CANADIAN Language and Culture Help

[siriusly_insane]

Hello everyone!
This is a thread for anyone who needs Canadian language and/or culture help. I wouldn't have bothered with this thread because a) The USA and Canada are very similar and b) Very few fics take place in Canada to begin with.
But, the USA thread does take more focus on the south and just in case anyone needs it, my help is here! :) (I doubt that anyone will)
Cheers,

[OliveOil_Med]

Oh, the Canadian thread looks so sad and lonely. I'll fix that!

I'm working on creating schools for countries in the Western Hemisphere, and now it's Canada's turn. I know that the American population is five times that of Britians, so I took that into account and create five American magic schools. What is Canada's population in relation to Britain?

What regions do you think magic schools would exist in. Can you give me any good and specific information about these regions that would be useful in creating a system of Canadian schools in my imagination?

ThanX! I'll post again when I come up with more.

[Kcharles]

Canada has a population of about 33,390,141 , so there's not many people for the second largest country in the world.

I think that the schools would probably be located in these places(in order of the likelyhood of them being there): The western part of Canada, Centeral Canada(Manitoba, maybe even in Ottawa itself) and then eastern Canada, or maybe the north. I'd think that if the people up in the north were to have a wizard, they wouldn't be sent to any wizard school, just to normal school.

[Vitamin Vicki]

There would definitely be a magical school in Quebec - however I'm fairly confident that they would make it all French - you guys have heard about their Canadian vs. French struggle, right? (Quebec wants to become a country and not be part of Canada anymore - because it's first language is French.) So there would definitely be a school there, and they would be a school that most other Canadians would think was a snobby school, because the Quebecois would think very highly of themselves. And there would probably be a school in BC, or Alberta, somewhere near the Rockies, I'm thinking, because it would be easier to hide. And then you would have a school in the Northwest Territories or the Yukon Territories, because they would most likely not attend a West Coast school because they're so far North - and the Quebecois wouldn't let them attend their school - but they probably wouldn't want to anyway. The Nunavut (spelling?) province would also attend the Northern school - I'm thinking about three schools, but mostly because things are more spread out. But, like KCharles said, there could also be one in Manitoba, or possibly Ontario, since that's where the nation's capital is - but not directly in Ottawa - that would be hard to hide. The English speaking Canadian schools would probably make sports teams and verse each other versus schools, instead of being purely within the school, because the schools would not be that big. But I see a Quebecois school working more with Beauxbatons, say, than the school in Ontario. The Maritime provinces would most likely attend a school in Ontario, otherwise they'd have to go all the way to the West Coast or up North.

[maayan]

I myself am not really Canadian, even though I do have a Canadian citizenship, but my mother grew up in Montreal (Quebec). To make things even my father's American.
Between the two of them my father's french is better, and that's not saying much. My mother barely passed her french matriculation.
Whether or not Quebec is French/English speaking is a big heated issue. While many speak English with a heavy, almost unintelligble french-accent, many don't speak French. It's true that French is considered the official language, or at least it was when my mother was growin up. That's why my mother never knew street signs, because they were all in French. I don't know who was more suprised when my oldest sister started learning street signs for her driving and my mother discovered that the round sign with the red circle and the number 60 meant that was the speed limit.
Do you think there would be a lot of wizards in North America, or that most of them would perfer to stay behind in the Old World and the ratio of wizards to the population would be less?

[OliveOil_Med]

Do you think there would be a lot of wizards in North America, or that most of them would perfer to stay behind in the Old World and the ratio of wizards to the population would be less?

I believe that a wizards reasons for coming to North America would be the same for the Muggle that went: a chance for a fresh start and a new life.

If a wizarding family were looked down upon or disgraced in some way back in Europe, they may leap at the chance to start a new life in the New World. For that reason, all the "old blood" families of Europe would more than likely not be found in the Americas. The countries there might have their own definition by what makes them regale (In America, you family coming over on the Mayflower is pretty big. I'm not sure what Canadians use).

Also, there would also be all that wide open space to use magic in and, at the beginning at least, no government telling them what to do. This would probably attract quite a few rogue wizards as well (did I mention in America, having an ancestor who was a Wild West outlaw is something to brag about as well?).

