Modern Canada

ProsperityTrade and Economic Growth

After the war Canada enjoyed record prosperity. The restrictive trade policies of the Depression years were opened up by treaties — notably GATT, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which is today the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Finding oil in Alberta in 1947 launched the modern energy industry, and 1951 was the first year in which most Canadians could afford adequate food, shelter and clothing. From 1945 to 1970 Canada moved closer to its trading partners, the United States above all, and had one of the strongest economies in the industrialized world.

Safety netCanada’s Social Programs

Growing prosperity paid for a growing safety net. Under the Canada Health Act, health coverage shares common elements and a basic standard across the country.

On the world stageInternational Engagement

Like Australia and New Zealand, Canada gained its autonomy by degrees while building the capacity to make significant contributions abroad. The Cold War opened as several newly liberated eastern European countries fell into a Communist bloc run from the Soviet Union by the dictator Josef Stalin.

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

A lively questionCanada and Quebec

French-Canadian society and culture flourished after the war. In the 1960s Quebec went through an era of rapid change known as the Quiet Revolution, and many Quebecers came to seek separation from Canada. Sovereignty lost two referendums, but Quebec’s autonomy within Canada remains a lively topic today.

OpennessA Changing Society

Over more than 50 years of changing social values, Canada grew into a more flexible, open society. Many took up expanding secondary and postsecondary education, and more and more women joined the professional work force.

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

Thousands of refugees fleeing Communist regimes found a home in Canada: about 37,000 Hungarians who escaped Soviet tyranny in 1956, and over 50,000 Vietnamese after the Communists won the Vietnam War in 1975. Multiculturalism, the product of 19th- and 20th-century immigration, gained new impetus: by the 1960s one in three Canadians was of neither British nor French origin, and they took pride in preserving their cultures. That diversity enriches Canadian life, especially in the cities.

ArtsArts and Culture in Canada

Artists from every region reflect and define Canadian culture and have won acclaim at home and abroad. In literature, in English and in French, the men and women of letters include Stephen Leacock, Louis Hémon, Pauline Johnson, Sir Charles G.D. Roberts, Émile Nelligan, Margaret Laurence, Robertson Davies and Mordecai Richler; and Joy Kogawa, Michael Ondaatje and Rohinton Mistry are among the writers who have diversified Canada’s literary experience. In music, Sir Ernest MacMillan and Healey Willan earned reputations at home and internationally.

In the visual arts, Canada’s most famous name is probably the Group of Seven, founded in 1920, whose style captured the rugged wilderness; Tom Thomson painted *The Jack Pine*. Emily Carr painted West Coast forests and Aboriginal artifacts; Quebec’s Les Automatistes, above all Jean-Paul Riopelle, pioneered modern abstract art in the 1950s; Louis-Philippe Hébert of Quebec was a celebrated sculptor of historical figures; and modern Inuit art — etchings, prints and soapstone sculptures — was pioneered by Kenojuak Ashevak.

Canada has a long performing arts tradition, with regional theatres and world-renowned companies, and its television has a popular following. In film, Denys Arcand’s work has been popular across the country and won international awards; Norman Jewison and Atom Egoyan are other noteworthy filmmakers.

SportsSports and Champions

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

InnovationScience, Technology and Invention

Canadian science and technology are renowned worldwide and have reshaped global communication and business. Pioneer thinkers included Marshall McLuhan and Harold Innis, and Canadian research draws students, academics and entrepreneurs in fields from medical research to telecommunications. Since 1989 Canadian astronauts and the Canadian Space Agency have taken part in space exploration, frequently relying on the Canadarm, designed and built in Canada.

Canadians also gave the world landmark inventions. The idea of the telephone came to Alexander Graham Bell while he was at his Canadian summer house; Joseph-Armand Bombardier invented the snowmobile; Sir Sandford Fleming devised worldwide standard time zones; 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 and sold the patent to Thomas Edison, who commercialized it.

Looking aheadMuseums, Historic Sites and the Future

Museums in almost every city and town use artifacts, art, stories, images and documents to explore the events that formed Canada. National historic sites exist in all provinces and territories and range from battlefields and archaeological sites to buildings and sacred spaces.

Canada’s prosperity and diversity depend on all Canadians working together to meet future challenges — and a new citizen’s active participation is part of how the country keeps growing.