Search for "New France"

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 4,000 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.

Most of the park islands are the summits of ancient hills of the Frontenac Axis, a strip of Precambrian granite connecting the Canadian Shield with the Adirondack Mountains in New York State.

Piping plovers, an endangered species, and common terns nest on the beaches and barrier islands. Striped bass spawn in the estuaries. Much of the park has been logged and farmed in the past, and accordingly, much of the forest is in an early successional stage.

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.

(This is the full-length entry about National Parks of Canada. For a plain-language summary, please see National Parks of Canada (Plain-Language Summary).)

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.

Torngat Mountains National Park (established in 2008) encompasses 9700 km2 of Labrador north of Saglek Fiord. Torngat - in Inuktitut, Torngait - refers to one of the most powerful of Inuit spirits believed to dwell in these mountains.

Jasper National Park is a protected area located in the Rocky Mountains, about 370 km west of Edmonton, Alberta. Established in 1907, it was the fifth national park created in Canada. It’s also one of seven parks in the Rocky Mountains that make up the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks UNESCO World Heritage site (the others are Yoho, Banff and Kootenay national parks, and Mount Robson, Mount Assiniboine and Hamber provincial parks). Among the reasons for the UNESCO designation are the parks’ mountain landscapes, complete with waterfalls, canyons and glaciers, including those found in the Columbia Icefield.

Yoho National Park is a protected area located in the Rocky Mountains, in the southeast corner of British Columbia. The park was established in 1886, initially as the Mount Stephen reserve, making it (along with Glacier National Park, established the same day) the second oldest national park in Canada, following Banff. Spanning 1,313 km,2 the park features 28 mountain peaks above 3,000 metres. Yoho National Park is one of seven parks in the Rocky Mountains that make up the Canadian Rocky Mountains UNESCO World Heritage site (the others are Jasper, Banff and Kootenay national parks, and Mount Robson, Mount Assiniboine and Hamber provincial parks). Among the reasons for the UNESCO designation are the Burgess Shale sites, several of which are located in Yoho National Park, featuring fossils from 540 million years ago. The name Yoho comes from a Cree expression of awe and wonder.

Banff National Park (established 1885, 6,641 km2) is Canada's first and most visited National Park.