Anyway, here's just my imput.

[OliveOil_Med]

Double posting to put up a discussion topic that came to me as I was going to sleep last night.

House elves. We all know they usually only belong to wealthy wizarding families and often come with large manors.

But what about in North America?

As I said in my last posting, the only reason people would have left for the New World back then was because the possibility of a new start seemed much better than the life the already had in Europe. And if a family with a house elf was wealthy, chances are that life was pretty good where they were and they would have no reason to leave.

Would house elves be more or less nonexistant in the Americas? If so, who would do all the hundreds of chores needed to run a magic school in these countries?

[Inverarity]

As I said in my last posting, the only reason people would have left for the New World back then was because the possibility of a new start seemed much better than the life the already had in Europe. And if a family with a house elf was wealthy, chances are that life was pretty good where they were and they would have no reason to leave.


Wealthy people did come to the Americas. They weren't usually the first ones over, but once colonies were established, there were rich people who came over for various reasons -- to expand their fortunes, because they were on the losing end of an inheritance battle, to oversee property they had invested in (the colonies were commercial investments for those back home, remember), or just out of a sense of adventure or curiosity.


Would house elves be more or less nonexistant in the Americas? If so, who would do all the hundreds of chores needed to run a magic school in these countries?

As to the last question: you could make the students perform chores, you could hire a custodial staff (which might consist of squibs and/or Muggles), or you could rely on a whole lot of magic items to do all the chores.

As to the first: I am sure that at least a few wealthy wizarding families would bring house-elves over. Whether house-elves would remain commonplace depends on whether you think North American wizarding society would diverge significantly from British society. There are obvious parallels between slavery and house-elf servitude. Britain abolished slavery before the U.S. did (albeit for economic reasons, not because abolitionist sentiment was particularly stronger there), but Britain didn't experience a bloody civil war fought largely over slavery, and did not have to cope with a large population of slaves/ex-slaves.

Looking at Canada, slavery was already in decline there when Parliament abolished slavery throughout the British Empire. After that, Canada was a primary destination for the Underground Railroad. So there was a lot of abolitionist sentiment there.

The question then becomes, how much did Muggle culture affect wizarding society? To the degree that wizards were aware of the slavery issue, it could not have escaped them -- whether they were for it or against it -- that house-elves were in much the same situation.

On the other hand, long after Britain abolished slavery, house-elves are still enslaved at Hogwarts, and even Dumbledore wasn't moved to free them, he just made sure they were treated well. So maybe wizarding society really doesn't reflect Muggle society that well.

So, you could either make North American wizards "radicals" who abolished house-elf slavery, or you could say they clung to tradition just like the British wizards did. Of course, if they did stop using house-elf slaves, what then, happened to the house-elves who'd come over? Are there now a lot of free elves in the Americas? Do they work for a living? Did they set up their own little communities? They probably didn't just disappear...

[OliveOil_Med]

Are there territories where people tend to be from one nation over others, the way those from Quebec are usually French?

How do you believe Canadian schools for magic would be different from Hogwarts?

[James Jameson]

Are there territories where people tend to be from one nation over others, the way those from Quebec are usually French?

In the Territories (Nunavut, NW Territories, Yukon) most people tend to be Aboriginal.

In Nova Scotia, most people tend to be Scottish and Irish.
In Newfoundland, most people are either Irish or British.
In parts of Northern ontario, there are some French people.
In certain regions of Nova Scotia there are Acadians (French Maritimes People)
New Bruinswick is Canada's only officially bilingual province, so people can be both French or English.

How do you believe Canadian schools for magic would be different from Hogwarts?

I think that Canadian schools for magic might not be all that different. They'd probably be very similar. The school would probably have an optional boarding/dorms, and a bit more slack of a uniform, from what I take it. There would be, of course, different rules and foods and such, but I don't think that the schools themselves would run all that differently.

