Exploration. – The undertaking of the Canadian ship St. Rouch, who in 1944 completed the entire Northwest Passage in just 85 days (the passage in the opposite direction of the same ship carried out in 1942-43 had taken almost two years) closes for the Canada the period that can be called heroic of the great explorations. But the exploratory activity continues with more determined objectives.
Expeditions set up on the initiative of the National Geographical Society of Washington have explored the interior of Labrador with results of great importance, both from the physical point of view and from the anthropic and economic point of view: the explorations made as a result of mining, road construction, etc.. they have provided important new contributions to knowledge of the region. The same can be said for the coastal region to the west and east of the mouth of the Mackenzie, as well as for the extremely complex hydrography region interposed between the Athabasca River and Hudson Bay. The Arctic Research Institute established by agreement between the United States and Canada operated in the American-Arctic archipelago: Baffin’s Land, the Lands of Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg were particularly the subject of surveys rich in results (morphology, glaciology, characteristics of plant and human life, etc.). A map of Arctic Canada at a scale of approximately 1: 3,800,000 published in 1958 by the Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, puts an eye on the state of current knowledge. For Canada 1996, please check pharmacylib.com.
Government and administration. – As a consequence of the incorporation (see below) of the island of Newfoundland to Canada as a tenth province (1949), the Senate has now increased to 102 members, having added 7 senators for Newfoundland. The 34th Parliament, elected on March 31, 1958, has 265 members of which 7 for Terranova.
Some administrative changes have occurred in the so-called Northwest Territories, as a consequence of the importance these territories have acquired for the resources of the subsoil. Since 1952 the “Minister of Northern Affairs and National Resources” has appointed a Council of 9 members on which a Commissioner-governor depends. The seat of government is in Ottawa, but once a year the Council meets in a locality of the territories. These, like the Yukon Territory, are represented by a Member of Parliament.
Demographic statistics. – The basic statistical data are shown in the following table:
According to the 1951 census, the residents of British origin were 6,709,685 (of which 3,630,344 English, 1,547,470 Scots, 1,439,635 Irish and 92,236 of other British origin) against 4,319,167 of French origin. There were then 619.998 residents of German origin, 395,043 of Ukrainian origin, 283,084 of Scandinavian origin, of which over 23,000 Icelanders, 264-267 of Dutch origin and 152-245 of Italian origin. There were 165,607 Indians and Eskimos. The Negroes were no more than 18,000, the Chinese and the Japanese 54,000.
The population increase in the fifteen years 1941-56 was very significant (11,506,655 residents in 1941; 14,009,429 in 1951; 18,080,791 according to an evaluation of 1956), but notably different in the various states. The maximum increases are recorded in Ontario, in Saskatchewan, in Manitoba, ie in Canada new, where the density is still low, while the increase of the ancient provinces with relatively high density is slow; in the doldrums is the Prince Edward Island where the population is already very dense compared to current resources; in decline is a single province, Columbia.
The birth rate in recent years has remained around 27-28 ‰, with minimums in Manitoba and Columbia (26) and maximums in Newfoundland (36), mortality fluctuates around 7-8 ‰. These data do not include the territories in which the figures are highest: over 47 ‰ in the Northwest Territories, which however also have high mortality (17,000). In the five-year period 1954-58 about 836,000 individuals immigrated to Canada, of which 265,000 British, 133,000 Italians, 119,000 Germans, over 50,000 Americans.
The prevalence of the population classified as urban is enormous and ever increasing: 10,725,000 in 1956 compared to 8,818,000 in 1951. In 1957 thirteen cities exceeded 100,000 residents in the metropolitan area.