Canada Facts

The Dominion of Canada came into being on July 1, 1867. On this day, the four founding provinces were formed. Further provinces and territories were added over the years, with the most recent territory – Nanavut – forming in 1999.

In the 15 – 64 age group, for every 100 men, Canada has 102 women. The provinces where the imbalance is greatest are Newfoundland/Labrador, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia; all have more than 105 women for every 100 men.

The original Star Trek owes much to Canada. Two of its stars – William Shatner (Captain Kirk) and James Doohan (Scotty) were Canadian. In the 1980s, Doohan’s unique interpretation of a Scottish accent led to the formation of the Scottyish Society at St Andrews University in Scotland. Members offered recitals of the poetry of Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns, in a “Scottyish” accent.

In the more populated provinces, smoking rates are highest in Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. About one-quarter of adults smoke in these provinces. Smoking rates are lowest in Ontario (19.8%) and British Columbia (18.6%).

The largest Island in Canada is Baffin Island. It is the fifth biggest island on Earth. Only two US states are bigger than Baffin Island – Alaska and Texas. Baffin Island is more than double the size of the UK and is slightly smaller than France.

Atlantic Canada has some of the worst Canadian obesity rates and contains the two cities which are home to Canada’s fattest people. In first place for fatties is St. John’s with a rate of 36.40 per cent obese. It is followed by the similarly named Saint John with similarly fatty statistics at 34.70 per cent obese.