Many of Canada’s cities and provinces have unusual, even downright wacky, nicknames.
TORONTO
• The Big Smoke: Home to several mega-story smokestacks.
• Hogtown: This is not a derogatory reflection of Toronto citizens, but a reference to the fact that for many years the city was home to several pork processing plants.
• Muddy York: In its early days, the city was called York. It earned this nickname because the streets were unpaved and lacked storm drains. Every time it rained, the streets became huge mud pits.
BRITISH COLUMBIA
• Skookum: A “big and mighty” province deserves this nickname with the same meaning in Chinook, a language developed with words from French, English, Salish, Nootka and other local languages.
VANCOUVER
• Lotusland: Vancouver gained this nickname due to the fact that residents enjoy an apparently more idyllic lifestyle than elsewhere in Canada. Lotusland is a reference to a section of Homer’s Odyssey. In this part of the classic tale, Odysseus visits a land where the native residents live under the influence of an edible narcotic lotus.
• North Hollywood: Vancouver’s earned this nickname due to the large number of movies filmed in the city thanks to its ability to look like any large metropolitan area. (See page x.)
• Gastown: In its very early days, what is considered the city’s core downtown area was first settled. One of the very first settlers in this area was John “Gassy Jack” Deighton, a riverboat pilot who opened a saloon there. The area soon became known as Gastown, after Gassy Jack. Don’t worry though, in those days people were called gassy if they talked a lot, not because of . . . well, you know.
VICTORIA
• Chicktoria: There are a few theories for this nickname: the women in Victoria are particularly attractive; there are more women there than men; or the city’s colleges attract a large number of female students.
In spring 2013, waves of ice 9 meters (29’6”) destroyed at least six homes in Ochre River, MB.
• The Little Smoke: As opposed to Toronto, “The Big Smoke.”
• The Island: What Vancouver residents call Victoria.
CALGARY
• Cowgary: Calgary is the ranching capital of Canada and home to the Calgary Stampede, one of the largest rodeos in the world.
EDMONTON
• The Big Onion: New York is known as The Big Apple. This nickname was given to Edmonton in an effort to compare it with New York.
• Deadmonton: People use this nickname for one of two reasons: the city was often thought of as a boring place to be, and in recent years, it’s been home to an increasing murder rate.
• Redmonton: It’s a more liberal area of the country, electing few Conservative candidates.
HAMILTON
• Steeltown: The steel industry has always been central to the economic life of Hamilton.
• The Hammer: Another reference to steel manufacturing.
OTTAWA
• Bytown: This was the original name of the town, named after Colonel By, a British engineer and one of the city’s founders.
WINNIPEG
• Winterpeg: Yes, winters are very cold in Winnipeg. The average low temperature in January is about -9 degrees F and the average high is 10 degrees F.
ST. JOHN’S
• The City of Legends: St. John’s earned this nickname because it is theorized to be the oldest major city in North America, founded before 1620.
• Sin City: A mispronunciation of the St. in St. John’s led to this nickname.
HALIFAX
• Dalifax: Dalhousie University is located in Halifax. Or some people just refer to the city as The Fax.
QUEBEC
• La Vieille Capitale City: Literally “the old capital city,” which it once was.
MONTREAL
• The 5-1-4: Montreal’s area code.
• Real City: Break apart Montreal and you’ve got Mont and Real—hence the nickname.
April Fool’s 1996, Parliament member announces Ottawa’s Peace Tower Clock goes digital.
• La Metropole: So called because the city was once the economic capital of Quebec and the biggest “metropolitan” area there.
KITCHENER AND WATERLOO
• K-W: These two cities share everything, almost as if they’re one and the same city.
SASKATOON
• Toontown: Catchy nickname taken from the city’s actual name.
WINDSOR
• Motor City C-A: It’s the leading car manufacturer in Canada.
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DEVON ISLAND
Imagine a place so remote, so barren, that it’s been used as a doppelganger for the surface of Mars. A place so barren, that almost nothing grows there. This place is Devon Island, the largest uninhabited island on earth.
Known in Inuit as Tatlurutit, Devon is located in Baffin Bay, Nunavut. It’s a polar desert: Except for the Truelove Lowland, which supports a small population of musk oxen, foxes, and polar bears, the climate is too cold and dry for much plant or animal life to grow. Even during the summer, the temperature seldom gets above 10 degrees Celsius, and in the winter it can get as low as negative 50 degrees.
There were some attempts to settle Devon Island in the 1930s and 40s, but the climate proved too inhospitable. Nothing remains today but some ruins and the graves of some of the settlers. However, though there are no permanent residents, the Mars Society established a simulated base there from 2001–2009. “Astronauts” lived in a simulated Mars base according to the Martian solar cycle, performed simulated “extravehicular activities,” and tested equipment that might one day be used to explore the Red Planet. Though all activities outside the station took place in spacesuits, one “out-of-simulation” crew member was required to come along on all trips outside the base. Their job? To watch out for the very non-Martian danger of polar bears.
In Nova Scotia, “some” is used as “very.” As in: “It’s some hot out.”