1.
British Columbia
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British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada, with a population of more than four million people located between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. British Columbia is also a component of the Pacific Northwest and the Cascadia bioregion, along with the U. S. states of Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. The first British settlement in the area was Fort Victoria, established in 1843, subsequently, on the mainland, the Colony of British Columbia was founded by Richard Clement Moody and the Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment, in response to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. Port Moody is named after him, in 1866, Vancouver Island became part of the colony of British Columbia, and Victoria became the united colonys capital. In 1871, British Columbia became the province of Canada. Its Latin motto is Splendor sine occasu, the capital of British Columbia remains Victoria, the fifteenth-largest metropolitan region in Canada, named for the Queen who created the original European colonies. The largest city is Vancouver, the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada, the largest in Western Canada, in October 2013, British Columbia had an estimated population of 4,606,371. British Columbia evolved from British possessions that were established in what is now British Columbia by 1871, First Nations, the original inhabitants of the land, have a history of at least 10,000 years in the area. Today there are few treaties and the question of Aboriginal Title, notably, the Tsilhqotin Nation has established Aboriginal title to a portion of their territory, as a result of the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision. BCs economy is diverse, with service producing industries accounting for the largest portion of the provinces GDP and it is the endpoint of transcontinental railways, and the site of major Pacific ports that enable international trade. Though less than 5% of its vast 944,735 km2 land is arable and its climate encourages outdoor recreation and tourism, though its economic mainstay has long been resource extraction, principally logging, farming, and mining. Vancouver, the provinces largest city and metropolitan area, also serves as the headquarters of many western-based natural resource companies and it also benefits from a strong housing market and a per capita income well above the national average. The Northern Interior region has a climate with very cold winters. The climate of Vancouver is by far the mildest winter climate of the major Canadian cities, the provinces name was chosen by Queen Victoria, when the Colony of British Columbia, i. e. the Mainland, became a British colony in 1858. The current southern border of British Columbia was established by the 1846 Oregon Treaty, British Columbias land area is 944,735 square kilometres. British Columbias rugged coastline stretches for more than 27,000 kilometres and it is the only province in Canada that borders the Pacific Ocean. British Columbias capital is Victoria, located at the tip of Vancouver Island. Only a narrow strip of the Island, from Campbell River to Victoria, is significantly populated, much of the western part of Vancouver Island and the rest of the coast is covered by thick, tall and sometimes impenetrable temperate rainforest
2.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. 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, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
3.
Provinces and territories of Canada
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Canadas geography is divided into administrative divisions known as provinces and territories that are responsible for delivery of sub-national governance. Over its history, Canadas international borders have changed several times, the ten provinces are Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. Several of the provinces were former British colonies, Quebec was originally a French colony, the three territories are Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon, which govern the rest of the area of the former British North America. Together, the provinces and territories make up the worlds second-largest country by area, the powers flowing from the Constitution Act are divided between the federal government and the provincial governments to exercise exclusively. In modern Canadian constitutional theory, the provinces are considered to be co-sovereign divisions, the territories are not sovereign, but simply part of the federal realm, and have a commissioner who represents the federal government. Notes, There are three territories in Canada, unlike the provinces, the territories of Canada have no inherent sovereignty and have only those powers delegated to them by the federal government. They include all of mainland Canada north of latitude 60° north and west of Hudson Bay, the following table lists the territories in order of precedence. Prior to Confederation, Ontario and Quebec were united as the Province of Canada, over the following years, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island were added as provinces. The Hudsons Bay Company controlled large swathes of western Canada referred to as Ruperts Land and the North-Western Territory until 1870, subsequently, the area was re-organized into the province of Manitoba and the Northwest Territories. The remaining Arctic islands were transferred by Britain to Canada in 1880,1898 saw the Yukon Territory, later renamed simply as Yukon, carved from the parts of the Northwest Territories surrounding the Klondike gold fields. On September 1,1905, a portion of the Northwest Territories south of the 60th parallel north became the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. In 1912, the boundaries of Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba were expanded northward, Manitobas to the 60° parallel, Ontarios to Hudson Bay, in 1907, Newfoundland acquired dominion status. In the middle of the Great Depression in Canada with Newfoundland facing a period of economic crisis. In 2001, it was officially renamed Newfoundland and Labrador, in 1903, the Alaska Panhandle Dispute fixed British Columbias northwestern boundary. This was one of two provinces in Canadian history to have its size reduced. In 1999, Nunavut was created from the portion of the Northwest Territories. Yukon lies in the portion of The North, while Nunavut is in the east. All three territories combined are the most sparsely populated region in Canada, covering 3,921,739 km2 in land area and they are often referred to as a single region, The North, for organisational and economic purposes
4.
