Fascinating Facts about Canada

Since today is Canada Day, I just wanted to take a moment to share some interesting facts about our neighbors to the North.

Canada became a country on July 1, 1867, when the British North America Act was passed by the British Parliament.

The name Canada comes from the word ‘kanata’ which means ‘settlement’ or ‘village’ in the language of the indigenous St Lawrence Iroquoians.

In 2012 the population of Canada was around 35 million.

The border between Canada and the United States is 5,525 miles long, including 1,538 miles between Canada and Alaska, it is the world's longest border between two nations.

The regent of England, currently Queen Elizabeth II, is the Canadian head of state.

The average life expectancy at birth for a Canadian is 81.16 years, the eighth highest in the world. The United States ranks 46th, at 78.14 years.

While ice hockey is Canada's most prevalent sport, lacrosse is the country's official sport. The modern game of ice hockey was developed in Canada, based on games that have been played since the tenth century. The rules were first published in the Montreal Gazette in 1877.

The east coast of Canada was settled by Vikings around the year A.D. 1000. Archaeological evidence of a settlement has been found at L'anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland.

The Mounted Police were formed in 1873, with nine officers and in 1920 merged with the Dominion Police to become the famous Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which today has close to 30,000 members.

Alert, in Nunavut territory, is the northernmost permanent settlement in the world.

In 1921 Canadian physician Frederick Banting and medical student Charles H. Best discovered the hormone insulin in pancreatic extracts of dogs. By the end of that year, with the help of Canadian chemist James B. Collip and Scottish physiologist J.J.R. Macleod, Banting and Best purified insulin, and the next year it was used to successfully treat a boy suffering from severe diabetes. In 1923 they were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine.

A black bear cub from Canada named Winnipeg (or “Winnie,” for short) was one of the most popular attractions at the London Zoo after it was donated to the zoo in 1915. Winnie became a favorite of Christopher Robin Milne and inspired the stories written by his father, A.A. Milne, about Winnie-the-Pooh.

Canadian James Naismith invented basketball to give his physical education students at the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, an indoor team sport to play during the long winters.

Canada has the longest coastline of any country in the world at 151,600 miles.

Many inventions including the electric light bulb, the electric range, the electric wheelchair, standard time, the cardiac pacemaker, the foghorn and the first snowmobile were invented in Canada. Also, the first practical electron microscope was constructed at the University of Toronto.

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

VICTORIA, CANADA: THOUGHTS ON THE MONARCHY, HIDDENT TALENTS AND TOY BOATS

The city of Victoria is named for Queen Victoria, who reigned for 63 years and 7 months--longer than any other British monarch, and longer than any female monarch ever.  Although Queen Elizabeth II is definitely giving her a run for her money.  She'll pass Victoria's record in September, 2015.  I'd say she's got a pretty good shot, seeing as her mom lived to be 101.  Unless she continues to insist on parachuting out of helicopters with James Bond.

Perhaps because of it's namesake, Victoria (the city) is about as English as you can get without actually going to England.  To emphasize my point, a red double decker bus conveniently drove through my photograph.

Victoria is the capital of British Columbia, and is home to the beautiful British Columbia Parliament.  We don't have time now for a lesson in Canadian politics.  The most important thing you need to know is that Canadians do not have to suffer through years of political advertising before every election.

People think Canadians pay high taxes to cover things like national healthcare.  I suspect the higher taxes are really to cover the costs of lighting up the Parliament buildings every single night.

The Parliament buildings are located in the heart of downtown Victoria, just across the harbor (or should we say harbour?) from the equally beautiful Empress Hotel.  Why the Empress?  Well, besides being the Queen of England, Victoria was also the Empress of India.

Because of it's relatively mild climate, Victoria is a popular tourist destination.  As a result, you will encounter many large animals in Mountie costumes roaming the streets.

You will also encounter a great many street performers.  Including the always popular Darth Fiddler.  Even dark lords have hidden talents you know.

Victoria is also home to North America's second oldest Chinatown (San Francisco's being the oldest).

If you need to get from one side of the harbor harbour to the other, you can take one of these water taxis.  Honestly, they remind me of a child's bath toy, and I would not set foot in one.  Ever.

But I'm sure I've left you wondering what is on the other side of the harbour that would compel someone to hop aboard such a vessel?   How about really good fish and chips?