Although I don't think that a Canadian Wizard school would be able to pass off as a castle.... there aren't too many Canadian Castles :p

[bluemoon13]

Are there territories where people tend to be from one nation over others, the way those from Quebec are usually French?
Not really. You've hit the main one- the French of Quebec. This is because after the Americain revolution, the English Loyalists who were loyal to Britain where forced to leave America for Canada. The Loyalists refused to be governed with the French speaking Canadiens. The Governor of the time realised that the French would never give up their langauge or customs, so Upper and Lower Canada were created. These areas are now known as Ontario and Quebec.

In British Columbia, there are many Asian people because of the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Many workers from China came to work on the railway and they settled in Canada after the railroad was complete. I believe there were many Irish who also worked on the railway, mainly seattling in the Altantic provinces.

How do you believe Canadian schools for magic would be different from Hogwarts?
Well, there is population. The school would probably have a smaller amount of students simply because Canada's population is much smaller than Britain's. On the other hand, Canada is a much larger country. There would probably be more space for a wizarding school or community to work with.

Wow, that was more historical than I intended...:o I must have actually learned something in Socials....
-Shivy:D

[Kcharles]

Would the Canadian wizarding schools have classes in French or English? Canada would only have one school, because of the population.

[Lizzy]

They'd probably have classes in English, just because there are so many more English-speaking people here.

I can kind of see Quebec having a teeny-tiny ten-person one-teacher little school for French-speaking people, or them just going out to Beauxbatons, if they couldn't speak english. It wouldn't be that big of a problem for them - they could get there pretty quickly, being magic and all. :)

EDIT: Yes, most French people here do speak a bit of english, comme beaucoup des Anglais peuvent parler un peu de français. I might have butchered that... Notice I said un peu.

[MC Kair]

Yes, I agree with Lizzy. Canada is much more English speaking. Most Quebecois even speak English as it is a major job requirment. I couldn't see there being a French school as there aren't many people that would need it consider the normal people vs wizards ratio and the french vs english people ratio.

Hope that helped.

-Maria

[Kcharles]

And I'd think there'd be a school for the Aboriginal languages too, because we've had problems in Canada with Aboriginals being taken out of their homes and being forced to speak English.

[James Jameson]

I think that maybe there would be like, a house for each major language. Like, a French House, Aboriginal House, and Two English Houses? And the English kids would all learn together and there would be minority staffs?

Although *I'm not sure that too many people speak the Aboriginal Languages fluently anymore....* But I can't be sure...:confused:

[Kcharles]

Ohh, I like the idea of diffrent "houses" for the languages. I think that that should work, thank you!

[FireAndIce]

Keep in mind though, Canada is a very vast country. It takes 5 hours by plane to get to Vancouver from Toronto.

Because Canada is so big, we'll probably need to have 2 schools...one on the west coast and one on the east coast. These schools, as someone said earlier, would definitely have smaller populations than Hogwarts.

I like the House idea....but don't you think the language barrier would somehow divide the houses? For the Aboriginal one, you'd probably have to have only Aboriginals teaching it. A lot of people in Canada are bilingual comme moi, so I don't think that would be an issue.

And, yes, it's true that Quebec's first language is french, but I-having personally been there- would have to agree that most people there do speak english.

[indigo_mouse]

While I haven't lived in Canada for a long time, I think I should point out that having an "Aboriginal" house doesn't make much sense. Not because there is not a large population of Native people, but because lumping all the different cultures together makes no sense.

There are differences between the Inuit and the Cree, the Micmac and Athabaskan - different languages, different traditions, different foods. . . . different creation myths, magical traditions, traditional ways of life. And they were treated very differently by the Canadian government, depending on when Europeans settled the area. The Native American people in British Columbia had a far different, and far better in many ways, experience than those in the Maritime provinces. It would kind of be like lumping the Germans, French, Spanish and English together and calling it a "European House".

Also, to think that somehow Canadians are not prejudiced is giving us too much credit, I am afraid. Its the normal sort of mix of people - some have prejudices and some don't. When I was growing up Native Americans were often regulated to the lower end of the social spectrum, with those of British ancestry at the top, and the big influx from Eastern Europe (Poland, Ukraine, Russia) somewhere in the middle. I know a lot of families changed their names to sound more British when they immigrated back at the turn of the last century.

