Native name	Canada
Common name	Canada
Alt flag	Vertical triband (red, white, red) with a red maple leaf in the centre of the white
Image coat	Coat of arms of Canada.svg
Alt coat	A shield divided into four rectangles over a triangle. The first rectangle contains three lions passant guardant in gold on a red background; the second, a red lion rampant on a gold background; the third, a gold harp on a blue background; the fourth, three gold fleurs-de-lis on a blue background. The triangle contains three red maple leaves on a white background. A gold helmet sits on top of the shield, upon which is a crowned lion holding a red maple leaf, with a larger crown over its head. On the right is a lion rampant flying the Union Flag. On the left is a unicorn flying a blue flag with three fleurs-de-lis. Both animals hold a red ribbon that goes around the shield, which says "desiderantes meliorem patriam". Below is a blue scroll inscribed "A mari usque ad mare" on a wreath of flowers.
National motto	(Latin)"From Sea to Sea"
National anthem	"O Canada"
Royal anthem	"God Save the Queen"
Alt map	Projection of North America with Canada in green
Map width	220px
Capital	Ottawa
Largest city	Toronto
Official languages	English and French
Regional languages	Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, Cree, , Gwich’in, Inuvialuktun, Slavey and
Demonym	Canadian
Government type	Federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy
Leader title1	Monarch
Leader name1	Elizabeth II
Leader title2	Governor General
Leader name2	David Johnston
Leader title3	Prime Minister
Leader name3	Stephen Harper
Legislature	Parliament
Upper house	Senate
Lower house	House of Commons
Sovereignty type	Establishment
Established event1	British North America Acts
Established date1	July 1, 1867
Established event2	Statute of Westminster
Established date2	December 11, 1931
Established event3	Canada Act
Established date3	April 17, 1982
Area km2	9,984,670
Area sq mi	3,854,085
Area rank	2nd
Area magnitude	1 E12
Percent water	8.92 (891,163 km2/344,080 mi2)
Population estimate	}}

|population_estimate_year = 2011 |population_estimate_rank = 36th |population_census = 32,623,490 |population_census_year = 2006 |population_density_km2 = 3.41 |population_density_sq_mi = 8.3 |population_density_rank = 228th |GDP_PPP_year = 2010 |GDP_PPP = $1.330 trillion |GDP_PPP_rank = |GDP_PPP_per_capita = $39,057 |GDP_PPP_per_capita_rank = |GDP_nominal = $1.574 trillion |GDP_nominal_rank = |GDP_nominal_year = 2010 |GDP_nominal_per_capita = $46,215 |GDP_nominal_per_capita_rank = |HDI_year = 2010 |HDI = 0.888 |HDI_rank = 8th |HDI_category = very high |Gini = 32.1 |Gini_category = medium |Gini_year = 2005 |currency = Canadian dollar ($) |currency_code = CAD |time_zone = |utc_offset = −3.5 to −8 |time_zone_DST = |utc_offset_DST = −2.5 to −7 |date_format = dd-mm-yyyy, mm-dd-yyyy, ''and'' yyyy-mm-dd (CE) |drives_on = Right |cctld = .ca |calling_code = +1 |footnotes = Canada portal }} Canada () is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean. It is the world's second largest country by total area. Canada's common border with the United States to the south and northwest is the longest in the world.

The land that is now Canada was inhabited for millennia by various groups of Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored, and later settled, along the Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. 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 British parliament.

Canada is a federal state that is governed as a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. It is a bilingual nation with both English and French as official languages at the federal level. One of the world's highly developed countries, Canada has a diversified economy that is reliant upon its abundant natural resources and upon trade—particularly with the United States, with which Canada has had a long and complex relationship. It is a member of the G7, G8, G20, NATO, OECD, WTO, Commonwealth of Nations, Francophonie, OAS, APEC, and UN. With the eighth-highest Human Development Index globally, it has one of the highest standards of living in the world.

History

Etymology

The name ''Canada'' comes from a 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 also the entire area subject to Donnacona (the chief at Stadacona); by 1545, European books and maps had begun referring to this region as ''Canada''.

In the 17th and early 18th century, Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the Saint Lawrence River and the northern shores of the Great Lakes. The area was later split into two British colonies, Upper Canada and Lower Canada. They were re-unified as the Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, the name ''Canada'' was adopted as the legal name for the new country, and ''Dominion'' (a term from Psalm 72:8) was conferred as the country's title. As Canada asserted its political autonomy from the United Kingdom, the federal government increasingly used simply ''Canada'' on state documents and treaties, a change that was reflected in the renaming of the national holiday from Dominion Day to Canada Day in 1982.

Aboriginal peoples

Archaeological and genetic studies support a human presence in the northern Yukon from 26,500 years ago, and in southern Ontario from 9,500 years ago. Old Crow Flats and Bluefish Caves are two of the earliest archaeological sites of human (Paleo-Indians) habitation in Canada. Among the First Nations peoples, there are eight unique creation myths and their adaptations. The characteristics of Canadian Aboriginal societies included permanent settlements, agriculture, complex societal hierarchies, and trading networks. Some of these cultures had faded by the time of the first permanent European arrivals (c. late 15th–early 16th centuries), and have been discovered through archaeological investigations.

The aboriginal population is estimated to have been between 200,000 and two million in the late 15th century, with a figure of 500,000 accepted by Canada's Royal Commission on Aboriginal Health. Repeated outbreaks of European infectious diseases such as influenza, measles, and smallpox (to which they had no natural immunity), combined with other effects of European contact, resulted in a forty to eighty percent aboriginal population decrease post-contact. Aboriginal peoples in Canada include the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis. The Métis are a mixed-blood people who originated in the mid-17th century when First Nation and Inuit married European settlers. The Inuit had more limited interaction with European settlers during the colonization period.

European colonization

European colonization began when Norsemen settled briefly at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland around 1000. No further European exploration occurred until 1497, when Italian seafarer John Cabot explored Canada's Atlantic coast for England. Basque and Portuguese mariners established seasonal whaling and fishing outposts along the Atlantic coast. In 1534 Jacques Cartier explored the Saint Lawrence River for France. In 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed St. John's, Newfoundland as the first North American English colony by royal prerogative of Queen Elizabeth I. French explorer Samuel de Champlain arrived in 1603 and established the first permanent European settlements at Port Royal in 1605 and Quebec City in 1608. Among French 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 over control of the North American fur trade.

The English established additional colonies in Cupids and Ferryland, Newfoundland beginning in 1610 and soon after founded the Thirteen Colonies to the south. A series of four French and Indian Wars erupted between 1689 and 1763. Mainland Nova Scotia came under British rule with the Treaty of Utrecht (1713); the Treaty of Paris (1763) ceded Canada and most of New France to Britain after the Seven Years' War.

The Royal Proclamation of 1763 carved 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 passed the Quebec Act of 1774, expanding Quebec's territory to the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley. It re-established the French language, Catholic faith, and French civil law there. This angered many residents of the Thirteen Colonies and helped to fuel the American Revolution.

The Treaty of Paris (1783) recognized American independence and ceded territories south of the Great Lakes to the United States. New Brunswick was split from Nova Scotia as part of a reorganization of Loyalist settlements in the Maritimes. To accommodate English-speaking Loyalists in Quebec, the Constitutional Act of 1791 divided the province 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 Britain. Following the war, large-scale immigration to Canada from Britain and Ireland began in 1815. From 1825 to 1846, 626,628 European immigrants landed at Canadian ports. Between one-quarter and one-third of all Europeans who immigrated to Canada before 1891 died of infectious diseases.

The desire for responsible government resulted in the aborted 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. Responsible government was established for all British North American provinces by 1849. 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).

Confederation and expansion

Following several constitutional conferences, the Constitution Act, 1867 officially proclaimed Canadian Confederation on July 1, 1867, 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 united in 1866) and Prince Edward Island joined the Confederation in 1871 and 1873, respectively. Prime Minister John A. Macdonald and his Conservative government established a National Policy of tariffs to protect nascent Canadian manufacturing industries.

To open the West, the government sponsored construction of three transcontinental railways (including the Canadian Pacific Railway), opened the prairies to settlement with the Dominion Lands Act, and established the North-West Mounted Police to assert its authority over this territory. In 1898, after the Klondike Gold Rush in the Northwest Territories, the Canadian government created the Yukon Territory. Under Liberal Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, continental European immigrants settled the prairies, and Alberta and Saskatchewan became provinces in 1905.

Early 20th century

Because Britain still maintained control of Canada's foreign affairs under the Confederation Act, 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. The Corps played a substantial role in the Battle of Vimy Ridge and other major battles of the war. Out of approximately 625,000 who served, about 60,000 were killed and another 173,000 were wounded. The Conscription Crisis of 1917 erupted when conservative Prime Minister Robert Borden brought in compulsory military service over the objection of French-speaking Quebecers. In 1919, Canada joined the League of Nations independently of Britain and, the Statute of Westminster 1931 affirmed Canada's independence.

The Great Depression brought economic hardship throughout Canada. In response, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in Alberta and Saskatchewan enacted many measures of a welfare state (as pioneered by Tommy Douglas) into the 1940s and 1950s. Canada declared war on Germany independently during World War II under Liberal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, three days after Britain. The first Canadian Army units arrived in Britain in December 1939.

Canadian troops played important roles in the failed 1942 Dieppe Raid, the Allied invasion of Italy, the Normandy landings, the Battle of Normandy, and the Battle of the Scheldt in 1944. Canada provided asylum and protection for the monarchy of the Netherlands while that country was occupied, and is credited by the country for leadership and major contributions to its liberation from Nazi Germany. The Canadian economy boomed as industry manufactured military materiel for Canada, Britain, China, and the Soviet Union. Despite another Conscription Crisis in Quebec, Canada finished the war with a large army and strong economy.

Modern times

Newfoundland (now Newfoundland and Labrador) joined Canada in 1949. 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 current Maple Leaf Flag in 1965, the implementation of official bilingualism (English and French) in 1969, and official multiculturalism in 1971. There was also the founding of socially democratic programmes, 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 1982 patriation of Canada's constitution from the United Kingdom, concurrent with the creation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 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 modern nationalist movement. The radical Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) ignited the October Crisis in 1970. The sovereignist Parti Québécois was elected in 1976 and organized 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 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 just 50.6 to 49.4 percent. In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that 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 in 1990, the first of a number of violent confrontations between the government and Aboriginal groups. Canada also joined the Gulf War in 1990 as part of a US-led coalition force, and was active in several peacekeeping missions in the late 1990s. It sent troops to Afghanistan in 2001, but declined to send forces to Iraq when the US invaded in 2003.

Geography

Canada occupies a major northern portion of North America, sharing the land borders with the contiguous United States to the south and the U.S. state of Alaska to the northwest, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west; to the north lies the Arctic Ocean. By total area (including its waters), Canada is the second-largest country in the world, after Russia. By land area, Canada ranks fourth.

The country lies between latitudes 41° and 84°N, and longitudes 52° and 141°W. Since 1925, Canada has claimed the portion of the Arctic between 60° and 141°W longitude, but this claim is not universally recognized. The northernmost settlement in Canada (and in the world) is Canadian Forces Station Alert on the northern tip of Ellesmere Island—latitude 82.5°N—817 kilometres (450 nautical miles, 508 miles) from the North Pole. Much of the Canadian Arctic is covered by ice and permafrost. Canada also has the longest coastline in the world: .

