Comprising of 10 provinces and three territories, Canada is the second largest country with 7% of the world land mass. Extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, Canada shares land borders with the United States to the south and with the US state of Alaska to the northwest.

Canada is a constitutional monarchy with Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada as head of state, and a parliamentary democracy with a federal system of parliamentary government.

Canada is a bilingual and multicultural country with English and French as official language. Non-official languages are important in Canada, with 5,202,245 people listing one as a first language. Some significant non-official first languages include Chinese, Italian, German, and Punjabi.

Canada is an ethnically diverse nation. According to the 2001 census, it has 34 ethnic groups with at least one hundred thousand members each. The largest ethnic group is "Canadian" (39.4%), followed by English (20.2%), French (15.8%), Scottish (14.0%), Irish (12.9%), German (9.3%), Italian (4.3%), Chinese (3.7%), Ukrainian (3.6%) and First Nations (3.4%).

Canada is one of the world's wealthiest nations with a high per capita income, a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Group Eight (G8). Canada is a free market with slight government intervention, much less than most of the European countries.

Canadians adhere to a wide variety of religions, as people in Canada have the freedom of religion as one of their rights. According to 2001 census, 77.1% of Canadians identified as being Christians; of this, Catholics make up the largest group (43.6% of Canadians).

In Canada, the provinces and territories are responsible for education; thus Canada has no national department of education. The mandatory school age varies across Canada but generally ranges between the ages of 5-7 to 16-18,

Canadian culture has historically been heavily influenced by British, French and aboriginal culture and traditions, and over time has been greatly influenced by American culture because of the proximity between the two countries. Canadian culture has also been greatly influenced by more recent immigration of people from all over the world.

Canadian official national sports are ice hockey (ice hockey) and lacrosse (summer). Hockey is the national pass-time and also the most watched sport in the country. After hockey, other popular watched sports include Canadian football and curling.

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Canadian Immigration