo bar is a bar dessert that requires no baking and is named after the city of Nanaimo, British Columbia. It consists of three layers: a wafer, nut (walnuts, almonds, or pecans), and coconut crumb base; custard icing in the middle; and a layer of chocolate ganache on top. Canadian coins feature many of these symbols: loon on the $1 coin, coat of arms of Canada on the 50¢ piece and beaver on the nickel. The penny — removed from circulation in 2013 — featured the maple leaf. The Queen's image appears on $20 bank notes and on the obverse of all current Canadian coins. In the photo of the beaver above the five flowers on the shield each represent an ethnicity — Tudor rose: English; Fleur de lis: French; thistle: Scottish; shamrock: Irish; and leek: Welsh.
Literature
Canadian literature is often divided into French- and English-language literatures, which are rooted in the literary traditions of France and Britain, respectively. The earliest Canadian narratives were of travel and exploration. This progressed into three major themes that can be found within historical Canadian literature — nature, frontier life and Canada's position within the world — all three of which tie into the garrison mentality. In recent decades Canada's literature has been strongly influenced by immigrants from around the world. Since the 1980s, Canada's ethnic and cultural diversity has been openly reflected in its literature. By the 1990s, Canadian literature was viewed as some of the world's best.
Numerous Canadian authors have accumulated international literary awards, including novelist, poet and literary critic Margaret Atwood, who received two Booker Prizes; Nobel laureate Alice Munro, who has been called the best living writer of short stories in English; and Booker Prize recipient Michael Ondaatje, who wrote the novel “The English Patient,” which was adapted as a film of the same name that won the Academy Award for Best Picture. L. M. Montgomery produced a series of children's novels beginning in 1908 with “Anne of Green Gables.”
Visual arts
Art in Canada is marked by thousands of years of habitation by its indigenous peoples. Historically, the Catholic Church was the primary patron of art in New France and early Canada, especially Québec, and in later times, artists have combined British, French, Indigenous and American artistic traditions, at times embracing European styles while working to promote nationalism. The nature of Canadian art reflects these diverse origins, as artists have taken their traditions and adapted these influences to reflect the reality of their lives in Canada.
The Canadian government has played a role in the development of Canadian culture through the department of Canadian Heritage, by giving grants to art galleries, as well as establishing and funding art schools and colleges across the country and through the Canada Council for the Arts which was established in 1957, the national public arts funder, helping artists, art galleries and periodicals, and thus contributing to the development of Canada's cultural works. Since the 1950s, works of Inuit art have been given as gifts to foreign dignitaries by the Canadian government.
Canadian visual art has been dominated by figures such as painter Tom Thomson and by the Group of Seven. The Group of Seven were painters with a nationalistic and idealistic focus, who first exhibited their distinctive works in May 1920. Though referred to as having seven members, five artists — Lawren Harris, A. Y. Jackson, Arthur Lismer, J. E. H. MacDonald and Frederick Varley — were responsible for articulating the group's ideas. They were joined briefly by Frank Johnston and by commercial artist Franklin Carmichael. A. J. Casson became part of the group in 1926. Associated with the group was another prominent Canadian artist, Emily Carr, known for her landscapes and portrayals of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast.
Music
Canadian music reflects a variety of regional scenes. Canada has developed a vast music infrastructure that includes church halls, chamber halls, conservatories, academies, performing arts centers, record companies, radio stations and television music video channels. Government support programs, such as the Canada Music Fund, assist a wide range of musicians and entrepreneurs who create, produce and market original and diverse Canadian music. The Canadian music industry is the sixth-largest in the world, producing internationally renowned composers, musicians and ensembles. Music broadcasting in the country is regulated by Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications. The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences presents Canada's music industry awards, the Juno Awards, which were first awarded in 1970. The Canadian Music Hall of Fame, established in 1976, honors Canadian musicians for their lifetime achievements.
Patriotic music in Canada dates back over 200 years as a distinct category from British patriotism, preceding Canadian Confederation by over 50 years. The earliest work of patriotic music in Canada, "The Bold Canadian," was written in 1812. "The Maple Leaf Forever," written in 1866, was a popular patriotic song throughout English Canada and for many years served as an unofficial national anthem. The official national anthem, "O Canada," was originally commissioned by the lieutenant governor of Québec, Théodore Robitaille, for the 1880 St. Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony and was officially adopted in 1980. Calixa Lavallée wrote the music, which was a setting of a patriotic poem composed by the poet and judge Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier. The text was originally only in French before it was adapted into English in 1906.
Sports
The roots of organized sports in Canada date back to the 1770s, culminating in the development and popularization of the major professional games of ice hockey, lacrosse, curling, basketball, baseball, association football and Canadian football. Canada's official national sports are ice hockey and lacrosse. Other sports such as golf, volleyball, skiing, cycling, swimming, badminton, tennis, curling, bowling and the study of martial arts are all widely enjoyed at the youth and amateur levels. Great achievements in Canadian sports are recognized by Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, while the Lou Marsh Trophy is awarded annually to Canada's top athlete by a panel of journalists. There are numerous other sport "halls of fame" in Canada, such as the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Canada shares several major professional sports leagues with the United States. Canadian teams in these leagues include seven franchises in the National Hockey League, as well as three Major League Soccer teams and one team in each of Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association. Other popular professional competitions include the Canadian Football League, National Lacrosse League, Canadian Premier League and various curling tournaments sanctioned and organized by Curling Canada, such as Tim Hortons Brier and Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Canada has enjoyed success at both the Winter Olympics and Summer Olympics, though particularly the former as a "winter sports nation" and has hosted several high-profile international sporting events such as the 1976 Summer Olympics, 1988 Winter Olympics, 2010 Winter Olympics and 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. Most recently, Canada hosted the 2015 Pan American Games and 2015 Parapan American Games in Toronto, the former being one of the largest sporting event hosted by the country. The country is scheduled to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, alongside Mexico and the United States.
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