国歌
《哦！加拿大》（O Canada）和《天佑女王》（God Save The Queen）。《哦！加拿大》由卡力沙·拉瓦雷作曲、阿多尔夫·贝西·卢提尔作词，1880年首次被演唱。国歌的歌词原先只有法文，1908年，罗伯特·斯坦利·维尔写了英文词。1980年7月1日加拿大政府宣布《哦！加拿大》为正式国歌，并在首都渥太华举行了国歌命名仪式。因此，加拿大的国歌有英、法两种歌词。《天佑女王》是英国的国歌及英联邦的皇室颂歌。
首都
渥太华（英语：City of Ottawa 法语：Ville d'Ottawa）。地处安大略省，面积4662平方公里。人口812,129（2006年，加拿大城市第4名）。
最大城市
多伦多（英语：City of Toronto）。安大略省省会，加拿大第一大城市和金融中心，也是加拿大英语区域的经济、文化中心。人口2,503,281（2006年）。
国家政要
国家元首伊丽莎白二世（HM Queen Elizabeth II）；总督米歇尔·让（Michaëlle Jean），2005年9月27日宣誓就职；总理史蒂芬·哈珀（Stephen Harper），2006年1月23日就任。
独立
按1867年7月1日的 British North America Acts ，各英属北美殖民地组成单一的加拿大自治领（Dominion of Canada），加拿大宪法一直建基于这英国法律；1931年12月11日，英国国会通过了《威斯敏斯特法令》（Statute of Westminster），此法例中订明自治领不再从属于英皇（the Crown），订明加拿大殖民地为自治领，虽然加拿大已是一个国际公认的独立国，此特殊的自治领关系却一直存在；1982年4月17日，加拿大国会通过新宪法，并得到英国国会通过废止旧宪，加拿大把7月1日的自治领日改名为加拿大日（国庆），加拿大才真正完成独立。最后一个英国自治领也从此在历史中消失。
主要银行
（1）加拿大皇家银行（Royal Bank of Canada）：成立于1869年，最大的民营银行。2003年资产总值达4130亿加元。
（2）加拿大帝国商业银行（Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce）：由加拿大商业银行（1867年成立）与加拿大帝国银行（1875年成立）于1961年6月1日合并而成，2003年总资产为2771.47亿加元。
（3）加拿大蒙特利尔银行（Bank of Montreal）：成立于1817年，为加第三大银行。2003年总资产为2610亿加元。
（4）加拿大道明信托 （TD Canada Trust）：现加拿大网点最多银行，总部位于多伦多。
（5）加拿大丰业银行（ScotiaBank Canada）
（6）加拿大国家银行 （National Bank of Canada）
中国驻加拿大大使：卢树民。馆址：515 St. Patrick Street，Ottawa，Ont. Canada，K1N 5H3。电话：（613）789-3434。传真：（613）789-3514。网址：http://www.chinaembassycanada.org。
商务处地址：401 King Edward Avenue，Ottawa，Ont. Canada K1N 9C9。电话：（613）789-3511。传真：（613）789-3515。
领事部地址：（同使馆地址）。电话：（613）789-9586。传真：（613）789-1414。
加拿大驻华大使：柯杰（Joseph Caron）。馆址：朝阳区东直门外大街19号（邮编100600）。电话：（总机）6532-3536。传真：6532-4072。网址：http://www.canada.org.cn/beijing/
商务处地址：（同上）。电话：6532-3536（转分机）-3355。传真：6532-4072。
移民和签证处地址：（同上）。传真：6532-1684。
Canadian poetry is poetry written in Canada, by Canadians. There are three distinct branches of Canadian poetry: French-Canadian poetry (mostly written by Québécois authors), First Nations poetry and English-Canadian poetry.
English-Canadian Poetry
Beginnings
The earliest works of poetry, mainly written by visitors, described the new territories in optimistic terms, mainly targeted at a European audience. One of the first works was Robert Hayman's Quodlibets, composed in Newfoundland and published in 1628.
With the growth of English language communities near the end of the 18th century, poetry aimed at local readers began to appear in local newspapers. These writings were mainly intended to reflect the prevailing cultural values of the time and were modeled after English poetry of the same period.
In the first half of the 19th century, poetic works began to reflect local subjects. Acadia by Joseph Howe and The Saint Lawrence and the Saguenay by Charles Sangster are examples of this trend. Early nationalistic verses were composed by writers including Thomas D'Arcy McGee. Many "regional" poets also espoused the British political and aesthetic jingoism of the period. For example, High Tory loyalist & occasional poet Thomas H. Higginson of Vankleek Hill, Ontario, produced paeons to Sir Francis Bond Head (Wm. Lyon Mackenzie's opponent) and the British war effort in the Crimea (such as Sonnet to Florence Nightingale and others), while producing some interesting nature verse exemplifying the all-pervasive influence of Wordsworth's view of nature and the sublime.
