ART & CULTURE
This summer, in community halls, fields, and parking lots, Canadian culture will be enjoyed by people of all ages, from all over the world.  Storytellers will gather in Whitehorse, horror filmmakers will descend on Edmonton, jazz fans will crowd the streets of Montréal, and from coast to coast to coast, folk festivals will celebrate the diverse arts and cultural traditions of Canada. It seems we are a nation of festival-goers. The First Nations of Canada held celebrations and festivals here from the earliest
Canadian culture has been heavily influenced by British and French cultures and traditions. Canadian culture has also been influenced by American culture because of proximity and the migration of people, ideas, and capital. Amidst this, Canadian culture has developed many unique characteristics. In many respects, a more robust and distinct Canadian culture has developed in recent years, partially because of the civic nationalism that pervaded Canada in the years prior to and following the Canadian Centennial in 1967, and also due to a focus by the federal government on programs to support culture and the arts.
There were and are many distinct First Nations peoples across Canada, each with its own culture, language and history.  Many weaved baskets, painted pictures, and carved sculptures of animals. Most, but not all, of their culture was verbal and stories were passed down through the elders to the younger generations. The emblem of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics is the inukshuk, a stacked rock in human form engendered by the Inuit people of Canada
Early Europeans helped form the basis of Canadian culture. During their colonization of Canada, settlers wrote a great deal of folklore about the land around them. The tales of Paul Bunyan are a product of French-Canadian folklore and the style of jigs from Newfoundland found their origins in Ireland.
Canada and the United Kingdom share a common history together and continue to work together through many organisations such as the Commonwealth, G-8, and NATO. The two countries share the same head of state, and both have among the oldest parliamentary democracies in the world. From as early as the 1500s, explorers, traders, and fishermen from the British Isles ventured to Canada in search of a new life and people of British ancestry still form Canada's largest ethnic group. The two countries still share many of the same customs, values, and traditions, which have been reinforced by working side by side in two world wars and over half a century of expanding peace and prosperity.
The United Kingdom is Canada’s third largest trading partner and is the second largest source of tourists visiting Canada
Culture begins together, and this season Canadians will come out once again to practice and to share what makes us special. In the words of Robertson Davies, the much-loved Canadian author and devoted patron of Canadian theatre festivals, “Whatever the cause, the festivals are lively affairs in Canada, and we are rightly proud of them.”
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