Live in the States? Europe? Australia? That's fine! If you already know all about Canada, that's perfectly cool, you don't need to read this, but for people who don't know much, or anything about Canada, I've created this.

THIS is a map of Canada, which is the second largest country in the world. Crowsnest Pass is in Alberta - it's the salmony coloured one, second from the left. The thing that makes Crowsnest Pass special is it's right on the mountains - the Rocky Mountains in fact. Crowsnest Pass is in the South West of the province, very close in fact to the state of Montana.

Crowsnest Pass is a large town, but with few people in it. A fairly cool place like most of Canada, the hottest it gets in the summer is usually about 20 C - which is about 70 F, and can get as cool as -11 C in the winter. It gets about 440 mm of precipitation a year. There is a lot of mining in the Crowsnest Pass.

As you've noticed, Canada uses the metric system. This doesn't mean we don't use the imperial - we use both quite a lot! We also throw in 'u's to things and use more British English. That's cool - we're not asking you to add 'u's to colour! We don't really say 'aboot' and we don't live in igloos. No dog sleds or polar bears either.

Canada is a democratic nation, and we have free health care and education. This is technically free, but it paid with taxes. This means, if I hurt myself I can go and see a doctor and not have to pay. Canadians speak French, but many people in Alberta don't. Canada is a very big place and it encourages immigrants, so there are many immigrant families (primarily Asian out west) living in it.

One big difference is the crime rate - the Canadian crime rate is relatively low. This is because we have a strict gun policy. Only those who are registered (and have a very, very good reason) may own a gun. People don't worry so much about gun crime.

Any other questions? You can ask me, or Sa Bir, or even look it up online. Honest, it's not that complicated. =) You probably won't run into anything, this is just a "just so you know" sort of thing.