Search for ""

Charlottetown, PEI, incorporated as a city in 1855, population 36,094 (2016 c), 34,562 (2011 c). The capital of Prince Edward Island, the City of Charlottetown is also the administrative centre of Queens County and the principal municipality of Canada's smallest province. It is situated on a broad harbour opening into the Northumberland Strait. Three rivers converge there, with the city located on a low-rising point of land between the Hillsborough (East) and North (Yorke) rivers just opposite the harbour's mouth. Suburban development has spread across the Hillsborough to Stratford, and between the North and West (Eliot) rivers at Cornwall. Besides its governmental functions, Charlottetown services a considerable agricultural hinterland and is the focus of Island communications. Its favourable climate, nearby beaches and claim to be the “Birthplace of Confederation” have made it a major tourist centre.

There are four reserves on Prince Edward Island, held by two First Nations (see also First Nations on Prince Edward Island). Three of these reserves, Morell, Rocky Point and Scotchfort, are held by Abegweit First Nation, while Lennox Island is held by Lennox Island First Nation. PEI is just one of two provinces, the other being Nova Scotia, that is part of the traditional territory of only one Indigenous people. In both cases, it is the Mi'kmaq. Of PEI’s 1,405 registered Mi'kmaq (2021), 615 live on the four reserves. The reserves vary in size from less than 1 km ² to 5.4 km². Both Lennox Island and Abegweit First Nations are headed by Chiefs, who are required to live on-reserve, and Councillors, who may live on- or off-reserve. Elections are held in a three-year and four-year cycle, respectively.

Upper Canada was the predecessor of modern-day Ontario. It was created in 1791 by the division of the old Province of Quebec into Lower Canada in the east and Upper Canada in the west. Upper Canada was a wilderness society settled largely by Loyalists and land-hungry farmers moving north from the United States. Upper Canada endured the War of 1812 with America, William Lyon Mackenzie’s Rebellion of 1837, the colonial rule of the Family Compact and half a century of economic and political growing pains. With the Act of Union in 1841, it was renamed Canada West and merged with Lower Canada (Canada East) into the Province of Canada.

The Northwest Territories includes three main geographic regions: the Arctic Archipelago to the north, the arctic mainland and the Mackenzie Valley area. The arctic mainland, sometimes referred to as the Barren Lands, lies northeast of the treeline, and the Mackenzie Valley area to the west. The geography of the Northwest Territories may also be thought of in terms of Canada’s seven physiographic regions. The territories include four of these regions, namely the Western Cordillera, the Interior Plains, the Canadian Shield and the Canadian Arctic.

Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories, population 647 (2021). The hamlet of Fort McPherson is located on the right bank of the Peel River, on the Dempster Highway. It is west of the Mackenzie River and east of the Richardson Mountains. Fort McPherson is called Teetł’it Zheh (“head of the waters-town”) in Gwich’in, an Athapaskan language (see Indigenous Languages in Canada). The hamlet is home to the Teetł’it Gwich’in First Nation (“people of the headwaters”). Fort McPherson is one of four communities in the Gwich’in Settlement Region. The region is an area created by the Gwich’in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement (1992). The other three communities in the region are Aklavik, Tsiigehtchic and Inuvik.

The Pacific Ocean is the world’s largest ocean. It covers more than 30 per cent of the Earth’s surface — an area roughly the same as the Atlantic and Indian oceans combined. Canada’s relationship with the Pacific Ocean is synonymous with the West Coast of British Columbia. The province’s entire ocean shoreline, including the coasts of Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii, form Canada’s Pacific coastal region. More than 75 per cent of the province’s 5 million residents live within 50 km of the coast.

The Elgin Settlement, also known as Buxton, was one of four organized Black settlements developed in Southwestern Ontario in the mid-1800s. Established in 1849 by Reverend William King, the Elgin Settlement was one of the last stops on the Underground Railroad. Today, the settlement is a national historic site within the Municipality of Chatham-Kent. It was named in honour of Lord Elgin, governor general of Upper Canada. The name “Buxton” paid tribute to Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, a slave trade abolitionist. While the community was officially known as the Elgin Settlement, at its heart was the Buxton Mission. The Elgin Settlement was the largest of the four Black settlements and considered the most successful.

Alberta, the westernmost of Canada's three Prairie provinces, shares many physical features with its neighbours to the east, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Rocky Mountains form the southern portion of Alberta's western boundary with British Columbia. Alberta was named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. The province is home to the country’s largest deposits of oil and natural gas.