Or the chance to feed some harbour seals?  Which is not a big draw for me personally, seeing as you have to hold onto raw fish.  But the kids love it!

After you've fed yourself and the seals, you can stroll through the brightly painted houseboats in the area known as Fisherman's Wharf. 

If you still feel like you've got some fish and chips to walk off, you could stroll on over to the break wall.  Actually, it's pretty far, so I would recommend taking a car.  But once you get there, I imagine you could get in quite a workout walking all the way out to the end of the wall and back.

We got about halfway before a certain 7 year-old member of our party became nervous about falling off the wall into the ocean.

I think he was just anxious to get to the next stop on our Victorian tour.....Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.  Stay tuned!

THE BEST SUPERBOWL COMMERCIAL YOU NEVER SAW

I studied advertising in college.  I worked in the advertising department of my college newspaper.  I don't change the channel during commercial breaks (on the rare occasions when I'm actually in possession of the remote).  I really do watch the Superbowl just for the ads.

Which is why I feel qualified to tell you that this year's best Superbowl commercial never aired in the U.S. 

The premise: a documentary is being made about Canadian rec league hockey.  But when the teams show up for the game, the arena is transformed into an NHL-style venue, complete with mascots, announcers.....we have a kerfuffle.....and a flash mob of wildly cheering fans.

My husband's hockey team is called the Magic Mullets.  And really, aren't all mullets magical?  I'm just wondering what that mascot would look like?

You really should watch it.  Even if you don't like commercials.  Or hockey.  Even if you aren't married to a Canadian who plays rec league hockey.

Because nothing is more heartwarming that seeing the dreams of middle-aged men come true.

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM

This afternoon we payed a visit to the wax museum.  Except the historical figures weren't made of wax.  They were real live 6th graders.  Two hundred real live 6th graders, representing folks like George Washington Carver, Joe Montana, Golda Meir, Mother Theresa, Steve Jobs, and Michael Jackson.   I think there were actually five Michael Jacksons. 

T was Terry Fox.  If you've never heard of Terry Fox, don't worry, I'll tell you all about him.  As you can see, he only had one leg.  And he tried to run across Canada on that one leg to raise money for cancer research.

On April 12, 1980 Terry Fox dipped his right foot in the Atlantic Ocean at St. John's, Newfoundland. He planned to dip it in the Pacific Ocean when he arrived in Victoria, British Columbia. His goal was to raise one dollar for cancer research for every Canadian. He called it The Marathon of Hope.

He ran across Atlantic Canada, and Quebec, and was welcomed to Ontario by crowds of cheering people. He averaged 23.3 miles a day, almost a marathon, on a prosthetic leg. Prosthetic legs back then weren't what they are now. His stumped was constantly bruised, chafed and bleeding. He was always patching up his running shoes and shorts. His socks were full of holes. He refused to spend any of the money donated on himself.



On September 1, 1980, about 12 miles east of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Terry started coughing and noticed a dull, blunt pain in his chest. His friend Doug drove him to the hospital. The cancer had spread to his lungs, one tumor the size of a golf ball, the other the size of a lemon. He'd run for 143 days and 3,339 miles.

Eight days after Terry was forced to stop, Canadian television networks arranged a series of telethons to continue Terry's dream of raising money for cancer research. By February, 1981, $24.7 million had been raised. One dollar for every Canadian.

Terry died on June 28, 1981, at 4:35 am, his favorite hour for running. He was one month shy of his twenty-third birthday.

As part of the wax museum project, the kids had to write a research paper and make a display board.  They also had to prepare a 2 minute speech to recite, in character, to anyone who stopped at their exhibit.  T estimates he gave his Terry Fox speech at least 20 times.

We thought about making some kind of prosthetic leg for him.  But all of our ideas were very rudimentary and involved milk jugs, sticks, and T standing on one leg for 90 minutes.  So he wore jogging pants and the museum patrons had to use their imaginations. 

We're so proud of all of his hard work!

Not to mention the other kids.  There were some really great displays and costumes. Like Amelia Earhart.

Leonardo Da Vinci.....

And my favorite (besides Terry Fox, of course), this adorable little Lucille Ball.

And the best part of all.....admission was free!

THE GOOD OLD HOCKEY GAME: A LESSON IN ECONOMICS, GEOGRAPHY & CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Usually, when we go to an NHL hockey game, we sit in row 1,267.  Which coincidentally is also the amount we spend in dollars for the tickets, the giant foam hands, the cotton candy and the Dippin' Dots. 

