CanadaTravel Tips

Tips for Traveling Abroads

Important Documents
Before you leave home, photocopy your passport and carry it separately to where you carry your normal passport. Also photocopy a list of medications for medicines that you can't do without.

Discovery of Canada

The earliest discovery of the New World was made by Norse seafarers known as Vikings. The vague accounts of their exploits are drawn from their sagas, epic stories in prose or verse handed down by word of mouth through many generations. In AD 985 Norse seamen sailing from Iceland to Greenland were blown far westward off their course and sighted the coast of what must have been Labrador. The report of forested areas on the strange new coast encouraged further explorations by Norse colonists from Greenland, whose settlements lacked lumber.

In AD 1000 Leif Ericson became the first European to land in North America (see Ericson). According to the sagas, this was the first of many Norse voyages to the eastern shores of the continent. A colony was established in what the Vikings described as Vinland, identified in 1963 as being on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland. Recent investigations have cast doubt on the once-popular theory that the Vikings also penetrated Hudson Bay and reached the upper Great Lakes region by overland routes. Discoveries of "Norse" relics in that area have been exposed by scholars as hoaxes. The Greenland colony died out during the 14th and 15th centuries, and the Norse adventures in Canada must have come to an end well before that time.

Travel Insurance
Travel Insurance is important. In the event that you could not travel due to an unexpected medical problem, you can apply to the insurance company for a refund.

BACK TO TOP

Choosing Luggage
A suitcase with wheels or a baggage caddy will help make trips through the airport easier, especially if porters are not available.

Business Hours and Holidays

January 1 - New Year's Day
(January 2 - Day after New Year's)
Good Friday
Easter Monday
Monday on or before 24 May - Victoria Day
July 1 - Canada Day (formerly Dominion Day)
First Monday in September - Labor Day
Second Monday in October - Thanksgiving
November 11 - Remembrance Day
December 25 - Christmas Day
December 26 - Boxing Day

Businesses, including banks, that would normally be closed on a Sunday will be closed on these generally observed holidays.  The main exception is Boxing Day which is a big day for the retail sector.  Businesses might also be open on Remembrance Day.  Banks are open on Good Friday but closed Easter Monday.

When a fixed-date holiday falls on a day that a business would normally close (e.g. Christmas on a Sunday), then the Friday or Monday of that weekend is taken as a holiday.

Office hours are usually from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday to Friday.

Banking hours are usually:
10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Thursday
10:00 a.m. to 5:00 or 6:00 p.m., Friday.
Many banks are also open 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, Saturday

Post offices are usually open  from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday to Friday.

Core opening hours for shops are 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday to Friday.  Extended hours vary and can include late nights and weekend hours.

Government

Canada is a federation of ten provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan) and three territories (Northwest Territories, Yukon, and as of April 1, 1999, Nunavut). Formally considered a constitutional monarchy, Canada is governed by its own House of Commons. While the governor-general is officially the representative of Queen Elizabeth II, in reality the governor-general acts only on the advice of the Canadian prime minister.

BACK TO TOP

Telephone
Dialing into Canada:
1 + area code + local number

Area code for B.C. (except Vancouver): 250
Area code for Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast: 604

Dialing out of Canada:
011 + country code + area code + local number

Emergencies: dial 911 (police, ambulance, fire), free call
Information: dial 411 (for telephone numbers), free call
Toll free: numbers begin with 1-800, or 1-888

Pre-paid plastic calling cards are available from convenience stores.

Language
Canada is officially bilingual (English and French), however the working language in British Columbia is English.

Electricity
Like the USA, residential Canada uses 110 volt electrical systems at 60 hertz. You will need a voltage transformer/ converter for your electrical appliances if they operate on a different voltage.  There are different types of converters for different types of appliances.  Small electronics, razors and non-heating appliances can operate with a 50-watt converter.  Heating appliances such as hair dryers, irons, coffee makers and other high-power electrical appliances need a 1600-watt converter. You can also purchase combination converters for both types.  Mains wall sockets and plugs for 110 volts are two parallel flat blades. If those sockets are different from the ones used in your country then you will need a socket converter. 

Measures
Canada uses the metric system.  Distance is measured in kilometers, speed signs are in kilometers per hour. Petrol/gas is sold by the litter and temperature is measured on the Celsius scale. Most weight measurements are in kilograms or grams.

Geography

Covering most of the northern part of the North American continent and with an area larger than that of the United States, Canada has an extremely varied topography. In the east the mountainous maritime provinces have an irregular coastline on the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Atlantic. The St. Lawrence plain, covering most of southern Quebec and Ontario, and the interior continental plain, covering southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan and most of Alberta, are the principal cultivable areas. They are separated by a forested plateau rising from Lakes Superior and Huron. Westward toward the Pacific, most of British Columbia, the Yukon, and part of western Alberta are covered by parallel mountain ranges, including the Rockies. The Pacific border of the coast range is ragged with fjords and channels. The highest point in Canada is Mount Logan (19,850 ft; 6,050 m), which is in the Yukon. The two principal river systems are the Mackenzie and the St. Lawrence. The St. Lawrence, with its tributaries, is navigable for over 1,900 mi (3,058 km).

