Thoughts From a "Lost Canadian" About Manitoba

As I wrote a few days ago, growing up in the USA, I learned many things about this country in school and by visiting 34 of the 50 States, but even though Canada was a close neighbor (I grew up in Michigan), I didn't know very much about Canada. When I learned about the new Canadian Bill C-3, and discovered over 1/3 of my ancestors were Canadians, I knew I needed to learn about Canada - especially since I will be able to receive citizenship once I gather all the necessary papers. Today I am very happy to share with you some of the things I've learned about the Canadian Province of Manitoba.

• The province of Manitoba consists of prairie grasslands, the rocky Canadian Shield, and Arctic tundra.
• Winnipeg Manitoba is the longitudinal center of North America.
• Churchill is famous for polar bear viewing - bears sometimes outnumber people!
• Manitoba can experience extreme weather, with temperatures in Winnipeg sometimes colder than the surface of Mars.
• The Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre in Morden holds the world's largest publicly displayed Mosasaur, a prehistoric marine reptile.
• The world’s largest trilobite known as Isotelus rex was discovered in northern Manitoba - it can be seen at the Manitoba Museum in Winnipeg.
• Churchill is one of the top three places in the world to observe Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights.
• Winnipeg has the sunniest winter season in Canada with 358 hours of sunshine.
• The earliest inhabitants of the area were Indigenous peoples from two nations: the Ne-hiyawak (Cree) and the Nakotas (Assiniboin). They were later joined by the Anishinaabe (Ojibwa) and the Dakota (Sioux). Winnipeg is the Cree word for Muddy Waters.

You will find out more information about Manitoba at this link.