eddiecanuck.com

Just added a link in the Canuck Stuff section. Gives a good deal of useful info on Canada. Called An American’s Guide to Canada. Go check it out.

Kim Pearson
© 2003. All Rights Reserved

CANUCK
Canuck ( ) 1.noun; often offensive slang

A Canadian, especially a French Canadian.

[Probably alteration of ‘Canadian.]

Source: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Definition obtained through www.dictionary.com

2. noun; A small of medium-sized hardy horse, common in Canada.

Source: Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Definition obtained through www.dictionary.com
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If this doesn’t make you want to stand up and shout “I’AM CANADIAN!” I don’t know what will!
So, what do Canadians Have to be proud of?

1. Smarties
2. Crispy Crunch
3. Coffee Crisp
4. The size of our footballs fields and one less down
5. Lacrosse is Canadian
6. Hockey is Canadian
7. Basketball is Canadian
8. Mr.Dress-Up can kick Mr. Roger’s ass
9. Tim Horton’s kicks Dunkin’ Donuts ass
10. In the war of 1812, Canadians pushed the Americans so far back…past their ‘White House’, we burned it… and most of Washington, under the command of William Lyon McKenzie who was insane and hammered all the time. We got bored because they ran away so we came home and partied… Go figure.
11. Canada has the largest French population that never surrendered to Germany.
12. We have the largest English population that never-ever surrendered or withdrew during any war.
13. Our civil war was a big bar fight that lasted a little over an hour.
14. The only person who was arrested in our civil war was an American mercenary, who slept in and missed the whole thing… but showed up just in time to get caught.
15. We knew plaid was cool far before Seattle caught on.
16. The Hudson’s Bay Company once owned over 10% of the earths surface and is still around as the world’s oldest Company.
17. The average dog sled team can kill and devour a full grown human in under 3 minutes.
18. We still know what to do with all the parts of a buffalo.
19. We don’t marry our kin-folk
20. We invented ski-doos, jet-skis, Velcro, zippers,zambonis, Robertson screwdrivers, long distance and short wave radios that save countless lives each year.
21. We ALL have frozen our tongues to something metal and lived to tell about it.
    BUT MOST IMPORTANT!

22. …..the handles on our beer cases are big enough to fit your hands with mitts on….

OOOOoohhhhh Canada!!
Oh yeah, and our elections only take one day

The maple leaf

Well before the coming of the first European settlers, Canada’s aboriginal peoples had discovered the food properties of maple sap, which they gathered every spring. According to many historians, the maple leaf began to serve as a Canadian symbol as early as 1700.

Following are some examples of how the maple leaf grew in public consciousness as a symbol of our country until it finally became official on February 15, 1965, as an integral component of the national flag of Canada.

• In 1834, Ludger Duvernay is reported to have proposed the maple leaf as an emblem of Canada when the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste was founded on June 24 of that year.
• In 1836, Le Canadien, a newspaper published in Lower Canada, referred to it as a suitable emblem for Canada.
• In August 1860, at a public meeting held in Toronto, the maple leaf was adopted as the national emblem of Canada for use in the decorations for the Prince of Wales’ visit.
• In 1867, Alexander Muir, a Toronto schoolmaster and poet, composed the song The Maple Leaf Forever.
• In 1914, many Canadian soldiers wore the maple leaf on their military badges, and it was the dominant symbol used by many Canadian regiments serving in the Great War (World War I).
• In 1939, at the beginning of World War II, numerous Canadian troops once again used the maple leaf as a distinctive emblem, displaying it on regimental badges and Canadian army and naval equipment.

Colours

History records that in the first crusade, Bohemund I, a Norman lord, had red crosses cut from his mantles and distributed to the 12,000 crusaders, who then wore them as a distinctive badge on their garments. In subsequent crusades, each nation was distinguished by a cross of a different colour. France long had a red cross on its banners while England used a white cross. Time and again in history, red and white are found as the colours of France or of England.

Red and white were approved as Canada’s official colours in the proclamation of the royal arms of Canada in 1921 by King George V.

In 1957, the colour of the maple leaves on the shield of the Royal Arms of Canada was changed from green on a white ground to red on a white ground in recognition of Canada’s official colours.

Alright, I’m sick and tired of everyone asking about the flag. Here is an excerpt from a website (http://www.pch.gc.ca/ceremonial-symb/english/index.html) that explains it for you. It tells you who came up with it, when and what it all means.
Oh, but first is a history, 3 different flags.

Click the pic to see the larger version 

The names of Mr. John Matheson and Dr. George Stanley are well known in the story of the evolution of a new Canadian flag. Mr. Matheson, a Member of Parliament from Ontario, was perhaps one of the strongest supporters of a new flag and played a key advisory role. Dr. Stanley was Dean of Arts at the Royal Military College in Kingston, and brought to the attention of the committee the fact that the Commandant’s flag at the College — an emblem, i.e. a mailed fist, on a red and white ground — was impressive.

Dr. Stanley’s design is based on a strong sense of Canadian history. The combination of red, white and red first appeared in the General Service Medal issued by Queen Victoria. Red and white were subsequently proclaimed Canada’s national colours by King George V in 1921. Three years earlier, Major General (later the Honourable) Sir Eugene Fiset had recommended that Canada’s emblem be the single red maple leaf on a white field - the device worn by all Canadian Olympic athletes since 1904.

The committee eventually decided to recommend the single-leaf design, which was approved by resolution of the House of Commons on December 15, 1964, followed by the Senate on December 17, 1964, and proclaimed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, to take effect on February 15, 1965.

In due course the final design of the stylized maple leaf was established by Mr. Jacques St-Cyr, the precise dimensions of red and white were suggested by Mr. George Best, and the technical description of precise shade of red defined by Dr. Gunter Wyszchi.

The national flag of Canada, then, came into being, credit to those eminent Canadians: the Right Honourable Lester B. Pearson, who wanted a distinctive national flag as a vehicle to promote national unity; John Matheson, who established the conceptual framework for a suitable flag, then sought out and combined the appropriate components to create it; and Dr. George Stanley, who provided the seminal concept - the central concepts of red-white-red stripes with a central maple leaf - in this process.
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