{ "Introduction": { "Background": { "text": "
A land of vast distances and rich natural resources, Canada became a self-governing dominion in 1867, while retaining ties to the British crown. Canada gained legislative independence from Britain in 1931 and formalized its constitutional independence from the UK when it passed the Canada Act in 1982. Economically and technologically, the nation has developed in parallel with the US, its neighbor to the south across the world's longest international border. Canada faces the political challenges of meeting public demands for quality improvements in health care, education, social services, and economic competitiveness, as well as responding to the particular concerns of predominantly francophone Quebec. Canada also aims to develop its diverse energy resources while maintaining its commitment to the environment.
" } }, "Geography": { "Location": { "text": "Northern North America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean on the east, North Pacific Ocean on the west, and the Arctic Ocean on the north, north of the conterminous US" }, "Geographic coordinates": { "text": "60 00 N, 95 00 W" }, "Map references": { "text": "North America" }, "Area": { "total": { "text": "9,984,670 sq km" }, "land": { "text": "9,093,507 sq km" }, "water": { "text": "891,163 sq km" } }, "Area - comparative": { "text": "slightly larger than the US" }, "Land boundaries": { "total": { "text": "8,891 km" }, "border countries": { "text": "US 8,891 km (includes 2,475 km with Alaska)" }, "note": "note: Canada is the world's largest country that borders only one country" }, "Coastline": { "text": "202,080 km", "note": "note: the Canadian Arctic Archipelago - consisting of 36,563 islands, several of them some of the world's largest - contributes to Canada easily having the longest coastline in the world" }, "Maritime claims": { "territorial sea": { "text": "12 nm" }, "contiguous zone": { "text": "24 nm" }, "exclusive economic zone": { "text": "200 nm" }, "continental shelf": { "text": "200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin" } }, "Climate": { "text": "varies from temperate in south to subarctic and arctic in north" }, "Terrain": { "text": "mostly plains with mountains in west, lowlands in southeast" }, "Elevation": { "highest point": { "text": "Mount Logan 5,959 m" }, "lowest point": { "text": "Atlantic/Pacific/Arctic Oceans 0 m" }, "mean elevation": { "text": "487 m" } }, "Natural resources": { "text": "bauxite, iron ore, nickel, zinc, copper, gold, lead, uranium, rare earth elements, molybdenum, potash, diamonds, silver, fish, timber, wildlife, coal, petroleum, natural gas, hydropower" }, "Land use": { "agricultural land": { "text": "6.8% (2018 est.)" }, "agricultural land: arable land": { "text": "arable land: 4.7% (2018 est.)" }, "agricultural land: permanent crops": { "text": "permanent crops: 0.5% (2018 est.)" }, "agricultural land: permanent pasture": { "text": "permanent pasture: 1.6% (2018 est.)" }, "forest": { "text": "34.1% (2018 est.)" }, "other": { "text": "59.1% (2018 est.)" } }, "Irrigated land": { "text": "9,045 sq km (2015)" }, "Major lakes (area sq km)": { "fresh water lake(s)": { "text": "Huron* - 35,972 sq km; Great Bear Lake - 31,328 sq km; Superior* - 28,754 sq km; Great Slave Lake - 28,568 sq km; Lake Winnipeg - 24,387 sq km; Erie* - 12,776 sq km; Ontario* - 9,790 sq km; Lake Athabasca - 7,935 sq km; Reindeer Lake - 6,650 sq km; Nettilling Lake - 5,542 sq kmcontinuous permafrost in north is a serious obstacle to development; cyclonic storms form east of the Rocky Mountains, a result of the mixing of air masses from the Arctic, Pacific, and North American interior, and produce most of the country's rain and snow east of the mountains
volcanism: the vast majority of volcanoes in Western Canada's Coast Mountains remain dormant
" }, "Geography - note": { "text": "note 1: second-largest country in world (after Russia) and largest in the Americas; strategic location between Russia and US via north polar route; approximately 90% of the population is concentrated within 160 km (100 mi) of the US border
note 2: Canada has more fresh water than any other country and almost 9% of Canadian territory is water; Canada has at least 2 million and possibly over 3 million lakes - that is more than all other countries combined
