Canada Today<br >Against All Odds<br > It has often been said that Canada is a<br >"geographic improbability" a huge， sparse-<br >1)7-settled country whose diverse people<br >have in common only a map and a prefer-<br >ence not to be absorbed by the United<br >States. As poet A1 Purdy put it， it is "an op-<br >posite nation talked into existence. Be-<br >cause of Canadians enormous differences<br >in language and cultural heritage， it is dif-<br >ficult to call them a "nation. " Nevertheless，<br >they have shaped a democratic， peaceful<br >andprosperous country seemingly against<br >all odds. Canada was created in the mid-<br >Americans. More than 100，000 Canadians<br >gathered on Parliament Hill to honor the vic-<br >tims， the largest gathering there ever known，<br >and the American embassy was deluged<br >with flowers. Charter buses carried several<br >thousand to New York for a grand "Canada<br >Loves New York" weekend in December<br >2001. Vancouver firefighters raised $535，000<br >for their fallen comrades， and a fourth of<br >them traveled to New York at their own ex-<br >pense to<br >two wee<br >skilled tr<br >went to help rebuild the stricken city. New<br >Yorkers on the sidewalks stopped to shake<br >their hands， and one businessman spoke for<br >an entire nation when he told them: "This<br >has been so hard for us all， but because of<br > eople like you， we ll all get through it. You<br > ave no idea what this，means to us. As your<br >neighbor， I thank you. The next year Prime<br >Minister Jean Chr6tien was given the<br >"Statesman of the Year Award" in New York.<br > John F. Kennedy had said about Cana-<br >da: "Geography made us neighbors. His-<br >tory made us friends. And economics<br >made us partners." A quarter century lat-<br >er， President Ronald Reagan made no se-<br >cret about his reasons for meeting with the<br >Canadian prime minister in March 1985， a<br >practice that is usually repeated twice a<br >year: "No other country in the world is<br >more important to the United States than<br >Canada， and we are blessed to have such<br >a nation on our northern border." In both<br >his terms in office， his first foreign trip<br >was to Canada， and Brian Mulroney visit-<br >ed the President in Washington on his<br >eighth day as Prime Minister of Canada.<br >The first foreigner to fly into space with<br >American astronauts was a Canadian，<br >Marc Garneau. He worked at NASA the<br >rest of the century and flew his third shut-<br >tle mission in 1999. Other Canadians<br >served in the space station (Julie Payette)<br >or walked in space (Chris Hadfield).<br > Canada is the only foreign country that<br >is permitted to locate its embassy on<br >Pennsylvania Avenue. Former Canadian<br >Ambassador Derek Burney had this to say<br >about the modern building， opened in<br >1989 and situated halfway between the<br >White House and the Capitol: "It conveys<br >the message that I want to convey: Cana-<br >da counts." Ottawa extended the same<br >Ptrivilege to the United States by allowing<br > to open its new embassy in 1999 on the<br >Area: 3，849，670 sq. mi. = 10，693，528 sq. km.<br >Population: 31 million.<br >Capital City: Ottawa (Pop. 715，000， estimated).<br >Other Principal Cities: Toronto (3.89 million)，<br > Montreal (3.12 million)， Vancouver (1.6 mil-<br > lion)， Edmonton (680，000)， Calgary (620，000)，<br > Winnipe~ (605，000).<br >Climate: Varying climatic regions from mod-<br > erate to bitterly cold Arctic， with generally<br > mild summers in the southern areas and<br > long， cold winters.<br >Neighboring Countries: The United States of<br > America ("The States").<br >Official Languages: English and French.<br >Other Tongues: A broad spectrum of lan-<br > guages spoken by immigrants from Europe<br > and Asia. Smaller groups speak native Indi-<br > an and Inuit dialects.<br >Principal Religions: Christianity (Roman<br > Catholic， 54%; Protestant， 40%).<br >Chief Commercial Products: Canada is a<br > highly industrialized nation producing a<br >