Since the last glacial period Canada has consisted of eight distinct forest regions, including extensive boreal forest on the Canadian Shield. Canada has more lakes than any other country, containing much of the world's fresh water. There are also fresh-water glaciers in the Canadian Rockies and the Coast Mountains. Canada is geologically active, having many earthquakes and potentially active volcanoes, notably Mount Meager, Mount Garibaldi, Mount Cayley, and the Mount Edziza volcanic complex. The volcanic eruption of Tseax Cone in 1775 caused a catastrophic disaster, killing 2,000 Nisga'a people and destroying their village in the Nass River valley of northern British Columbia; the eruption produced a lava flow, and according to legend of the Nisga'a people, it blocked the flow of the Nass River.

The population density, , is among the lowest in the world. The most densely populated part of the country is the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor, situated in Southern Quebec and Southern Ontario along the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River.

Average winter and summer high temperatures across Canada vary according to the location. Winters can be harsh in many regions of the country, particularly in the interior and Prairie provinces, which experience a continental climate, where daily average temperatures are near −15 °C (5 °F) but can drop below with severe wind chills. In noncoastal regions, snow can cover the ground almost six months of the year (more in the north). Coastal British Columbia has a temperate climate, with a mild and rainy winter. On the east and west coasts, average high temperatures are generally in the low 20s °C (70s °F), while between the coasts, the average summer high temperature ranges from , with occasional extreme heat in some interior locations exceeding .

Government and politics

Canada has strong democratic traditions upheld through a parliamentary system within the construct of constitutional monarchy; the monarchy of Canada is the foundation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II, who also serves as head of state of 15 other Commonwealth countries and each of Canada's ten provinces and resides predominantly in the United Kingdom. As such, the Queen's representative, the Governor General of Canada (presently David Lloyd Johnston), carries out most of the federal royal duties in Canada.

The direct participation of the royal and viceroyal figures in areas of governance is limited; in practice, their use of the executive powers is directed by the Cabinet, a committee of ministers of the Crown responsible to the elected House of Commons and chosen and headed by the Prime Minister of Canada (presently Stephen Harper), the head of government. To ensure the stability of government, the governor general will usually appoint as prime minister the person who is the current leader of the political party that can obtain the confidence of a plurality in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is thus one of the most powerful institutions in government, initiating most legislation for parliamentary approval and selecting for appointment by the Crown, besides the aforementioned, the governor general, lieutenant governors, senators, federal court judges, and heads of Crown corporations and government agencies. The leader of the party with the second-most seats usually becomes the Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition (presently Nycole Turmel) and is part of an adversarial parliamentary system intended to keep the government in check.

Each of the 308 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons is elected by simple plurality in an electoral district or riding. General elections must be called by the governor general, on the advice of the prime minister, within four years of the previous election, or may be triggered by the government losing a confidence vote in the House. The 105 members of the Senate, whose seats are apportioned on a regional basis, serve until age 75. Five parties had representatives elected to the federal parliament in the 2011 elections: the Conservative Party of Canada (governing party), the New Democratic Party (the Official Opposition), the Liberal Party of Canada, the Bloc Québécois, and the Green Party of Canada. The list of historical parties with elected representation is substantial.

Canada's federal structure divides government responsibilities between the federal government and the ten provinces. Provincial legislatures are unicameral and operate in parliamentary fashion similar to the House of Commons. Canada's three territories also have legislatures, but these are not sovereign and have fewer constitutional responsibilities than the provinces and with some structural differences.

Law

The Constitution of Canada is the supreme law of the country, and consists of written text and unwritten conventions. The Constitution Act, 1867 (known as the British North America Act prior to 1982) affirmed governance based on parliamentary precedent and divided powers between the federal and provincial governments; the Statute of Westminster 1931 granted full autonomy; and the Constitution Act, 1982, ended all legislative ties to the UK, added a constitutional amending formula, and added the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees basic rights and freedoms that usually cannot be overridden by any government—though a notwithstanding clause allows the federal parliament and provincial legislatures to override certain sections of the Charter for a period of five years.

Although not without conflict, European Canadians' early interactions with First Nations and Inuit populations were relatively peaceful. Combined with Canada's late economic development in many regions, this peaceful history has allowed Canadian Indigenous peoples to have a relatively strong influence on the national culture while preserving their own identity. The Crown and Aboriginal peoples began interactions during the European colonialization period. Numbered Treaties, the Indian Act, the Constitution Act of 1982, and case laws were established. A series of eleven treaties were signed between Aboriginals in Canada and the reigning Monarch of Canada from 1871 to 1921. These treaties are agreements with the Government of Canada administered by Canadian Aboriginal law and overseen by the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. The role of the treaties was reaffirmed by Section Thirty-five of the Constitution Act, 1982, which "recognizes and affirms existing Aboriginal and treaty rights". These rights may include provision of services such as health care, and exemption from taxation. The legal and policy framework within which Canada and First Nations operate was further formalized in 2005, through the First Nations–Federal Crown Political Accord.

Canada's judiciary plays an important role in interpreting laws and has the power to strike down laws that violate the Constitution. The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court and final arbiter and has been led by the Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, P.C. (the first female Chief Justice) since 2000. Its nine members are appointed by the governor general on the advice of the Prime Minister and Minister of Justice. All judges at the superior and appellate levels are appointed after consultation with nongovernmental legal bodies. The federal cabinet also appoints justices to superior courts at the provincial and territorial levels.

Common law prevails everywhere except in Quebec, where civil law predominates. Criminal law is solely a federal responsibility and is uniform throughout Canada. Law enforcement, including criminal courts, is a provincial responsibility, but in rural areas of all provinces except Ontario and Quebec, policing is contracted to the federal Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Foreign relations and military

Canada and the United States share the world's longest undefended border, co-operate on military campaigns and exercises, and are each other's largest trading partner. Canada nevertheless has an independent foreign policy, most notably maintaining full relations with Cuba and declining to officially participate in the Iraq War. Canada also maintains historic ties to the United Kingdom and France and to other former British and French colonies through Canada's membership in the Commonwealth of Nations and the Francophonie. Canada is noted for having a positive relationship with the Netherlands, owing, in part, to its contribution to the Dutch liberation.

Canada currently employs a professional, volunteer military force of over 67,000 regular and approximately 43,000 reserve personnel including supplementary reserves. The unified Canadian Forces (CF) comprise the Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Navy, and Royal Canadian Air Force.

Strong attachment to the British Empire and Commonwealth led to major participation in British military efforts in the Second Boer War, World War I and World War II. Since then, Canada has been an advocate for multilateralism, making efforts to resolve global issues in collaboration with other nations. Canada was a founding member of the United Nations in 1945 and of NATO in 1949. During the Cold War, Canada was a major contributor to UN forces in the Korean War and founded the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in cooperation with the United States to defend against potential aerial attacks from the Soviet Union.

During the Suez Crisis of 1956, future Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson eased tensions by proposing the inception of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force, for which he was awarded the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize. As this was the first UN peacekeeping mission, Pearson is often credited as the inventor of the concept. Canada has since served in 50 peacekeeping missions, including every UN peacekeeping effort until 1989, and has since maintained forces in international missions in Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, and elsewhere; Canada has sometimes faced controversy over its involvement in foreign countries, notably in the 1993 Somalia Affair.

Canada joined the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1990 and hosted the OAS General Assembly in Windsor, Ontario, in June 2000 and the third Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in April 2001. Canada seeks to expand its ties to Pacific Rim economies through membership in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC).

In 2001, Canada had troops deployed to Afghanistan as part of the U.S. stabilization force and the UN-authorized, NATO-commanded International Security Assistance Force. Starting in July 2011, Canada began withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan. The mission had cost 157 soldiers, one diplomat, two aid workers, and one journalist their lives, with an approximate cost of C$11.3 billion Canada and the U.S. continue to integrate state and provincial agencies to strengthen security along the Canada-United States border through the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.

In February 2007, Canada, Italy, Britain, Norway, and Russia announced their funding commitments to launch a $1.5 billion project to help develop vaccines they said could save millions of lives in poor nations, and called on others to join them. In August 2007, Canada's territorial claims in the Arctic were challenged after a Russian underwater expedition to the North Pole; Canada has considered that area to be sovereign territory since 1925. In July 2010 the largest purchase in Canadian military history, totaling C$9 billion for the acquisition of 65 F-35 fighters was announced by the federal government.

Provinces and territories

Canada is a federation composed of ten provinces and three territories. In turn, these may be grouped into regions: Western Canada, Central Canada, Atlantic Canada, and Northern Canada (Eastern Canada refers to Central Canada and Atlantic Canada together). Provinces have more autonomy than territories. The provinces are responsible for most of Canada's social programs (such as health care, education, and welfare) and together collect more revenue than the federal government, an almost unique structure among federations in the world. Using its spending powers, the federal government can initiate national policies in provincial areas, such as the Canada Health Act; the provinces can opt out of these, but rarely do so in practice. Equalization payments are made by the federal government to ensure that reasonably uniform standards of services and taxation are kept between the richer and poorer provinces.

Economy

Canada is one of the world's wealthiest nations, with a high per-capita income. It is a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the G8, and is one of the world's top ten trading nations. Canada is a mixed economy, ranking above the U.S. and most western European nations on the Heritage Foundation's index of economic freedom. The largest foreign importers of Canadian goods are the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan.

In the past century, the growth of the manufacturing, mining, and service sectors has transformed the nation from a largely rural economy to a more industrial and urban one. Like other First World nations, the Canadian economy is dominated by the service industry, which employs about three quarters of Canadians. Canada is unusual among developed countries in the importance of its primary sector, in which the logging and petroleum industries are two of the most important.

Canada is one of the few developed nations that are net exporters of energy. Atlantic Canada has vast offshore deposits of natural gas, and Alberta has large oil and gas resources. The immense Athabasca oil sands give Canada the world's second-largest oil reserves, behind Saudi Arabia.

Canada is one of the world's largest suppliers of agricultural products; the Canadian Prairies are one of the most important producers of wheat, canola, and other grains. Canada is the largest producer of zinc and uranium, and is a global source of many other natural resources, such as gold, nickel, aluminum, and lead. Many towns in northern Canada, where agriculture is difficult, are sustainable because of nearby mines or sources of timber. Canada also has a sizable manufacturing sector centred in southern Ontario and Quebec, with automobiles and aeronautics representing particularly important industries.

Economic integration with the United States has increased significantly since World War II. The Automotive Products Trade Agreement of 1965 opened the borders to trade in the auto manufacturing industry. In the 1970s, concerns over energy self-sufficiency and foreign ownership in the manufacturing sectors prompted Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's Liberal government to enact the National Energy Program (NEP) and the Foreign Investment Review Agency (FIRA).

In the 1980s, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservatives abolished the NEP and changed the name of FIRA to "Investment Canada" in order to encourage foreign investment. The Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement (FTA) of 1988 eliminated tariffs between the two countries, while the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) expanded the free-trade zone to include Mexico in the 1990s. In the mid-1990s, the Liberal government under Jean Chrétien began to post annual budgetary surpluses and steadily paid down the national debt. The global financial crisis of 2008 caused a recession, which could increase the country's unemployment rate to 10 percent. In 2008, Canada's imported goods were worth over $442.9 billion, of which $280.8 billion was from the United States, $11.7 billion from Japan, and $11.3 billion from the United Kingdom. The country’s 2009 trade deficit totaled C$4.8 billion, compared with a C$46.9 billion surplus in 2008.