" } }, "People and Society": { "Population": { "text": "38,516,736 (2023 est.)" }, "Nationality": { "noun": { "text": "Canadian(s)" }, "adjective": { "text": "Canadian" } }, "Ethnic groups": { "text": "Canadian 32.3%, English 18.3%, Scottish 13.9%, French 13.6%, Irish 13.4%, German 9.6%, Chinese 5.1%, Italian 4.6%, North American Indian 4.4%, East Indian 4%, Ukrainian 3.9%, other 47.7% (2016 est.)", "note": "note: percentages add up to more than 100% because respondents were able to identify more than one ethnic origin" }, "Languages": { "Languages": { "text": "English (official) 58.7%, French (official) 22%, Punjabi 1.4%, Italian 1.3%, Spanish 1.3%, German 1.3%, Cantonese 1.2%, Tagalog 1.2%, Arabic 1.1%, other 10.5% (2011 est.)" }, "major-language sample(s)": { "text": "Canada is a member of NATO and was one of the original 12 countries to sign the North Atlantic Treaty (also known as the Washington Treaty) in 1949
Canada is part of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD; established 1958); NORAD is a Canada-US bi-national military command responsible for monitoring and defending North American airspace; traditionally, a Canadian Armed Forces officer has served as the deputy commander of NORAD
Canada’s defense relationship with the US extends back to the Ogdensburg Declaration of 1940, when the two countries formally agreed on military cooperation, including the establishment of the Permanent Joint Board on Defense (PJBD), which continued to be the highest-level bilateral defense forum between Canada and the US as of 2022
British troops withdrew from Canada in 1871 as part of the UK-US Treaty of Washington; following the withdrawal, the first Canadian militia, known as the Royal Canadian Regiment, was organized in 1883 to protect Canadian territory and defend British interests abroad, which it did in the South African War (1899-1902), Canada’s first overseas conflict; militia units formed the backbone of the more than 425,000 Canadian soldiers that went to Europe during World War I in what was called the Canadian Expeditionary Force; the Royal Canadian Navy was created in 1910, while the Canadian Air Force was established in 1920 and became the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1924; the Canadian Army was officially founded in 1942; a unified Canadian Armed Forces was created in 1968
" } }, "Terrorism": { "Terrorist group(s)": { "text": "Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS); Hizballah", "note": "note: details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in Appendix-T" } }, "Transnational Issues": { "Disputes - international": { "text": "managed maritime boundary disputes with the US at Dixon Entrance, Beaufort Sea, Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the Gulf of Maine, including the disputed Machias Seal Island and North Rock; Canada and the United States dispute how to divide the Beaufort Sea and the status of the Northwest Passage but continue to work cooperatively to survey the Arctic continental shelf; US works closely with Canada to intensify security measures for monitoring and controlling legal and illegal movement of people, transport, and commodities across the international border; sovereignty dispute with Denmark over Hans Island in the Kennedy Channel between Ellesmere Island and Greenland; commencing the collection of technical evidence for submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in support of claims for continental shelf beyond 200 nm from its declared baselines in the Arctic, as stipulated in Article 76, paragraph 8, of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea
" }, "Refugees and internally displaced persons": { "refugees (country of origin)": { "text": "22,400 (Venezuela) (refugees and migrants) (2020); 5,254 (Iran) (mid-year 2021)" }, "stateless persons": { "text": "4,323 (2022)" } }, "Illicit drugs": { "text": "illicit production of fentanyl primarily for Canada's domestic drug market with at least small quantities smuggled to the US; complex laboratories setup for fentanyl production have been found and Mexican traffickers present in the country; Canada legalized marijuana in 2018" } } }