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A Regional Geography of Canada
Study Canada 2012
David Rossiter
Department of Environmental Studies, WWU
F H Johnston: Fire Swept – Algoma, 1920
“If some countries have too much history,
we have too much geography.”
– PM W.L. Mackenzie King,1936
Whistler, BC backcountry. Photo: D. Rossiter, 2012
Oh, to brag…
• Second largest country
• Canada’s total area: 9,984,670 sq.km
– 9,093,507 sq.km land
– 891,163 sq.km freshwater.
• Coastline: 243,042 km
– Longest in world
• Resource rich
• Sparse yet diverse population
Source: Statistics Canada
Pop Quiz
YK
NWT
NVT
NFLD
and LAB
BC
ALTA
SASK
MTBA
QUE
ONT
PEI
NB
NS
Whitehorse
Iqaluit
Yellowknife
St. John’s
Edmonton
Vancouver
Saskatoon
Charlottetown
Victoria
Calgary
Winnipeg
Regina
Fredericton
Quebec
Ottawa
Toronto
St. John
Montreal
Halifax
How to make sense of it all?
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Physical base
Human geography – current patterns
Historical geography and political economy
Oil Canada: regions, environment, and
economy
The Physical Base
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Geology
Topography
Soils
Vegetation
Climate
Fundamental to understanding Canada’s human
geography and historical development
The Late Wisconsin Ice Age
• Maximum extent 18,000 years ago
• Started to recede 15,000 years ago
• Last remnants in Rockies 7,000 years ago
Drumlin – Alberta
Glacial till and erratic – NS
Glacial valley - Alberta
Appalachian Uplands
• N. Appalachian
Mountains
• Rounded uplands;
narrow river valleys
• Rocky, shallow soils
• Mixed forest
• Cool, maritime climate
– short summer, wet
winter
NFLD Coast
Great Lakes – St. Lawrence
Lowlands
• Sedimentary rock
and glacial deposits
• Flat, rolling
topography
• Good soil
• Moderate climate,
good growing season
– humid and hot
summer / cold winter
Oak Ridges Moraine – S. Ontario
Canadian Shield
• Geol. core of N.A.
• Precambrian rocks
– > 3 billion yrs old
• Widespread glaciation
– shallow soils, exposed
granite
• Mixed and Boreal forest
• Northern continental
climate
– hot, short summer / cold,
long winter
North Shore, Quebec
Interior Plains
• Sedimentary rock
• Shaped by glacial and
hydrological processes
– river valleys
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Drain east to Hudson Bay
Decent soils in south
Oil and gas deposits
Continental climate
Wheat fields outside Winnipeg, MB
– moderate precip.
– hot summer / cold winter
South Saskatchewan River
Cordillera
• Formed 40-80 million years
ago
– colliding NA and Pac. plates
• Glaciers in high alpine
• Fertile river valleys and
deltas
• Mostly coniferous forest
• Micro-climates
Alberta Rockies
– warmer, wetter on coast
– colder, drier in interior
The Barrier – Coast Mountains
Hudson Bay Lowlands
• Youngest phyiso. reg. in
Canada
• Muskeg
– w/ low ridges of sand and
gravel
Muskeg
• Poorly drained
– low elev., level surface
• Northern climate
– maritime influence
– short summer / long winter
James Bay delta
Arctic Lands
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~25% of Canada’s territory
Coastal lowlands & plateaux and mtns. (Innutian)
Mainly sedimentary rock w/ permafrost
Glaciers still active
Areas of polar desert
Baffin Island - Nunavut
Where are all the people?
Short answer:
• In cities, near the USA
– ~80% of Canadians live in cities (100,000+)
– ~80% of Canadians live within 100km of USA
Population density, 2006
Map source: Atlas of Canada
Legend
Density by
Census Div.
(persons /
sq.km)
< 0.1
0.1-0.9
1.0-3.5
3.6-19.9
20.0-49.9
50.0-150.0
> 150.0
Total population, 2011 - 33,476,690
Source: Statistics Canada
Major Cities and
Productive
Agricultural
Lands
Where are all the people?
Longer answer:
• All over
– “Heartland” (cities) draws on resources of
“hinterland”
– north dominated by resource towns and regional
service centres
Resource Reliant
Communities, 2001
Map source: Atlas of Canada
Legend
30-100% of
income
from:
Agriculture
Energy
Fishery
Forestry
Mining
Financial Specialization, 1996
Map source: Atlas of Canada
Legend
Degree of
specialization
Low
to
High
An historical-geography of
Canada’s political economy
in 10 minutes…
Three Popular Explanations
• Staples Development
– Canada developed by resource extraction
• Heartland-hinterland patterns
– International, national, regional scales
• Physical disunity (or, unity despite geography)
– Human settlement in patches, difference from
USA
Storehouse of Raw Materials?
• “Hewers of wood and
drawers of water”
• Early Euro interests more
commercial than colonial –
fish, fur, timber
• Settlement through
extraction and export
– Trade with “mother
countries”
• Resources still major
economic sector
Regional Run-down
• New France (later Quebec / Lower Canada)
– From 17th C: “habitant” agriculture, fur trade, forestry
• Maritimes (NFLD, Acadia; later NB, NS, PEI)
– From 17th C: fisheries, lim. ag.; 19th C: forestry NB
• Upper Canada; later Ontario
– From 18th C: freehold agriculture; 19th C:
manufacturing in south, mining & forestry in north
• West (“the NW”, the prairies, the cordillera)
– From 18th C: fur trade; 19th C: mining & forestry in BC,
agriculture in prairies
Changing
Economic
Geographies:
From East to
West (and back
again) in the late19th C…
Source: www.canadianheritage.org
…to North and South (and all over) in the
20th C.
GM plant – Oshawa, ON
Oil Canada
Source:
http://www.energy.gov.ab.ca
Map source: nicholas.duke.edu
Map source: pacifcwild.org
Northern Gateway
References
• Many maps and images were obtained at:
– www.canadainfolink.ca/geog.htm
– http://atlas.nrcan.gc/site/english/index.html
• Other resources:
– A good atlas of Canada
– Historical Atlas of Canada, vols. 1-3, University of
Toronto Press
– Heartland and Hinterland, McCann and Gunn
– Regional Geography of Canada, Bone