Canada is often seen as a polite, quiet neighbor with beautiful landscapes, but it hides some of the most bizarre and fascinating facts in the world. Beyond the stereotypes of hockey and snow, this massive country contains a literal jail for polar bears and a landing pad built specifically for aliens. Furthermore, it is the only place on Earth where a simple apology cannot be used against you in court. Prepare to explore the secrets of the second-largest country on the planet.
Canada
Canada maintains a strategic reserve of maple syrup. The Global Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve in Quebec holds millions of pounds of syrup to ensure the world never runs out. In 2012, thieves stole over three thousand tons of syrup from this stockpile in a heist worth nearly eighteen million dollars.
The Apology Act prevents “sorry” from proving guilt. Canadians apologize so often that Ontario passed a law in 2009 stating that an apology is not an admission of liability in civil court. Therefore, you can express regret for an accident without legally admitting you caused it.
The province of Alberta has been rat-free for over seventy years. The government established a massive rat control program in the 1950s to keep the pests out. To this day, armed patrols monitor the borders to ensure no rats establish a population within the province.
Wood Buffalo National Park is larger than the entire country of Switzerland. This massive park in Alberta and the Northwest Territories protects the largest free-roaming herd of wood bison in the world. It is so remote that it contains the world’s largest beaver dam, which is visible from space.
Churchill, Manitoba has a jail specifically for polar bears. When bears wander into town and get too close to residents, officials capture them and place them in the “Polar Bear Holding Facility.” They stay there until the bay freezes over, at which point they are released back onto the ice.
You can drink a cocktail containing a real human toe. In Dawson City, Yukon, the Sourdough Saloon serves the “Sourtoe Cocktail,” which features a mummified human toe dropped into the glass. The rule is that you can drink it fast or slow, but your lips must touch the toe.
The town of St. Paul built the world’s first UFO landing pad. In 1967, the town constructed a large concrete platform to welcome visitors from outer space. It contains a time capsule to be opened in the future and serves as a unique tourist attraction.
Santa Claus is officially a Canadian citizen. The government declared him a citizen in 2008 so he could re-enter the country easily after his global trip. Furthermore, he has his own personal postal code, H0H 0H0, where millions of children send letters every year.
Hawaiian pizza was actually invented in Ontario. A Greek-Canadian cook named Sam Panopoulos created the controversial pineapple and ham pizza at his restaurant in 1962. He named it “Hawaiian” after the brand of canned pineapple he used.
The name “Canada” was a mistake. French explorer Jacques Cartier misunderstood the indigenous word “kanata,” which simply meant “village” or “settlement.” He thought it was the name of the entire nation, and the name stuck on all future maps.
Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined. With over two million lakes, fresh water covers nearly nine percent of the country’s total area. Consequently, it holds twenty percent of the world’s freshwater supply.
A Canadian temperature record was once colder than the surface of Mars. On February 3, 1947, the village of Snag in the Yukon recorded a temperature of minus 63 degrees Celsius. On that same day, the average surface temperature on Mars was actually warmer than this tiny Canadian outpost.
Winnie the Pooh was named after a Canadian black bear. A soldier named Harry Colebourn bought a bear cub and named her “Winnipeg” after his hometown. He donated her to the London Zoo, where she inspired author A.A. Milne to write the famous stories for his son.
Canada has the most donut shops per capita in the world. The nation’s obsession with coffee and donuts surpasses even that of the United States. The popularity of the Tim Hortons chain, a cultural icon, largely drives this.
Finally, the longest street in the world myth is technically false. For years, the Guinness Book of Records listed Yonge Street as 1,896 kilometers long. However, this was based on a misunderstanding that conflated the street with the rest of Highway 11.