Of course, nothing is static, and in recent years especially there has been a lot of immigration from India and Asia. My sister is a school teacher in Vancouver, and when she was substitute teaching at different schools it was not uncommon for her to be the only person in the classroom of European decent - her students were all either Indian immigrants, or the children of Indian immigrants.

I think that there would wind up being two schools in Canada, though, Francophone in Quebec, and English speaking in Ontario (where most of the population is). The prairie provinces might have their own. I would think that the Native people would scorn the European tradition and follow their own, different traditions. It could make for an interesting story.

[FireAndIce]

Yes, good point, well made.
You're right; I didn't even think of that!

[Josh]

I'm not Canadian, but please don't get mad at me for posting this:


\Keep in mind though, Canada is a very vast country. It takes 5 hours by plane to get to Vancouver from Toronto.

Because Canada is so big, we'll probably need to have 2 schools...one on the west coast and one on the east coast. These schools, as someone said earlier, would definitely have smaller populations than Hogwarts.

Hmm, a school in the middle lol? No, Hogwarts is in Scotland which is around five hours (at least, maybe even 7 depending on route and if it's right on the coast) from London, and that doesn't include the hours getting to the station. This is the same for the time to cross Canada right? I don't think in the wizarding world distance really matters.

Sorry If I went off topic or what not, just wanted to point that out.

[Treacle_Heart]

While I haven't lived in Canada for a long time, I think I should point out that having an "Aboriginal" house doesn't make much sense. Not because there is not a large population of Native people, but because lumping all the different cultures together makes no sense.
This is true, yet people do it themselves. A friend of mine from Montreal has told me of how the cliques are made from your background, ie the Italians, the Greeks, and so on.

Canada is much more English speaking. Most Quebecois even speak English as it is a major job requirment. I couldn't see there being a French school as there aren't many people that would need it consider the normal people vs wizards ratio and the french vs english people ratio.

I think that the students would be able to choose which language they wanted to learn in, much like our muggle schools. We have the option of learning regular french, extended french (social studies in french), immersion french (everything in french), or Mi'kmaq.

-- Julia

[indigo_mouse]

Josh,

Canada is a LOT bigger than Britain. I took the train from Winnipeg (close to the geographic center of the continent) to Vancouver BC - it took 3 days. We got to go through a tunnel in the mountains too.

The three biggest countries by surface area:

# Russia: 17,075,200 km2 (6,591,027 mi2)
# Canada: 9,984,670 km2 (3,854,082 mi2) population 2006 census was 31,612,895
# United States: 9,631,418 km2 (3,717,727 mi2)
# UK: 245,000 km2. (50,351 mi2) population 2001 census was 49,138,831


So you can see that the population of Canada is a LOT more spread out. Although not evenly. Most people live within 100 miles of the US/Canada boarder. So think of it as a really wide narrow band of population. From Victoria to Newfoundland is 8,000 land kilometers (5,000 mi), although Newfoundland is a pretty long way off the coast - its actually closer to London than to Ottawa and has its own special 1/2 hour off time zone. The distance from London to the Orkney Islands is 848 km (air miles). And they are fairly close to opposite ends of the UK.

Now, back on topic - If I were wizards looking to hide a school in Canada, I would put it in Newfoundland. Low population - rugged coastline. Not a big tourist destination. Or Labrador - on the mainland, but all of the above apply. Or if you wanted polar bears in your story, somewhere near Churchill Manitoba would do, although Churchill has quite a bit of eco-tourism. Baffin Island. brrrrrr.

[Josh]

Josh,

Canada is a LOT bigger than Britain. I took the train from Winnipeg (close to the geographic center of the continent) to Vancouver BC - it took 3 days. We got to go through a tunnel in the mountains too.

The three biggest countries by surface area:

# Russia: 17,075,200 km2 (6,591,027 mi2)
# Canada: 9,984,670 km2 (3,854,082 mi2) population 2006 census was 31,612,895
# United States: 9,631,418 km2 (3,717,727 mi2)
# UK: 245,000 km2. (50,351 mi2) population 2001 census was 49,138,831


So you can see that the population of Canada is a LOT more spread out. Although not evenly. Most people live within 100 miles of the US/Canada boarder. So think of it as a really wide narrow band of population. From Victoria to Newfoundland is 8,000 land kilometers (5,000 mi), although Newfoundland is a pretty long way off the coast - its actually closer to London than to Ottawa and has its own special 1/2 hour off time zone. The distance from London to the Orkney Islands is 848 km (air miles). And they are fairly close to opposite ends of the UK.

