Frequently Asked Questions About Canada

The following questions and answers are frequently-requested information about Canadian geography. The sources cited for answers are Web sites maintained by the Government of Canada and its agencies. These sites are the preferred source for information for responding to Atlas of Canada queries as they give data that is official for their particular subject and that is national in scope. As well, these sites are well-maintained.

Two sites that will be referred to often are the following:

• This (Atlas of Canada) site. References will always be to entries on its homepage.
• The main Government of Canada Web site. In its own right, it has a lot of information. This site is equally useful as a very convenient way to link to all the sites of federal government departments and agencies.

Although the Web is probably the best source of up-to-date factual information, the answers often list non-Web material ("published material"). As well, published sources may give more detail, and are easier to read at leisure. The published materials should be available at larger libraries throughout Canada. For users from outside Canada, one's best available sources for information on Canada are probably major atlases, encyclopedias, almanacs, and, of course, the Web.

These notes will be regularly updated, but Natural Resources Canada should not be held responsible for changes in addresses or data contents that occur to any of the materials cited below.

1. Where can I get a general reference map of Canada?

On the Web, the best source is probably this (Atlas of Canada) site. General maps of Canada are available from a number of links on its home page:

• Select "Reference Maps" (on the left menu panel). There are several options.
  1. "National". This leads to several maps, including: a political map, a relief map, and a map showing Canada's national parks. The maps are in colour.
  2. "Provincial and Territorial", "Provincial and Territorial Outline", and "Provincial and Territorial Relief" includes at least one map for each of the 13 provinces and territories, either as a political map, or as a relief map.
  3. "Canada Outline" are black-and-white outline maps of Canada with varying levels of detail. There are also outline maps for other parts of the world.

All of the maps in "Reference Maps" are designed to fit on an 8 ½ by 11 inch page (216 millimetres by 279 millimetres).

• Select "Free Data" (on the left menu panel). This links to the GeoGratis site where users can access geographical data sets about Canada free of charge.

Maps of small regions of Canada, and detailed data for individual cities can also be found on the Statistics Canada site. On the home page, go to the top menus and choose "Community Profiles". Once you have chosen a place, zoom in. As you zoom in, additional types of information (such as roads) will appear.

The Atlas of Canada has also recently published a series of wall maps of Canada. These maps and their ordering code (the MCR number) are as follows:

• Canada [MCR 102] is a bilingual map which shows each province and territory in a separate colour as of 2000. It also contains larger scale local maps of Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montréal.
• Canada [MCR 105] is larger version of this map, but without the insets. MCR 105, which is at a scale of 1: 4 000 000, is designed to be a wall map for classrooms. This map was published in 2001.
• Relief Map of Canada [MCR 101] shows Canada with shaded relief, and has many prominent mountains shown on it. The map has no urban insets, but instead has small insets of all of Canada showing drainage basins and physiographic regions.

These maps can be obtained at map dealers. To obtain the name of a map dealer, users can consult "Maps" in the local yellow pages, or call the Canada Map Office at 1-800-465-6277 (Canada and the United States) for the address of a map dealer. The Canada Map Office information is also available on its Web site.

Two other sources of published maps showing all or part of Canada are the following:

• North American road atlases. There are at least three annually-updated versions (by the American Automobile Association, National Geographic, and Rand McNally).
• Provincial and Territorial road maps. These can be obtained from the appropriate tourism ministry. Go to the Government of Canada site , click the "Provinces and Territories" option to get the home page for each province and territory.

2. Where can I find population and other statistical data for Canada?

Statistics Canada is the source of most statistical data on Canada. Among the entries on its home page, the following focus particularly on nation-wide data:

• "The Daily". The Daily is the place where Statistics Canada announces data releases, and also provides some of the summary tables from new releases. Users can also access back issues of The Daily at this site.
• "Census". Canada holds a census every five years (the latest being in 2001). This entry lets users access summary data of the Census of Population for the provinces and territories and also for larger urban areas. The first detailed results of the 2001 Census were released on March 12, 2002. There is an icon on the Statistics Canada homepage for 2001 Census data. There is also data from the 2001 Census of Agriculture.
• "Community Profiles" provides detailed information on 5600 individual cities, towns and equivalents.
• "Canadian Statistics". This entry has a wide variety of summary statistics from the 2001 Census, such as official languages and immigration. Data is provided for the provinces, territories and census metropolitan areas.
• "Our products and services" has a list of electronic publications. Some are priced, but there are also many which can be downloaded from the Web for free.

