Ten Random Facts About Canada

I. AM. CANADIAN. Eh and proud to be. It is a country known as peacekeepers in wartime but fierce warriors at hockey time. Our polite nature and NHL obsession is not all there is to know about the true North strong and free.

We compiled ten random facts you may not know about Canucks and our land of Beavertails, lumberjacks and curling experts.

1. We not only have snowshoes but we have SNOLAB.

Two Kilometers, or more than a mile, beneath Sudbury Ontario is SNOLAB. SNOLAB is an science laboratory specializing in neutrino and dark matter physics that is located underground. You can take a 3D tour of the lab at https://www.snolab.ca/facility/vr-tour

2. Canada has the most doughnut coffee shops per capita of every country in the world.

We love our doughnuts and it is only fitting that the most popular chain is named after a famous hockey player. We need all that coffee to keep us warm, and keep us awake mornings after the overtime games through the winter.

3. You probably know we are lovingly called Canucks. Did you know the first known occurrence of a Canadian being referred to as a "Canuck" was in 1835? Back then it was spelled 'Kanuck' and used by Americans as a term for Dutch and French Canadians that was not meant as affectionately as the term is used now. By 1850 its spelling changed to starting with a C.

4. Saint Louis-du-Ha! Ha! is the only town in the world with two exclamation points in it's name. We do take our Ha! Ha!'s very seriously. The town is located near the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec Canada.

5. We are an educated bunch. According to the OECD data Canada has the 3rd highest percentage (2015) of tertiary (post-secondary) educated adults between the ages of 25-64. Over 55% of that age group pursue a post secondary education. Japan is in second with 49.5%. Universityaffairs.ca mentions on their website "One other area in the OECD report where Canada is a leader is annual spending per student on tertiary education ($23,200 USD, compared to the OECD average of $14,000, placing us second of 37 countries). The report notes, meanwhile, that Canada ranks among the countries with the highest tuition fees" (http://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/margin-notes/a-glance-at-canadas-postsecondary-education-standings/)

6. From Insulin to Stem Cells we are a land of discoveries.

Many knew that insulin was discovered at the University of Toronto in 1921-22 by Best and Banting but did you know that James Till and Ernest McCulloch are credited with the discovery of the stem cell in Toronto in 1961.

7. Canada is home to 42 national parks, 167 national historic sites and four marine conservation areas.There are 15 world heritage sites in Canada. Head Smashed In-Buffalo-Jump is one of them.

8. Canada doesn't just have the greatest people but we have some pretty cool wildlife too. There are about 200 species of mammals and about 630 bird species in Canada.

9. Canada is the world’s largest source of the rare element Cesium. It is found at Bernic Lake, Manitoba. It's applications are found in Petroleum exploration, electricity production and isotopes were used in early treatment of cancer. Caesium clocks regulate the timing of cell phone networks and the Internet.

10. We help everyone. We really are the politest country in the world. We'll bend over backwards, or disown part of our territory just so you can still be who you want to be. The maternity ward of Ottawa Civic Hospital in which Princess Margriet of the Netherlands was born was temporarily declared to be extraterritorial by the Canadian government. This was done to make the maternity ward outside of the Canadian domain which caused it to be unaffiliated with any jurisdiction and technically international territory. This was done to ensure that the newborn would derive her citizenship from her mother only, thus making her solely Dutch.