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The First World War forever changed Canada. Some 630,000 Canadians enlisted from a nation of not yet eight million. More than 66,000 were killed. As the casualties mounted on the Western Front, an expatriate Canadian, Sir Max Aitken (Lord Beaverbrook), organized a program to document Canada’s war effort through art, photography and film. This collection of war art, made both in an official capacity and by soldiers themselves, was another method of forging a legacy of Canada’s war effort.

Canadian painting in the 19th century tended towards the pastoral. It depicted idyllic scenes of rural life and represented the country as a wondrous Eden. Canadian painter Homer Watson, under the influence of such American masters as Frederic Edwin Church and Albert Bierstadt, created images that are serene and suffused with golden light. In On the Mohawk River (1878), for instance, a lazy river ambles between tall, overhanging trees; in the background is a light-struck mountain. In Watson’s world, nature is peaceful, unthreatening and perhaps even sacred.

Moccasins are a type of footwear often made of animal hide and traditionally made and worn by various Indigenous peoples in Canada. During the fur trade, Europeans adopted these heelless, comfortable walking shoes to keep their feet warm and dry. Moccasins continue to serve as practical outerwear, as well as pieces of fine Indigenous handiwork and artistry.

Corridart dans la rue Sherbrooke was an exhibit of installation artworks organized by Melvin Charney and commissioned for the 1976 Olympic Summer Games in Montreal. The exhibit stretched for several kilometres along Sherbrooke Street. It comprised 16 major installations, about 80 minor installations, and several small performance venues and related projects. It was funded by the Quebec culture ministry and was intended as an international showcase for Quebec artists. But roughly a week after it was unveiled, Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau had the exhibit destroyed on the grounds that it was obscene. Most of the artists involved did not recover their works. Drapeau never apologized and subsequent legal actions dragged on for more than a decade. Given the size, scope and budget of the exhibit, the dismantling of Corridart might be the single largest example of arts censorship in Canadian history.

When Canada declared war on Germany on 10 September 1939, tens of thousands of Canadians enlisted to serve in the army, navy,  air force and supporting services. The military scrambled to buy equipment, train recruits and prepare for war. Little thought was given, at first, to documenting the war effort. By 1940, however, the military was recruiting historians, most notably Charles Stacey, to collect records and write accounts of Canadian operations. In the following years, artists, photographers and filmmakers also served with the various branches of the armed forces. Today, their diligent work provides a rich visual and written catalogue of Canada’s history in the Second World War.

The Caesar, also known as the Bloody Caesar, is considered Canada’s national cocktail. The key ingredients are vodka, clam juice, tomato juice, spices and Worcestershire sauce. It is typically served in a highball glass rimmed with celery salt and garnished with a celery stalk, olives and lime. Food and beverage worker Walter Chell invented the Caesar in Calgary, Alberta, in 1969. Since then, the drink’s popularity and origin have made it a national cultural icon. Canadians drink more than 400 million Caesars annually. However, it has not achieved significant reach beyond Canada.  

The Canadian Music Hall of Fame was established in 1978 by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS). It honours individuals or groups that have made an outstanding contribution to the international recognition of Canadian artists and music. For many years, a sole inductee was presented annually at the Juno Awards. Since 2019, multiple inductees have also been presented annually at a separate ceremony at the National Music Centre in Calgary.

Corner Gas is a CTV sitcom created by comedian Brent Butt that ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2009. It is considered one of Canada’s most popular and influential TV comedies. Focusing on the oddball residents of the fictional town of Dog River, Saskatchewan, Corner Gas was an instant hit when it debuted in early 2004, drawing an average of 1 million viewers per episode. Known for its low-key mix of quirky characters, deadpan wit and folksy rural charm, the show repeatedly broke audience records for a Canadian-made scripted television comedy. It won four Directors Guild of Canada Awards, nine Canadian Comedy Awards, five Writer’s Guild of Canada Screenwriting Awards and seven Gemini Awards, including three for Best Comedy Series. It has continued as an animated series, Corner Gas Animated, since 2018.  

Joual is the name given, in specific sociological and socio-historical situations, to the variety of French spoken in Québec.

Denys Arcand’s sad and funny follow-up to his acclaimed Le déclin de l’empire américain (1986), Les Invasions barbares is one of the most honoured Canadian films of all time.

World Music Days/Journées mondiales de la musique. Annual event of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM), founded in 1922 in Salzburg by famous composers.

Archives de folklore. The name refers, at one and the same time, to actual archives, where the oral traditions of the French-speaking inhabitants of North America are collected and preserved, and to a collection of works specializing in this field, namely the volumes Archives de folkore.

CBC Quebec Chamber Orchestra/Orchestre de chambre de la SRC à Québec.

In the periodical L'Oiseau bleu, published by the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society of Montréal, Marie-Clarie Daveluy's serial story Les Aventures de Perrine et Charlot (1923) can be found. This story is considered to be the first Québécois text specifically written for children.

Immigration of Egyptians to Canada first became appreciable in the 1950s. During the 1960s they formed the majority of immigrants from Arabic countries. Most Egyptian immigrants have been of urban origin, 75 per cent of them white-collar professionals.