As of October 2009, Canada's national unemployment rate was 8.6 percent. Provincial unemployment rates vary from a low of 5.8 percent in Manitoba to a high of 17 percent in Newfoundland and Labrador. Between October 2008, and October 2010, the Canadian labour market lost 162,000 full-time jobs and a total of 224,000 permanent jobs. Canada's federal debt is estimated to be $566.7 billion for 2010–11, up from $463.7 billion in 2008–09. Canada’s net foreign debt rose by $41-billion to $194-billion in the first quarter of 2010.

Science and technology

Canada is an industrial nation with a highly developed science and technology sector. Nearly 1.88 percent of Canada's GDP is allocated to research & development (R&D;). The country has ten Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry and medicine. Canada ranks twelfth in the world for Internet usage with 28.0 million users, 84.3 percent of the total population.

The Canadian Space Agency conducts space, planetary, and aviation research, and develops rockets and satellites. In 1984, Marc Garneau became Canada's first astronaut, serving as payload specialist of STS-41-G. Canada was ranked third among 20 top countries in space sciences. Canada is a participant in the International Space Station and one of the world's pioneers in space robotics with the Canadarm, Canadarm2 and Dextre. Since the 1960s, Canada Aerospace Industries have designed and built 10 satellites, including Radarsat-1, Radarsat-2 and MOST. Canada also produced one of the most successful sounding rockets, the Black Brant; over 1000 have been launched since they were initially produced in 1961. Universities across Canada are working on the first domestic landing spacecraft: the Northern Light, designed to search for life on Mars and investigate Martian electromagnetic radiation environment and atmospheric properties. If the Northern Light is successful, Canada will be the third country to land on another planet.

Demographics

The Canada 2006 Census counted a total population of 31,612,897, an increase of 5.4 percent since 2001. Population growth is from immigration and, to a lesser extent, natural growth. About four-fifths of Canada's population lives within of the United States border. The majority of Canadians (approximately 80%) live in urban areas concentrated in the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor, the BC Lower Mainland, and the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor in Alberta. In common with many other developed countries, Canada is experiencing a demographic shift towards an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age. In 2006, the average age of the population was 39.5 years.

According to the 2006 census, the largest self-reported ethnic origin is Canadian (32%), followed by English (21%), French (15.8%), Scottish (15.1%), Irish (13.9%), German (10.2%), Italian (4.6%), Chinese (4.3%), First Nations (4.0%), Ukrainian (3.9%), and Dutch (3.3%). There are 600 recognized First Nations governments or bands encompassing 1,172,790 people.

Canada's Aboriginal population is growing at almost twice the national rate, and 3.8 percent of Canada's population claimed aboriginal identity in 2006. Another 16.2 percent of the population belonged to a non-aboriginal visible minority. The largest visible minority groups in Canada are South Asian (4.0%), Chinese (3.9%) and Black (2.5%). Between 2001 and 2006, the visible minority population rose by 27.2 percent. In 1961, less than two percent of Canada's population (about 300,000 people) could be classified as belonging to a visible minority group and less than 1% as aboriginal. As of 2007, almost one in five Canadians (19.8%) were foreign-born. Nearly 60 percent of new immigrants come from Asia (including the Middle East). The leading emigrating countries to Canada were China, Philippines and India. By 2031, one in three Canadians could belong to a visible minority group.

Canada has one of the highest per-capita immigration rates in the world, driven by economic policy and family reunification, and is aiming for between 240,000 and 265,000 new permanent residents in 2011, the same number of immigrants as in recent years. New immigrants settle mostly in major urban areas like Toronto and Vancouver. Canada also accepts large numbers of refugees. The country resettles over one in 10 of the world’s refugees.

According to the 2001 census, 77.1 percent of Canadians identify as being Christians; of this, Catholics make up the largest group (43.6% of Canadians). The largest Protestant denomination is the United Church of Canada (9.5% of Canadians), followed by the Anglicans (6.8%), Baptists (2.4%), Lutherans (2%), and other Christians (4.4%). About 16.5 percent of Canadians declare no religious affiliation, and the remaining 6.3 percent are affiliated with non-Christian religions, the largest of which is Islam (2.0%), followed by Judaism (1.1%).

Canadian provinces and territories are responsible for education. Each system is similar, while reflecting regional history, culture and geography. The mandatory school age ranges between 5–7 to 16–18 years, contributing to an adult literacy rate of 99 percent. In 2002, 43 percent of Canadians aged 25 to 64 possessed a post-secondary education; for those aged 25 to 34, the rate of post-secondary education reached 51 percent.

Language

Canada's two official languages are English and French. Official bilingualism is defined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Official Languages Act, and ''Official Language Regulations''; it is applied by the Commissioner of Official Languages. English and French have equal status in federal courts, Parliament, and in all federal institutions. Citizens have the right, where there is sufficient demand, to receive federal government services in either English or French, and official-language minorities are guaranteed their own schools in all provinces and territories.

English and French are the first languages of 59.7 and 23.2 percent of the population respectively. Approximately 98 percent of Canadians speak English or French: 57.8% speak English only, 22.1% speak French only, and 17.4% speak both. English and French Official Language Communities, defined by First Official Language Spoken, constitute 73.0 and 23.6 percent of the population respectively.

The Charter of the French Language makes French the official language in Quebec. Although more than 85 percent of French-speaking Canadians live in Quebec, there are substantial Francophone populations in Ontario, Alberta, and southern Manitoba; Ontario has the largest French-speaking population outside Quebec. New Brunswick, the only officially bilingual province, has a French-speaking Acadian minority constituting 33 percent of the population. There are also clusters of Acadians in southwestern Nova Scotia, on Cape Breton Island, and through central and western Prince Edward Island.

Other provinces have no official languages as such, but French is used as a language of instruction, in courts, and for other government services in addition to English. Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec allow for both English and French to be spoken in the provincial legislatures, and laws are enacted in both languages. In Ontario, French has some legal status but is not fully co-official. There are 11 Aboriginal language groups, made up of more than 65 distinct dialects. Of these, only Cree, Inuktitut and Ojibway have a large enough population of fluent speakers to be considered viable to survive in the long term. Several aboriginal languages have official status in the Northwest Territories. Inuktitut is the majority language in Nunavut, and one of three official languages in the territory.

Over six million people in Canada list a non-official language as their mother tongue. Some of the most common non-official first languages include Chinese (mainly Cantonese; 1,012,065 first-language speakers), Italian (455,040), German (450,570), Punjabi (367,505) and Spanish (345,345). and the languages most spoken at home by 68.3 percent and 22.3 percent of the population respectively.

Culture

Canada has a diverse makeup of nationalities and cultures, and has constitutional protection for policies that promote multiculturalism. In Quebec, cultural identity is strong, and many French-speaking commentators speak of a culture of Quebec as distinguished from English Canadian culture; however, as a whole Canada is a cultural mosaic—a collection of several regional, aboriginal, and ethnic subcultures. Government policies such as publicly-funded health care, higher taxation to distribute wealth, outlawing capital punishment, strong efforts to eliminate poverty, an emphasis on multiculturalism, stricter gun control, and legalization of same-sex marriage are social indicators of how Canada's political and cultural evolution differs from that of the United States. Historically Canada has been influenced by British, French, and aboriginal cultures and traditions. Through their culture, language, art and music, aboriginals continue to influence the Canadian identity. Many Canadians value multiculturalism and see Canada as being inherently multicultural. American media and entertainment are popular, if not dominant, in English Canada; conversely, many Canadian cultural products and entertainers are successful in the United States and worldwide. Many cultural products are marketed toward a unified "North American" or global market. The creation and preservation of distinctly Canadian culture are supported by federal government programs, laws, and institutions such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the National Film Board of Canada, and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

Canadian visual art has been dominated by Tom Thomson — Canada's most famous painter — and by the Group of Seven. Thomson's brief career painting Canadian landscapes spanned just a decade up to his death in 1917 at age 39. The Group 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.

The Canadian music industry has produced internationally renowned composers, musicians and ensembles. Canada's music broadcasting is regulated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences administers Canada's music industry awards, the Juno Awards, which commenced in 1970. The national anthem of Canada ''O Canada'' adopted in 1980, was originally commissioned by the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, the Honourable Théodore Robitaille, for the 1880 St. Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony. 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 translated to English in 1906.

Canada's official national sports are ice hockey and lacrosse. Hockey is a national pastime and the most popular spectator sport in the country. It is also the sport most played by Canadians, with 1.65 million participants in 2004. Seven of Canada's eight largest metropolitan areas—Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg—have franchises in the National Hockey League (NHL), and there are more Canadian players in the NHL than from all other countries combined. Other popular spectator sports include curling and football; the latter is played professionally in the Canadian Football League (CFL). Golf, baseball, skiing, soccer, cricket, volleyball, and basketball are widely played at youth and amateur levels, but professional leagues and franchises are not widespread.

Canada has hosted several high-profile international sporting events, including the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, and the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Canada was the host nation for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia.

Canada's national symbols are influenced by natural, historical, and Aboriginal sources. 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, on the penny, and on the Arms of Canada. Other prominent symbols include the beaver, Canada Goose, Common Loon, the Crown, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and more recently, the totem pole and Inuksuk.

See also

References

Further reading

; History ISBN 0802050166, ISBN 0802028012 ; Geography and climate ; Government and law ; Foreign relations and military ; Economy ; Demography and statistics ; Culture

External links

Official website of the Government of Canada

Official website of the Governor General of Canada

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Canada at UCB Libraries GovPubs

Canadian Studies: A Guide to the Sources

Canadiana: The National Bibliography of Canada

Category:Countries bordering the Atlantic Ocean Category:Countries bordering the Pacific Ocean Category:Countries bordering the Arctic Ocean Category:Constitutional monarchies Category:English-speaking countries and territories Category:Federal countries Category:Former British colonies Category:French-speaking countries Category:G8 nations Category:G20 nations Category:Liberal democracies Category:Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations Category:Member states of La Francophonie Category:Member states of NATO Category:Northern American countries Category:States and territories established in 1867 Category:Member states of the United Nations

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Title	O Canada
Alt title
Alt title 2
Prefix	National
Country
Composer	Calixa Lavallée
Music date	1880
Author	Adolphe-Basile Routhier (French, 1880) Robert Stanley Weir (English, 1908)
Adopted	1980
Sound	O Canada.ogg
Sound title	O Canada }}

"O Canada" is the national anthem of Canada. The song was originally commissioned by Lieutenant Governor of Quebec Théodore Robitaille for the 1880 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony; Calixa Lavallée wrote the music as a setting of a French Canadian patriotic poem composed by poet and judge Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier. The lyrics were originally in French and translated into English in 1906.

Robert Stanley Weir wrote in 1908 another English version, one that is not a literal translation of the French. Weir's lyrics have been revised twice, taking their present form in 1980, but the French lyrics remain unaltered. "O Canada" had served as a de facto national anthem since 1939, officially becoming Canada's national anthem in 1980, when the Act of Parliament making it so received Royal Assent and became effective on July 1 as part of that year's Dominion Day celebrations.