For the 2001 Census, Statistics Canada published relatively few publications in hard-copy format. However, two that were published are very useful basic reference books:

• A National Overview (Catalogue 93-360-XPB). This publication has population and area statistics for all 5600 census subdivisions and for a number of other area types used in the Census of Population such as census metropolitan areas.
• Standard Geographical Classification SGC 2001; Volume 2: Reference Maps (Catalogue 12-572-XPB). This is the atlas showing the location, number and name of all the geographical units used by Statistics Canada down to the census subdivision level.

3. Where can I find data on Canada's National Parks and equivalent heritage areas?

The agency administering national parks is Parks Canada. On the Parks Canada home page, there are links to separate information pages on, among others, National Parks, National Historic Sites, and National Marine Conservation Areas. The Atlas of Canada has worked with Parks Canada to compile a map of National Parks (see Question 1, above). The two groups also created a page-size map showing Canada's World Heritage Sites.

The large-size published reference maps of The Atlas of Canada (noted in Question 1, above) all show the outlines and names for all national parks.

4. Where can I get weather and climate information about Canada?

The Canadian Meteorological Service (CMS) is the group that collects Canadian weather data and also publishes climate data. CMS, which was formerly known as the Atmospheric Environment Service (or AES), is a part of Environment Canada.

• Weather for a particular place. Use the on-screen map. If the place of interest is shown, click it, and you will get a page with the current and five-day forecast data for it. If you know the place's province or territory, click in the area of this unit. You will then get a map of that province or territory. Then click a name on the new map, or select a place from the list beside the map. You will get current and five-day forecast data.
• Weather maps. Click "Weather", then click on the entry "Weather Maps" to get the daily maps of North American weather.
• Climate data for a particular place. Click on the entry "Publication" and then click "Climate Data Centre and Archives". Then click on "Climate Normals and Averages ". Choose a place using the information given on the page. The results will be a detailed set of data. Most of the data is based on the 1971 to 2000 normals, but the climate extremes listed cover the entire timerange of data collection for the place.

There are relatively few published books giving detailed climatic information about Canada. Probably the best is The Climates of Canada, written by David Phillips, and published by Environment Canada in 1990. (It is available for purchase via Canadian Government Publishing; go to the site, then click for publications on the environment.)

A Statistics Canada publication with some single-page climate maps is the recently-published, Human Activity and the Environment 2000 (Catalogue Number 11-509). This publication should be available in major libraries, or it can be purchased from Statistics Canada. To do this, go to their site, then click "Our products and services" and use either the title or catalogue number as required.

5. Where can I find data on Canada's area?

Natural Resources Canada compiles data on the areas of each province and territory. These data were recalculated in 2000 in order to have statistics for the new territory of Nunavut. The basis of the data was The Atlas of Canada 1: 1 000 000 hydrology base. The figures shown below lie within +/- 1% of the true value. This table is available in the Land and Freshwater Areas section of the Atlas site.

The land plus freshwater area of Canada is 9 984 670 square kilometres (or 3 855 174 square miles)

6. Where can I get data about Canadian place names?

The official Canadian Government site for names is the Geographical Names Board of Canada (GNBC). On-going to the site's homepage, users should then click "Querying Canadian Geographical Names". The results of a query will give the name's precise location (in degrees and minutes for both latitude and longitude), and will give other reference data such as its feature type and province or territory. The user can also create a simple map showing the feature's general location in Canada. (This is recommended if there are several features with the same name in a single province, such as "Black Lake"). The data base used for the names consists of the more than half a million approved geographical names for Canada.

The homepage lists other features of interest. One of particular interest is an entry listed under "News and Info"

• "Information for translators" gives details about appropriate versions of names in Canada's two official languages. One link goes to the list of 81 names (Pan-Canadian names) that have versions in both official languages. These are large features such as major lakes, rivers and islands. Another link on this page goes to the accepted version of sovereign country names in the two official languages for use in Canada. Note that only two populated places of significant size have official versions of their names in both English and French. They are Grand Falls, New Brunswick (Grand-Sault in French), and Greater Sudbury, Ontario (Grand Sudbury).