Columbia River
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The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada and it flows northwest and then south into the US state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state of Oregon before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. The river is 1,243 miles long, and its largest tributary is the Snake River and its drainage basin is roughly the size of France and extends into seven US states and a Canadian province. By volume, the Columbia is the fourth-largest river in the United States, the rivers heavy flow and relatively steep gradient gives it tremendous potential for the generation of electricity. The Columbia and its tributaries have been central to the regions culture and they have been used for transportation since ancient times, linking the many cultural groups of the region. The river system hosts many species of fish, which migrate between freshwater habitats and the saline waters of the Pacific Ocean. In the following decades, fur trading companies used the Columbia as a key transportation route, steamships along the river linked communities and facilitated trade, the arrival of railroads in the late 19th century, many running along the river, supplemented these links. Since the late 19th century, public and private sectors have developed the river. The development, commonly referred to as taming or harnessing of the river, has been massive, to aid ship and barge navigation, locks have been built along the lower Columbia and its tributaries, and dredging has opened, maintained, and enlarged shipping channels. Since the early 20th century, dams have been built across the river for the purposes of power generation, navigation, irrigation, and flood control. Today, a reservoir lies along nearly every US mile of the once free-flowing river. Production of nuclear power has taken place at two sites along the river, plutonium for nuclear weapons was produced for decades at the Hanford Site, which is now the most contaminated nuclear site in the US. All these developments have had a impact on river environments, mainly through industrial pollution. The Columbia begins its 1, 243-mile journey in the southern Rocky Mountain Trench in British Columbia, Columbia Lake –2,690 feet above sea level – and the adjoining Columbia Wetlands form the rivers headwaters. The trench is a broad, deep, and long glacial valley between the Canadian Rockies and the Columbia Mountains in BC. Rounding the northern end of the Selkirk Mountains, the river turns south through a region known as the Big Bend Country, passing through Revelstoke Lake. Revelstoke, the Big Bend, and the Columbia Valley combined are referred to in BC parlance as the Columbia Country. Below the Arrow Lakes, the Columbia passes the cities of Castlegar, located at the Columbias confluence with the Kootenay River, the Pend Oreille River joins the Columbia about 2 miles north of the US–Canada border
5.
David Thompson (explorer)
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David Thompson was a British-Canadian fur trader, surveyor, and map-maker, known to some native peoples as Koo-Koo-Sint or the Stargazer. Over Thompsons career, he travelled some 90,000 kilometres across North America, for this historic feat, Thompson has been described as the greatest land geographer who ever lived. Thompson was born in Westminster to recent Welsh migrants, David and he eventually graduated to the Grey Coat mathematical school and was introduced to basic navigation skills which would form the basis of his future career. In 1784, at the age of 14, he entered an apprenticeship with the Hudsons Bay Company. He set sail on 28 May of that year, and left England and he arrived in Churchill and was put to work copying the personal papers of the governor of Fort Churchill, Samuel Hearne. On 23 December 1788, Thompson seriously fractured his leg, forcing him to spend the two winters at Cumberland House convalescing. It was during this time he refined and expanded his mathematical, astronomical. It was also during this time that he lost sight in his right eye and he then entered the employ of the Hudsons Bay Company as a fur trader and in 1792 completed his first significant survey, mapping a route to Lake Athabasca. In recognition of his skills, the company promoted him to surveyor in 1794. Thompsons decision to defect to the North West Company in 1797 without providing the customary one-year notice was not well received by his former employers. However, joining the North West Company allowed Thompson to pursue his interest in surveying and work on mapping the interior of what was to become Canada. By 1798 Thompson had completed a survey of 6,750 km from Grand Portage, through Lake Winnipeg, to the headwaters of the Assiniboine and Mississippi Rivers, in 1798, the company sent him to Red Deer Lake to establish a trading post. The English translation of Lac la Biche-Red Deer Lake-first appeared on the Mackenzie map of 1793, Thompson spent the next few seasons trading based in Fort George, and during this time led several expeditions into the Rocky Mountains. However, a decision was made at the 1806 company meeting to send Thompson back out into the interior, after the general meeting in 1806, Thompson travelled to Rocky Mountain House and prepared for an expedition to follow the Columbia River to the Pacific. In June 1807 Thompson crossed the Rocky Mountains and spent the summer surveying the Columbia basin, Thompson mapped and established trading posts in Northwestern Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Western Canada. Trading posts he founded included Kootenae House, Kullyspell House and Saleesh House and these posts established by Thompson extended North West Company fur trading territory into the Columbia Basin drainage area. The maps he made of the Columbia River basin east of the Cascade Mountains were of high quality. In early 1810, Thompson was returning eastward towards Montreal but while on route at Rainy Lake, received orders to return to the Rocky Mountains and establish a route to the mouth of the Columbia
6.
