Canada Culture: Customs, Traditions, and Facts

Throughout every aspect of cultural life, from filmmaking and writing to cooking and playing sports, Canadian culture blends British, French, and American influences.

A diverse country like Canada has various ethnic, religious, and linguistic groups. This diversity is especially unique since Canada was the first nation to adopt multiculturalism.

Canada has dual nationality (French Canada and English Canada), derived from the British conquest of the French colony around Quebec and Ontarioin 1760.

In addition to dominating political and societal issues, this dual heritage has polarized the population. Here’s everything you need to know about Canadian culture and customs:

Art

Several explorers, missionaries, and settlers wrote the first truly Canadian works in French, which inspired subsequent works. Canadian art is defined as the creation of visual, sculpture, and all other types of artworks stemming from first nations peoples and immigrant European and noneuropeans alike.

From the aboriginal arts period to the contemporary arts of today, Canadian art has evolved through notable periods in history. Consistently, the arts represent the cultural significance that the Canadian people are proud of.

In the 1960s, Canadian artwork experienced a distinctive development thanks to a new understanding of how the rest of the world views and creates art. Among the more notable works in this period are Lisa Steele’s pioneering video art and David Askevoid’s video art and photography.

Cuisine

The Canadian agricultural and farming heritage produces food and animal products, making them big meat eaters. Families typically eat three meals a day, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The Canadian population is large and diverse, so traditional meals and foods vary greatly. In Canada, popular foods include poutine, a dish from Quebec that consists of French fries with cheese and brown gravy, and Canadian peameal bacon, a pork loin that has been brined and rolled in cornmeal before eating.

The French Canadian version of split pea soup uses yellow split peas with a ham bone or ham hock for the soup base. Newfoundlanders and Quebecers may add meat, carrots, and turnips to the peas.

Another popular dish is Saskatoon berry pie. Saskatchewan berries or prairie berries are blueberries with a sweet, nutty almond flavor. They are the sweet and nutritious filling for this flaky, crusty pie.

Sports

As a leading sport nation, Canada combines four seasons with geographic and social diversity to shape how sport is practiced today. In Canada, Indigenous people have played lacrosse for a thousand years, which is the summer national sport. Dr. James Naismith invented basketball in 1891 to condition young athletes during the winter, and hockey was invented in Canada in the 1800s.

Among children, soccer is the most popular game. As part of a healthy, active lifestyle, Canadians of all ages can participate in sports activities at every level and in various forms.

Religion

Religion is a fundamental part of Canadian society, where every citizen is free to practice whatever religion they choose, as long as its practices do not violate the law.

While there is no official national religion, Christianity has been the predominant faith since colonization. Most legal proceedings culminate in swearing on the Bible, and prayers open many official functions.

The discussion of religion is welcome, but some people may not like others promoting their faith or advocating defensively for their beliefs, including atheism. Preaching in social conversation may be perceived as irritating.

Greetings

Strong conventions govern greetings and social etiquette in Canada, and understanding and obeying these rules is an important part of fitting in. Canadians generally shake hands with a firm hand and make eye contact when greeting strangers; they may laugh lightly over handshakes to diffuse the formality.

While physical greetings depend on another person’s comfort level, French Canadians may also greet each other by lightly kissing both cheeks once. Hugs, back-slaps, and nods may all be used to greet someone one knows well.

Language

Officially, Canada is a bilingual country with two official languages: French and English. However, most Canadians speak English, followed by English and French, English and some other language, or only French.

It is much less common for Canadians to speak French, called French-canadians or Francophones. More than 90% of them live in Quebec — the only province where French is spoken daily. 3.8 million Quebecers speak only French, while another 3.2 million speak both English and French.

The Canadian English language relies heavily on

American pronunciations and spelling, along with a few uniquely Canadian flourishes.

Facts About Canada

Whether you’re planning a visit, a study abroad program, or living and working in Canada, you may want to know some unique and interesting facts about the country.

Here are a few facts about Canada:

Canada is the world’s second-largest country. After Russia, Canada is the second largest, with 9.98 million square miles.

The coldest temperature in Canada was -63°C. There was a record-breaking cold temperature of -63.0°C, or 81°F, recorded in Snag, Yukon.

Canadians eat the most donuts in the world. There are 30 million people in Canada, and they eat 1 billion donuts annually. The donut is often seen as a symbol of American life, but there are more donut shops in Canada than in any other country. A bear from Canada inspired Winnie the Pooh. Christopher Robin Milne’s father, AA Milne, who wrote the world-famous Winnie the Pooh stories, imported a bear cub from Winnipeg in 1915. This bear was Christopher Robin Milne’s favorite part of the zoo and inspired his father to write the stories.

Canada has two deserts. In British Columbia, one desert is 15 miles long and has the only boardwalk in the world. In northern Saskatchewan, there is a second desert on the south edge of Lake Athabasca.

You can drink a toe in Canada. As weird as it sounds, it’s true. In Dawson City, there’s a cocktail where people drink whiskey with a human toe inside. It’s called Sour Toe Cocktail. People donate the toes, and there’s a $2,500 fine if you swallow it.