Official lyrics

The Crown-in-Council established set lyrics for "O Canada" in Canada's two official languages, as well as in Inuktitut. There is also a commonly sung bilingual version which combines the English and French lyrics. The lyrics are as follows: {| cellpadding=6 |- | style="width:33.33333%;"| ''Official English'' | style="width:33.33333%;"| ''Official French'' | style="width:33.33333%;"| ''Inuktitut (unofficial)'' |- style="vertical-align:top; white-space:nowrap;" | style="width:33.33333%;"| O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love in all thy sons command. With glowing hearts we see thee rise, The True North strong and free! From far and wide, O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. God keep our land glorious and free! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. | style="width:33.33333%;"| Ô Canada! Terre de nos aïeux, Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux! Car ton bras sait porter l'épée, Il sait porter la croix! Ton histoire est une épopée Des plus brillants exploits. Et ta valeur, de foi trempée, Protégera nos foyers et nos droits. Protégera nos foyers et nos droits. | style="width:33.33333%;"| ᐆ ᑲᓇᑕ! ᓇᖕᒥᓂ ᓄᓇᕗᑦ! ᐱᖁᔭᑏ ᓇᓚᑦᑎᐊᖅᐸᕗᑦ. ᐊᖏᒡᓕᕙᓪᓕᐊᔪᑎ, ᓴᙱᔪᓗᑎᓪᓗ. ᓇᖏᖅᐳᒍ, ᐆ ᑲᓇᑕ, ᒥᐊᓂᕆᑉᓗᑎ. ᐆ ᑲᓇᑕ! ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊ! ᓇᖏᖅᐳᒍ ᒥᐊᓂᕆᑉᓗᑎ, ᐆ ᑲᓇᑕ, ᓴᓚᒋᔭᐅᖁᓇ! |- | style="width:33.33333%;"| ''Bilingual Version'' | style="width:33.33333%;"| ''Translation'': | style="width:33.33333%;"| ''Transliteration'': |- style="vertical-align:top; white-space:nowrap;" | style="width:33.33333%;"| O Canada! Our home and native land True patriot love in all thy sons command. Car ton bras sait porter l'épée, Il sait porter la croix! Ton histoire est une épopée Des plus brillants exploits. God keep our land glorious and free! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. | style="width:33.33333%;"| O Canada! Land of our forefathers, Thy brow is wreathed with a glorious garland of flowers. As is thy arm ready to wield the sword, So also is it ready to carry the cross. Thy history is an epic Of the most brilliant exploits. Thy valour steeped in faith Will protect our homes and our rights Will protect our homes and our rights | style="width:33.33333%;"| Uu Kanata! Nangmini nunavut! Piqujatii nalattiaqpavut. Angiglivalliajuti, Sanngijulutillu. Nangiqpugu, Uu Kanata, Mianiripluti. Uu Kanata! nunatsia! Nangiqpugu mianiripluti, Uu Kanata, salagijauquna! |}

It has been noted that the opening theme of "O Canada" bears a strong resemblance to the "Marsch der Priester" ("March of the Priests"), from the opera ''Die Zauberflöte'' (''The Magic Flute''), composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and that Lavallée's melody was inspired by Mozart's tune. The line "The True North strong and free" is based on Alfred Tennyson's description of Canada as "that True North whereof we lately heard." In the context of Tennyson's poem, the word "true" means "loyal" or "faithful".

The lyrics and melody of "O Canada" are both in the public domain, a status unaffected by the trademarking of the phrases "with glowing hearts" and "des plus brillants exploits" for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Two provinces have adopted Latin translations of phrases from the English lyrics as their mottos: Manitoba ''Gloriosus et Liber'' ("Glorious and Free") and Alberta ''Fortis et Liber'' ("Strong and Free"). Similarly, the motto of Canadian Forces Land Force Command is ''Vigilamus Pro Te'' ("We Stand on Guard for Thee").

Lyric changes

Weir's original lyrics from 1908 contained no religious references and used the phrase "thou dost in us command" before they were changed by Weir in 1914 to read "in all thy sons command". In 1926, a fourth verse of a religious nature was added.

In June 1990, Toronto City Council voted 12 to 7 in favour of recommending to the Canadian government that the phrase "our home and native land" be changed to "our home and cherished land" and that "in all thy sons command" be partly reverted to "in all of us command." Also proposed, but ultimately rejected, was the alternate wording "thy sons and daughters stand." Councillor Howard Moscoe said that the words ''native land'' were not appropriate for the many Canadians who were not native-born and that the word ''sons'' implied "that women can't feel true patriotism or love for Canada." Senator Vivienne Poy similarly criticized the English lyrics of the anthem as being sexist and she introduced a bill in 2002 proposing to change the phrase "in all thy sons command" to "in all of us command." In the late 2000s, the anthem's religious references (to God in English and to the Christian cross in French) were criticized by secularists.

In the Throne Speech delivered by Governor General Michaëlle Jean on March 3, 2010, a plan to have parliament review the "original gender-neutral wording of the national anthem" was announced. However, three quarters of Canadians polled after the speech objected to the proposal and, two days later, the prime minister's office announced that the Cabinet had decided to leave the national anthem alone.

History

The original French lyrics of "O Canada" were written by Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier, to music composed by Calixa Lavallée, as a French Canadian patriotic song for the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society and first performed on June 24, 1880, at a Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day banquet in Quebec City. At that time, the "''Chant National''", also by Routhier, was popular amongst Francophones as an anthem, while "God Save the Queen" and "The Maple Leaf Forever" had, since 1867, been competing as unofficial national anthems in English Canada. "O Canada" joined that fray when a group of school children sang it for the 1901 tour of Canada by the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall (later King George V and Queen Mary).

Five years later, the Whaley and Royce company in Toronto, Ontario, published the music with the French text and a first translation into English by Thomas Bedford Richardson and, in 1908, ''Collier's Weekly'' magazine held a competition to write new English lyrics for "O Canada". The competition was won by Mercy E. Powell McCulloch, but her version never gained wide acceptance. In fact, many made English translations of Routhier's words; however, the one version that gained the widest currency was written in 1908 by Robert Stanley Weir, a lawyer and at the time Recorder of the City of Montreal. A slightly modified version of his poem was published in an official form for the Diamond Jubilee of Confederation in 1927, and gradually it became the most widely accepted and performed version of this song, winning out among the alternatives by the 1960s.

The tune was thought to have become the de facto national anthem after King George VI remained at attention during its playing at the dedication of the National War Memorial in Ottawa, Ontario, on May 21, 1939; though George was actually following a precedent set by his brother, Edward, the previous king of Canada, when he dedicated the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France in 1936. Still, by-laws and practices governing the use of song during public events in municipalities varied; in Toronto, "God Save the Queen" was employed, while in Montreal it was "O Canada".

Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson in 1964 said one song would have to be chosen as the country's national anthem and the government resolved to form a joint committee to review the status of the two musical works. The next year, Pearson put to the House of Commons a motion that "the government be authorized to take such steps as may be necessary to provide that 'O Canada' shall be the National Anthem of Canada while 'God Save the Queen' shall be the Royal Anthem of Canada," of which parliament approved. In 1967, the Prime Minister advised Governor General Georges Vanier to appoint the Special Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Commons on the National and Royal Anthems; the group first met in February and, within two months, on April 12, 1967, presented its conclusion that "O Canada" should be designated as the national anthem and "God Save the Queen" as the Royal Anthem of Canada, one verse from each, in both official languages, to be adopted by parliament. The group was then charged with establishing official lyrics for each song. For "O Canada", the Robert Stanley Weir version of 1908 was recommended, with a few minor changes, for the English words; two of the "stand on guard" phrases were replaced with "from far and wide" and "God keep our land."

Still, it was not until 1970 that the Queen in Right of Canada purchased the right to the lyrics and music of "O Canada" and 1980 before the song finally became the official national anthem via the National Anthem Act. The act established a religious reference to the English lyrics and the phrase "From far and wide, O Canada" to replace one of the somewhat tedious repetitions of the phrase "We stand on guard." This change was controversial with traditionalists and, for several years afterwards, it was not uncommon to hear people (some by choice, some by memory reflex) still singing the old lyrics at public events. In contrast, the French version has never been changed from its original.

Historical refrain

{| cellpadding=6 |Below are some slightly different versions of the second and third stanzas and the refrain, plus an additional fourth stanza, but these are rarely sung. |There is also a hymnal version of the lyrics, written by Albert D. Watson. |- style="vertical-align:top; white-space:nowrap;" | :O Canada! Where pines and maples grow. :Great prairies spread and lordly rivers flow. :How dear to us thy broad domain, :From East to Western sea. :Thou land of hope for all who toil! :Thou True North, strong and free!

:''Refrain:'' ::God keep our land glorious and free! ::O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. ::O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

:O Canada! Beneath thy shining skies :May stalwart sons, and gentle maidens rise, :To keep thee steadfast through the years :From East to Western sea. :Our own beloved native land! :Our True North, strong and free!

::''Refrain''

:Ruler supreme, who hearest humble prayer, :Hold our Dominion in thy loving care; :Help us to find, O God, in thee :A lasting, rich reward, :As waiting for the better Day, :We ever stand on guard.

::''Refrain'' | :Lord of the lands, beneath Thy bending skies, :On field and flood, where’er our banner flies, :Thy people lift their hearts to Thee, :Their grateful voices raise: :May our dominion ever be :A temple to Thy praise. :Thy will alone let all enthrone:

:''Refrain:'' ::Lord of the lands, make Canada Thine own: ::Lord of the lands, make Canada Thine own!

:Almighty Love, by Thy mysterious power, :In wisdom guide, with faith and freedom dower; :Be ours a nation evermore :That no oppression blights, :Where justice rules from shore to shore, :From lakes to northern lights. :May love alone for wrong atone;

::''Refrain''

:Lord of the worlds, with strong eternal hand, :Hold us in honor, truth and self-command; :The loyal heart, the constant mind, :The courage to be true, :Our wide extending empire bind, :And all the earth renew. :Thy Name be known through every zone;

:''Refrain'' |}

The Buchan version, was once popular in British Columbia.

{| cellpadding=6 |- style="vertical-align:top; white-space:nowrap;" | : O Canada, our heritage, our love; : Thy worth we praise all other lands above; : From sea to sea throughout thy length, : From pole to borderland, : At Britain's side, what'er betide : Unflinchingly we'll stand; : With heart we sing, "God Save the King", : Guide then one empire wide, do we implore, : And prosper Canada from shore to shore. |}

Performances

Singers at public events often mix the English and French lyrics to represent Canada's linguistic duality. For example, one common form is singing the first three and last three lines in English. The last two lines could also alternate between English and French. Roger Doucet, the former singer of national anthems at the Montreal Forum for the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens team, almost always sang the first seven lines in French, and then completed the song in English. This practice has continued with the team's following anthem singers.