Revelstoke, British Columbia
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Revelstoke is a city in southeastern British Columbia, Canada. It is located 641 kilometres east of Vancouver, and 415 kilometres west of Calgary, the city is situated on the banks of the Columbia River just south of the Revelstoke Dam and near its confluence with the Illecillewaet River. East of Revelstoke are the Selkirk Mountains and Glacier National Park, penetrated by Rogers Pass used by the Trans-Canada Highway, south of the community down the Columbia River are the Arrow Lakes and the Kootenays. West of the city is Eagle Pass through the Monashee Mountains, Revelstoke was founded in the 1880s when the Canadian Pacific Railway was built through the area, mining was an important early industry. The name was originally Farwell, after a land owner. In yet earlier days, the spot was called the Second Crossing, Mount Revelstoke National Park is just north of the town. The construction of Revelstoke Mountain Resort, a new ski resort on Mount MacKenzie, just outside town, has been underway since late 2005. Revelstoke is also the site of a railway museum, Revelstoke BC is situated in prime black bear and grizzly bear habitat. In 1994 the Revelstoke garbage dump was fenced with an electric fence excluding bears from feeding on the garbage, the population of bears that had been feeding at the dump turned to town to forage for food and many were destroyed as nuisance bears. The destruction of so many bears led to the creation of a program meant to keep bears wild. Revelstoke holds the Canadian record for snowiest single winter,2447 cm of snow fell on Mt. Copeland outside town during the winter of 1971-72. That works out to just over 80 feet of snow, the townsite received 779 cm and snow levels were higher than many roofs around town by more than a few metres. Revelstokes economy has traditionally been tied to the Canadian Pacific Railway, however forestry, construction, tourism and retail have increased over the past decades. Today, telecommuters, freelancers, tech workers and entrepreneurs play an important role in Revelstokes success. The city is served by Revelstoke Airport and was one of the first Canadian cities to have fibre internet installed, Revelstoke is also the location of the Revelstoke Dam which was constructed on the Columbia River, and completed in 1984. A small ski resort featuring a short lift has operated on Mount MacKenzie since the 1960s. A strong movement pushed to expand the mountain into a single resort. Revelstoke Mountain Resort opened in the winter of 2007/8 and boasts North Americas greatest vertical at 1,713 metres, the resort also offers 3,121 acres of fall line skiing, high alpine bowls,13 areas of gladed terrain and more groomed terrain
7.
