Canada_Isaiah_Davis





Canada is the second largest country in the World and a northern neighbor to the United States. The Capitol of Canada is Ottawa. Canada was first inhabited by the Inuit and Metis people. Great Britain and France were the first countries to settle in Canada. French culture still remains in Canada as there are still regions of Canada that predominately speak French such as Quebec. English and French are both the official languages of the country. Canada is a very developed country and its economy depends on its abundant natural resources and trade with the United States. Canada has a parliamentary government, which means Canada has a prime minister. Canada is made up of ten provinces and three territories. Canada has a total population of about 32,000,000. Surprisingly, 77% of the population believes in the Christian faith.


 * __EDUCATION__**

As far as education, Canada separates its schools by education policies by provinces. All provinces typically have primary, secondary, and tertiary education levels except for Quebec. Quebec, the French speaking part of Canada, mimics France’s education system exactly. It has all of the levels that the French education systems have and mimics everything all the way down to its policies (to find out more about French education see the France page). Canadian government prefers to separate culture (the arts) and education. This results in a lack of funding and policies for the arts and arts education. The Canadian Government uses the little funding for the arts to work with organizations such as the CSEA (more below) and the United Nation's UNESCO to brink arts to the different provinces. This also results in teachers who aren't trained to teach in an arts integrative manner. The lack of arts in education is in high contrast with Canadian culture. As seen at the 2010 winter Olympics, Canada is rich in all forms of art and it was displayed in the visual and audible marvels displayed at the winter Olympics. Check out this video of the 2010 Paralympic games: []



Tom Thomson, August 5th 1877-July 8th 1917, was born near Claremont, Ontario, Canada. He was one of the most influential Canadian artists of the early 20th century. As a child, Thomson was very artistic. Besides drawing, he tried his hand at the violin and mandolin. At age 21, he had an apprenticeship at his father’s friend’s machine shop but was fired for tardiness. That same year he volunteered to fight in the second Boer war. After the war, Thomson studied business at the college level but dropped out after eight months to help his brother operate a business school in Seattle, Washington. In 1907, Thomson joined Grip Ltd., and artistic design firm. It was during his time at Grip Ltd. that Thomson became a draftsman and traveled around Canada with his comrades from the artistic Group of Seven. Thomson began to paint for a living in his mid-thirties. Sadly his career was cut short by his death at the age of 39. Thomson drowned in Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park, the park that had been the inspiration to three of his most famous works: Jack Pine, West Wind, and Northern River. A list of Thomson’s work as well as pictures can be found on the URL provided.
 * Artist Profile: Tom Thomson**

Jack Pine: 

West Wind:



Northern River:





The CSEA is the only “Canadian national organization that brings together art educators, gallery educators and others with similar interests and concerns. Membership represents all levels of education: elementary, secondary, college/university, ministries of education, art galleries/museums, and community education. ” Besides uniting the arts professionals together, CSEA also works with arts education to set policies for arts organizations and train educators. Each year the association holds an award ceremony to honor distinguished arts educators and professionals that have shown spectacular help to the community.

Hopefully you enjoy this video of the Canadian National Anthem: []
 * TO CONCLUDE,** If you made the assumption that Canada is another form of the United States, you will find out just as I did that you are completely wrong. Canada is known as the place with free healthcare and the place where the drinking age is 19, but there is so much more. Canada, although rich in arts, does not require any formal arts education and the government uses little funding to help. In contrast, the Us has arts schools across the country. Some states require that art be apart of the curriculum. In my personal experience, art has been apart of my life since I started school and it always will be apart of my education. Canada, surprisingly, has a relatively small population for its land mass, it's about ten percent of the US's!

Canadian Society for Education through Art []

Canada Arts and Cultural Education []

Tom Thomson: Canadian Landscape Artist. Leigh, Brandi (2008) [].