BACK TO TOP

Smoking
In British Columbia, smoking is banned on all public transport, in public buildings, including restaurants and bars, and workplaces.

Post Offices
If you wish to receive post while in Canada, have it sent to a city's main post office marked with your name, c/o General Delivery.  The post office will hold it for two weeks, before returning to sender, and you will need ID to collect.Basic postal services are available at retail outlets.  Look for them at the back of drug (chemists) and convenience stores.  The fewer full service postal offices are in main urban centers.Canada Post
Find the current rate for sending a postcard within Canada.  As of January 1, 2001, the rates were 47c within Canada; 60c to the USA; or CDN$1.05 international.

Packing
Always carry your travel documents, medication, jewelry, travelers' cheques, key and other valuables in your hand luggage. Identify your luggage both inside and outside with your name, address, and telephone number and make sure the outside tag is securely fastened to your luggage.

Tipping
Like the USA, in Canada it is customary to tip for services such as restaurants, bars and pubs, taxis and hairdressers. Usually 15%, although the amount can range from 10% to 20% at the discretion of the person paying the bill.   Always check whether a service charge was included in a restaurant bill, especially if paying by credit card, as this is the tip.

Welcome to Canada
This detailed FAQ on the "Great White North" at the Rec.Travel Library web site will answer more questions you might have about Canada.

Alcohol
You must be 19 years of age to consume or purchase alcohol in the province of British Columbia. The minimum age varies from province to province.  Drinking alcohol in public is prohibited by law in all of Canada.

BACK TO TOP

Money 1 Canadian Dollar (Can$) = 100 cents. Note denominations: Can$1000 (uncommon) Can$100 Can$50 Can$20 Can$10 Can$5 Coin denominations: Can$2 (twoonie) Can$1 (loonie) 50 cents (uncommon) 25 cents (quarter) 10 cents (dime) 5 cents (nickel) 1 cents (penny)

