Canada Made Me Look Twice (12 Photos)

Things You’ll Only See in Canada

A sign beside an Ontario wheat field asks drivers not to feed the sharks. In Calgary, a bookshop asks customers to open the door carefully, because a bat is asleep on it, and in Old Montreal a giant cat strolls over the rooftops. Twelve Canadian finds, from front-yard snow statues to Toronto’s Greek and Portuguese neighborhoods.

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🦈 “Great Wheat Sharks” — By Anne Melady near Dublin, Ontario, Canada 🇨🇦

Fins cutting through the wheat, and a handwritten warning by the road: Please do not feed the sharks. Anne Melady drew the four fins on a sheet of plywood; one neighbor cut them out and another fitted brackets so they turn in the wind.

💡 Field Fact: The idea was borrowed. Melady got it from a similar display in Erin, Ontario, where she had seen someone with two fins in a field the year before.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsGreat Wheat SharksAnne Melady · 2021 · Dublin, OntarioPlywood painted blackInspired by fins in ErinFour fins (Farmtario)1Melady got the idea from a field near Erin, where two fins had made her smile every time she went past.Farmtario2According to Farmtario, at wheat harvest she moved the sharks to a tributary of the Bayfield River behind her home.Farmtario20219 JulDriver’s photo tweet, via blogTO202114 JulFCC Ontario photo, via blogTO202116 JulPhoto tweet, blogTO lead photo202119 JulblogTO report202121 JulFarmtario: moved after harvestRead the full file →

More: Please Do Not Feed the Great Wheat Sharks

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🦇 Sleeping Bat Warning — The Next Page in Calgary, Alberta, Canada 🇨🇦

Look left of the note and there it is: a tiny brown bat asleep on the door frame. The bookshop, in Calgary’s Inglewood neighborhood at 1217A 9 Avenue SE, taped up a polite sign instead of moving it, and the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation later took the little brown myotis in for the winter.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsSleeping Bat SignThe Next Page · 2021 · Inglewood, CalgaryLittle brown myotisRescued by AIWC1The wildlife group sent a volunteer because the bat was too cold to fly; staff found it in good health.DiscoverAirdrie2It was to spend the winter at the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation near Madden and be released in spring.CTV News Calgary202112 OctCTV: bat rescued202114 OctShelf Awareness item202116 OctWintering at AIWCRead the full file →

More: A Sleeping Bat at The Next Page Bookshop in Calgary Becomes an Unlikely Star

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🗿 Snow Moai — By Matt Morris in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada 🇨🇦

A row of moai heads rises out of a front-yard snowbank and stares past the porch. Waterloo teacher Matt Morris builds the 7-foot statues with a homemade plywood mold, after seeing a full-size moai in a museum and deciding it could be done in snow.

💡 Snow Fact: Morris doesn’t wait for perfect snowman snow. He actually recommends non-packing snow for sculptures.

More: Fun With Snow Sculptures

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❤️ “Heart of Ambleside” — By Tyler Toews in West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 🇨🇦

A red heart, a bridge, clouds and waves seem to burst out of a plain wall above the parking spaces. The local business association says Toews finished it in September 2021 at Clyde Avenue and 15th Street, as one of Ambleside’s first murals, and named it for the spot people call the heart of the neighborhood.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsHeart of AmblesideTyler Toews · 2021 · Ambleside, West Vancouver3D muralLions Gate Bridge in a heartFirst three BIA murals1The business association says the title refers to the site, widely considered the heart of Ambleside.Ambleside & Dundarave BIA2It was among the first three murals the Ambleside & Dundarave Business Improvement Association commissioned.North Shore News2021SepCompleted, per the BIA2024AprLibrary art walk mapRead the full file →

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📰 Mary Ann Shadd — By Adeyemi Adegbesan in Toronto, Ontario, Canada 🇨🇦

Mary Ann Shadd in gold and flowers on the side of Mackenzie House at 82 Bond Street, on vinyl rather than painted onto the old brick. She was the first Black woman in North America to publish a newspaper, The Provincial Freeman, and the portrait went up in 2021 for Toronto History Museums’ Awakenings program.