"O Canada" is routinely played before sporting events involving Canadian teams. During the opening ceremonies of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, "O Canada" was performed in the Southern Tutchone language by Yukon native Daniel Tlen. The NHL requires arenas to perform both the Canadian and American national anthems at games that involve teams from both countries. One American team, the Buffalo Sabres, goes a step further and performs both anthems before ''every'' game, a nod to Buffalo's location near the Canadian border and the team's substantial number of Canadian fans. At a Calgary Flames game in February 2007, young Cree singer Akina Shirt became the first person ever to perform "O Canada" in the Cree language at an NHL contest. Major League Baseball teams have also played the song at games involving the Toronto Blue Jays, the former Montreal Expos and at the beginning of the All Star Game. Previously, recordings of the anthem were broadcast at television networks' sign-on and sign-off.

NASCAR requires that at two of the tracks that they race at, Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York and New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire, "O Canada" will be performed before the Star Spangled Banner as a sign of respect to the many Canadian fans and participants that come to these border states. Furthermore, for the races at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, the racing series swaps the order of the performance.

Laws and etiquette

The National Anthem Act specifies the lyrics and melody of "O Canada", placing both of them in the public domain, allowing the anthem to be freely reproduced or used as a base for derived works, including musical arrangements. There are no regulations governing the performance of "O Canada", leaving citizens to exercise their best judgment. When it is performed at an event, traditional etiquette is to either start or end the ceremonies with the anthem, including situations when other anthems are played, and for the audience to stand during the performance. Civilian men usually remove their hats, while women and children are not required to do so.

See also

Honors music

List of national anthems

Music of Canada

References

External links

National Anthem: O Canada - Canadian Heritage

Hymn ''Lord of the Lands'' set to the tune of ''O Canada'' - HymnTime.Com

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}}

Chandra Crawford (born November 19, 1983) is a Canadian cross-country skier who has competed since 2001 at the age of 16. Prior to this, she was a biathlete for five years. She was born in Canmore, Alberta, Canada.

On February 22, 2006, she became the surprise gold medal winner in the women's cross-country sprint at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Video of her circulated on the Internet as she sang ''O Canada'', the Canadian national anthem, from the medals podium. Then-CBC commentator Brian Willams said of the event: "If you're ever standing on top of the podium, ''this'' is how you sing our national anthem."

She won her first World Cup Gold Medal in her home-town of Canmore in January, 2008 in the sprint Event, followed by a second Gold in Lahti, Finland in March, 2008. She finished the 2008 World Cup season ranked seventh in the sprint and 23rd overall.

Career highlights

;Women's cross-country 1.1 kilometre sprint

Gold - 2008 World Cup, Lahti, Finland

Gold - 2008 World Cup, Canmore, Alberta

Silver - 2007 NorAm Cup, Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec

Bronze - 2006 Tour de Ski, Munich, Germany

Gold - 2006 Winter Olympics, Turin, Italy

Bronze - 2006 World Cup, Davos, Switzerland

Gold - 2005 Canadian Championships, Prince George, British Columbia

Silver - 2004 Under-23 World Championships, Soldier Hollow, Utah, U.S.

;Women's cross-country team relay

Bronze - 2004 Under-23 World Championships, Soldier Hollow, Utah,

References

Chandra Crawford profile at Cross Country Canada

External links

Official site of Chandra Crawford

Chandra's blog

Category:1983 births Category:Canadian cross-country skiers Category:Canadian sportswomen Category:Cross-country skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Category:Cross-country skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Category:Living people Category:Olympic gold medalists for Canada Category:Olympic cross-country skiers of Canada Category:People from Canmore, Alberta Category:Sportspeople from Alberta Category:Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing

de:Chandra Crawford et:Chandra Crawford fr:Chandra Crawford no:Chandra Crawford pl:Chandra Crawford ru:Кроуфорд, Чандра fi:Chandra Crawford sv:Chandra Crawford

name	Sarah McLachlan
background	solo_singer
birth name	Sarah Ann McLachlan
born	January 28, 1968 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
genre	Pop, soft rock, adult contemporary
occupation	Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, painter, executive producer
years active	1988–present
instrument	Vocals, piano, keyboard, guitar, harp
label	Arista (outside Canada), Nettwerk
website	sarahmclachlan.com }}

Sarah Ann McLachlan, OC, OBC (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter. Known for her emotional ballads and mezzo-soprano vocal range,

In 1997, Lilith Fair, featuring McLachlan as one of the headlining acts, garnered a $16 million gross, making it the top-grossing of any touring festival. Among all concert tours for that year, it was the 16th highest grossing. Lilith Fair tour brought together 2 million people over its three-year history and raised more than $7 million for charities. It was the most successful all-female music festival in history, one of the biggest music festivals of the 1990s, and helped launch the careers of several well-known female artists. Subsequent Lilith Fairs followed in 1998 and 1999 before the tour was discontinued.

Nettwerk CEO and Lilith Fair co-founder Terry McBride announced that the all-female festival would make its return in Summer 2010.

Hiatus

In 1998, in addition to performing her own set, she performed a cover of "Sad Lisa" with rock band Phish at the annual Bridge School Benefit concert in California, hosted by Neil Young, after which McLachlan began an extended period away from recording or touring. Six years elapsed between the release of ''Surfacing'' and that of her next studio album, ''Afterglow''.

However, she did release a live album in 1999, entitled ''Mirrorball''. The album's singles included a new live version of her earlier doubles "I Will Remember You", a studio recording of which had previously been released on ''The Brothers McMullen'' soundtrack as well as ''Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff''.

Also that year, McLachlan recorded the Randy Newman song "When She Loved Me" on the ''Toy Story 2'' soundtrack. This song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song in 2000, and McLachlan performed it at the awards ceremony, but the award went to "You'll Be in My Heart" from ''Tarzan'', written and recorded by Phil Collins.

In 1997, McLachlan co-wrote and provided guest vocals on the Delerium song "Silence" for their album Karma. This song achieved a massive amount of top 40 airplay when released as a single in late 2000 and also featured on the soundtrack for the movie ''Brokedown Palace''. In 2001, McLachlan provided background vocals, guitar, and piano on the closing track "Love Is" from Stevie Nicks' eighth solo album, ''Trouble in Shangri-La'', in addition to drawing the dragon used for the "S" in Stevie's name on the album cover. In May 2002, her duet with Bryan Adams was released on the ''Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron'' soundtrack. She sang harmonies and played the piano on the song "Don't Let Go" while Sood did the drum work.

McLachlan also participated in several concerts during her break, such as Sheryl Crow's ''Live from Central Park'' in 1999, the Arista Records twenty-fifth anniversary celebration in 2000, as well as the 2002 British Columbia Cancer Foundation Benefit Concert in memory of cancer victim Michele Bourbonnais. She participated along with four other Canadian artists: Bryan Adams, Jann Arden, Barenaked Ladies, and Chantal Kreviazuk.

''Afterglow''

McLachlan returned to public life and touring with her 2003 album release, ''Afterglow'', which contained the singles "Fallen", "Stupid", and "World On Fire". Rather than shoot a conventional music video for "World On Fire", McLachlan donated all but $15 of the $150,000 budget to various charitable causes around the world and then used the video to explain how it benefited the communities that received the money.

Another live album, ''Afterglow Live'', was released in late 2004. The CD consisted of several tracks from a full-length concert, which was included in its entirety on a DVD, as well as the three music videos from ''Afterglow''.

In 2004, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, who credits McLachlan and her music for lifting him from a period of depression, invited her to join him on a track from his solo album. Although the album was not released until early 2006, remixes of the song "Just Like Me" were included on a number of compilations in 2005.

In 2007, McLachlan's song "Answer" featured in ''The Brave One'' starring Jodie Foster.

''Wintersong''

In October 2006, McLachlan released a Christmas album called ''Wintersong''. The album included 11 new recordings, featuring covers of Joni Mitchell's "River", Gordon Lightfoot's "Song for a Winter's Night", and John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", which she recorded with her outreach children and youth choir, and seasonal favourites: "Christmas Time Is Here", "O Little Town of Bethlehem", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", "Silent Night", "The First Noel", and "Greensleeves (What Child Is This?)", among others. The title track is an original work of McLachlan's.

''Wintersong'' debuted at No. 42 on the Billboard 200 album chart the week ending 4 November 2006. It peaked at #7. For the week of 5 December 2006, it was the #1 album on iTunes. Worldwide the album has sold over 1.1 million copies to date. It has been certified Platinum in the U.S. and 2x Platinum in Canada.

''Wintersong'' was nominated for both a Grammy Award, in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category, as well as for a Juno Award, for ''Pop Album of the Year''.

Guest appearances

In November 2006, McLachlan performed the song "Ordinary Miracle" for that year's feature film, ''Charlotte's Web''. The song was written by Glen Ballard and David A. Stewart of Eurythmics. McLachlan was the subject of rumours of an Oscar nomination for the song, but in the end was not nominated. She helped to promote the song and movie by performing it on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' as well as during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. She also performed the song during the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in her hometown of Vancouver, in front of an estimated 3 billion television viewers worldwide.

In early 2007, she sang on Dave Stewart's ''Go Green'', alongside Nadirah X, Imogen Heap, Natalie Imbruglia, and others.

McLachlan also appeared on Annie Lennox's album, ''Songs of Mass Destruction''. Together with Madonna, Céline Dion, Pink, Sugababes, Angélique Kidjo, k.d. lang, Faith Hill, Fergie, Melissa Etheridge, Bonnie Raitt, Shakira, Anastacia, Joss Stone, Dido, and KT Tunstall, she performed on the song "Sing".

In 2010, McLachlan appeared as herself on the television series Life Unexpected and performed. On September 8, 2010, McLachlan performed and sang "Forgiveness" from her 2010 album ''Laws of Illusion'' on a semi-final show of ''America's Got Talent''; she did so again on the ''Tonight Show,'' two days later.

On November 22, 2010, McLachlan again performed and sang "Forgiveness" this time on the ''Regis and Kelly'' show.

Rereleases, ''Rarities Vol 2'', and ''Greatest Hits''

On October 3, 2006, the live album ''Mirrorball'' was re-released as ''Mirrorball: The Complete Concert''. This release contains 2 discs that were compiled from 2 concerts performed on consecutive nights in April 1998 at the Rose Garden arena in Portland, Oregon.

April 29, 2008 saw the release of ''Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff Volume 2''. The tracklist includes McLachlan's recent covers of Joni Mitchell's "River" and Dave Stewart's "Ordinary Miracle", as well as collaborations throughout her career with The Perishers, Cyndi Lauper and Bryan Adams, among others.

August 5, 2008 saw the release of the 15th anniversary 3-disc edition of ''Fumbling Towards Ecstasy''. The set includes the original re-mastered album, ''The Freedom Sessions'' and a DVD that includes live performances, music videos and more. The album was released by Legacy Recordings.

McLachlan released a greatest hits album, ''Closer: The Best of Sarah McLachlan'', on October 7, 2008. On August 12, 2008, she released a new song from the album, "U want me 2", a mid-tempo contemplative love song, as a digital single on iTunes; also accompanied with a video performance. McLachlan also admitted the song was inspired by the dissolution of her marriage, which she announced in September 2008, during initial promotion. Being quietly released as a single on 3 February 2009 the other new song found on the album, "Don't Give Up on Us", signalled a wrap.