Minto (sternwheeler)
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Minto was a sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Arrow Lakes in British Columbia from 1898 to 1954. In those years of service, Minto had steamed over 3.2 million kilometers serving the communities on Arrow Lakes. Minto and her sister Moyie were the last sternwheelers to run in regularly scheduled service in the Pacific Northwest. The Minto class of sailing dinghies is named after this vessel, Minto was one of three steamboats built of steel and wood that were intended for service on the Stikine River during the Klondike gold rush. The other vessels were Moyie and Tyrrell, michael on the Bering Sea all the way up the long Yukon River. All the parts for these steamers were manufactured in Toronto, Ontario, C. P. R. decided to assemble Tyrrell in Vancouver, Moyie on Kootenay Lake, and Minto at the Bulger shipyard on upper Arrow Lake at Nakusp. Minto was needed on the Arrow Lakes because the C. P. R. s big new steamer Nakusp had been destroyed by fire in 1897. It is possible that some assembly work was done on Moyie. C. P. R. decided to assemble Moyie first, the assembly crew then moved over to Nakusp on upper Arrow Lake and on and then on July 26,1898, began work on the Minto. Reportedly there were literally 1,000 pieces for each sternwheeler, the hulls of Minto, Moyie and Tyrrell hull were built on steel frames, with a wood bottom and steel sheets on the side. In addition, the composite hulls gave these vessels a much greater working life than all the boats on both the Arrow Lakes and Kootenay Lakes. Wooden hulls quickly became waterlogged and lost their strength, Minto and these involved extended the texas which the name for the cabin placed on the topmost or hurricane or texas deck. Similar work was done the year before on the Rossland and the Kootenay, in Mintos case, the additional cabins cost $2,953 to construct. Winter months imposed sharp restrictions on operations on the Arrow Lakes. Minto was the best of the fleet for dealing with these conditions, in some winters, Minto was unable to travel to lower Arrow Lake, and C. P. R. Used the steam propeller passenger and tug boat Columbia to take her place, in the very cold winter of 1916, Kootenay became icebound at the southern end of the Narrows between upper and lower Arrow Lakes. Minto with her hull, was sent down from Nakusp to take her passengers. Minto could not reach Koontenay but was able to get close enough so the passengers could walk over the ice or on shore to get to Minto, Kootenay was eventually able to work free, but her hull was permanently damaged
8.
Castlegar, British Columbia
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Castlegar is the second largest city in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada. It is located within the Selkirk Mountains at the confluence of the Kootenay and it is a regional trade and transportation centre, with a local economy fueled by forestry, mining and tourism. It was recently cited as one of the Top 8 Places in British Columbia for most promising growth and it is home to Selkirk College, a regional airport, a pulp mill, and several sawmills. The population of 7,259 people includes a number of Doukhobors. A sizeable Portuguese community grew as workers, mainly from the Azores islands, the area which was to become Castlegar was an important centre for the Sinixt Peoples. Outside the city limits are the surrounding communities of Ootischenia, Brilliant, Robson, Robson West, Raspberry, Tarrys, Thrums, Glade, Shoreacres, Fairview, Genelle, Pass Creek. There are also the smaller communities of Deer Park, Renata. Taken together, these areas comprise an approximate population of a further 8,000 people. On September 5,1811, David Thompson arrived at the location where Castlegar now sits, a plaque dedicated to David Thompson can be found on the east bank of the Columbia River overlooking the present day site of Castlegar. The first settlement in the area was West Waterloo, now known as South Castlegar, there was widespread provincial interest in gold prospecting in the late 19th century, and by 1895 there were forty houses in Waterloo. The town boomed until the end of the century when interest in the mines declined. Castlegar takes its name from Castlegar, County Galway in Ireland, the city was planned in 1897. Around 1902, the Canadian Pacific Railway built the bridge at Castlegar and they put in a box car station at the old Waterloo trail crossing and called it Kinnaird Station in honour of Lord Kinnaird who was a shareholder in the CPR. There was little in Castlegar until after the completion of the CPR bridge, a Mr. Farmer built the first store in town, housing both the post office and the town hall. William Gage built the Castlegar Hotel in 1908, standing until 1982 when it was destroyed by fire, also in 1908, the first schoolhouse was built by a few local residents who bought the lumber and erected the building. A dance pavilion, garage, tourist cabins and a slaughterhouse had all established by 1925. On October 30,1946, Castlegar was incorporated into a village and it amalgamated with the neighbouring town of Kinnaird into a city on January 1,1974, effectively doubling the population. On May 20,2004, the Citys boundary was extended to include the Blueberry Creek Irrigation District, Castlegar is located in the border area between the Sinixt and the Ktunaxa Indian bands
9.