Yes, but I appreciate its size, but I'm saying that actually, even though it's biiger, the time by flight compared to by train (which they suggested) was less than the time it would have taken for Hogwarts. And the last bit, it's like saying that England spans an entire ocean as there's also Islands we own elsewhere....

Anyway, sorry, just a point
(not spam)

~Josh

[indigo_mouse]

Well, yes I agree, and the time it takes to get anywhere by Apparation is the same, so in theory, students could be taken to school ANYWHERE in the same amount of time.

So I agree that the size of the country really doesn't make all that much difference as to how many schools they would have. I think the population of wizards would though.

So if Hogwarts has about 10 students per house per year, then it would have about 2500 students. Thats not many for a population the size of Britain! And Britain's population is greater than Canada's so in my estimation there should only be one school in Canada.

So where to put it? It should be a quintessentially Canadian place. What do we think about when we think about Canada? RCMP Mounted Police, moose, the Northern Lights, snow, polar bears. Its the Great White North after all. The True North Strong and Free (to quote the national anthem). So I would put the school up near the Arctic Circle.

My pick would be to put it near Flin Flon, Manitoba, population 6,242. A mining town named for Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin, who was a character in a science fiction novel, The Sunless City by J. E. Preston Muddock. Its where the road ends and the weirdness begins. To quote from the Wikipedia page on Flin Flon

The character of "Flinty" is of such importance to the identity of the city that the local Chamber of Commerce commissioned the minting of a $3.00 coin, which was considered legal tender within the city during the year following its issue. A statue representing Flinty was designed by cartoonist Al Capp and is one of the points of interest of the city.

The statue is also extremely ugly.

Now, you know I couldn't possibly make this stuff up. It has to be true (and so is the fact that they grow Medical Marijuana in some of the old mines, in spite of the cold climate - because its a constant temperature underground). My imagination is good, but its not that good!

[James Jameson]

Why not make the school unplottable? We don't exactly know where Hogwarts is, for example...

*SPAMSPAMSPAMSPSPAM!!!***:)

[Viv]

Canada is much more English speaking. Most Quebecois even speak English as it is a major job requirment. I couldn't see there being a French school as there aren't many people that would need it consider the normal people vs wizards ratio and the french vs english people ratio.

Not that I want to bring in politics, but... if you consider the politcal issues we are having in Quebec about the whole language thing, and the fact that there is a huge debate about separating our province from the rest of the country, I do need to point out that maybe, Quebecers would want a French school of their own. Of course, in Hogwarts, they try to promote inter-house unity and such, but the truth is that there are some barriers between the students because of their background (pure-bloods vs non pure-bloods, Gryffindor vs Slytherin, etc.), so it wouldn't be different in Canada. And in Canada, we have the language barrier/debate... Prejudices are everywhere and it could happen that English Canadians wouldn't want to be mixed up with French Canadians and vice versa.

I just want to clarify that I do not support that policy and I think it'd be great to mix everybody together in the same school and break barriers, but reality isn't always that simple. I like Julia's idea of having the option to choose which language students want to learn in... but... then again, we wouldn't encourage the two solitudes to mix up. Yeah, it's complicated!

Why not make the school unplottable? We don't exactly know where Hogwarts is, for example...

Yes, why not? You don't need an exact location for the school. We know Hogwarts is in Scotland, but we don't know much more, as we know Beaubâtons is somewhere in France, because the students speak French, but JKR gave no clues about the city or the region they come from. It could be anywhere in the country and then, it would be up to you to decide which climate you want (is it snowing a lot like in Quebec, or raining all the time like in Vancouver... the possibilities are endless!) and if you want snow bears or not (or puffins like in Newfoundland... I suggest puffins, they're so much cooler!:cool: ).

[Kcharles]

Yes, puffins rock!


I do think that the Aboriginals wouldn't want to go to school as the other inhabitants of Canada would, because the Aboriginals have many diffrent customs, and diffrent ways of doing things. The Quebecians might want their own school too, as they do want to be a diffrent country and all that jazz.