2010 Winter Olympics, Laws of Illusion and Lilith Fair 2010

A new single, "One Dream," was released on September 29, 2009 and was a rumoured contender for the official theme song of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. McLachlan's first studio album of original material in seven years, ''Laws of Illusion'', was released on June 15, 2010. New York Times music critic John Pareles says about ''Laws of Illusion'' - "It’s a kindly, enveloping sound that Ms. McLachlan has long used to conjure passion and empathy laced with melancholy. But now it encompasses a new anguish, deeper and sharper than what she hinted at with ''Afterglow'' in 2003." It features 10 new songs in addition to the previously released tracks "U Want Me 2" and "Don't Give Up on Us," as well as various bonus tracks. Previews of the tracks and bonus materials were made available on iTunes and Amazon.com for listening and viewing on May 26, 2010. Lilith Fair kicked off in Calgary, AB on June 27, 2010. In anticipation of the soon-to-be released album and this summer's tour, McLachlan appeared on the WNYC-produced radio show ''Soundcheck''. During the wide-ranging interview, McLachlan discussed the last eleven years of her life and how she has changed — especially as working mother of two — over that time with ''Soundcheck'' host John Schaefer. She also played solo two songs from the new album.

Guitars and equipment

For years, Sarah McLachlan's main stage guitar has been a late-'70s Larrivée C-10 with rosewood back and sides, a spruce top, and a Florentine cutaway. The guitar is amplified with a Fishman Rare Earth Blend (which combines a magnetic pickup and an internal mic), running through a Radial JDV Mk3 active DI. She has also performed with Canadian-made Morgan guitars, and at the time of the interview, she was trying out Taylor models with Expression System electronics.

McLachlan strings her guitars with phosphor-bronze or vintage bronze Dean Markleys. She uses medium-lights (.012–.054) for her guitars in E A D G A D and D A D G A D tunings. Sometimes she uses lights (.011–.046) and raises E A D G A D a whole step so her capo positions can be two frets lower. For instance, in the past she played "Building a Mystery" in E A D G A D with a capo at the seventh fret, but now she tunes to F# B E A B E and capoes at the fifth fret. McLachlan's capo of choice is a Dunlop C-Four.

Awards and achievements

McLachlan has been nominated for twenty-one Juno Awards and awarded eight. In 1992, her video for "Into the Fire" was selected as best music video. In 1998, she won Female Vocalist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year (along with Pierre Marchand), Single of the Year for "Building a Mystery", and Album of the Year for ''Surfacing''. In 2000, she won an International Achievement award and in 2004, won Pop Album of the Year for ''Afterglow'' and again shared the Songwriter of the Year award with Pierre Marchand for the singles "Fallen", "World on Fire", and "Stupid."

She has also won three Grammy Awards. She was awarded Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1997 for "Building a Mystery" and again in 1999 for the live version of "I Will Remember You." She also scored Best Pop Instrumental Performance in 1997 for "Last Dance." Among these, she is credited for various nominations.

Her song "Building A Mystery" came in at 91 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s.

McLachlan has been extensively profiled by media including cover stories for ''Rolling Stone'', ''Time'' magazine, ''Entertainment Weekly'' and ''Flare'', a Canadian fashion magazine.

Through her career, she has also received many awards, primarily in recognition of her efforts in launching Lilith Fair. She was awarded the Elizabeth Cady Stanton Visionary Award in 1998 for advancing the careers of women in music. In 1999, she was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada by then-Governor General Adrienne Clarkson in recognition of her successful recording career, her role in Lilith Fair, and the charitable donations she made to women's shelters across Canada. In 2001, she was inducted to the Order of British Columbia.

On February 12, 2010, McLachlan performed her song "Ordinary Miracle" at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

On June 15, 2011, she was recognized with an honorary degree from Simon Fraser University.

Philanthropy

McLachlan contributed the track "Hold On" to the 1993 AIDS-Benefit Album No Alternative produced by the Red Hot Organization. She also performed at the Leonard Peltier Defense Fund Benefit Concert on February 12, 1997 and went on to release a haunting cover version of ''Unchained Melody'' created as part of her support for Peltier and later included on the album ''Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff Volume 2''.

In early 2005, McLachlan took part in a star-studded tsunami disaster relief telethon on NBC. On 29 January McLachlan was a headliner for a benefit concert in Vancouver along with other Canadian superstars such as Avril Lavigne and Bryan Adams. The show also featured a performance by the Sarah McLachlan Musical Outreach Choir & Percussion Ensemble, a children's choir and percussion band from the aforementioned Vancouver outreach program. In addition to her own headliner show she also joined Delerium live on stage for their first-ever performance of 'Silence'. The concert was titled ''One World: The Concert for Tsunami Relief'', and raised approximately $3.6 million for several Canadian aid agencies working in south and southeast Asia. The show was the brainchild of McLachlan's manager, Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk. It ran for four hours and aired live on CTV across Canada.

She is an avid supporter of the ASPCA and animal welfare. She filmed a two-minute advertisement for the organization which featured her song "Angel". The advertisement's imagery of shelter animals mixed with the soundtrack and McLachlan's simple appeal for donations has raised $30 million for the ASPCA since it began to air in 2006, which allowed the organization to air appeals in higher profile prime-time cable ad slots; subsequently the organization produced a new ad for the 2008 holiday season featuring McLachlan appealing for the ASPCA over her ''Wintersong'' performance of "Silent Night", and a new ad with her was released in January 2009 featuring the song "Answer".

On July 2, 2005, McLachlan participated in the Philadelphia installment of the Live 8 concerts, where she performed her hit "Angel" with Josh Groban. These concerts, which were held simultaneously in nine major cities around the world, were intended to coincide with the G8 summit to put pressure on the leaders of the world's richest nations to fight poverty in Africa by cancelling debt.

McLachlan also funds an outreach program in Vancouver that provides music education for inner city children. In 2007, the provincial government announced $500,000 in funding for the outreach program.

For raising millions of dollars for causes including women's charities, AIDS sufferers and inner-city kids, Simon Fraser University conferred Sarah McLachlan the degree of Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa on June 13, 2011.

Discography

1988: ''Touch''

1991: ''Solace''

1992: ''Sarah McLachlan Live EP''

1993: ''Fumbling Towards Ecstasy''

1996: ''Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff''

1997: ''Surfacing''

1999: ''Mirrorball''

2001: ''Remixed''

2003: ''Afterglow''

2005: ''Bloom: Remix Album''

2006: ''Wintersong''

2008: ''Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff Volume 2''

2008: ''Closer: The Best of Sarah McLachlan''

2010: ''Laws of Illusion''

References

External links

Official site

Interview with Sarah McLachlan

Category:Arista Records artists Category:Musicians from British Columbia Category:Canadian adoptees Category:Canadian female singers Category:Canadian mezzo-sopranos Category:Canadian pop singers Category:Canadian singer-songwriters Category:Canadian pop guitarists Category:Canadian pop pianists Category:Canadian harpists Category:Canadian keyboardists Category:Canadian music video directors Category:Canadian female guitarists Category:Canadian multi-instrumentalists Category:Canadian people of Scottish descent Category:Feminist musicians Category:Ballad musicians Category:Gemini Award winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Juno Award winners Category:Members of the Order of British Columbia Category:Musicians from Nova Scotia Category:Officers of the Order of Canada Category:People from Vancouver Category:People from Halifax, Nova Scotia Category:1968 births Category:Living people Category:Animal rights advocates Category:NSCAD University alumni

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name	William Shatner
birth date	March 22, 1931
birth place	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
birth name	William Alan Shatner
othername	Bill Shatner
spouse	Gloria Rand (1956–1969) Marcy Lafferty Shatner (1973–1994) Nerine Kidd-Shatner (1997–1999; her death) Elizabeth Martin (2001–present)
occupation	Actor, musician, novelist, spokesman
yearsactive	1950–present
website	williamshatner.com }}

William Alan Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T. Kirk, captain of the USS ''Enterprise'', in the science fiction television series ''Star Trek'' from 1966 to 1969, ''Star Trek: The Animated Series'' from 1973 to 1974, and in seven of the subsequent ''Star Trek'' feature films from 1979 to 1994. He has written a series of books chronicling his experiences playing Captain Kirk and being a part of ''Star Trek'' and has co-written several novels set in the ''Star Trek'' universe. He has also authored a series of science fiction novels called ''TekWar'' that were adapted for television.

Shatner also played the eponymous veteran police sergeant in ''T. J. Hooker'' from 1982 to 1986. He has since worked as a musician, author, producer, director, and celebrity pitchman. From 2004 to 2008, he starred as attorney Denny Crane in the television dramas ''The Practice'' and its spin-off ''Boston Legal'', for which he won two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award.

Early life and education

Shatner was born in Côte Saint-Luc, a neighbourhood in Montreal, Quebec, the son of Anne (née Garmaise) and Joseph Shatner, a clothing manufacturer. He has two sisters, Joy and Farla. His paternal grandfather, Wolf Schattner, anglicized the family name to "Shatner". Shatner's grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Austria, Poland, Hungary, and Ukraine, and Shatner was raised in Conservative Judaism. He attended Willingdon Elementary School, in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG-Montreal) and Baron Byng High School, in Montreal, as well as West Hill High School in NDG. He is an alumnus of the Montreal Children's Theatre. He also attended McGill University in Montreal, where he studied economics and graduated with a Bachelor of commerce degree. In June 2011, McGill awarded him with an honorary doctorate of letters. The Students' Society of McGill University building on McTavish Street is popularly (though not officially) named "Shatner".

Acting career

Early stage, film, and television work

Trained as a classical Shakespearean actor, Shatner performed at the Shakespearean Stratford Festival of Canada in Stratford, Ontario. He played a range of roles at the Stratford Festival in productions that included a minor role in the opening scene of a renowned and nationally televised production of Sophocles' ''Oedipus Rex'' directed by Tyrone Guthrie, Shakespeare's ''Henry V'', and Marlowe's ''Tamburlaine the Great''. Shatner made his Broadway debut in the latter, in 1956. In 1954, he was cast as Ranger Bob on ''The Canadian Howdy Doody Show''. Shatner was understudy to Christopher Plummer; the two would later star as adversaries in ''Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country''.

Though his official movie debut was in the 1951 Canadian film entitled ''The Butler's Night Off'', Shatner's first feature role came in the 1958 MGM film ''The Brothers Karamazov'' with Yul Brynner, in which he starred as the youngest of the Karamazov brothers, Alexei. In December of the same year, he appeared opposite Ralph Bellamy playing Roman tax collectors in Bethlehem on the day of Jesus' birth in a vignette of a Hallmark Hall of Fame live television production entitled ''The Christmas Tree'' directed by Kirk Browning, which featured in other vignettes such stars as Jessica Tandy, Margaret Hamilton, Bernadette Peters, Richard Thomas, Cyril Ritchard and Carol Channing. Shatner had a leading role in an ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' third-season (1957–1958) episode titled "The Glass Eye", one of his first appearances on American television. In 1959, he received decent reviews when he took on the role of Lomax in the Broadway production of ''The World of Suzie Wong''. In 1960, he appeared twice as Wayne Gorham in NBC's ''The Outlaws'' Western series with Barton MacLane, and then in another ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' fifth-season episode titled "Mother, may I go out to swim?". In 1961, he starred in the Broadway play ''A Shot in the Dark'' with Julie Harris and directed by Harold Clurman. Walter Matthau (who won a Tony Award for his performance) and Gene Saks were also featured in this play. Shatner also starred in two episodes of the NBC television series ''Thriller'', "Grim Reaper" and "The Hungry Glass".

