Modern Canada

ProsperityTrade and Economic Growth

Postwar Canada enjoyed record prosperity and material progress. Restrictive Depression-era trading policies were opened up by treaties such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), now the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The discovery of oil in Alberta in 1947 launched Canada's modern energy industry. By 1951, for the first time, a majority of Canadians could afford adequate food, shelter and clothing. Between 1945 and 1970, as Canada drew closer to the United States and other partners, it enjoyed one of the strongest economies among industrialized nations.

Today Canadians enjoy one of the world's highest standards of living, maintained by hard work and trade with other nations, in particular the United States. Toronto's business district is Canada's financial capital, and publicly funded education is provided by the provinces and territories.

Safety netCanada's Social Programs

Over the 20th century Canada built a network of social programs. The Canada Health Act ensures common elements and a basic standard of coverage across the country.

On the world stageInternational Engagement

Like Australia, New Zealand and other countries, Canada developed its autonomy gradually while gaining the capacity to make significant international contributions. The Cold War began when several liberated countries of eastern Europe became part of a Communist bloc controlled by the Soviet Union under the dictator Josef Stalin.

In response, Canada joined the democratic countries of the West in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a military alliance; partnered with the United States in the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD); and joined international bodies such as the United Nations (UN).

A lively questionCanada and Quebec

French-Canadian society and culture flourished in the postwar years, and in the 1960s Quebec went through an era of rapid change known as the Quiet Revolution. Many Quebecers sought to separate from Canada, and the autonomy of Quebec within Canada remains a lively topic today.

OpennessA Changing Society

As social values changed over more than 50 years, Canada became a more flexible and open society. Many took advantage of expanding secondary and postsecondary education, and a growing number of women entered the professional workforce.

Voting rights also broadened. Most Canadians of Asian descent had once been denied the vote; in 1948 the last of these, the Japanese-Canadians, gained it, and Aboriginal people were granted the vote in 1960. Today every citizen over the age of 18 may vote.

Canada welcomed thousands of refugees from Communist oppression, including about 37,000 Hungarians who escaped Soviet tyranny in 1956 and, after the Communist victory in the Vietnam War in 1975, over 50,000 Vietnamese. Fuelled by 19th- and 20th-century immigration, multiculturalism gained new impetus: by the 1960s, one-third of Canadians had origins that were neither British nor French, and that diversity enriches Canadians' lives, particularly in our cities.

ArtsArts and Culture in Canada

Canadian artists from all regions reflect and define the culture, achieving greatness at home and abroad. In literature, in both English and French, men and women of letters included Stephen Leacock, Louis Hemon, Sir Charles G.D. Roberts, Pauline Johnson, Emile Nelligan, Robertson Davies, Margaret Laurence and Mordecai Richler, while writers such as Joy Kogawa, Michael Ondaatje and Rohinton Mistry diversified Canada's literary experience. Musicians such as Sir Ernest MacMillan and Healey Willan won renown in Canada and abroad.

In the visual arts, Canada is perhaps best known for the Group of Seven, founded in 1920, who captured the rugged wilderness in paint. Emily Carr painted the forests and Aboriginal artifacts of the West Coast; Les Automatistes of Quebec pioneered modern abstract art in the 1950s, most notably Jean-Paul Riopelle; Louis-Philippe Hebert was a celebrated Quebec sculptor of historical figures; and Kenojuak Ashevak pioneered modern Inuit art with etchings, prints and soapstone sculptures.

Canada has a long performing arts history, with regional theatres and world-renowned companies, and its television has had a popular following. In film, the works of Denys Arcand have won international awards, and other noteworthy filmmakers include Norman Jewison and Atom Egoyan.

SportsSports and Champions

Every province and territory has produced star athletes and Olympic medallists. Basketball was invented by Canadian James Naismith in 1891, and in the national sport of ice hockey Canadian teams have dominated the world. Canadian football, played for the Grey Cup (donated by Governor General Lord Grey in 1909) in the Canadian Football League (CFL), differs in several ways from the American game.

InnovationScience, Technology and Invention

Canadian advances in science and technology are world renowned and have changed how the world communicates and does business. Marshall McLuhan and Harold Innis were pioneer thinkers, and since 1989 the Canadian Space Agency and Canadian astronauts have joined space exploration, often using the Canadian-designed Canadarm (built by SPAR Aerospace / National Research Council).

Canadians also gave the world landmark inventions. Alexander Graham Bell hit on the idea of the telephone at his summer house in Canada; Sir Sandford Fleming invented worldwide standard time zones; Joseph-Armand Bombardier invented the snowmobile; and Reginald Fessenden helped invent radio, sending the world's first wireless voice message. Matthew Evans and Henry Woodward invented the first electric light bulb, later selling the patent to Thomas Edison.

Going furtherLearning More

Through artifacts, art, stories, images and documents, museums found in almost every city and town explore the events and accomplishments that formed Canada's history. National historic sites in all provinces and territories include battlefields, archaeological sites, buildings and sacred spaces.

To find one, visit the Virtual Museum of Canada and Parks Canada websites. The prosperity and diversity of the country depend on all Canadians working together to face the challenges of the future.