Do you think it would be possible for the english speaking witches and wizards to all go to school in America?

[Lizzy]

I think they might all go to the States, although I don't think they'd like it. If they were any thing like the Muggle World they'd need some sort of Wizarding passport, wouldn't they? (I've never actually been across the border, though, so I have no idea how this works) It would probably be a big hassle. The Canandian Ministry would probably have something in Canada. I don't think they'd all get shunned to the States.

However, since the States would have more people, they'd probably have bigger and better schools. More kids means more funding, right? So some parents might send their kids south.

[OliveOil_Med]

I think they might all go to the States, although I don't think they'd like it. If they were any thing like the Muggle World they'd need some sort of Wizarding passport, wouldn't they? (I've never actually been across the border, though, so I have no idea how this works) It would probably be a big hassle. The Canandian Ministry would probably have something in Canada. I don't think they'd all get shunned to the States.
That could definantly be a possibility.

Canada is a LOT bigger than Britain. I took the train from Winnipeg (close to the geographic center of the continent) to Vancouver BC - it took 3 days. We got to go through a tunnel in the mountains too.
Yes, Canada is a very large country, but what you would really have to take into account is the population size. For example, the population of the United States is five times that of Britian, so it would make since that they would have more than one school.

What I would suggest is going onto Wikipedia and looking up the population of the U.K. and then the population of Canada. Then you would have a much better idea of how to set up a wizarding school there.

[Viv]

Do you think it would be possible for the english speaking witches and wizards to all go to school in America?

I guess it's a possibility, but I mean, if the other countries can have their school, why can't we have one? We are close to the Americans in terms of lifestyle and culture, but we are different too. So I think Canadians would prefer to have their own school, with their own way to do things, specific classes about Canadian history, Muggle studies, etc. Let's say in a Potions class, the teacher might use plants and ingredients that you can only find in Canada, in History of Magic, you'd have a section about Canadian wizards and their achievements... you see what I mean. There has to be a school in Canadian soil, to bring out our particularities.

[Kcharles]

OK, for comparing: Japan has about 4 times as many people as Canada.


So, I think that any Canadian school would be about 4 floors, the size of Durmstrang(about)?


Well, Hogwarts only has about 400 people, so it might be bigger, but I don't think that it would be the size of Hogwarts.

[Lizzy]

If you do the math (10 students per year x 7 years x 4 houses), Hogwarts only has 280 kids. That is nothing. And Canada would have even less.

I think Canada's would be even smaller than Durmstrang, because doesn't Durmstrang get kids from more than one country?

[Josh]

If you do the math (10 students per year x 7 years x 4 houses), Hogwarts only has 280 kids. That is nothing. And Canada would have even less.

I think Canada's would be even smaller than Durmstrang, because doesn't Durmstrang get kids from more than one country?
Hmm, I don't think the maths are very accurate. J K has never really given the subject much thought, and has changed the amount of students from virtually the entire country to around 300 people... It would depend on if people wished to be taught at the school or not.

About size; Hogwarts only has 14 teachers or so, implying there would only ever need to be 14 classrooms. Yet we know that there are many more (and it's a 7 floored castle) so perhaps the size doesn't really matter that much.

And finally, it may just be that there are booms in children going to Hogwarts, and the 7 years we look at it are rather low.

Hope I helped,

~Josh

[Kcharles]

There might not have been many people in Harry's year and years around him because that's when Voldemort is strongest, so people aren't thinking about having children at that time. I think that there is more than 10 people in each house per year.

So I'm making the Canadian School 4 floorsish. Any ideas for names? It's an english speaking school.

[OliveOil_Med]

So I'm making the Canadian School 4 floorsish. Any ideas for names? It's an english speaking school.
I'm going to refresh this question because I'm trying to think of a good name for a Canadian school as well. I'm in the planning stages of writing a new story for the site An Appraisal of Magical Education in North America; sort of based on the book Hermione spoke about An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe. I've thought of names for nearly all the schools, save for the Canadian one. So I'm going to need some help coming up with a meaningful name that would make sense for a Canadian school.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[sorrow_of_severus]

Something that hasn't been covered in the previous posts in this thread is population distribution. A major chunk of Canada's population lives in an area termed "The Golden Horseshoe". This is basically the area with a couple of hours of the city of Toronto. It is called this because the area is roughly in the shape of a U or a horseshoe, along the shores of Lake Ontario. This region is culturally very diverse, with some parts having a somewhat large immigrant population.

