Chapter 6
Canada’s Regions
The five regions, the ten provinces and three territories, their capitals, and what each is known for.
The country and its oceans
- Canada is the second largest country on earth, at 10 million square kilometres.
- Canada touches three oceans: the Pacific on the west, the Atlantic on the east and the Arctic to the north. Its southern edge is the boundary with the United States.
- Canada includes five distinct regions: the Atlantic Provinces, Central Canada, the Prairie Provinces, the West Coast and the Northern Territories.
- Ottawa, on the Ottawa River, was chosen as the capital in 1857 by Queen Victoria. The National Capital Region covers 4,700 square kilometres surrounding the city.
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Provinces, territories and capitals
- Canada has ten provinces and three territories. Each has its own capital city. You should know the capital of your own province or territory as well as that of Canada.
| Region | Province / Territory | Capital |
|---|---|---|
| Atlantic | Newfoundland and Labrador | St. John’s |
| Atlantic | Prince Edward Island | Charlottetown |
| Atlantic | Nova Scotia | Halifax |
| Atlantic | New Brunswick | Fredericton |
| Central Canada | Quebec | Québec City |
| Central Canada | Ontario | Toronto |
| Prairie | Manitoba | Winnipeg |
| Prairie | Saskatchewan | Regina |
| Prairie | Alberta | Edmonton |
| West Coast | British Columbia | Victoria |
| North | Nunavut | Iqaluit |
| North | Northwest Territories | Yellowknife |
| North | Yukon Territory | Whitehorse |
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The Atlantic provinces
- Newfoundland and Labrador sits at the most easterly point of North America, far enough east to have a time zone of its own, and it was the British Empire’s oldest colony.
- Prince Edward Island is the smallest province, known for its beaches, red soil and agriculture, especially potatoes. It is the birthplace of Confederation, and is connected to the mainland by the Confederation Bridge. Lucy Maud Montgomery’s much-loved story Anne of Green Gables is set there.
- Nova Scotia is the most populous Atlantic province and is known for the world’s highest tides in the Bay of Fundy. Its capital Halifax is Canada’s largest east coast port and home to Canada’s largest naval base.
- New Brunswick was founded by the United Empire Loyalists and is the only officially bilingual province; about one-third of the population lives and works in French. Saint John is its largest city, port and manufacturing centre, Moncton the principal Francophone Acadian centre, and Fredericton the historic capital.
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Central Canada
- Over half of Canada’s population lives in the cities and towns of southern Quebec and Ontario, near the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. This is Central Canada, the heartland of industry and manufacturing.
- Between them, Ontario and Quebec turn out more than three-quarters of everything manufactured in Canada.
- The vast majority of Quebec’s people live along or near the St. Lawrence River, and more than three-quarters speak French as their first language. Quebec is Canada’s largest producer of hydro-electricity and its main producer of pulp and paper.
- Montreal is Canada’s second largest city, famous for its cultural diversity.
- Ontario’s population, over 12 million, is more than one-third of the whole country. Toronto is Canada’s largest city and its main financial centre. The Niagara region is known for its vineyards, wines and fruit crops, and Ontario has the largest French-speaking population outside of Quebec.
- There are five Great Lakes between Ontario and the United States: Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan (in the U.S.A.) and Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake in the world.
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The Prairies, the West Coast and the North
- The Prairie Provinces are Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, a region with rich energy resources and farmland among the most fertile anywhere.
- Manitoba has the largest Aboriginal population of any province, at over 15%. Winnipeg’s French Quarter, St. Boniface, has Western Canada’s largest Francophone community.
- Saskatchewan has 40% of the arable land in Canada and is the country’s largest producer of grains and oilseeds. Regina is home to the training academy of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
- Alberta is the most populous Prairie province and the largest producer of oil and gas. It has five national parks, including Banff National Park, established in 1885. In the rugged Badlands lie some of the richest prehistoric fossil beds and dinosaur finds in the world.
- British Columbia is Canada’s westernmost province. The Port of Vancouver is Canada’s largest and busiest port and the gateway to the Asia-Pacific. About half of all goods produced in B.C. are forestry products.
- One-third of Canada’s land mass lies in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon. The North’s nickname, the “Land of the Midnight Sun”, comes from midsummer days when daylight can last up to 24 hours.
- Nunavut was carved out of the eastern Northwest Territories in 1999; the name means “our land” in Inuktitut. About 85% of its people are Inuit, and Inuktitut is one of its official languages.
- Mount Logan, in the Yukon, is the highest mountain in Canada. It is named in honour of Sir William Logan, a world-famous geologist who founded and directed the Geological Survey of Canada.
- Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, is called the “diamond capital of North America.” In Nunavut, the Legislative Assembly chooses a premier and ministers by consensus.
- Canada’s vast north brings security and sovereignty challenges. The Canadian Rangers, part of the Canadian Forces Reserves (militia), play a key role there, drawing on indigenous knowledge and experience.
Sources for this section