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Video games are interactive electronic games. Canada’s video game industry developed in the early 1980s and throughout the 1990s, with studios emerging in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Edmonton. Popular among adults and children, this hobby has made Canada a top-performing developer and consumer of video games. The positive and negative impacts of video games and their content have been debated, but they are increasingly being recognized for their immersive and social value.

Potato wart disease, also called potato canker, is a fungal disease of potato sprouts, eyes and stolons. The disease is caused by the soil-borne fungus, Synchytrium endobioticum. Potato wart disease poses no danger to human health or food safety, but it can impact local economies as the disease can reduce yield and effect economic regulations, such as potato exports. (See also Agricultural Economics.)

Morse Code (Les Maîtres, 1967-70). Montreal instrumental and vocal rock group whose members included Raymond Roy (drums), Michel Vallée (bass guitar), and Jocelyn Julien (guitar). Christian Simard (keyboards, voice) was added in 1968.

At 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday, 8 May 1984, a 25-year-old army corporal entered the National Assembly in Quebec City and opened fire, shooting 16 people and killing three. The shooter had expressed his desire to “destroy” the Parti Quebecois government then in power. The shooter sat in the Speaker’s chair in the legislature, periodically firing a submachine gun. The Assembly’s Sergeant-at-Arms, Rene Jalbert, entered the room and struck up a rapport with him. Over the next four hours, he convinced the shooter to give himself up to military police. Jalbert was hailed as a hero. The shooter served 10 years in prison for second-degree murder. It remains one of the deadliest acts of political violence and terrorism in Canadian history.

The Lockheed Aurora is a long-range maritime patrol aircraft (LRPA) used in the Canadian Armed Forces for antisubmarine warfare (ASW) and maritime surveillance. The Aurora entered service in 1980 and replaced the CP-107 Argus. Thanks to structural improvements and the modernization of its avionics, the aircraft are expected to operate beyond 2030.

Avian influenza, commonly known as “bird flu”, is a contagious viral disease that can affect several species of birds used in food production (e.g., chickens, turkeys), as well as pet birds, wild birds and some mammals (see Poultry Farming). The viruses responsible for the disease can be classified into two categories: high pathogenicity or low pathogenicity. The highly pathogenic H5N1 subtype of the avian influenza virus is transmissible to humans. In Canada, cases of avian influenza must be reported to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

The Montreal Canadiens are the oldest professional hockey team in the world and one of the most storied franchises in professional sports. Founded in 1909 and officially called the Club de Hockey Canadien, the team (also known as the Les Habitants, or Habs for short) is the only existing National Hockey League (NHL) franchise to have formed prior to the league’s inception in 1917. One of the NHL’s “Original Six,” it is the only team to have operated continuously throughout the league’s history. The Canadiens have won 24 Stanley Cup championships — more than any other organization — and have appeared in the Stanley Cup Finals 35 times, most recently in 2021. More than 60 Canadiens players and personnel have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, including such legendary figures as Howie Morenz, Georges Vézina, Maurice “Rocket” Richard, Jacques Plante, Henri Richard, Jean Béliveau, Ken Dryden, Guy Lafleur and Patrick Roy.

From 1991 to the present, members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and civilian police forces, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), have served in peace operations in the Balkans. Their mission was to provide security and stability following the breakup of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Nearly 40,000 Canadians have served in the Balkans, and 23 CAF members died while deployed there.

Since 1990, peacekeepers from the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and civilian police forces, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), have served in Haiti on various United Nations (UN) missions. The purpose of these missions was to help stop the internal violence and civil unrest that had plagued the country for years and help promote and protect human rights and strengthen police and judicial systems.

In 1992–93, Canada contributed military forces to UNITAF, a United Nations–backed humanitarian mission in the African nation of Somalia. The mission was hampered by the fact that some of the warring factions in the Somalia conflict attacked the international forces that were trying to restore order and deliver food to a starving population. The Canadian effort was also clouded by the murder of a Somali teenager by Canadian troops. The crime — and alleged cover-up by Defence officials in Ottawa — became one of the most infamous scandals in Canadian history.

The Fossmobile was invented by George Foote Foss in 1897. It is the first Canadian example of an automobile built with an internal combustion engine. While the Fossmobile was never mass-produced for the Canadian automotive market (see automotive industry), it is an example of ingenuity and innovation. A tribute/replica of the Fossmobile was unveiled at an automobile club in Burlington, Ontario in 2022.

The Iroquois class of helicopter-carrying destroyers (DDH) entered service in the Canadian Navy in the early 1970s, featuring several innovations that distinguished them as trailblazers in antisubmarine warfare (ASW). Although only four were built, they played a critical flagship role for deployed Canadian naval task groups. The class was modernized in the early 1990s and transformed into guided-missile destroyers (DDG), providing fleet area air defence until their withdrawal from service in the 2010s.

Chinese Canadians are one of the largest ethnic groups in the country. In the 2016 census, 1.8 million people reported being of Chinese origin. Despite their importance to the Canadian economy, including the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), many European Canadians were historically hostile to Chinese immigration. A prohibitive head tax restricted Chinese immigration to Canada from 1885 to 1923. From 1923 to 1947, the Chinese were excluded altogether from immigrating to Canada. (See Chinese Immigration Act.)

Since 1900, Chinese Canadians have settled primarily in urban areas, particularly in Vancouver and Toronto. They have contributed to every aspect of Canadian society, from literature to sports, politics to civil rights, film to music, business to philanthropy, and education to religion.

The IODE is a women’s charitable organization in Canada that focuses on children, education and community service. Originally known as the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire, the organization was founded in 1900 to promote and support the British empire and its soldiers. The name IODE was officially adopted in 1979. The charity has approximately 3,000 members and more than 200 branches across Canada.

First Nations is a term used to describe Indigenous peoples in Canada who are not Métis or Inuit. According to the 2016 census by Statistics Canada, 977,230 people in Canada identified as being of First Nations heritage, a growth of 39.3 per cent since 2006. There are 634 First Nations in Canada, speaking more than 50 distinct languages.

For more detailed information on specific First Nations, see Indigenous Peoples in Canada.