I expect that there would be two or three wizarding schools in Canada. One would definitely be in Quebec, because it really does feel like a different country than the rest of Canada, and the second in northern Ontario province (it's really, really remote up there, but has the advantage of being located within a few hours of the major population center of the Golden Horseshoe). A third one might be in western Canada, which doesn't feel like a distinctly different country but certainly is different than Ontario. The western school would probably serve the prairie provinces (Alberta and Saskatchewan), the Yukon Territory, the Northwest Territories, and perhaps Nunavut. It would be pretty new, only established in the past hundred years or so as it became more settled. Then again, it could be that the western population could be too small to support a large enough magical community for a school, and the wizard's kids would just go east to the school in Northern Ontario. I would expect the kids along the coast (Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, etc.) would be split, with some opting to go the the Quebec School but a majority going to the English-speaking school in Ontario. I think the native population would educate their own generally and not send them to school, as they have a rich history of magic immersed into their culture.

Actually, something like "Golden Horseshoe Academy" wouldn't be too bad of a name for your school, if it were located in the province of Ontario. Horseshoes traditionally were thought to have some magical properties.

DISCLAIMER: I am an American, not a Canadian. However, I do live near the border with Canada, visit eastern Canada quite frequently and been to the Yukon twice, have studied Canada in school, and have Canadian relatives, so I possess some basic knowledge of Canada.

[OliveOil_Med]

Do you think there is a large enough population in Quebec for there to be a French language school? I also imagine this is also where students from Haiti and the Frech Caribbean would go to school as well.

Are there any main cultural difference between English Canada and French Canada that I should know about? How about the Canadian school system in general? Is it very similar to how the British school system runs? Becayse Canada is a common wealth, I wonder if they would have a house system as well.

[Lizzy]

Our system is nothing like the British one - we don't even have a national system. Each province has it's own. There are standards, obviously, but besides that, it's run by the provincial government. I've never heard of a Canadian House system, although that doesn't mean they don't do it in private school somewhere. I could explain the Ontarian system, but explaining school systems can take a while, so if you want, you can PM me and I can write it all out, although that would only help you if this is the region you're writing about. I don't think the systems are THAT different, but I'm not going to explain the Ontarian one, just to have you say you're writing something in Alberta, and I know there's a difference between the systems (I'm not quite sure how big, though). If you want an in-depth explaination, you're going to have to give us a province to work with. :)

I wouldn't say there was any main difference between English and French Canada, just because all the parts of Canada are different, that I don't think you would get a very specific definition of English-speaking Canada's culture. There are a lot of different cultures contained in the English-speaking part. I could give stereotypes for a lot of the different regions, but not all of them are very nice...

Er, that wasn't helpful. :o

You should probably know that there are seperatists in Quebec - there's even a large political party that's part of our federal government whose main goal is to make Quebec its own country. Seperatism is like a wave, almost - some decades it's huge, and some it's not that huge of a deal. It was really big - there was even a referendum one year, not too long ago (I'll find a date...) about whether or not Quebec wanted to stay a part of Canada: Wikipedia says the results were 50.6% to 49.4% in favour of staying part.

Becayse Canada is a common wealth, I wonder if they would have a house system as well.

On that subject, just because Canada is commonwealth, doesn't mean that Quebec would follow. They had a treaty made to them in the 1700s that said they can run their own schools, have their own culture, and have their own law system when it comes to minnor crimes.

I think there's a large enough population in Quebec for a French-speaking school. It wouldn't be huge, probably the size of a regular high school, but I'm pretty sure they would have their own (see discription of above treaty). The population wouldn't be that big, but I don't know why there wouldn't be a school.

I hope that made sense. Feel free to ask if it doesn't, I wrote that pretty fast. And I rambled. Sorry.