150 Little Known Canadian Facts #3

We’re hoping these little facts are making you seem impressive at dinner parties and the like. We offer you part 3 in this Canadiana Fact Find. Enjoy.

13.  Canada has more natural lakes than any other country in the world—combined. In fact, half of the natural lakes found in the world are found within our borders. According to the Canadian Encyclopaedia, there are over 2 million lakes that cover close to 8% of Canada’s 10 million km² surface area with fresh water. Another fact is the entire water volume in these lakes is large enough to flood this county to a depth of 2 metres.

14.  Before 2015, people couldn’t buy beer and spirits from one province and bring it across the border to another province for personal use. Before 2012, the same went for wine, but as liquor laws are still mandated by provincial governments, only BC and Manitoba have changed their laws for wine. However, with recent federal amendments to the Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act, Canadians are one step closer in a having no restrictions for alcohol. The Intoxicating Liquors Act was enacted in 1928 and people couldn’t bring any form or quantity of alcohol across provincial borders or out of the country.

15.  There’s Gander, Newfoundland and Gander Crater, Mars. Yes, the Town of Gander has a Mars crater named after it. Why? Well, Gander has a long history with aerospace technology: it allowed the Concorde to conduct cold-weather testing before it started its commercial flights; it’s an alternate site for space shuttle landings; and, the air traffic controllers at Gander Airport oversee and handle all of the North Atlantic’s air traffic even if the planes don’t land there.

16.  Today, Canada is said to stretch from coast to coast to coast. One of those coasts though, the west coast, came close to becoming an American territory. Shortly after confederation, the faraway colony of British Colombia was faced with a tough choice: They could either take a chance on the new country of Canada far to the east, or join the United States with whom they already shared rail lines and postage routes. After four years of debate, colonial leaders agreed to become Canada’s sixth province, under the condition that Canada absorb the colony’s debt and build a railroad to join the two far-off halves of the country.

17.  Though Canada is celebrating its 150^th birthday this year, Canada’s Indigenous peoples have been living on this land for much longer than that. During the 1980s, archeologists uncovered a collection of bones and tools in the Yukon’s Bluefish Caves. These artifacts are estimated to be between 24,000 and 28,000 years old, meaning that Canada’s first wave of settlement occurred long before recorded history.

18.  Poutine is certainly one of the most popular examples of Canadian cuisine at the moment, but it’s not the only food that Canada has gifted to the world. Ginger beef, the Halifax donair, green onion cakes, Caesars, California rolls and butter tarts are also examples of Canadian culinary inventions.