The GNBC issues data in both digital and hardcopy form. Consult the "Products and Services" section on the homepage for details.

There are many books on the origins of Canadian place names. Most of these only cover a single region of Canada. Among those covering all of Canada, two by Alan Rayburn are useful: Naming Canada: Stories about Place Names from Canadian Geographic (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994), and Dictionary of Canadian Place Names (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1997).

7. Where can I get general information about Canada's system of government?

This is of relevance to the Atlas of Canada as the Atlas produces hard-copy maps showing political information, such as the Parliament maps. These maps show the makeup of a particular Parliament, and also the results of the corresponding federal election that created part of it.

The Main Government of Canada Web site has an entry on its home page, "About Government". When this is clicked, users will link to several additional sites of interest. Three of these are the following:

• "Structure of the Government of Canada" which provides links to Web sites for the Governor General, the Prime Minister and Parliament. There is also a link to the book, How Canadians Govern Themselves. Users can download the entire text of this very readable book by the late Senator Eugene Forsey, a well-known Canadian constitutional expert. For users who are unfamiliar with the Canadian system of government, this is a good starting place. Further down the "Government at a Glance" page are links to various parts of the federal government, notably the Parliament of Canada, a page giving details on the federal cabinet and the site of the Supreme Court of Canada.
• "Departments and Agencies" is a very useful starting point for linking to the homepages of these parts of the Government of Canada.

For users interested in additional details about federal elections, the Elections Canada site is recommended. This agency runs federal elections in Canada.

8. How can I get information on distances in Canada?

There is no comprehensive mileage chart covering Canada available on the Web. A summary chart has appeared on some of the recent Atlas of Canada maps (which are noted under Question #1). Click to view the distance chart. Distances data use the shortest route via main roads and include ferry mileages. All data are given in kilometres (convert to miles by dividing by 1.609). There are no places listed for Nunavut as there are no road links into this territory.

9. Where can I get data on Canada's natural resources?

The most comprehensive Web site for these data is that of Natural Resources Canada. Two of the links given on this homepage are of particular interest:

• "NRCan Subsites". Users can use it as a guide to access the various sites of the department. This page also provides a concise organizational profile of the department . The "Directory of People and Services" link at the left of this page can be used for specific people or services.
• "Products and Services".The entries "Databases", "Maps" and "Publications" would be of more use to general users. "Research Centres" is a starting point to users wanting highly technical information.

10. Some Significant Canadian Geographical Facts.

The data given below are restricted to superlatives of the Canadian landmass. Data on other superlatives are available in a variety of books. Question 7, above, discusses sources for information on climatic superlatives.

The topics covered for this question are:

• Locational Extremities
• The Centre of Canada
• Highest Points by Province
• Largest Lakes
• Largest Islands
• Largest Rivers

Extremities of the Canadian Landmass

• Most northerly point: Cape Columbia, Nunavut; 83 degrees 7 minutes North, 70 degrees 22 minutes West
• Most southerly point: Middle Island, Ontario; 41 degrees 41 minutes North, 82 degrees 40 minutes West
• Most easterly point: Cape Spear, Newfoundland: 47 degrees 31 minutes North, 52 degrees 37 minutes West.
• Most westerly point: A long portion of the Yukon-Alaska boundary which runs along the 141st meridian. The point at the southern end of this line would be the furthest west. This is at: 60 degrees 8 minutes North, 141 degrees 0 minutes West.

Centre of Canada

The centre of Canada can be measured in many ways. The most readily understood would be by taking the mid-point of the extremeties of the Canadian landmass section, above. The resulting location (62 degrees 24 minutes North, 96 degrees 28 minutes West) is located just south of Yathkyed Lake in Nunavut, about 150 kilometres northwest of Arviat, Nunavut.

Highest Points by Province and Territory

The Atlas of Canada base map, Relief Map of Canada [MCR 101] shows the location of all of these points and also shows about sixty additional prominent spot heights in Canada and adjacent parts of the United States. For details about obtaining this map, see the answer to Question 1, above.

A more extensive list of principal heights by mountain ranges is given in the "Mountains section" of the Atlas of Canada site.

