Canada
General Information
On the 1st of July 1867 the British North America Act was signed, declaring Canada a sovereign region. The country lies between the Atlantic Ocean in the east and the Pacific Ocean in the west. Canada is the second largest country in the world with a size of 9984670 square kilometers ([1] p.10,11). In 2018 Canada had approximately 36 million citizens [2]. The official languages are English and French. The first settlers were Asians who arrived 40.000 years ago. In the last 200 years, many Germans have emigrated there and, according to a 2011 survey, a tenth of the Canadian population declared that they had German roots ([1] p.10,11).
Canada has a well respected reputation in the world. In 2015 it received the first place in an international survey, because of its effective governing, its good economy and favorable living conditions ([1] p.12).
The Canadian population consists of three major ethnic groups: Native Canadians, Francophones and Anglophones. The society is an entity in itself that is willing to compromise to allow for diversity ([1] p.13).
In the time when the Short Story Mr. Jones was published:
In 1917, women who were widowed or had a husband who was serving in the war were given the right to vote through the Military Voters Act. One year later, the right to vote was given to all woman in Canada, which makes it one of the forerunners in women’s rights. Through the Great Depression in 1929, the rate of unemployment rose quickly and the exports shrank dramatically. The hardest part of the depression ended in 1935 when different relief programs were launched to boost the economic structure ([1] p.13).
[1] Lehmkuhl, Ursula (2018): Länderbericht Kanada, Druck- und Verlagshaus. Zarbock GmbH & Co. KG, Frankfurt am Main.
[2] “Kanada”, Wikipedia.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanada (30.04.2019)