Lifestyle in Canada

Since then many immigration waves took place resulting in a diverse society with Muslims, Catholics, Protestants and many others. Nowadays Canadians live in one of the English or French-speaking major cities like Toronto, Vancouver or Quebec, which are worth a visit. The cultural diversity has also influenced the Canadian cuisine and the Canadian nightlife, which have characteristics of Asian, European and Arabic countries.

 

What Canada is famous for

Very often if somebody is asked about Canada you get answers that deal with snow, cold or the United States. Well, this is all true, but Canada is also more than just the US’ backyard. Let’s just have a look:

Celebrities	Inventions
Avril Lavigne (singer)	Telephone by Alexander Graham Bell
Pamela Anderson (glamour model)	Trivial Pursuit by Chris Haney & Scott Abbott
Shania Tawin (singer)	Basketball by James Naismith
Nelly Furtado (singer-songwriter)	Zipper by Gideon Sundback
Keanu Reeves (actor)
Jim Carrey (film actor and comedian)

 Yes, all of these celebrities and inventions are originally from Canada. However, it has much more to offer than that. It has a unique culture, religion and language.

 

Canada’s religion and culture

A few hundred years ago settlers from Europe started to explore the country and settled down. Since then, many of the 34 million inhabitants living in this country consider themselves as Canadians. However, Canada’s population sees itself as a multicultural country, as the following table shows. 

 

 

Canada’s languages

Canada has two official languages: English as the major one and French as the second one. Non-official languages are Punjabi (1.3%), Chinese (1.3%), Spanish (1.2%), German (1.2%), Italian (1.2%), Cantonese (1.1%), Arabic (1%) and many more. 

 

Holidays and Places to visit

As in other countries Canada has some days, which it considers as holidays. Those days are called statutory holidays. As an international student in Canada don’t forget to find out about some statutory holidays, which are only in your province.

Date	Name	Where?
January 1	New Year’s Day	Nationwide
Friday before Easter Day	Good Friday	Nationwide
July 1	Canada Day	Nationwide
First Monday in September	Labour Day	Nationwide
December 25	Christmas Day	Nationwide

 

If you’re in the favourable position to stay for a longer time in Canada you might experience those statutory days. You can either stay at home or go out and visit some places. In case you saved some money you can buy a ticket and fly to one of the big and famous cities. If you do that, don’t forget to wear something warm, it might be cold.

Top 5 Places to visit	Some ideas
Vancouver	Stanley Park Vancouver Aquarium Vancouver Art Gallery
Banff	Banff National Park Banff Upper Hot Springs Sulphur Mountain
Montreal	Bell Centre La Ronde Montreal Biodome
Toronto	CN Tower Toronto Zoo Canada’s Wonderland
Ottawa	Rideau Canal National Arts Centre Fairmont Chateau Laurier

 

Cuisine

Most of Canada’s population comprises of immigrants. The first immigrant waves came from Great Britain and France, so Canada’s cuisine finds its roots in those countries. However, some other waves included immigrants from Central, Southern and Eastern Europe but also from South and East Asia as well as the Caribbean. Hence, today’s cuisines is influenced by plenty of different cultures. There are some dishes, which Canada is famous for though and it is considered as something Canadian. Among those are:

• Montreal-style smoked meat: kosher-style deli meat product made by salting and curing beef brisket with spices
• Maple syrup
• Peameal bacon
• Butter tart, which is a small pastry tart
• Poutine: French fries, topped with brown gravy and cheese curds. Sometimes additional ingredients are added
• Nanaimo bar, which is an unbaked dessert

 

Canadian nightlife

In case you’re an outgoing person who loves to party we recommend you to go Montreal – Canada’s so called “sin city” with its unique nightlife. The last call is at 3 a.m. so you have plenty of time to drink and enjoy. Besides the large student population fills bars, pubs, singing bars, African and Latin bars as well as clubs and makes Montreal during the night to a vibrant city. The best known places are:

• Saint-Laurent Street
• Saint-Denis street
• Crescent Street