Distinctly Canadian Essay Research Paper Distinctly CanadianCanada

Distinctly Canadian Essay, Research Paper

Distinctly Canadian

Canada, federated country of North America, bounded on the north by the

Arctic Ocean; on the northeast by Baffin Bay and Davis Strait, which separate it

from Greenland; on the east by the Atlantic Ocean; on the south by the United

States; and on the west by the Pacific Ocean and Alaska. Canada is the world’s

second largest country, surpassed in size only by Russia. Canada has a total

area of 9,970,610 sq. km (3,849,652 sq. mi), of which 755,180 sq. km (291,575 sq.

mi) is covered by bodies of fresh water such as rivers and lakes (Canadian

Encyclopaedia, 1988).

Canada contains great reserves of natural resources, notably timber,

petroleum, natural gas, metallic minerals, and fish. The name Canada is derived

from an Iroquoian term meaning “village” or “community.”

In Canada we have many images, practices, and items that make us one of

the best, younger countries in the world. In such a short time for a country to

exist, we have many images that make us very culturally rich in everyway.

Probably the most important images, practices, and items come for our friend,

the American Indians (or Native Americans). They were a definite asset to

Canada’s cultural growth.

The American Indians came into Canada in a series of migrations that

occurred during the last stages of the Pleistocene Ice Age, Mongoloid peoples

from Asia entered North America, probably crossing the Bering Strait. Gradually

they spread over the continent and into South America. By 1600, more than

250,000 of their aboriginal descendants inhabited what is now Canada. Developing

a Stone Age economy, they hunted, fished, and gathered food and, in warmer areas,

also farmed. The basic social unit was the band, which varied from a few

families to several hundred people. In areas of higher settlement density, bands

were organized into tribes and even larger units.

The largest linguistic group was the Algonquian, which included

migratory hunting tribes such as the Cree and Naskapi in the eastern subarctic

region and the Abenaki and Micmac in the eastern woodlands on the coast. By the

18th century, Algonquians had spread west, where Ottawa, Ojibwa, Blackfoot,

Plains Cree, and others roamed the prairies and plains in search of buffalo. The

Iroquoian speaking tribes the Huron and the Iroquois.lived in permanent farm

settlements and had a highly developed tribal organization in the St. Lawrence

Valley and around Lakes Ontario and Erie (Canadian Encyclopaedia, 1988).

Tribes of Salishan, Athabascan, and other linguistic groups occupied

fishing villages along the rivers of interior British Columbia. On the Pacific

coast, Salishan tribes, such as the Bellacoola, and related Wakashan-speaking

tribes.the Kwakiutl and Nootka.developed a rich culture, based on salmon fishing,

expressed in potlatch ceremonies and carved wood totem poles. In the western

subarctic, the Athabascan group.Carrier, Dogrib, and others led a primitive

hunting existence similar to that of the Algonquians. Small, isolated Inuit

bands developed a unique culture based on hunting seals and caribou, enabling

them to survive the harsh environment of the Arctic (Canadian Encyclopaedia,

1988).

As we can see the Indians gave us many items that give us our culture,

Native Indians can be said that they are basically our culture. Whatever they

have as images, items, or practices, are ours also.

We can tell from the Natives that they feel that the animal kingdom was

an important part of their lives. They show this from the things they hunt and

the items they make (totem poles, with many sacred animals carved into them).

Some very important Canadian animals are: bison (buffalo), caribou,

salmon, beaver, loon, and the moose. These animal images are distinctly

Canadian. Some of these animals live elsewhere, but when people think of theses

animals, they think Canada.

Bison, the largest terrestrial animal in North America, where it is

usually called buffalo. The bison is characterized by a hump over the front

shoulders; short, sharply pointed horns (in both sexes) curving outward and up

from the sides of the massive head; and slimmer hindquarters. A mature bull of

the North American bison is about 2 m (about 6.5 ft) high at the hump and 2.7 to

3.7 m (9 to 12 ft) long and weighs 850 to 1100 kg (1800 to 2400 lb); the female

is smaller. The head, neck, forelegs, and front parts of the body have a thick

coat of long, dark hair. The rear part of the body is covered with much shorter

hair. The adult bull usually has a black beard about 30 cm (about 12 in) long

(Canadian Encyclopaedia, 1988).

Until the 19th century, as many as 60 million bison lived on the Great

Plains from Mexico into Canada, and some were found east of the Mississippi

River. They were central to the existence of t

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