The world's largest totem pole was raised in Victoria in 1994 and stands 54.94 metres tall (180.2 feet).
The most widely attended festivals in Canada include:
Celebration of Light (Vancouver) 1.6 million
Winterlude (Ottawa-Gatineau) 1.6 million
Just For Laughs (Montreal) 1.5 million
Canadian National Exhibition (Toronto) 1.3 million
Calgary Stampede 1.2 million
Pride Toronto 1.3 million
Toronto International Film Festival 0.5 million
Quebec Winter Carnival 0.5 million
The first chuckwagon race held at the Calgary Stampede occurred in 1923. Purses and prizes totaled $275. To get the Canadian Championship title each outfit – consisting of four horses, wagon, driver and four helpers – were required to cut a figure eight around barrels, head out through a backstretch, then around a track, unhook the horses from the wagon, stretch a fly with a minimum of two stakes and make a fire. First smoke decides winner.
In Flander's Fields is a poem written by World War I Col. John McCraea, a Canadian veteran of the Second Boer War. He was struck with admiration at the courage of the dead when he saw red poppies swaying among the markers of his fallen comrades.
Canada's first million-selling author was Marshall Saunders, with her novel Beautiful Joe (1894).
French and English are the two official languages in Canada.
Queen Elizabeth II is the Canadian Head of State.
Canada's literacy rate is over 99%.
The Canadian motto is A Mari Usque ad Mare. It means from sea to sea.
The English version of Canada's National Anthem – O Canada – was written by Robert Stanley Weir for the Diamond Jubilee of Confederation in 1927.
The National Flag of Canada came into being in 1965 to replace the Union Jack. It is an 11 pointed red maple leaf on a white square.
