Hype for the Future 74K: Canada 🇨🇦 Explained

Introduction

Canada is the second-largest sovereign state in the world in terms of land area, behind only Russia. However, the population size overall is significantly smaller, having only surpassed the U.S. State of California fairly recently (circa 2023), with the Provinces of Ontario and Québec holding the vast majority of the national population.

Interestingly, British Columbia and Alberta are the next two largest provinces by population, the latter of which may seem surprising at first glance until realizing the geographic nature of the Canadian Shield, which largely impacts the regions further east in the nation. Alaska, within the United States, is at latitudes often comparable to significantly more remote rural settlements further east in both the Provinces to the south and the Territories to the north within Canada—even into Québec and northern Labrador.

Provinces

Canada contains ten (10) provinces, from west to east: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador. Each province contains a relative level of autonomy often somewhat greater than is received by individual states within the United States, though less so than Australian states and territories. Unlike the United States or Australia, however, the national capital city is integrated within the Province of Ontario and does not have a dedicated federal territory, though the capital city does not overlap the capital city of the province.

While Ottawa is the seat of government for Canada’s Westminster-style Parliament system, the ten provinces also maintain provincial governments, with five (5) provinces using capital cities that are not the largest cities in their respective provinces. From west to east, the provincial capitals are Victoria, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Québec, Fredericton, Charlottetown, Halifax, and St. John’s. The largest cities in each province are Vancouver, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montréal, Moncton, Charlottetown, Halifax, and St. John’s, respectively.

Historic Sites

The only identified Viking settlement in North America beyond the scope of Greenland is the site of “Vinland,” located in the area now known as L’Anse aux Meadows near the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland, in which Leif Erikson was identified as having founded a short-lived colony in the region. Elsewhere in the nation, however, are a number of otherwise related historic sites that remain preserved, including Kings Landing, New Brunswick; Fort York, Ontario; and a number of other sites of historical significance, particularly in the east. Prior to Confederation, Canada had consisted of the Provinces of Upper Canada (Ontario), Lower Canada (Québec), New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Prince Edward Island (PEI) did not join Confederation at first, but the modern province would eventually join after just a few more years; Newfoundland and Labrador had only been included since shortly after the end of World War II.

United Empire Loyalists

The modern region that most appropriately defines the etymology of the name “Canada” is perhaps the area along the upper Saint Lawrence River, and in particular the side on the present-day Province of Ontario, within the general vicinity of the Thousand Islands of the State of New York in the United States. This region has also been largely associated with the United Empire Loyalist history of English Canada, though the Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and even portions of Lower Canada have also played roles in the Loyalist migrations. Though the modern regions of Estrie (the Eastern Townships) and Bonaventure are firmly Québécois, a number of Anglophone settlers have largely determined the Anglican communities in the modern province. Anglophones in the region today are concentrated in the area around Lennoxville within the greater region of Sherbrooke, home to Bishop’s University. Further west, in the generally Francophone area of Montréal, are McGill University and Concordia University, both Anglophone institutions associated with the predominantly Francophone city.

Newfoundland and Labrador

Prior to Confederation, much of the modern area of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador had been under British control entirely separate from Canada. A similar dynamic continues to exist in the modern British Overseas Territories of the Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Anguilla, and Montserrat.

Prairie Provinces

The Prairie Provinces of Canada—Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba—may often be mistaken for the Great Plains of the United States for having vastly related landscapes. However, the Canadian latitudes are often colder than the American latitudes on the Plains, yet Canadian values result in the vast majority of the Prairie residents living within reach of the U.S. border. Saskatchewan in particular has largely been compared to the States of North Dakota and South Dakota in the United States for having similar European ancestries, especially upon the arrival of the Germans from Russia (including parts of modern Ukraine).

British Columbia

Often identified by American travelers as the “gateway to Alaska,” the most dramatic portion of the Alaska Highway is located within this westernmost province of modern Canada. To the north is the Yukon Territory, also containing part of the Alaska Highway, and both BC and the Yukon play large roles in supporting the traffic flow to (and from) the State of Alaska. Today, Vancouver dominates the region, as with Seattle and Portland in the United States, with communities such as Kelowna, Surrey, and Victoria relatively comparable to communities such as Olympia, Bremerton, Salem, Port Angeles, Everett, Mount Vernon, Astoria, Salem, and Eugene on the American side of the international border.

