Canada's Provinces And People

[Music] old world traditions on ottawa's Parliament Hill part of Canada's wide range of cultures and people regions and resources Canadians live on the varied land of the world's second largest country yet for the country's gigantic size relatively few people live here most Canadians live in the south more than half of them live in the Great Lake St Lawrence lanss part of North America's interior Loland it's one of Canada's seven geographic regions [Music] although it's the smallest of the seven regions it's the most productive growing grains fruits vegetables and other crops the lanss are the heart of Canada containing the country's leading industrial cities the region has access to Mineral and Timber resources especially to the north the Great Lakes St Lawrence Lans lie at the southernmost part of Canada's largest two provinces Ontario and Quebec passing through Southeastern Quebec are the Appalachian Highlands a portion of the Appalachian Highlands of North America the Appalachian region covers most of the provinces of New Brunswick Nova Scotia Prince Edward Island and some of New Finland the Atlantic ocean borders each of the four provinces called the Atlantic provinces the fishing Waters off their coasts have been world famous since they were first discovered by early explorers the Atlantic provinces are especially well known for lobsters and oysters small Highland Valley Farms Supply most of the food the four provinces need Farmers like fishermen live isolated and independ dependent Lifestyles so do lumbermen whose Lumber industry is as important as fishing and farming to the Atlantic provinces farther west the Hudson Bay Loland and Canadian Shield take up over half of Canada's land area the two regions surround Hudson Bay like a giant horseshoe as in other regions the forests in the southern part of The Shield are cut for lumber and paper pulp the water resources of The Shield's lakes and rivers produce hydroelectric power cheap electrical energy for [Music] industry farther north the Canadian Shield is Tundra low vegetation that grows in the short summer The Shield also o has some of the world's richest mineral deposits north of the shield and mostly in the Arctic Circle the Arctic islands make up the fifth region called the Arctic archipelago the cold climate and long Winters keep the ground Frozen most of the year almost no one lives in the high Arctic Islands except its scattered weather stations and there are a few Eskimos the Arctic archipelago is in the Northwest Territories the territories include part of the Interior Plains which extends south over part of British Columbia and Alberta saskachewan and Manitoba these three provinces are called the Prairie Provinces the Prairie Provinces once a natural Grassland now grow [Music] grain wheat grows well through the cool rainy Springs and warm Summers and under the wheat Fields Rich oil fields the plains have other mineral resources such as potach coal and gypsum but the plains are best known for agriculture wheat Farms dairy farms General Farms also cattle ranching bordering the Interior Plains on the west is the seventh region the Western cordelier a mountain system that follows the Pacific coast from Alaska to the tip of South America in Canada it covers almost all of British Columbia and the Ukon territory it also touches Alberta and the Northwest Territories the Western cordela contains Canada's largest trees the rugged region encourages logging there's also mining in this mountainous Canadian West where miners dig Rich reserves of gold silver zinc and copper and in the southern cordelier valleys farming and cattle raising are additional sources of income [Music] forestry is the principal industry of British Columbia much of the Timber is used for Pulp and [Music] Paper British Columbia helps Canada Supply more than half the world's newsprint the regions the resources and the people of Canada vary 40% are of British descent 30% French Canada is a bilingual Nation with both English and French as official languages the province of Quebec is 80% French Canadian throughout the provinces French Canadians have kept their language and some [Music] [Music] customs Canadians include not only immigrants from France and England but also from Scotland Ireland Wales and other countries of the British Commonwealth of Nations [Music] immigrants from Nations throughout the world make Canada their home [Applause] [Music] two groups of Canadian people were here before the others Indians and Eskimos today about 200,000 Indians live on government reserves many are loggers Farmers or assembly line workers in fish canaries others have reputations for their work on the new Canadian skyscrapers fewer Eskimos than Indians live in Canada most of them on the southern Arctic Islands some still search for their food seal Caribou even whale [Music] their Lifestyles continue to change to become more modern the different people and lifestyles are represented by the Canadian government the government reflects its historic ties to Great Britain by its membership in the British Commonwealth of Nations the ties to Britain have long been represented by Canadian governor General but Canada is now independent and self-governing the prime minister is leader of Parliament although the governor general representing the British crown officially heads the government Parliament has two lawmaking houses the Senate whose members are appointed by the governor general and the advice of Parliament and the House of Commons whose members are elected by the people the the House of Commons elects the Prime Minister since the first Parliament met in 1792 the greatest obstacle to National Unity has been the size of Canada today modern transportation systems like the Trans Canada Highway connect the provinces and territories to each other and to the rest of the world although automobiles are important now railroads were the first transport ation in most of Canada air travel has made the country's vast distances seem much smaller in recent years and today's shipping traces its history back to the first explorers who discovered Canada by sea ports on the St Lawrence Seaway the Atlantic and the Pacific trade Canadian products for foreign ones [Music] even though Canada has tremendous natural resources it's been the Canadian people working together in their varied land who have made Canada one of the most prosperous countries in the world la [Music]