Community radio
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Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest and they broadcast content that is popular and relevant to a local, specific audience but is often overlooked by commercial or mass-media broadcasters. Community radio stations are operated, owned, and influenced by the communities they serve, there is legally defined community radio in many countries, such as France, Argentina, South Africa, Australia and Ireland. Much of the legislation has included such as social benefit, social objectives. Modern community radio stations serve their listeners by offering a variety of content that is not necessarily provided by the commercial radio stations. Community radio outlets may carry news and information programming geared toward the local area, specialized musical shows are also often a feature of many community radio stations. Community and pirate stations can be valuable assets for a region, Community radio stations typically avoid content found on commercial outlets such as Top 40 music, sports and drive-time personalities. A meme used by members of the movement is that community radio should be 10 percent radio and 90 percent community. This means that community radio stations should focus on getting the community talking and not solely on radio, there is also a distinction drawn in contrast to mainstream stations, which are viewed as pandering to commercial concerns or the personalities of presenters. Communities are complex entities, and what constitutes the community in community radio is subject to debate which varies by country, Community may be replaced by terms such as alternative, radical or citizen radio. In sociology, a community has been defined as a group of interacting people living in a common location, Community radio has been built around the ideals of access and participation. Stations have been run by locals, typically to serve a local audience, however, the internets availability and popularity has encouraged many stations to podcast and/or stream and audio and make it available globally. Two philosophical approaches to community radio exist, although the models are not mutually exclusive, one emphasizes service and community-mindedness, focusing on what the station can do for the community. The other stresses involvement and participation by the listener, in the service model locality is valued, community radio, as a third tier, can provide content focused on a more local or particular community than a larger operation. Sometimes, though, providing syndicated content not already available within the service area is viewed as public service. Within the United States, for example, many stations syndicate content from such as Pacifica Radio on the basis that it provides content not otherwise available. In the access model, the participation of community members in producing content is viewed as a good in itself, while this model does not necessarily exclude a service approach, there is some disagreement between the two. Community broadcasting is Australia’s third media sector, formally represented by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia, in January 2012, there were 359 licensed community radio stations
10.
National Hockey League
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Headquartered in New York City, the NHL is considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the playoff champion at the end of each season. At its inception, the NHL had four teams—all in Canada, the league expanded to the United States in 1924, when the Boston Bruins joined, and has since consisted of American and Canadian teams. After a labour-management dispute that led to the cancellation of the entire 2004–05 season, in 2009, the NHL enjoyed record highs in terms of sponsorships, attendance, and television audiences. The league draws many highly skilled players from all over the world, canadians have historically constituted the majority of the players in the league, with an increasing percentage of American and European players in recent seasons. The National Hockey League was established in 1917 as the successor to the National Hockey Association, founded in 1909, the NHA began play one year later with seven teams in Ontario and Quebec, and was one of the first major leagues in professional ice hockey. Realizing the NHA constitution left them unable to force Livingstone out, the four teams voted instead to suspend the NHA, frank Calder was chosen as its first president, serving until his death in 1943. The Bulldogs were unable to play, and the remaining owners created a new team in Toronto, the first games were played on December 19,1917. The Montreal Arena burned down in January 1918, causing the Wanderers to cease operations, the NHL replaced the NHA as one of the leagues that competed for the Stanley Cup, which was an interleague competition back then. Toronto won the first NHL title, and then defeated the Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association for the 1918 Stanley Cup. The Canadiens won the title in 1919, however their Stanley Cup Final against the PCHAs Seattle Metropolitans was abandoned as a result of the Spanish Flu epidemic. Montreal in 1924 won their first Stanley Cup as a member of the NHL, the Hamilton Tigers, won the regular season title in 1924–25 but refused to play in the championship series unless they were given a C$200 bonus. The league refused and declared the Canadiens the league champion after defeated the Toronto St. Patricks in the semi-final. Montreal was then defeated by the Victoria Cougars of the Western Canada Hockey League for the 1925 Stanley Cup and it was the last time a non-NHL team won the trophy, as the Stanley Cup became the de facto NHL championship in 1926 after the WCHL ceased operation. The National Hockey League embarked on rapid expansion in the 1920s, adding the Montreal Maroons, the Bruins were the first American team in the league. The New York Americans began play in 1925 after purchasing the assets of the Hamilton Tigers, the New York Rangers were added in 1926. The Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Cougars were also added after the league purchased the assets of the defunct WCHL, a group purchased the Toronto St. Patricks in 1927 and immediately renamed them the Maple Leafs. The first NHL All-Star Game was held in 1934 to benefit Ace Bailey, the second was held in 1937 in support of Howie Morenzs family when he died of a coronary embolism after breaking his leg during a game
Canada
British Columbia