The lowest point in most provinces and in all three territories is sea level. There is no land area of Canada that is below sea level. However, the roadway in the Deas Island tunnel under the Fraser River near Vancouver descends to 20 metres below sea level.

For elevations of places, the Climate Data page (mentioned in Question 4) is a good resource. Then select "Climate Normals and Averages". All of the places give their elevation (in metres). Note that the elevations are often for the airport of the particular place.

Largest Lakes Wholly or Partially in Canada

The above table provides the three possible answers to: What is the largest lake in Canada ?

• If one includes lakes partially or wholly in Canada, the answer is Lake Superior (which is the second largest lake in the world - only the Caspian Sea is larger).
• The largest lake wholly in Canada is Great Bear Lake.
• The largest surface area of a lake in Canada is that of Lake Huron.

There is no accepted answer to the question: How many lakes are there in Canada? The best answer is that 31 752 lakes have an area of at least three square kilometres. These data were compiled by Environment Canada in 1973.

For data on many other lakes in Canada, refer to the appropriate table from the "Lakes section" of the Atlas site.

Largest Islands

The table below is derived from more detailed tables in the Islands section of the Atlas site.

Longest and Largest Rivers

There are three measures of size commonly used for ranking rivers: length, drainage basin area and (probably most important) discharge. The following tables show the 10 to 15 largest entries in each of these categories. All of the data below are derived from the "Rivers section" of the Atlas site. Note that there are two Churchill Rivers of considerable size: one is in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, the other is in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Longest Rivers in Canada (over 1000 kilometres in total length)

The river lengths cited below are measurements from the furthest source to the ultimate outflow. In some cases, this means a river changes names several times along its route (thus, for length purposes, the Mackenzie River includes the Slave, Peace and Findlay rivers). The table lists the components proceding upriver. To avoid double-counting, component parts are not listed separately even though both the Peace River and South Saskatchewan rivers are at least 1000 kilometres long.

Largest Drainage Basins

The ranking below is based only on the Canadian part of the drainage basin. Several large rivers have a considerable part of their drainage basin downstream of Canada in either Alaska or in the rest of the United States.

To avoid double-counting, this list uses two procedures

1. drainage basins are restricted to those draining into the oceans (therefore, the list would not include drainage into the Ottawa, as this is already included in the river it drains into, the St. Lawrence)
2. drainage basins exclude the areas from diversions from other drainage basins

Maximum Discharge

The data are the mean annual discharge at the furthest downstream guaging station within Canada. The data are net of diversions (that is, they include diversions into the river basin and deduct flow diverted out of the particular river basin). Discharge data are in cubic metres per second.

11. Information about Nunavut

Nunavut became the newest territory of Canada on April 1, 1999 when the Northwest Territories was divided into two parts. The part to the east of the dividing line became Nunavut, whereas the part to the west became a new territory which retained the name, Northwest Territories.

Nunavut has a population of approximately 29 000 of whom more than 80% speak Inuktitut as their first language. All of the population lives in one of 26 communities. The largest community is the capital, Iqaluit.

Nunavut makes up one-fifth of Canada, and is the largest component part of the country. Nunavut's area (land plus freshwater) is 2 093 190 square kilometres.

When it became a territory, Nunavut had already held an election to its legislature. Nineteen members were elected, one for each constitutency. The members elected retained the tradition of the Northwest Territories in not having party affiliation. They selected Paul Okalik as the government leader; he is known as the Premier. After the 2004 election, they re-elected Mr. Okalik as Premier.

On the official Government of Nunavut Web site, users can find out details about the origin of Nunavut, its government and its people. This site also provides links to other sites in Nunavut.

The Atlas of Canada site has a substantial set of maps and other information pertaining to Nunavut. Two sections specifically referring to the territory are:

• "People & Society" for the "Nunavut" topic
• "Reference Maps" then to sections on Provinces and Territories for a map of Nunavut

Another source is the Canadian Communities site in Statistics Canada.

Another site of interest is the map visualization site prepared by the Centre for Topographic Information, Natural Resources Canada. This site has several interesting maps of Nunavut.

12. Symbols of Canada

The symbols for Canada are shown on this Web page of the Canadian Heritage Web site.

The provincial and territorial symbols can be accessed by clicking on the map shown on the page Across Canada.