The Territories

Today, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut represent the Territories of Canada, with each individual territory representing a particular aspect of the cultural heritage of the predominantly Arctic region. The capitals are (from west to east) Whitehorse, Yellowknife, and Iqaluit; and numerous lakes are easily identifiable within the region, most notably the Great Bear Lake and the Great Slave Lake, as well as the Mackenzie River ultimately flowing into the Arctic Ocean. Relatively similar terrain may also occur within the Province of Manitoba, containing Lake Winnipeg as well as Lake Winnipegosis.

Great Lakes

Though Lake Michigan is entirely within the United States, portions of Lake Huron, namely the Georgian Bay and the North Channel, are entirely within Canada. Lake Nipigon represents another significant lake within the Province of Ontario, with nearly as significant an importance as many of the other provincial and territorial lakes outside the Great Lakes.

Hype for the Future 72C: Notable Historic Sites for American Migrations

Introduction

The United States of America, particularly in the middle and late colonial eras and regarding the Mid-Atlantic colonies above all others, can be represented using the numerous cultural sites located throughout related regions historically associated with the British, including west of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada; and in the outskirts of Omagh, Northern Ireland.

Particular Sites of Interest

To best understand the interesting journeys of the Scots-Irish and related communities to the American colonies, the Frontier Culture Museum of Staunton, Virginia; and the Ulster American Folk Park in Omagh, Northern Ireland, can provide significant insights. Kings Landing, New Brunswick, located to the west of the Canadian provincial capital of Fredericton, also provides particular historical insights, specifically in the cases regarding the United Empire Loyalists and otherwise associated settlers from Great Britain, Ireland, and related regions.

Hype for the Future 62CWM: City of Calais, Maine

Introduction

The City of Calais is the largest municipality in Washington County though the third-smallest in the entire State of Maine. Of the twenty-three cities of Maine, Calais is located along the Saint Croix River opposite the larger City of Saint Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada 🇨🇦. Though not a tourist destination like the Canadian counterpart, the City of Calais does continue to recognize Wabanaki heritage to a disproportionate extent, with the Wabanaki Culture Center taking pride in the Down East community.

Hype for the Future 62WEM: Town of Weston, Maine

Overview

The Town of Weston is located at the southeastern edge of Aroostook County, Maine, in the United States of America. Though physically in the Aroostook County boundaries, the community actually shares more cultural similarities with the Down East region than with the Aroostook Valley, particularly through the influence of the Town of Danforth located immediately to the south.

Along both the northbound and the southbound directions of United States Route 1, scenic turnouts exist labeled “Million Dollar View” turnouts, referring to the scenic transitions of the Upper Saint Croix to the east, the Down East to the south, the Aroostook Valley to the north, and a possible faint view of Mount Katahdin to the west. The First Settlers Lodge is located across the highway from the southbound scenic turnout, and Rideout’s Lodge and Cottages at Butterfield Landing is located along the Davenport Cove relatively nearby to the community of Pemberton Ridge, New Brunswick, Canada 🇨🇦.

Hype for the Future 62P: Kings Landing, New Brunswick

Introduction

Kings Landing is located west of the City of Fredericton in the Province of New Brunswick, Canada. The historical significance of the United Empire Loyalist migrations, though also impacting the areas nearer Fredericton, Saint John, Annapolis Royal (Nova Scotia), the Eastern Township of Québec, and numerous areas in both Northern and Southern Ontario, has largely been associated with the migrations from the New York area to the Province of New Brunswick and surrounding provinces. Though Prince Edward Island was initially treated separately, even PEI had entered Confederation as of 1873.

Hype for the Future 62O: UMaine-Presque Isle Solar System Model

Introduction

The University of Maine-Presque Isle has developed a solar system model for a nearly one-hundred-mile stretch of Route 1 along the Canadian border showcasing the relative distances of the planets to the sun, scaled down from the true distances by far more than one million.

Solar System Model, Neptune to the Sun

• Neptune: Town of Littleton
• Uranus: Town of Bridgewater (the driver will pass through the Town of Monticello between the aforementioned towns)
• Saturn: Town of Westfield (following Blaine and Mars Hill)

Starting with Jupiter, the remainder of the solar system model by UMaine-Presque Isle is associated with the city proper of Presque Isle, Maine.

Hype for the Future 62L: Fort Fairfield, Maine

Introduction

The Town of Fort Fairfield, Maine, is located in Aroostook County, just west of the Easterly Line of the State with the Province of New Brunswick, Canada. Fort Fairfield contains three villages, all unincorporated as with most other villages throughout New England except in parts of Vermont.