In 1771, Moravian missionaries were the first Europeans to settle in Labrador. Over a 133-year period, they established a series of eight missions along the coast which became the focus of religious, social and economic activities for the Inuit who gradually came to settle near the communities. Moravians had a huge impact on the life and culture of Labrador Inuit. What emerged was a unique culture rooted in Inuit traditions with indigenized European practices. The last Moravian missionary left Labrador in 2005, but the Moravian church, its customs and traditions are still very much alive in Labrador.

Strathcona Provincial Park (established 1911, 2504 km²) is a mountain wilderness in central Vancouver Island, 9 km east of Gold River and 26 km west of Campbell River.

As of 2019, there were 1,583 reserves in British Columbia associated with 203 Indigenous Nations (see also First Nations in British Columbia). Unlike many other parts the country, where reserves resulted from treaties made between the federal government and Indigenous Nations, most reserves in BC were created without such negotiations. Only two general locations in BC are covered by historic treaties: parts of Vancouver Island are covered by the Douglas Treaties, and the northeast corner of the province by Treaty 8. In BC as with other parts of the country, reserves are bound by the terms of the Indian Act. However, given the number of Indigenous Nations without a treaty in BC, the province has implemented a modern treaty negotiation process. Several BC Indigenous communities have used this process or other means to negotiate self-governing agreements. These agreements place decision-making authority over land management in the hands of Indigenous governments.

Canada has seven primary vegetation regions, in addition to the marine flora found along the country’s coasts. Each region is characterized by distinct plant communities. The plants in each region are mostly determined by climate. Other factors that determine which plants grow in which region include geology, soil composition and erosion, water drainage patterns and human interference.

This article is a plain-language summary of Vegetation Regions. If you are interested in reading about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry, Vegetation Regions.

Canada has seven primary vegetation regions, in addition to the marine flora found along the country’s coasts. Vegetation regions are geographical areas characterized by distinct plant communities. Community composition, determined primarily by climate (e.g., temperature, precipitation and sunlight), may be affected by factors such as geology, soil composition and erosion, water drainage patterns and human interference. Each vegetation region supports a characteristic animal community that may also affect its composition.

This is a full-length entry about Vegetation Regions. For a plain-language summary, please see Vegetation Regions (Plain-Language Summary).

St. Peters Bay, Prince Edward Island, Rural Municipality, incorporated in 1953, population 231 (2021 census), 237 (2016 census). St. Peters Bay the community is located at the eastern end of St. Peters Bay the body of water, along PEI’s northeastern shore. The village is known for its annual Blueberry Festival and the nearby PEI National Park in Greenwich.

Ville-Marie was a French colony founded on 17 May 1642 on the Island of Montreal by the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal to bring Christianity to local Indigenous peoples. The colony was located in a key region for the development of agriculture and the fur trade. The colony became the modern-day city of Montreal.

Paldi, British Columbia was established in 1917, about 75 km northwest of Victoria. It was one of the first multi-ethnic, migrant mill towns on Vancouver Island. Sikh entrepreneur Mayo Singh (born Mayan Singh Manhas) founded the community. He named Paldi after his own village in District Hoshiarpur in Punjab, India. (Singh originally named Paldi after himself, calling the settlement Mayo Siding. However, because there was already a town named Mayo in Yukon, Singh changed the name to Paldi in 1936.) Though Paldi no longer has a registered population, it remains a symbol of successful, intercultural living in Canada.

Upper Fort Garry, situated at the forks of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in the heart of the Red River Colony, was a Hudson's Bay Company post established in 1822. Previous fur-trade posts had been located periodically in the area.

One of Canada's largest multidisciplinary arts complexes, Montreal's Place des Arts (PDA) grew from three halls in the 1960s to four in the 1970s and five in the 1990s. With the integration of the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (1992), the PDA become a major North American integrated centre for both the visual and performing arts. In 2011, a sixth hall the Mason symphonique, opened its doors. The complex also houses rehearsal halls, boutiques, underground parking, theatre storage facilities, restaurants, and office space.

District Municipality of Muskoka, Ontario, incorporated in 1971, permanent population 66,674 (2021 census), 60,614 (2016 census); estimated seasonal population 85,163 (2016). Muskoka is an iconic area of Ontario’s cottage country located approximately 200 km north of Toronto. A destination for seasonal residents and tourists who have been drawn by its natural beauty since the late 1800s, the district has equally been home to generations of permanent residents.