But last night we sat in row 19. And we only had to pay for the foam hands, cotton candy, and Dippin' Dots.

Yes, G is still cashing in on a work event he attended last spring with sports team owner type people from around the nation.  Many of whom offered him free tickets to sporting events.  How do you think we got those front row Rockies tickets back in August? Never mind that the HP Touchpads G was handing out back then have since been discontinued. 

*Interesting side note: Super rich people who can afford their own sports teams like getting free stuff as much as the rest of us.  There is certainly a lesson in economics in there somewhere.

And now for your geography lesson.  The Colorado Avalanche, who were formerly the Quebec Nordiques, were playing the Winnipeg Jets, who were formerly the Atlanta Thrashers.  Not to be confused with the former Winnipeg Jets who are currently the Phoenix Coyotes.  Got that?

We just love attending games where a U.S. team plays a Canadian team.  Because we can show off our cultural diversity by participating in 2 national anthems.  G sings O Canada.  I sing The Star Spangled Banner.  And the children sing random phrases from both.

O Canada, our home and native land.....God keep our land, glorious and free by the dawn's early light.....And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that we stand on guard for thee.....

Our other talents include undertstanding the temperature in both Celsius and Fahrenheit, and knowing how far we have gone in both miles and kilometers. 

Apparently we are also talented at catching free t-shirts.

As you can see, everyone enjoyed themselves.  Even if the children are confused about their cultural identity and had no idea which team to cheer for.  And in the end, it doesn't really matter.

Because free tickets are free tickets, in U.S. or Canadian dollars.

THE YEAR IN REVIEW: JANUARY TO MARCH 2010

Yesterday I stumbled across a great idea over at Emmy Mom.  She's hosting a 2010 Review Extravaganza.  Extravaganza meaning--recap your year in a series of blog posts and you can win prizes!  What a great idea, I thought.  So I went back over all my blog posts from January to March of this year.  And I realized something.  My Canadian husband has way too much influence over this family.

Remember the Winter Olympics in Vancouver?  That pretty much consumed our lives for all of January and February. T wrote two epic poems about Canada and the Winter Games. Among my favorite stanzas:
Maple leaf a true Canadian symbol. My Canadian grandma knits with a thimble, and

Vancouver site of the Olympics in 2010. On the prairie, pigs in their pen.

Pretty good poetry, eh?

C practiced his figure skating moves in front of the television. Random Canadians, displaced in the United States during this most important time in Canadian history, spotted the maple leaf flag flying from our back porch and rang the doorbell to say hello and invite us to their gold medal hockey party.

 

  But the gold medal game was right smack dab in the middle of our church services.  And since G is what you might refer to as a member of the clergy, well . . . he did the only thing he could do.  He wore his team Canada jersey to the services that Sunday.

I started Project 365 on January 1st.  Can you believe I'm still going?  Only 3 weeks left!

Finally, March arrived and Olympic fever ended. Which left C plenty of time for more important things.  Like glueing a paper mustache to his face and proclaiming, "It's me. Magnum P.I."  I'm almost afraid to go back and refresh my memory on April through June.

YOU WON'T SEE THIS IN BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS

Maybe Canadian Living, but who reads that anyway?

G wanted me to use his "game worn" hockey socks.  They were smelly and full of holes.  There is a limit to the amount of man decor one can allow.  Especially during the holiday season.  If I give him an inch, he'll be getting out the leg lamp and the moose mugs and insisting on a fun, old-fashioned family Christmas.

 Let's zoom in a little closer on the Christmas decorations and see what's hanging on the tree.  Thank goodness G's mom only sent a box of six. Along with a Calgary Flames Christmas stocking and Santa hat.  I told the kids the hat could only be worn in the privacy of our home.  A Red Wings fan has to draw the line somewhere.

HE WON!

Hooray! My proud Canadian husband won the Canada Day photo contest at Whole Foods.

No, we don't live in Canada, which makes that photo of him with the Mountie all the more weird.  If you missed it, you can read about it here. 

Thanks to all the family and friends and random strangers who voted for him. I think maybe some of the men were really voting for the cute Mountie . . . but every vote counts, and now, with our $25 gift card, we can finally afford to shop at Whole Foods.

He says for his next trick he's going to wear Lederhosen at an Oktoberfest event. 

