Canada has been an independent country since 1931, and does not belong to the United Kingdom.
But it is still a member of the British Commonwealth, also called the Commonwealth of Nations, which is made up of the United Kingdom and several countries that used to be part of the British Empire.
Membership is voluntary, and its members share trade, investment, and social interests.
Commonwealth nations are self-governing and acknowledge the British king or queen as a symbolic leader only.
Canada is a federation consisting of ten provinces and three territories, and is governed as a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state.