Etymology

The name “Fort Fairfield” is an English name originally, but in the sense of the Aroostook Valley has originally referred to a particular military outpost during the time of the Aroostook War.

Hype for the Future 62G: More on the Saint John Valley

Introduction

The Saint John Valley is located at the northern edge of the State of Maine and traversed by United States Route 1 in a relatively west-to-east direction, with Fort Kent at the northern terminus of the highway. Infrastructure is rarely maintained in excess of two lines, and the population of the region is quite minimal with respect to the populations elsewhere in the State.

Tante Blanche Museum

The Tante Blanche Museum is located in the eastern part of the Town of Madawaska in Aroostook County, Maine. The Acadian Landing Site is located adjacent to the museum, and the Acadian Cross Historic Shrine is located immediately overlooking the Saint John River opposite the Edmundston area of New Brunswick, Canada 🇨🇦. The museum site is named for Marguerite Blanche Thibodeau Cyr, respecting her heroic actions following the 1797 famine in the region.

Adjacent historical sites to the Tante Blanche Museum include the old schoolhouse area and the Fred Albert Museum from the history of François Albert Jr.

Musée Culturel du Mont-Carmel

Located in rural Grand Isle, Maine, along the Saint John River opposite the Province of New Brunswick, Musée Culturel du Mont-Carmel represents the Acadian heritage, so for visitors, Welcome to Acadia! Bienvenue à l’Acadie!

The former Roman Catholic Church hosting the Acadian heritage museum has officially been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since circa 1973 followed by the 1984 cessation of services from the Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel. Apart from Acadian heritage sites, Québecois cultural traits can also be featured, perhaps quite surprisingly, at the museum site.

Hype for the Future 62E: Town of Madawaska, Maine

Introduction

The Town of Madawaska is located in Aroostook County, Maine, and is smaller than the Canadian City of Edmundston, Madawaska County, New Brunswick, on the opposite side of the Saint John River.

Acadian Heritage

Like much of Aroostook County, and especially the Saint John Valley, the Madawaska area is largely determined by the Acadians and their cultural influence and heritage throughout the region. Influence also comes from the United Empire Loyalists, many of whom had previously settled in Saint John, New Brunswick, or in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, during the Loyalist migration to British North America.

Heritage Sites

Though a mostly residential and small-scale commercial community without much in terms of business opportunities, the Town of Madawaska does not have much in terms of sites associated with heritage, unlike the Canadian city opposite the Saint John River. In Madawaska itself, the Inn of Acadia is a two-star hotel, and the Martin Acadian Homestead and Learning Center is located further west and also defines culture in the region.

Infrastructure

While the United States Customs 🛃 and Border Protection of the Department of Homeland Security maintain an official border crossing in the area between Madawaska and Edmundston, the only internal highway of the United States serving the Madawaska area is United States Route 1, serving west-to-east as a north-to-south route.

Hype for the Future 61M: Atlantic Canada 🇨🇦

Introduction

The Canadian Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island are located primarily to the east of the U.S. State of Maine, at fairly similar latitude to much of the Maine interior overall. Of these three provinces, Nova Scotia is consistently the largest in population with the City of Halifax as the provincial capital, while New Brunswick is next with Fredericton as the provincial capital and Prince Edward Island is the smallest of all the Canadian provinces with a population under 200,000 and a provincial capital smaller than 40,000. The capital city of Prince Edward Island is the City of Charlottetown, which had actually been an unincorporated town prior to city status in 1855.

Confederation

Each of the provinces representing Atlantic Canada had joined Confederation to join the nation, though only New Brunswick and Nova Scotia had joined at the very beginning. Prince Edward Island did not actually join Confederation until sometime in 1873, after the Provinces of Ontario (from Upper Canada), Québec (Lower Canada), New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

Access

Access to the Canadian Maritimes from the State of Maine requires crossing by way of an Authorized Port of Entry, including the numerous sites of the United States Customs and Border Protection on the American side and the Canada Border Services Agency (ASFC is the French abbreviation) on the Canadian side. As an international border crossing, the necessary documentation is vital for crossing the border, though even more documentation is typically required for air travel to the region of the Maritimes.

Within Canada, where access is not controlled between provinces, ferries between New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador are generally unrestricted in terms of access to Canadian citizens.

Hype for the Future 61F: Places of Liberation for novaTopFlex

Preamble

The novaTopFlex Three Identities maintain cultural values such as freedom of choice in connection and freedom of movement domestically. With the appropriate documentation and other features, for obvious legal security reasons and logistics, these values can be provided in various regions across the globe, including parallel societies with similar values.

