| By province, the largest number of communities is in Quebec (267), followed by British Columbia (173). On a proportional basis (measured by the ratio of the number of these communities to that of all communities of 250 or more people in a province), the highest concentration of forestry communities is found in New Brunswick (which has 69 forest communities). Other provinces have 22 or fewer communities, except for Ontario, which has 63 communities.
British Columbia, with its generally mild and moist climate, has a larger amount of available forest fibre on an annual basis than any other province, and therefore has larger forest-processing facilities. It has 14 of the 35 forest communities of more than 10 000, including two of the three largest (Kamloops and Prince George, each of which has a population of about 75 000). The only forestry-reliant community outside British Columbia with a population of more than 35 000 is Thunder Bay, Ontario (population 109 000).
In other provinces, there are often one or two forestry-reliant communities that are considerably larger than any other in that province: Prince Albert, Saskatchewan; Miramichi and Edmundston, New Brunswick; and Corner Brook and Grand Falls–Windsor, Newfoundland and Labrador.
About one-third (160) of the communities are found in the ‘solely reliant’ and ‘highly reliant’ classes, whereas two-thirds (491) have a lesser reliance. British Columbia and, to a lesser extent, Ontario have proportionately more communities with greater reliance on forestry. Prominent communities with high values in British Columbia include Prince George, Campbell River and Port Alberni. In Ontario, they include many communities in northern Ontario, such as Dryden and Kapuskasing.
Communities with less than 50% reliance on forestry include many with a long history of forestry activity that are now regional service centres, such as Thunder Bay and Kenora, Ontario; and Edmundston and Miramichi, New Brunswick.
The Data
and Mapping Notes provide more detailed information on the methodology and the 2001 Census data used to measure resource reliance. |
