British+Columbia+Culture


 * History || Economics || Politics || Geography || Culture || Activities ||


 * British Columbia Culture **

Today, BC's population is wonderfully diverse. More than 40 major Aboriginal cultural groups are represented in the region. Though just 1.8% refer to their origins as being "British", a majority 57.3% of the population of B ritish Columbia claim their ethnic origin as being from one of the British nations (England, Scotland or Wales). Another 15.2% refer to their ethnicity as "Irish", though not distinguishing between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Of the provinces, British Columbia had the highest proportion of visible minorities, representing 24.8% of its population. Asians are by far the largest visible minority demographic, with many of the Lower Mainland's large cities having sizable Chinese, South Asian, Japanese, Filipino and and Korean communities.

Also present in large numbers relative to other regions of Canada and ever since the province was first settled (unlike Toronto), are many European ethnicities of the first and second generation, notably German’s, Scandinavians, Yugoslavs and Italians. Third-generation Europeans are generally of mixed lineage, and traditionally intermarried with other ethnic groups more than in any other Canadian province. First-generation Britons remain a strong component of local society despite limitations on immigratio from Britain since the ending of special status for British subjects in the 1960s.

 *The above information copied from: **Culture & History British Columbia **

**Languages:**

Of the 4,113,847 population counted by the 2006 census, 4,074,385 people completed the section about language. The languages most commonly reported were the following:

native speakers ||~ Percentage of singular responses ||
 * ~ Language ||~ Number of
 * [|English] || 2,875,770 || 71.5% ||
 * [|Chinese languages] || 342,920 || 8.5% ||
 * [|Punjabi] || 158,750 || 4.0% ||
 * [|German] || 86,690 || 2.2% ||
 * [|French] || 54,745 || 1.4% ||
 * <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|Tagalog (Filipino)] || 50,425 || 1.3% ||
 * <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|Korean] || 46,500 || 1.2% ||
 * <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|Spanish] || 34,075 || 0.9% ||
 * <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|Persian] || 28,150 || 0.7% ||
 * <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|Italian] || 27,020 || 0.7% ||
 * <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|Dutch] || 26,355 || 0.7% ||
 * <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|Vietnamese] || 24,560 || 0.7% ||
 * <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|Hindi] || 23,240 || 0.6% ||
 * <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|Japanese] || 20,040 || 0.5% ||
 * <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|Russian] || 19,320 || 0.5% ||
 * <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|Polish] || 17,565 || 0.4% ||
 * <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|Portuguese] || 14,385 || 0.4% ||
 * <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|Ukrainian] || 12,285 || 0.3% ||
 * <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|Hungarian] || 10,670 || 0.3% ||
 * <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|Croatian] || 8,505 || 0.2% ||

<span style="line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;">**<span style="background-color: #008080; color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 17px;">Education: **
 * All of the above information retrieved from: Wikipedia

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14pt;">﻿ <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%; line-height: 21px;">British Columbia's Ministry of Education is responsible for primary and secondary education, while the Ministry of Advanced Education, Training and Technology is responsible for post-secondary education. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">The provincial public school system is a free, universal, non-sectarian system covering all grades from kindergarten to grade 12. Attendance is compulsory for children from kindergarten to 16 years of age. The system is currently made up of 59 school districts and one Francophone Education Authority. Each district has an elected board of trustees that governs under the School Act.

There are six publicly funded universities in British Columbia, three of which are in the Vancouver area, and an extensive college and institute system providing academic, technical, vocational, career and adult basic education programs. The programs are administered through 11 community colleges, five university-colleges (which offer selected courses of study leading to bachelor degrees), five institutes and the Open Learning Agency.

Distance education and open learning programs are co-ordinated by the Open Learning Agency (OLA) with other post-secondary institutions. The OLA consists of: the Open University, the Open College, and the Knowledge Network.


 * The above information retrieved from: British Columbia Education

<span style="line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;">**<span style="background-color: #008080; color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 17px;">Food: ** One of the advantages British Columbia has is that because of its large immigrant population, just about every cuisine is available. Of particular merit is the wide range of Asian food available in Canada. The influence of immigration is also reflected in everyday home cooking, with items such as Ukrainian Perogies and Cabbage Rolls (particularly in the west where the Ukrainians originally settled), and Scottish-style shortbread (baked in most Canadian households—especially at Christmas) having become national institutions. British Columbia’s specialty is Smoked Salmon (exported worldwide).
 * The above information retrieved from: Eating and Drinking in Canada[[image:smoked_salmon.jpg align="right"]]