Confederation
A group of poets now known as the "Confederation poets" began writing following the formation of the new Dominos of Canada in 1887, including Charles G. D. Roberts, Archibald Lampman, Bliss Carman and Duncan Campbell Scott. Choosing the world of nature as their inspiration, their work was drawn from their own experiences and, at its best, written in their own tones.
Early 20th Century
During this period, E. Pauline Johnson and Robert W. Service were writing popular poetry - Johnson's based on her English and Mohawk heritage and Service writing tales of the Yukon gold rush.
In 1915, John McCrae, serving as a surgeon in the Canadian Army, wrote the famous war poem "In Flanders Fields".
In Newfoundland, E.J. Pratt described the struggle to make a living on the land in poems about maritime life and the history of Canada. Meanwhile, in central Canada, poets such as Ralph Gustafson and Raymond Knister were moving away from traditional verse forms.
In the 1930s, A.J.M. Smith and F.R. Scott helped inspire the development of new poetic voices in Montreal through the McGill Fortnightly Review and the anthology New Provinces. The "new poetry" valued intellect over sentimentality, or as some have put it, logic over human emotions . Under the editorship (literary) of Earle Birney, the Canadian Forum helped promote similar developments in Toronto. Dorothy Livesay, born in Manitoba, was an important contributor to the Toronto movement. These two urban centres of literary activity provided fertile ground for the development of later poets such as Irving Layton and Raymond Souster.
Post war
Following World War II, a new breed of poets appeared, writing for a well-educated audience. These included James Reaney, Jay Macpherson and Leonard Cohen. Meanwhile, some maturing authors such as Layton, Souster and Louis Dudek, moved in a different direction, adopting colloquial speech in their work.
In the 1960s, a renewed sense of nation helped foster new voices: Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Leonard Cohen, Eli Mandel and Margaret Avison. Others such as Al Purdy and Earle Birney, already published, produced some of their best work during this period.
Since the 1990s, several Governor General's Award-winning poets, in particular Jan Zwicky and Tim Lilburn, have been engaged in nonfiction writing that maps the relationships between poetry and philosophy. Zwicky's "Lyric Philosophy" and "Wisdom and Metaphor", as well as Lilburn's collection "Thinking and Singing", are representative works.
A younger generation of Canadian poets has been expanding the boundaries of originality: Ken Babstock, Karen Solie, Sonnet L'Abbé, George Elliott Clarke and Barry Dempster have all imprinted their unique consciousnesses onto the map of Canadian imagery. Evie Christie's collection, Gutted, seems to evoke the 17th century metaphysical conceit, but in a modern, urban Canadian guise.
A notable anthology of Canadian poetry is The New Oxford book of Canadian Verse, edited by Margaret Atwood (ISBN 0-19-540450-5).
Literary Prizes
Notable literary prizes for English Canadian poetry include the Governor General's Awards, the Griffin Poetry Prize, the Gerald Lampert Award and the Pat Lowther Award and Shaunt Basmajian Chapbook Award
Uniquely Canadian Forms
The Viator poem form was invented by Canadian author and poet, Robin Skelton. It consists of any stanzaic form in which the first line of the first stanza is the second line of the second stanza and so on until the poem ends with the line with which it began. The term, Viator comes from the Latin for traveller. A copyrighted example of Skelton's form may be found in his excellent reference book, The Shapes of our Singing, and is entitled Dover Beach Revisited.
An unpublished example of the Viator is included below to illustrate how the line travels through the poem, its repetition adding weight to the process described. The repeating line is highlighted in boldface type.
French-Canadian Poetry
Early verse
The first book written in verse by a Canadian was ?p?tres, Satires, Chansons, ?pigrammes et Autres Pièces de vers by Michel Bibaud, published in 1830.
End of 19th century
Octave Crémazie is considered the father of French Canadian poetry. His poetry and that of his follower Louis Fréchette are romantic of form and patriotic in inspiration. At the same time, Pamphile Le May was writing intimist poetry about the simple farm life and Alfred Garneau wrote his feelings.
The Montreal School
L'?cole littéraire de Montréal is not a literary school per se but more of a group of poets that met regularly. In reaction to the earlier following of the romantic Victor Hugo, they took later schools (such as the Parnassian or symbolism) as their masters. The most talented among them was certainly ?mile Nelligan, a young poet who stopped writing at only 20 years of age due to mental illness.
The terroir
Outside Montreal, other poets, such as Nérée Beauchemin continued Pamphile Le May's depiction of the life of the habitants. Then came the powerful Alfred Desrochers, a precursor to the "pays" school of poetry of Gaston Miron.