You may think he's joking, but remember the Brotherhood of the Ridiculous Floral Golf Pants?  I'm pretty sure Lederhosen are not out of the question.

CANADA, AMERICA'S HAT

Happy Canada Day to all of my Canadian family and friends.  Especially my Canadian husband and our half-Canadian hosers children.  Being married to a Canadian, and living in Canada for five years, I have come to love and appreciate our neighbors to the North.  I think, perhaps, we Americans take them for granted.  Let me explain what I mean with a visual metaphor of sorts.

Hat's are good.  They keep our heads warm.  They protects us.  From things like sunburns, bird droppings, and the shame of exposing our male pattern baldness.  Yet how often do you just put your hat on your head and go about your day without giving it a second thought?  But your hat is always there, quiet and unassuming, looking out for you.  So it is with Canada.

And so, my fellow Americans, perhaps you can pause for a moment today and think of Canada, perched up there at a jaunty tilt, always polite and friendly and ready to lend a hand.  Thank you, Canada, for Wayne Gretzky, Neil Young, Celine Dion, Michael J. Fox, Terry Fox, Anne of Green Gables, Timbits, William Shatner, Frederick Banting, and for taking so many of us in after 9/11.

And you should really go check out T's Canadian tribute poem.

What do we do to celebrate, you ask?  Well, we visit our local Whole Foods store, of course.

That's right.  Our Whole Foods store celebrates Canada Day.  It was very touching to see the 17 Canadians who live here gathered outside the front doors of Whole Foods singing O Canada.  After the song, we all had some cake.  They even let me have a piece.  Maybe because I knew all the words to their national anthem. 

And look, it's a real Mountie, straight from Nova Scotia.

G met us there and got his photo taken before we arrived, so I had to scan his picture in.  Normally I would be very upset about missing such a great photo op, but since it's Canada Day, I let it slide.  There's a "Get Your Picture Taken with the Mountie" photo contest, so hopefully the hard work he put into his outfit will pay off.  I mean, he's wearing a hockey sweater and stocking cap toque, even though it was 90 degrees Fahrenheit 32 degrees Celsius outside.  He even accessorized with a home-made gold medal!

We ate some poutine (pronounced poo-teen, with a French accent).  According to my husband, it wasn't great poutine. The curds weren't melty enough.  But hey, he should be happy that some American Whole Foods employee was willing to make it for him.

We also had Beaver Tails.  In all my time living in Canada, I never heard of Beaver Tails.  As near as I can tell, they are some sort of state fair Calgary Stampede type food.

I'm pretty exhausted from all the festivities.  Definitely too tired to cook, so we'll have to go out to dinner to celebrate (I'm thinking Mexican).  Which begs the question, if Canada is America's hat, what does that make Mexico?  Our socks?  Pants?  Underwear?  Well, they're all very useful items of clothing at any rate.

After our delicious Mexican dinner, we'll come home and eat this yummy Cherry Cheesecake Dessert.

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

THANK YOU LORD STANLEY

Dear Lord Stanley,

I just wanted to thank you for buying that big silver punch bowl back in 1892.  Just in case they don't have ESPN in hockey heaven, I wanted you to know that it's still the best trophy in sports.

It gets passed around from team to team every year, just like you said it should.  That's what makes it so special.  There's no other trophy in sports with such a great history. Did you know that the players on the championship team all get to spend a day with your cup?  It's been all over the world . . . even to Afghanistan.  Don't worry, someone from the Hockey Hall of Fame always comes along to keep an eye on it.

Peter Forsberg was the first person to take the cup out of North America.  Just between you and me, he's not my favorite hockey player ever.  That would be Steve Yzerman.  I'm sure you've heard of him up there in hockey heaven.  In 2006, your cup made it back to it's birthplace in London, England.  They even put a plaque at the store where you purchased it 114 years before.

When Dan Cleary brought the Cup to Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, 27,000 people came to see it.  Which is a pretty good turnout, considering only 3,000 people live there.  Your little silver punch bowl has been to the top of Fisher Peak in British Columbia, and Mt. Elbert in Colorado.  It's been on a fishing boat, a roller coaster ride, and inside an igloo.  It's been to the White House quite a few times, and has had a pretty illustrious television career. Oh, and that time William Shatner knocked it off a balcony on an episode of Boston Legal . . . I'm pretty sure that was a replica. 

