The Culture of Canada

A piquant mixture of British, French and aboriginal influences, Canadian culture is uniquely three-dimensional. The country also imbibes neighboring America’s cultural trends as well as borrows from the constant stream of immigrants. What you have as a result is a country that is distinct and multicultural at the same time—and proud of it!

Canada is also a bilingual country, with both English and French as official languages at the federal level reflecting the two main groups of early settlers. Canada’s culture finds expression in its writers (Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, Michael Ondaatje, Mordecai Richler and Douglas Coupland), musicians (Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and kd lang), and film-makers (Denys Arcand, David Cronenberg and Atom Agoyan).

A fun-loving people, the Canadians celebrate a number of festivals. The Québec City Winter Carnival in February is a vivid show of features parades, ice sculptures, a snow slide, dances and music. Ottawa's three-week Winterlude fetes all things snowy and the Montréal Jazz Festival and the Ottawa International Jazz Festival are a treat for music lovers. The Caribbean festival of music and the Toronto International Film Festival are also famous events in Canada.

Canada's official national sports are ice hockey in winter and lacrosse in summer. Hockey is a national pastime and the most popular sport in Canada.

Canada enjoys a society that is open and relatively free of class distinctions and most Canadians take pride in the equality accorded to all citizens.