💡 Nerd Fact: The wall fits the subject. William Lyon Mackenzie, whose house it is, was an early Toronto newspaper publisher too.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsMary Ann ShaddAdeyemi Adegbesan · 2021 · Mackenzie House, TorontoAfrofuturist portraitOn vinyl (TPL)1Shadd was the first Black woman in North America to publish a newspaper, The Provincial Freeman.blogTO2According to the library, the mural itself is on vinyl, so the historic building is left untouched.Toronto Public Library blog202110 AugblogTO: just went up20218 OctLibrary blog: on the houseRead the full file →

More: Mural of Mary Ann Shadd in Toronto

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🏺 “Classical Greek Art Tribute Mural” — By Megan Oldhues in Toronto, Ontario, Canada 🇨🇦

A woman in white holds a red jug under a fruit tree, painted in loose strokes high above a GreekTown sidewalk. The neighborhood features it as its Classical Greek Art Tribute Mural, and Oldhues describes it as a celebration of the area and of classical art.

💡 Neighborhood Fact: GreekTown on the Danforth calls itself the largest Greek neighborhood in North America.

More: Megan Oldhues’ Classical Greek Mural in Toronto

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🧵 “Conceição” — By Hanna Lucatelli in Toronto, Ontario, Canada 🇨🇦

A Portuguese woman with her sleeves rolled up, children playing with boats and flowers at her feet, and blue tile patterns running out across the wall. The 160-square-meter mural at 1636 Dundas Street West went up in spring 2026 for the Dundas West Open Air Museum, honoring the women of Toronto’s Little Portugal.

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🌃 Cyberpunk Portrait — By Rouks One and Wonez in Montreal, Quebec, Canada 🇨🇦

Rouks One painted the woman in the glowing helmet in red and blue, and Wonez painted the lettering beside her. The two made the wall during Under Pressure 2026, the 31st edition of Montreal’s graffiti festival. Photo by Kev in the Streets.

More: 8 Stunning Public Artworks That Make Montreal Feel Alive

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🐈 “I’m Too Big for This Town” (Cat Version) — By Milkbox in Montreal, Quebec, Canada 🇨🇦

A giant pale cat with blue eyes strolls across a row of tiny painted rooftops, far too big for the town below. Milkbox painted it in the courtyard of the AC Hotel in Old Montreal.

💡 History Fact: Old Montreal is where the city began. Some 50 settlers came here in 1642 to found Ville-Marie, the settlement that grew into Montreal.

More: 45 Cats – Purrrrrfect Street Art Pieces

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🌹 “Home” — By BlazeWorks in Chatham, Ontario, Canada 🇨🇦

A tattooed woman in a flowing blue dress reads a book with a blue rose on the cover while a long-haired cat sits beside her, and the building’s real windows sit right in the scene. BlazeWorks painted it for this year’s CK Can Jam and called it “Home”, after the people, pets and familiar things that make a place feel like home.

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💔 “Nobody Likes Me” — By iHeart in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 🇨🇦

A boy cries under an orange notification bar: zero comments, zero likes, zero followers. The stencil in Stanley Park went viral in 2014 after Banksy shared it on his own Facebook page, and StreetArtNews later ranked it the second most-searched street art of the year.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsNobody Likes MeiHeart · Stanley Park, VancouverShared by BanksyNo. 2 street art of 20141Banksy posted the image to his Facebook page in March 2014, sending the Vancouver piece around the world.HuffPost B.C.2iHeart said the idea behind the anti-social-media piece “completely backfired” when it went viral online.Surrey Now-Leader20145 MarBanksy shares it201413 MariHeart interviewed20156 JanRanked No. 2 of 2014Read the full file →

More: Boy Crying for Instagram Likes by iHeart

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🔥 A Face Glows Across the Building — By Lacey Jane Wilburn in Squamish, British Columbia, Canada 🇨🇦

Warm red and orange light moves across a calm face on a dark wall, with blocks of green and teal at the bottom. Downtown Squamish lists the mural on Cleveland Avenue, painted in 2025 and credited to LaLa, the duo Wilburn forms with Layla Folkmann.

More: 7 Strong Street Art Faces

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