Browse "Parks & Nature Reserves"

Mount Revelstoke is generally acknowledged as the birthplace of alpine skiing in Canada, and it was established, in part, because of its recreational potential. Today cross-country skiing and snowshoeing are popular winter activities. The park offers primitive backcountry campsites.

Nahanni National Park Reserve (est 1976, 4765.2 km2) is a wilderness of rugged mountains, wild rivers and luxurious hot springs stretched along the South Nahanni River in the southwest corner of the Northwest Territories.

Canada’s national parks are protected areas established under federal legislation to preserve Canada’s natural heritage. They are administered by Parks Canada, a government agency that evolved from the world’s first national parks service, the Dominion Parks Branch, established in 1911. The National Parks System Plan, developed in 1970, divided Canada into 39 natural regions and set the goal of representing each region with at least one national park. Canada now has 48 national parks and national park reserves in 30 of these regions. In total, the parks cover more than 340,000 km2, which is over 3 per cent of Canada’s landmass. They protect important land and marine habitats, geographical features and sites of cultural significance. National parks also benefit local economies and the tourism industry in Canada.

Interest from local residents led to the establishment of Notikewin Provincial Park (established 1979, 97 km2). Here is preserved a small piece of the quintessential natural landscape of northern Alberta, the once endless poplar and spruce forests deeply dissected by moody rivers.

Nestled in the lush forests of central Newfoundland, Notre Dame Provincial Park (established 1959, 113 ha) borders on the serene waters of Junction Pond.

Nunavik, the portion of land within the province of Quebec located north of the 55th parallel, covers approximately 500,000 km² (representing more than one-third of Quebec’s territory). For approximately 4000 years, Indigenous people have inhabited Nunavik, including Inuit who have made the region their homeland. Today, over 13,000 people live in Nunavik’s 14 villages spread along the Ungava Bay, Hudson Strait and Eastern Hudson Bay coasts.

 A spectacular, steep-sided gorge cut into volcanic rock of Lake Superior's northern shore is protected in Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park (established 1972, 777 ha), 65 km northeast of Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Pacific Rim National Park Reserve (est 1970, 285.8 km2) stretches for 105 km along the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island.

In the heart of the ​Gaspé Peninsula​, 196 km east of Rimouski, is Parc national de la Gaspésie (established 1981, 802 km2). First established in 1937 by means of special legislation, the park has in the past bowed to mining and forestry pressures. It is now completely protected through the park's Act.

Petroglyphs Petroglyphs Provincial Park is the site of one of Canada's archaeological and cultural treasures. On a flat expanse of rock are some 900 carvings or PETROGLYPHS of symbolic shapes and figures, likely carved by Algonquian-speaking people.

Point Pelee National Park (established 1918) is a protected area at the tip of Point Pelee, a long peninsula extending into the western end of Lake Erie, south of Leamington, Ontario. Middle Island — Canada’s southernmost piece of land located southwest of Point Pelee — was added to the park in 2000. At 15 km2, Point Pelee National Park is Canada’s second smallest national park. It’s also the southernmost tip of Canada’s mainland, located further south than northern California.

Natural Heritage Bounded to the south by farmland, the park lies on a transition zone between 2 ecoregions. Pockets of aspen parkland and fescue prairie in the south of the park blend with mixed-wood and boreal forests in the park's northern reaches.

Prince Edward Island National Park (est 1937, 21.5 km2) is a narrow strip of coastline stretching over 40 km along the north shore of PEI.

Pukaskwa National Park (designated 1978, 1877.8 km2) is bracketed on the west by the coastline of Lake Superior, an impressive stretch of massive headlands and beaches of golden sand or water-worn cobble. The name is of native origin but its meaning is unclear.

Qausuittuq National Park encompasses 11,000 km2 on northern Bathurst Island and smaller surrounding islands in Nunavut. It also includes the waters of May Inlet and Young Inlet. Pronounced Kow-soo-ee-took, the name of this park translates to “the place where the sun doesn’t rise” in Inuktitut. It is bordered to the south by Polar Bear Pass National Wildlife Area, and together these two zones protect a large, ecologically intact area in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Qausuittuq was established on 1 September 2015 as Canada’s 45th national park. It represents the Western High Arctic Natural Region, the 38th natural region of the 39 that constitute Canada’s national parks system.

Quttinirpaaq National Park (established 1988, 37 775 km2) is Canada's second-largest national park (after Wood Buffalo National Park).

Natural History The park is a rolling landscape of mixed forests and grasslands dotted with lakes, streams and bogs, an "island" of green rising out of a sea of farmland.

Rondeau Provincial Park (established 1894, 33 km2) provides environmental protection and recreation on one of 3 peninsulas jutting south into Lake ERIE. It lies 120 km east of Windsor and 115 km southwest of London.

Located on northern Baffin Island in Canada's High Arctic, Sirmilik National Park (agreement signed 1999; 22 250 km2) is one of Canada's isolated and most spectacular national parks. Sirmilik is an Inuktitut word that means "place of glaciers."