Guthrie had called the young Shatner the Stratford Festival's most promising actor, and he was seen as a peer to contemporaries like Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, and Robert Redford. Shatner was not as successful as the others, however, and during the 1960s he "became a working actor who showed up on time, knew his lines, worked cheap and always answered his phone." His motto was "Work equals work", but Shatner's willingness to take any role, no matter how "forgettable", likely hurt his career. In 1962, he starred in Roger Corman's movie ''The Intruder''. He also appeared in the Stanley Kramer film ''Judgment at Nuremberg'' and two episodes, "Nick of Time" and "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", of the science fiction anthology series ''The Twilight Zone''. In the 1963–1964 season, he appeared in episodes of two ABC series, ''Channing'' and ''The Outer Limits'' ("Cold Hands, Warm Heart"). In 1963, he starred in the ''Family Theater'' production called "The Soldier" and received credits in other programs of ''The Psalms'' series. That same year he guest starred in ''Route 66'', in the episode, "Build Your Houses with Their Backs to the Sea". In 1964, he guest starred in the episode "He Stuck in His Thumb" of the CBS drama ''The Reporter''.

In 1965 Shatner guest-starred as Major Curt Brown in second season episode 9, "I Am The Enemy" of ''12 O-Clock High''. He guest-starred in ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' in an episode that also featured Leonard Nimoy, with whom Shatner would soon be paired in ''Star Trek''. He also starred in the critically acclaimed drama ''For the People'' in 1965 as an assistant district attorney, costarring with Jessica Walter. The program lasted for only thirteen episodes. Shatner starred in the 1966 gothic horror film ''Incubus'', the second feature-length movie ever made with all dialogue spoken in Esperanto. He also starred in an episode of ''Gunsmoke'' in 1966 as the character Fred Bateman.

''Star Trek'', the TV series

Shatner was first cast as Captain James T. Kirk for the second pilot of ''Star Trek'', entitled "Where No Man Has Gone Before". He was then contracted to play Kirk for the ''Star Trek'' series and held the role from 1966 to 1969. In 1973, he returned to the role of Captain Kirk, albeit only in voice, in the animated ''Star Trek'' series.

In his role as Kirk, Shatner famously kissed African American actress Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura) in the November 22, 1968, ''Star Trek'' episode "Plato's Stepchildren". The episode is popularly cited as the first example of an inter-racial kiss on scripted television in the United States.

1970s

Shatner's wife Gloria Rand divorced him in March 1969. After ''Star Trek'' was cancelled that year, Shatner experienced difficulty in finding work in the early 1970s. With very little money and few acting prospects, he lived in a truck bed camper in the San Fernando Valley until small roles turned into higher-paying jobs. Shatner refers to this part of his life as "that period," a humbling one during which he would take any odd job, including small party appearances, to support his family.

Shatner again appeared in "schlock" films, such as the horror film ''The Devil's Rain'' and Corman's ''Big Bad Mama''. Shatner received good reviews as the lead prosecutor in a 1971 PBS adaptation of Saul Levitt's play ''The Andersonville Trial''. Other television appearances included a starring role in the western-themed secret agent series ''Barbary Coast'' during 1975 and 1976, and guest roles on many 1970s series such as ''The Six Million Dollar Man'', ''Columbo'', ''The Rookies'', ''Kung Fu'', and ''Mission: Impossible''. He also played Dr. Stephen Turner in the teleplay, ''The Tenth Level''. Inspired by the Stanley Milgram obedience research, this TV movie chronicles a psychology professor's study to determine why people, such as the Nazis, were willing to "just follow orders" and do horrible things to others.

Shatner was an occasional celebrity guest on ''The $20,000 Pyramid'' in the 1970s, once appearing opposite Nimoy in a matchup billed as "Kirk vs. Spock". His appearances became far less frequent after a 1977 appearance in which, after giving an illegal clue ("the ''blessed''" for ''Things That Are Blessed'') at the top of the pyramid ($200) which deprived the contestant of a big money win, he threw his chair out of the Winner's Circle. Other shows included ''The Hollywood Squares'', ''Celebrity Bowling'',, ''Beat the Clock'', and ''Match Game''.

Shatner did a number of television commercials for Ontario-based Loblaws and British Columbia-based SuperValu supermarket chains in the 1970s, and finished the Loblaws ad spots by saying, "At Loblaws, more than the price is right. But, by Gosh, the price is right."

Shatner also did a number of television commercials for General Motors, endorsing the Oldsmobile brand, and Promise margarine.

A return to Kirk, and to work

After its cancellation, ''Star Trek'' unexpectedly gained a cult following during the 1970s from syndicated reruns, and Captain Kirk became a cultural icon. Shatner began appearing at ''Star Trek'' conventions organized by Trekkies. In the mid-1970s Paramount began pre-production for a revised ''Star Trek'' television series, tentatively titled ''Star Trek: Phase II''. However, the phenomenal success of ''Star Wars'' led the studio to instead consider developing a ''Star Trek'' motion picture. Shatner and the other original ''Star Trek'' cast members returned to their roles when Paramount produced ''Star Trek: The Motion Picture'', released in 1979. It re-established Shatner as an actor, and he played Kirk in the next six ''Star Trek'' films, ending with the character's death in 1994's ''Star Trek Generations''. His final appearances in the role are in the movie sequences of the video game ''Starfleet Academy'' (1997), and briefly for a DirecTV advertisement using footage from ''Star Trek VI'' running from late summer 2006.

Although Trekkies had resurrected ''Star Trek'' after cancellation, in a 1986 ''Saturday Night Live'' skit about a ''Star Trek'' convention, Shatner advised a room full of fans to "Get a life". The "much-discussed sketch" accurately portrayed his feelings about Trekkies, which the actor had previously discussed in interviews. Shatner had been the unwilling subject of adoration by them for decades; as early as April 1968, a group attempted to rip his clothes off as the actor left 30 Rockefeller Plaza, and he did not attend conventions for more than a decade during the 1970s and 1980s. Shatner also appeared in the film ''Free Enterprise'' in 1998, in which he played himself and tried to dispel the Kirk image of himself from the view of the film's two lead characters. He also has found an outlet in spoofing the cavalier, almost superhuman character persona of Captain Kirk, in films such as ''Airplane II: The Sequel'' (1982) and ''National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon'' (1993).

Tim Allen's role in ''Galaxy Quest'' as Captain Peter Quincy Taggart/Jason Nesmith is an analogue of James T. Kirk/William Shatner as seen by the public at large. Taggart has a reputation for taking off his shirt at the flimsiest excuse, rolling on the ground during combat, and making pithy speeches, while Nesmith is an egomaniac who regards himself as the core of ''Galaxy Quest'' and tells fans to "get a life". Poking fun at himself, Shatner professed to have no idea whom Allen was parodying.

Besides the ''Star Trek'' films, Shatner gained a new starring role on television as a police officer in ''T. J. Hooker'', which ran from 1982 to 1986. He then hosted the popular dramatic reenactment series ''Rescue 911'' from 1989 to 1996. During the 1980s Shatner also began directing film and television, directing numerous episodes of ''T. J. Hooker'' and the feature film ''Star Trek V: The Final Frontier''.

Subsequent acting career

Shatner has appeared in advertisements for many companies and products, and in recent years he has done a series of commercials for the travel web site Priceline, in which Shatner plays a pompous, fictionalized version of himself. Although he received stock options for the commercials, reports that they are now worth hundreds of millions of dollars are exaggerated. Shatner was also the CEO of the Toronto, Ontario-based C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures, a special effects studio that operated from 1994 to 2010.

Shatner has enjoyed success with a series of science fiction novels published under his name, though most are widely believed to have been written by uncredited co-writers such as William T. Quick and Ron Goulart. The first, published in 1990, was ''TekWar''. This popular series of books led to a Marvel Comics series, to a number of television movies, in which Shatner played a role, and to a short-lived television series in which Shatner made several appearances; he also directed some episodes. In 1995, a first-person shooter game named ''William Shatner's TekWar'' was released, and was the first game to use the Build engine. He also played as a narrator in 1995 American documentary film ''Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie'' directed by Peter Kuran.

In the television series ''3rd Rock from the Sun'', Shatner appeared in several episodes as the "Big Giant Head", a womanizing party-animal and high-ranking officer from the same alien planet as the Solomon family. The role earned Shatner a nomination for an Emmy.

In 2001, Shatner starred in the animated film ''Osmosis Jones'' as the character Mayor Phlegmming, the self-centered head of the "City of Frank", a community comprising all the cells and microorganisms of a man's body. In the movie, the pompous Phlegmming is constantly preoccupied with his reelection and his own convenience, even to the detriment of his "city" and constituents.

In 2003, Shatner appeared in Brad Paisley's "Celebrity" and "Online" music videos along with Little Jimmy Dickens, Jason Alexander, and Trista Rehn.

''Star Trek: Enterprise'' producer Manny Coto stated in ''Star Trek Communicator'''s October 2004 issue that he was preparing a three-episode story arc for Shatner. Shortly thereafter, ''Enterprise'' was cancelled.

After David E. Kelley saw Shatner's commercials, he joined the final season of the legal drama ''The Practice''. His Emmy-award winning role, the eccentric but highly capable attorney Denny Crane, was essentially "William Shatner the man...playing William Shatner the character playing the character Denny Crane, who was playing the character William Shatner." Shatner took the Crane role to ''Boston Legal'', and won a Golden Globe, an Emmy in 2005, and was nominated again in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 for his work. With the 2005 Emmy win, Shatner became one of the few actors (along with co-star James Spader as Alan Shore) to win an Emmy award while playing the same character in two different series. Even rarer, Shatner and Spader each won a second consecutive Emmy while playing the same character in two different series. Shatner remained with the series until its end in 2008.

Shatner made several guest appearances on ''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'', including cameos reciting Sarah Palin's resignation speech, Twitter posts, and autobiography. He has also recited Twitter posts by Levi Johnston, father of Palin's grandson. He also appears in the opening graphics of the occasional feature "In The Year 3000," with his disembodied head floating through space, announcing, "And so we take a cosmic ride into that new millennium; that far off reality that is the year 3000," followed by the tag line, "It's the future, man."

Shatner also played the voice of Ozzie the opossum in DreamWorks' 2006 feature ''Over the Hedge''.

In January 2007, Shatner launched a series of daily vlogs on his life called ShatnerVision on the LiveUniverse.com website. In 2008, he launched his video blogs on YouTube in a project renamed "The Shatner Project". Shatner also starred as the voice of Don Salmonella Gavone on the 2009 YouTube animated series ''The Gavones''.

Shatner was not "offered or suggested" a role in the 2009 film ''Star Trek''. Director J.J. Abrams said in July 2007 that the production was "desperately trying to figure out a way to put him in" but that to "shove him in...would be a disaster." an opinion echoed by Shatner in several interviews. At a convention held in 2010, Shatner commented on the film by saying "I've seen that wonderful film." Shatner had invented his own idea about the beginning of ''Star Trek'' with his latest novel, ''Star Trek: Academy — Collision Course.''

