The  O  in  O Canada,  the national anthem of the country, acts as a vocative exclamation used to directly address the country with strong emotion, and is a declaration of love, loyalty and protection for the nation, highlighting its natural beauty, history and promise of freedom and strength.  About Canada: Is geographically larger than the USA, 3.855 million square miles to 3.678 million square miles. #1 is Russia 6.6 million sq. mi., with China #3 at 3.705 sq. mi.  Canada is #2 and U.S #4., with Brazil #5 at 3.288 sq. mi. Has the longest coastline of any country. Population of over 41 million, with a density of 11 inhabitants/square mile, one of the lowest in the world. Ten provinces ( like U.S. states ) and three territories. Recent history. Indigenous peoples have continuously inhabited Canada going back thousands of years. British and French expeditions came in the 16th century. Through armed conflicts, France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North...

One of my favorite songs is  Both Sides, Now , in particular by Judy Collins, who made the original recording in 1968.  What I did not know is that it was written by Canadian  Joni Mitchell , ( click on that and you will see her singing this song, with appearances by Mary Travers and Mama Cass ), who I best remember as a somewhat mousey folk-type singer of  Big Yellow Taxi  in the early 70's when I was co-directing Earth 2020, a summer course for teachers at the University of Hawaii.  This song was released in 1970, and the B-side was  Woodstock . But you wonder, didn't Woodstock, the concert, occur in 1969?  And wasn't that song sung during that Music and Arts Festival by  Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young ?  What happened was that Graham Nash was then her boyfriend who asked her to write something commemorating the event.  She was supposed to perform  Woodstock  at the site, but had scheduling conflicts, so the group insert...