• 2nd largest country in the world with 32 million friendly people
• United Nations consistently lists Canada as one of the best places to live in the world.  Four years in a row, the United Nations chose Canada as the best country in the world in which to live based on their evaluation of the quality of life in 174 countries using various indicators such as education, medical care and safety.
• Canada welcomes immigrants and embraces diversity – immigrants  make up to 60% of Canada's total  population growth
• First-rate education system - Canadian students earn top scores in  universal testing
• Internationally recognized credits, diplomas and degrees - more than 100,000 international students attend Canadian colleges and universities each year
• Canadian post secondary schools offer affordable tuition and living expenses, ranking among the lowest for English speaking countries
• Canadians enjoy a high standard of living with universal, accessible healthcare
• Canada ranks 7th among the most  popular travel destinations in the world                     

Canadian Culture

• There are 3.8 million Canadians who regularly speak at least two languages at home with Chinese, Italian, and Punjabi as the most frequently spoken other than English and French
• Canadians are recognized internationally for their efforts to promote health and generally consider themselves healthy people
• Compared to other countries, Canadians live longer and suffer less  chronic illnesses and disabilities

Great Websites!
Canadian Travel Guide
Study Canada
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade

Some Interesting Things to Know About Canada

Geography
Canada is the world's second largest country and is 3.8 million square miles. It has a population of nearly 33 million people.Only one-third of Canada's total area has been brought under development. About 24 per cent of the total area is regarded as productive forested land, and about two-thirds of this is accessible. The country leads the world in freshwater area, which is vital to transportation and power generation.

Most Canadians live within 160 kilometres of the U.S. border (16 of the 21 cities of populations more than 100,000 are located there), but distribution of the population is most uneven. Sixty per cent of the total is concentrated in a 1,000-kilometre strip between Quebec City and Windsor, Ontario — within less than two per cent of the country's area.

Government
The system of government that was adopted in Canada by the British North America Act of 1867 is a combination of that of Britain and that of the U.S., a federal union in which certain stated authority rests with the provinces and the right to legislate in all other matters is left to the central parliament in Ottawa.

The Parliament of Canada consists of the elected House of Commons, an appointed Senate and the Governor General who represents the British monarch but is appointed on the advice of the Prime Minister.

Immigration
Since World War II, Canada has admitted some 900,000 refugees from overseas and has provided some $10 billion to assist more than 70 developing countries.

Industry
Canada's major industries have been agriculture, forestry, fisheries, trapping, mining, electric power, manufacturing and construction. Increasingly, however, Canada has become a leader in high-end technologies such as telecommunications and materials recycling.

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