Things to Know About Canada and French Canadians | Berlitz Canada
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Berlitz
Canada is one of the most diversified countries in the world. Many cultures and regions have their own opinions and history. Here are some things to know about Canada and French Canadians.
- Want to pick an argument; refer to Canadians as French. A common response, “would you call U.S. residents English?”
- The name Quebec is thought to have derived from the Algonquian word Kebec, which means narrower passage, referring to the Saint Lawrence River. Similarly, the name Canada comes from Huron-Iroquois word Kanta, which means village or settlement.
- Canada produces the vast majority of the world’s maple syrup, about 70 percent, and more than 90 percent of that comes from Quebec, not from New Hampshire or Vermont located in the U.S., as some people think. The Canadian maple syrup industry even maintains a strategic stockpile for years when production does not equal demand.
- Canadians like beer. The Molson brewery is the oldest in North America, founded in the 1880s by John Molson, an English immigrant. It still operates today on the banks of the Saint Lawrence River in Montreal, just as it did then.
- Quebec City is the only walled city left in North America, north of Mexico. Existing walls were fortified by the British in the mid-1700s after capturing the city from the French. It has been designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO and a National Historic of Canada.
