Canada is one of the most prominent and influential countries in the world. It sits right on our doorstep, yet many Americans know little about it and most have never visited it. Last fall we twice presented a course on Canada. Now we offer a five-week course, expanded and up-to-date, with more attention to Canadian culture, such as literature, music, cinema, and festivals.

We will discuss the following. Canada’s geography and historic highlights, and its many and diverse peoples, including especially the dual English-French society. The administrative and government structures of the country, and political parties and elections, including the policies of the current Trudeau government (and it is quite possible that the next national elections will take place during our course!).

We will look at the economy, and key social issues such as immigration, public safety, education, universal health care, and safety nets. Finally, Canada’s culture, as mentioned above. And throughout, we will make comparisons with the USA; there are many similarities but also major differences.

This will be primarily a lecture course, with slides and discussion. Bear with us—we will do the best we can via Zoom. And we will encourage some of you to give short reports on pertinent topics; we will discuss this at our first session.