Countries and Regions

novaTopFlex has identified several locales within the United States and Canada as matching energies and personal and cultural values, including, but not limited to, liberation from scripted roles and freedom of identity and expression. In the United States, the identified regions are New England, Chicagoland, the Twin Cities, and the Pacific Northwest, though the Mid-Atlantic and Front Range areas also have similarly shared values. For Canada, such regions include (from east to west) Newfoundland, the Maritimes, the Eastern Townships of Québec (including modern Estrie and regions now identified as Centre-du-Québec and Montérégie), the Greater Toronto area, and the Pacific Northwest extending into British Columbia. Pockets of the City of Montréal may also be suitable to the values and cultural preferences of novaTopFlex, though Canada as a whole often supports freedom of identity and expression to a significantly greater extent than the United States.

Hype for the Future 58C: The Complexities between Maine 🇺🇸 and New Brunswick 🇨🇦

Roosevelt Campobello

The Roosevelt Campobello summer home was most notably associated with the family of Franklin Delano and Eleanor Roosevelt specifically, with the International Park area being jointly serviced by the United States 🇺🇸 and Canada 🇨🇦 in spite of physically being located on Campobello Island, entirely within the Canadian Province of New Brunswick.

Grand Manan

Though the island may occasionally appear closer to the mainland of the United States by way of Maine, the Island of Grand Manan is located entirely within New Brunswick, Canada. Interestingly, even in spite of the Canadian heritage of the entire region, Machias Seal Island, located relatively nearby, is effectively stuck in a border dispute between Canada and the United States, though the island is currently publicly accessible regardless of nationality at this time.

Machias Seal Island

Commonly associated with birdwatching heritage is Machias Seal Island, which even contains a lighthouse in the area, but does not actually maintain a significant permanent settlement and is more of a research settlement disputed between the United States and Canada. According to the United States, Machias Seal Island is rightfully part of the State of Maine, while according to Canada, the exact same island is rightfully part of New Brunswick. The maritime border of the United States and Canada overall is also more directed toward separating Maine from Nova Scotia by way of effectively dividing the Bay of Fundy from the remainder of the Gulf of Maine.

Hype for the Future 58B: Grand Manan, New Brunswick, Canada 🇨🇦

Introduction

Grand Manan is located along the border of the United States 🇺🇸 and Canada 🇨🇦, with the territory on the entirety of the island belonging to Canada and specifically to the province of New Brunswick. Located at the extreme southwest of New Brunswick and relatively close to the eastern edge of Maine around Lubec and West Quoddy Head, the Island of Grand Manan quietly maintains cultural traits similar to the traits elsewhere in the Maritimes as well as in the Down East region of the State of Maine.

Amenities

The Island of Grand Manan is located within the Canadian Province of New Brunswick, with cultural amenities and associated traits often inherited from the early New England Yankee settlers and in particular the United Empire Loyalists. While many of the United Empire Loyalists were actually from the New Netherland area and settled largely around Saint John along the Bay of Fundy in southern New Brunswick, numerous other United Empire Loyalists were also from elsewhere in the Mid-Atlantic as well as New England, with some also settling in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island nearby.

Given the cultural traits and history of the United Empire Loyalists, often defining the culture of Atlantic Canada very similarly to the New England states, Grand Manan is home to a few hotels and motels as well as a notable art center and an island art gallery. Ferry service is accessible primarily in the Canadian direction, with access to a smaller island nearby as well as to the mainland at Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick.

Frequently Asked Questions: Maine Edition

Is Maine part of the Maritimes?

No. Maine is not part of the Maritimes nor part of Canada at all, in any capacity. Machias Seal Island may be part of an ongoing border dispute between the United States and Canada (Maine and New Brunswick), but no, Maine is not part of the Maritimes.

Is Aroostook County Canadian?

Per the historic Webster-Ashburton Treaty, the vast majority of the Aroostook Valley would become part of the territory of the United States, with only the northernmost sections becoming part of Canada. The Treaty was mostly associated with Maine and New Brunswick, and not necessarily with Québec.

The western part of Aroostook County is very sparsely populated. How do we know it is not Canadian?

Again, population density does not determine the nationality of a certain locale, anywhere, worldwide. The Webster-Ashburton Treaty area is not the only area with such sparse population density, either; the northern extremities of counties such as Oxford, Penobscot, and Piscataquis may also be similarly rural but outside of the Aroostook Valley entirely.