Shatner's autobiography ''Up Till Now'' was released in 2008. He was assisted in writing it by David Fisher. Shatner has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (for Television work) at 6901 Hollywood Boulevard. He also has a star on the Canadian Walk of Fame. Shatner was the first Canadian actor to star in three successful TV series on three different major networks (NBC, CBS, and ABC).

Shatner starred in the CBS sitcom ''$#*! My Dad Says'', which is based on the Twitter feed Shit My Dad Says created by Justin Halpern. The series premiered in late 2010 and was canceled May 2011. Shatner is also the host of the interview show ''Shatner's Raw Nerve'' on The Biography Channel, and the Discovery Channel television series ''Weird or What?''

In 2011 Shatner starred in ''The Captains'', a feature length documentary which he also wrote and directed. The film follows Shatner as he interviews the other actors who have portrayed starship captains within the Star Trek franchise. Shatner's interviewees included Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula, and Chris Pine. In the film Shatner also interviews Christopher Plummer, who is an old friend and colleague from Shatner's days with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario.

Music and spoken-word work

Shatner began his musical career with the spoken-word 1968 album ''The Transformed Man'', delivering exaggerated, interpretive recitations of "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". He performed a reading of the Elton John song "Rocket Man" during the 1978 Science Fiction Film Awards that has been widely parodied. Ben Folds, who has worked with him several times, produced and co-wrote Shatner's well-received second studio album, ''Has Been'', in 2004. His third studio album, ''Searching for Major Tom'', is currently set for a 2011 release. Not everyone is fond of his musical abilities: George Clooney included a "song" by Shatner in his BBC "Desert Island Discs" contribution as an example of things you can't possibly listen to.

Space Shuttle Discovery

Shatner recorded a wake-up call played for the crew of STS-133 in the Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' on 7 March 2011, its final day docked to the International Space Station. Backed by the musical theme from ''Star Trek'', it featured a voice-over based on his spoken introduction from the series' opening credits: "Space, the final frontier. These have been the voyages of the Space Shuttle Discovery. Her 30 year mission: To seek out new science. To build new outposts. To bring nations together on the final frontier. To boldly go, and do, what no spacecraft has done before."

Personal life

Shatner dislikes watching himself perform, and claims that he has "never watched Star Trek ... not even any of the Star Trek movies"—except the dailies from ''Star Trek V: The Final Frontier'', which he directed—or ''Boston Legal''.

Family

Shatner has been married four times. His first marriage was to Gloria Rand, from 1956 to 1969. His second marriage lasted 21 years and was to Marcy Lafferty; the couple was married in 1973 and divorced in 1994. His third marriage was to Nerine Kidd-Shatner, from 1997 until her death in 1999.

On August 9, 1999, Shatner returned home around 10 p.m. to discover Nerine's body at the bottom of their back yard swimming pool. She was 40 years old. An autopsy detected alcohol and Valium in her blood, but the coroner ruled the cause of her death as an accidental drowning. The LAPD ruled out foul play and the case was closed. Speaking to the press shortly after his wife's death, a clearly shaken and emotional Shatner said that she "meant everything" to him and called her his "beautiful soulmate." Shatner urged the public to support Friendly House, a non-profit organization that helps women re-establish themselves in the community after suffering from alcoholism and drug addiction. He later told Larry King in an interview that "...my wife, whom I loved dearly and who loved me, was suffering with a disease that we don’t like to talk about, alcoholism. And she met a tragic ending because of it." In his new 2008 book ''Up Till Now: The Autobiography'', Shatner discusses how Leonard Nimoy helped take Nerine for treatment of her alcoholism. Shatner writes in an excerpt from his book:

In 2000, a Reuters story reported that Shatner was planning to write and direct ''The Shiva Club'', a dark comedy about the grieving process inspired by his wife's death. Shatner's 2004 album ''Has Been'' included a spoken word piece titled "What Have You Done" that describes his anguish upon discovering his wife's body in the pool.

Since 2001 Shatner is married to Elizabeth Martin.

Relationships with other actors

Shatner first appeared on screen with Leonard Nimoy in 1964, when both actors guest-starred in an episode of ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'', entitled: "The Project Strigas Affair". However, Shatner states in his autobiography that he does not recall meeting Nimoy at that time. As co-stars on ''Star Trek'', they interacted socially both on and off the set. After ''Star Trek'''s cancellation in 1969, Shatner and Nimoy reunited in the production of ''Star Trek: The Animated Series'', as well as ''The $20,000 Pyramid'', where "Kirk vs. Spock" appeared on two different tables. Nimoy also guest-starred on ''T. J. Hooker'' for a few episodes. Shatner starred in the title role of the show.

The 1999 death of Shatner's third wife, Nerine, served to strengthen the friendship of Shatner and Nimoy, as Nimoy had mourned over the loss of his best friend's wife. Nimoy also appeared alongside Shatner at the TV Land Awards (hosted by John Ritter) and was one of the many people to serve as a celebrity "roaster" of Shatner. Nimoy summarized his four decade friendship with Shatner by remarking, "Bill's energy was good for my performance, 'cause Spock could be the cool individual, our chemistry was successful, right from the start." Nimoy has also spoken about mutual rivalry between the actors during the ''Star Trek'' years: "Very competitive, sibling rivalry up to here. After the show had been on the air a few weeks and they started getting so much mail for Spock, then the dictum came down from NBC: 'Give us more of that guy, they love that guy, you know?' Well, that can be ... that can be a problem for the leading man who was hired as the star of the show; and suddenly, here's this guy with ears -- 'What's this, you know?'" said Nimoy. On an episode of the A&E; Network series ''Biography'', Nimoy remarked, "Bill Shatner hogging the stage? No. Not the Bill Shatner I know."

Shatner has been friends with Heather Locklear since 1982, when Locklear began co-starring with him on ''T. J. Hooker'' as Officer Stacy Sheridan. Locklear was asked by ''Entertainment Tonight'' whether it was hard to work on two weekly TV shows at the same time. (During the four years Locklear was in ''Hooker'', she was also appearing in a semi-regular role in a fellow Aaron Spelling production, ''Dynasty''). She replied "...I'd get really nervous and want to be prepared..." for Shatner and for the experienced cast of ''Dynasty''. After ''Hooker'' ended Shatner helped Locklear get other roles. Locklear supported a grieving Shatner in 1999 when he was mourning the death of his wife, Nerine. In 2005, Locklear appeared in two episodes of Shatner's ''Boston Legal'' as Kelly Nolan, an attractive, youthful woman being tried for killing her much older, wealthy husband. Shatner plays Denny Crane, a founding partner of a large law firm, and a legendary litigator. Crane is attracted to Nolan and tries to insert himself into her defense. He is about the same age as Nolan's deceased husband, so Crane courts death by pursuing her. Locklear was asked how she came to appear on ''Boston Legal''. She explained "I love the show, it's my favorite show; and I sorta kind of said, 'Shouldn't I be William Shatner's illegitimate daughter, or his love interest?'"

For years, Shatner was accused of being difficult to work with by some of his ''Star Trek'' co-stars, most notably James Doohan and George Takei. In the 2004 ''Star Trek'' DVD sets, Shatner seemed to have made up with Takei, but their differences continue to resurface. In the 1990s, Shatner made numerous attempts to patch things up with Doohan, but was unsuccessful for some time; however, an Associated Press article published at the time of Doohan's final convention appearance in late August 2004 stated that Doohan had forgiven his fellow Canadian Shatner and they had mended their relationship. Takei continues to speak negatively about Shatner. In a 2008 television interview, he stated "he has a big, shiny, demanding ego." Shatner, in turn, recorded videos for YouTube, saying that Takei had some sort of "psychosis".

Takei has repeatedly asserted (most recently on the December 26, 2009, episode of the NPR radio program ''Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me'') that he invited Shatner (along with other Star Trek cast members) to his 2008 wedding to Brad Altman, but Shatner never responded to the invitation. Shatner has repeatedly counter-asserted (most recently in the January 2010 issue of ''GQ'') that he never received an invitation.

When Shatner interviewed his ''Star Trek'' costars for his memoir ''Star Trek Movie Memories,'' Nichelle Nichols (who played Uhura on the show) told him, "Now let me tell you why I hate you," explaining that, despite the few lines she had in the show, he would sometimes argue with the director that an Uhura dialog line was unnecessary. She then "gave Shatner an earful about how she and the rest of the other four felt, which prompted Shatner to wake up and set about making things right with his former costars." He and Nichols patched up their differences sufficiently that she appeared on his 20 August 2006 roast, telling the Comedy Central audience, "Bill Shatner would crap on the last piece of pizza just so no one else could enjoy it."

Health problems

Shatner suffers from tinnitus and is involved in the American Tinnitus Association. His treatment for this condition involved wearing a small electronic device that generated a low-level, broadband sound (white noise) that "helped his brain put the tinnitus in the background".

On October 19, 2005, while working on the set of ''Boston Legal'', Shatner was taken to the emergency room for lower back pain. He eventually passed a kidney stone, recovered and soon returned to work. In 2006, Shatner sold his kidney stone for US$75,000 to GoldenPalace.com. In an appearance on ''The View'' on May 16, 2006, Shatner said the $75,000 and an additional $20,000 raised from the cast and crew of ''Boston Legal'' paid for the building of a house by Habitat for Humanity.

Charity work

In his spare time, Shatner enjoys breeding and showing American Saddlebreds and Quarter Horses. Shatner has a 150 hectare (360 acre) farm near Versailles, Kentucky, named Belle Reve (Canadian French for “Beautiful Dream”), where he raises American Saddlebreds. His champion American Saddlebreds include Call Me Ringo, Revival, and Sultan's Great Day.

Shatner also plays on the World Poker Tour in the Hollywood Home games. He plays for the Wells Fargo Hollywood Charity Horse Show.

Nominations and awards

In 2004, Shatner won his first Emmy Award for his role as “Denny Crane” on ''The Practice''. In 2005, he won his first Golden Globe award and a second Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his work on ''Boston Legal''. In 2009, Shatner won a Streamy Award in the category of Best Reality Web Series.

In May 2011, he was awarded the Governor General of Canada’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, recording a humorous short film ''William Shatner Sings O Canada '' for the occasion. On June 2, 2011, Shatner received an honourary Doctor of Letters from McGill University, his alma mater.

Works

References

Further reading

William Shatner Animation Contest on Toonboom with My Outer Space (finals voting from Dec10 to Dec 22, 2010)

William Shatner talks about 'Star Trek: The Tour' in Long Beach.

William Shatner at the LA Art Show*William Shatner has made around 40 short interview films on Videojug "Ask the Expert – William Shatner"*Shatner at Amazon Reviews

William Shatner Interview at Slashdot

Shatner at Fame Tracker

''The Times'' (London), January 26, 2008. "Man of Enterprise. As a new series of Boston Legal begins, our critic salutes the many facets of its veteran star William Shatner" by Sophie Davies

Shatner turns down real offer to go into space "I do want to go up but I need guarantees I'll definitely come back.", accessed 2010-07-21

William Shatner Issues Urgent Plea in Animals’ Behalf

William Shatner for animal rights

External links

William Shatner's Official Website

William Shatner interview at Archive of American Television January 22, 2009 and September 15, 1999

William Shatner In Conversation (video) with ''The Big Bang Theory'' creator and show runner Bill Prady at 2010 Banff World TV Festival

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