This will probably sound crazy, but Andre Roy used it to carry an engagement ring, while flying in a helicopter (which I'm pretty sure they didn't even have back in your day) piloted by Guy LaFleur.  And I hope you don't roll over in your grave when I tell you this, but some players have used it to baptize their children.

One time, the cup got left at a photographer's studio, and the photographer's mother planted geraniums in it.  Which I suppose is better than the time some Montreal Canadiens players left it by the side of the road after changing a flat tire.  Or that time in 1941 when the management of Madison Sqaure Garden finally paid off the mortgage and burned the mortgage documents inside the Cup.  It was 54 years before the Rangers won another Stanley Cup Championship.  I don't suppose you had anything to do with that, did you?

During a playoff game in 1961 between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Montreal Canadiens, a fan tried to steal the cup.  Luckily they caught him.  He told the judge he was just trying to "take the Cup back to Montreal where it belongs."  In  case you were wondering, it doesn't float.  The Pittsburgh Penguins tested that out in Mario Lemieux's pool back in 1991.  And just to be sure, the Canadiens tested it again in Patrick Roy's pool in 1993.

People eat and drink out of it a lot, mostly alcohol.  It is a cup, after all.  And sometimes a bowl, for cereal, dog food, and popcorn, among other things.  But Martin Brodeur will probably tell you to be careful about  popcorn.  The Cup had some butter stains and salt damage after he ate popcorn out of it back in 2003.  I bet Maurice "The Rocket" Richard was pretty mad when he chipped his two front teeth drinking out of the cup in 1957.  Although he probably would have ended up getting them knocked out eventually anyway.

Last year the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Cup. I'm not sure how they did it.  I know their captain, Sydney Crosby, is really cute good at hockey, but he's so young he couldn't really grow a playoff beard to speak of.  And I thought that was pretty much a requirement to get the backing of you and the other hockey gods.  Of course, he got the game winning goal in the U.S.A vs. Canada Olympic gold medal game back in February, so maybe good looks count for something.  Honestly, I'm not a fan of those beards.  They get so scraggly by the time the championship series is over, so it's good to see that you're taking other factors into consideration at playoff time.

Anyway, you probably already knew all this (and a lot more), being up there in hockey heaven with Maurice Richard, Jean Béliveau, Toe Blake, Bobby Orr (okay, he's not dead yet, but he's legendary) and the others.  But I just wanted to say thanks.  Because of you, this is the most wonderful time of the year.  Oh, and one more thing.  I don't know how much influence you have (I would think quite a bit), but I really love the Detroit Red Wings, and was hoping they might be able to take your cup home again this year.

Thanks for everything,

A Hockey Fan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditions_and_anecdotes_associated_with_the_Stanley_Cup
(June 12, 2009 - Photo by Harry How/Getty Images North America)

OH YES HE DID . . .

Wear his hockey jersey to church, that is.

We go to one of those churches where you dress up fancy on Sunday. So a hockey jersey isn't exactly appropriate Sabbath day attire.  Unless, of course, Canada is playing the U.S.A in the gold medal game.  And your services start at the same time as the game. 

Many people seemed surprised to even see G at church.  But he has churchly responsibilities to attend to.  Responsibilities that require him to wear a suit and tie.  Which he did, for most of the Sunday services. He just wore his jersey for part of church.  The Sunday school part.  Not the *sermon part. 
*(At our church we don't really have a traditional sermon, but different members of the congregation give talks each week.)

Considering that it was probably a mild form of torture for him to miss the game, I guess it was okay for him to have his 15 minutes of representin' the homeland.  He's wearing that same jersey again today.  Says he's gonna wear it every day until the next Olympics.

We've had a Canadian flag flying off the back porch for a few weeks now.  Yesterday around noon the doorbell rang.  I opened the door to find two strangers standing on my front porch.

"Hi.  I'm Lori.  Well, you have no idea who I am, but we saw your Canadian flag and we just had to stop and tell you that we're Canadian and we're having a hockey party at 1:00 and we wanted to invite you over."

Seriously.  They gave me their address and told us to come on over.  Unfortunately, we were on our way to church.  But aren't those Canadians so gosh darn friendly?  And if you didn't believe that hockey brings them together . . . well, it obviously does.  Even when they aren't in Canada.

This is for you G.  Consider it my congratulatory blog post in your honor.

MITTENS!