History

The first inhabitants of Canada were native Indian peoples, primarily the Inuit (Eskimo). The Norse explorer Leif Eriksson probably reached the shores of Canada (Labrador or Nova Scotia) in 1000, but the history of the white man in the country actually began in 1497, when John Cabot, an Italian in the service of Henry VII of England, reached Newfoundland or Nova Scotia. Canada was taken for France in 1534 by Jacques Cartier. The actual settlement of New France, as it was then called, began in 1604 at Port Royal in what is now Nova Scotia; in 1608, Quebec was founded. France's colonization efforts were not very successful, but French explorers by the end of the 17th century had penetrated beyond the Great Lakes to the western prairies and south along the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, the English Hudson's Bay Company had been established in 1670. Because of the valuable fisheries and fur trade, a conflict developed between the French and English; in 1713, Newfoundland, Hudson Bay, and Nova Scotia (Acadia) were lost to England. During the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), England extended its conquest, and the British general James Wolfe won his famous victory over Gen. Louis Montcalm outside Quebec on Sept. 13, 1759. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 gave England control. At that time the population of Canada was almost entirely French, but in the next few decades, thousands of British colonists emigrated to Canada from the British Isles and from the American colonies. In 1849, the right of Canada to self-government was recognized. By the British North America Act of 1867, the dominion of Canada was created through the confederation of Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. In 1869, Canada purchased from the Hudson's Bay Company the vast middle west (Rupert's Land) from which the provinces of Manitoba (1870), Alberta (1905), and Saskatchewan (1905) were later formed. In 1871, British Columbia joined the dominion, and in 1873, Prince Edward Island followed. The country was linked from coast to coast in 1885 by the Canadian Pacific Railway. During the formative years between 1866 and 1896, the Conservative Party, led by Sir John A. Macdonald, governed the country, except during the years 1873–1878. In 1896 the Liberal Party took over and, under Sir Wilfrid Laurier, an eminent French Canadian, ruled until 1911. By the Statute of Westminster in 1931 the British dominions, including Canada, were formally declared to be partner nations with Britain, “equal in status, in no way subordinate to each other,” and bound together only by allegiance to a common Crown. Newfoundland became Canada's tenth province on March 31, 1949, following a plebiscite. Canada also includes three territories—the Yukon Territory, the Northwest Territories, and the newest territory, Nunavut. This new territory includes all of the Arctic north of the mainland, Norway having recognized Canadian sovereignty over the Sverdrup Islands in the Arctic in 1931. The Liberal Party, led by William Lyon Mackenzie King, dominated Canadian politics from 1921 until 1957, when it was succeeded by the Progressive Conservatives. The Liberals, under the leadership of Lester B. Pearson, returned to power in 1963. Pearson remained prime minister until 1968, when he retired and was replaced by a former law professor, Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Trudeau maintained Canada's defensive alliance with the United States but began moving toward a more independent policy in world affairs. Faced with an increasingly violent separatist movement in the predominantly French province of Quebec, Trudeau introduced the Official Languages Bill, which encouraged bilingualism in the federal government; he also gave an economic portfolio to a French-speaking minister, Jean Chrétien. Both measures increased the power of French-speaking politicians in the federal government. In 1976, the Parti Québécois (PQ) won the provincial Quebec elections, and René Lévesque became premier. The Quebec government passed Bill 101 in 1977, which established numerous rules promoting the French-speaking culture; for example, only French was to be used for commercial signs and for most public school instruction. Many of Bill 101's provisions have since been amended, striking more of a compromise; commercial signs, for example, may now be in French and English, provided that the French lettering is twice the size of the English. Quebec held a referendum in May 1980 on whether it should seek independence from Canada; it was defeated by 60% of the voters. Resolving a dispute that had occupied Trudeau since the beginning of his tenure, Queen Elizabeth II signed the Constitution Act (also called the Canada Act) in Ottawa on April 17, 1982, thereby cutting the last legal tie between Canada and Britain. The constitution retains Queen Elizabeth as queen of Canada and keeps Canada's membership in the Commonwealth. This constitution was accepted by every province except Quebec. In the national election on Sept. 4, 1984, the Progressive Conservative Party scored an overwhelming victory, fundamentally changing the country's political landscape. The Conservatives, led by Brian Mulroney, won the highest political majority in Canadian history. The dominant foreign issue was a free-trade pact with the U.S., a treaty bitterly opposed by the Liberal and New Democratic Parties. The conflict led to elections in Nov. 1988 that solidly reelected Mulroney and gave him a mandate to proceed with the agreement. The issue of separatist sentiments in French-speaking Quebec flared up again in 1990 with the failure of the Meech Lake Accord. The accord was designed to bring Quebec into the constitution while easing its residents' fear of losing their identity within the English-speaking majority by giving it status as a “distinct society.” The economy continued to be mired in a long recession that many blamed on the free-trade agreement. Brian Mulroney's popularity continued to decline, causing him to resign before the next election. In June 1993 the governing Progressive Conservative Party chose Defense Minister Kim Campbell as its leader, making her the first female prime minister in Canadian history. The national election in Oct. 1993 resulted in the reemergence of the Liberal Party and the installation of Jean Chrétien as prime minister. The Quebec referendum on secession in Oct. 1995 yielded a narrow rejection of the proposal, and separatists vowed to try again. Since then, however, the Quebec Liberal Party has replaced the Bloc Québecois as the ruling party. On April 1, 1999, the Northwest Territories were officially divided to create a new territory in the east that would be governed by Canada's Inuits, who make up 85% of the area's population. In July 2000, Stockwell Day of the new right-wing Canadian Alliance Party unexpectedly emerged as the leader of Canada's opposition. In Nov. 2000 elections, however, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien of the Liberal Party won a landslide victory for a third five-year term. After the election, the conservatives rapidly lost steam. In recent years, Canada has introduced some of the world's most liberal social policies. Medical marijuana for the terminally or chronically ill was legalized in 2001; the country began legally dispensing marijuana by prescription in July 2003. In 2003, Ontario and British Columbia legalized same-sex marriage; and more provinces and territories followed in 2004. In July 2005, Canada legalized gay marriage throughout the country, becoming one of four nations (along with Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain) to do so.

BACK TO TOP

Tax

In Canada the Goods and Services Tax (GST) of 7% applies throughout the nation.   It is added to most purchases and services (including postage stamps) with the exception of basic groceries.   In addition to the GST, there is also a tax that varies from province to province. In British Columbia, a Provincial Sales Tax (PST) of about 7% applies to retail merchandise and services with certain exceptions - such as food, books, children's clothing, restaurant foods and personal services such as hairdressing and laundry.  The PST and GST are calculated separately on the base price of the item.  There is also a hotel room tax (8-10% in most places).So remember, what you see on the price tag is not necessarily what you will pay.  In some stores, the GST is already included in the price tag, but most often it is added at the point of sale. The PST is almost always added at the cash register.  This also applies to accommodation.  Check whether the quoted price includes all tax requirements.  Check whether an establishment is exempt from any of these taxes - sometimes this can mean you will get a better deal.

Here's the good news.  Keep your receipts because non-residents can obtain a GST refund on many purchases taken out of the country and on certain short term accommodations.  Purchases need to total more than CAN$100.00.  Meals are not included.  There is no rebate on PST.  You may be able to get your GST back in cash at a duty-free store as you leave the country (but not if you leave at an airport). Otherwise forms can be posted from home upon your return.  If you come across an offer to do the paperwork on your behalf, check what percent of the refund they will deduct, and whether they will do all eligible expenditures.  For more information and application forms phone 1-800-668 4748 (toll free from within Canada), read the Tax Refund for Visitors to Canada pamphlet at Canada Revenue's web site, or ask at at border-crossing points, duty-free stores, and tourist information centers.

AFFORDABLE HOTELS IN CANADA