ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historical background and a description of major events in Canada. It also provides basic political, economic, and social data arranged in the following categories: polity, economy, population, purchasing power parities, life expectancy, ethnic groups, capital, political rights, civil liberties, and status. The chapter discusses the progress and decline of political rights and civil liberties in Canada. Canada's political life was dominated by a debate over the country's response to the September 11 terror attacks on the United States. Colonized by French and British settlers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Canada came under the control of the British Crown under the terms of the Treaty of Paris in 1763. Canadians can change their government democratically, and as a result of government canvassing, Canada has nearly 100 percent effective voter registration. Canada maintains relatively liberal immigration policies. However, concern has mounted over the possible entry into Canada of immigrants who were involved in terror missions.