The boys have been waiting anxiously for G to return from Toronto with these . . .

The rare Olympic torch bearer's mitten. 

He's been "working" in Toronto this week.  I use the term working loosely, since I don't think he was too upset about visiting the homeland, and he got to visit the Hockey Hall of Fame.  He probably ate some Tim Bits too. 

But back to the mittens.  You can't just walk into any store in Canada and buy these.  That was his plan, of course.  But these mittens are the hot item this season.  They are pretty much sold out across the entire country.

Lucky for us those Canadians are so darn thoughtful and friendly.  Before Glen arrived in Toronto, his fabulous co-worker went to FOUR different stores in the greater Toronto area to find these mittens for our children.  Whom she has never met, I might add. 

Lucky for them she's one of those thoughtful, friendly Canadians, because after going to one store, we would have said, "You don't need any stinkin' mittens," and gone home.  Of course, it probably helped that she didn't have to go shopping with them.

Still, a big thank you is in order.

THANK YOU!

From the three monkeys . . .

CANADA: A PRETTY GOOD POEM, EH?

T is on a poem-writing roll.  Well, it's also been assigned as homework.  But he's tackled said homework with great gusto!  I don't want to give too much away, but my favorite line is . . .

Maple leaf a true Canadian symbol.
My Canadian grandma knits with a thimble.

Or maybe . . .

Vancouver site of the Olympics in 2010.
On the prairie, pigs in their pen.

I am still waiting patiently for a poem about the good old U.S.A., but I will continue to post his work, as it is pretty good, eh?  It's too bad he didn't write this sooner, really.  He could have been that guy who read a poem at the opening ceremonies in Vancouver.  We'd get him a beanie and a goatie first, of course. 

From the frozen north,

The cold Inuit come forth.

A Yukon camp,

Near the border of Alaska.

O Canada our home and native land.

The mounties in a band.

Canadian Calgary Flames of Canada,

Also Toronto Maple Leafs.

Our national obsession of eh. Eh?

The city of Thunder Bay.

Whale watchers on Victoria.

Maple syrup is so sweet.

Vancouver site of the Olympics in 2010.

On the prairie, pigs in their pen.

We have provinces not states,

Ten provinces and yes, three territories too.

Hockey our home sport.

Lots of bays with a port.

As the Zamboni crosses the ice,

Fans cheer "Canada, Canada."

Terry Fox our man of glory.

His is a true Canadian hero story.

Run for Canada cancer research.

Millions of dollars because of him.

Maple leaf a true Canadian symbol.

My Canadian grandma knits with a thimble.

Tornadoes they have them too.

Along with snowcapped mountains.

The Rockies we share,

They are full of bears.

Aaaah! Mountain lions too.

Many glaciers.

U.S. Glacier National Park,

Canada Waterton National Park, with bark.

Muk Muk, Miga, Quatchi, and Sumi.

Those are Canadian mascots quite a few.

O Canada we stand on guard for thee.

Many Canadian soldiers would flee

The earth and be buried in Flanders Fields.

A historic site above and below ground.

National treasures

We share with pleasure

The U.S. and Canada,

Neighbors and friends.

The red and white,

The maple leaf so bright.

The flag of the country

We are.

The Royal Mountie,

Catching the rowdie.

In the mountains,

They bring justice.

In Waterton National Park,

A tree fell down with all its bark.

The townsfolk propped it up,

With poles all over.

In Autumn,

The maple leaves fall to the bottom

Of the hill

For Canadian children to play.

Vancouver site for the 2010 Olympics.

People will test out in Paralympics.

Quatchi my favorite mascot,

Sasquatch not Yeti he is.

The great mittens,

They feel like kittens.

White Olympic rings on a red background,

With the words Vancouver 2010.

Red and white

It is so bright.

The flag of our country.

The maple leaf glory.

Canada we have a long history.

To you it's quite a mystery.

Things like Flanders Fields,

And Terry Fox.

Canadian inventor Alexander Graham Bell,

Invented the telephone so we could tell,

Things to each other

Over this vast country.

The Montreal Canadiens best player,

The mayor

Of the team,

Maurice Richard.

It is a great book.

You will be on the hook.

With The Hockey Sweater,

By Roch Carrier.

This is our city, this is our town,

This is our province, look around.

This is our country we love,

This is the true Canada.

If you missed T's other poem, Winter Games, you can read it here.  It's shorter.