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Create AccountThe Athabasca River is the longest river in Alberta (1,538 km). The first 168 km (located in Jasper National Park) are designated as a Canadian Heritage River. As a tributary to the Mackenzie River, water flowing on the Athabasca River eventually drains into the Arctic Ocean. River flow is highest during the summer and lowest during winter, and it is ice-covered from mid-November to mid-April.
Bay d'Espoir is a fjord-like arm of Hermitage Bay on Newfoundland’s south coast. More than 50 km from mouth to head, Bay d'Espoir — French for “hope” — is ice-free, with sheer cliffs and steep-sided hills rising 180 to 300 m. The bay divides into two principal arms to the north and northeast of Bois Island. Because of the tremendous watershed from a surrounding glacial plateau, the area is the site of a hydroelectric generating plant. Opened in 1967, today the plant has a generating capacity of more than 600 MW.
Port-au-Port peninsula is a roughly triangular peninsula with 130 km of rocky coastline but no harbours. The peninsula is joined to southwestern Newfoundland via a strip of land west of Stephenville. Port-au-Port is home to Newfoundland’s oldest francophone communities (see Francophones of Newfoundland and Labrador).
Located in Northern Ontario, between the Ottawa River and Georgian Bay, Lake Nipissing is the third largest lake located entirely within the boundaries of Ontario. The lake spans 65 km in an east–west direction and drains into Georgian Bay via the French River. Its name derives from an Ojibwa word meaning "little water," likely a comparison to the nearby Great Lakes, which were important trade routes for the Nbisiing (Nipissing), the First Nation indigenous to this region. Fishing is a popular activity on the lake both commercially and recreationally. Unfortunately, walleye, the lake’s dominant fish species, has declined drastically since the 1980s as a result of overfishing and ecosystem changes.
Banks Island, 70 028 km2, fifth-largest island in Canada, is the westernmost island of the Arctic Archipelago.
St Joseph Island, 370 km2, lies at the east entrance of the ST MARYS RIVER in the North Channel connecting Lakes HURON and SUPERIOR, about 30 km southeast of Sault Ste Marie, Ont. The island is the most westerly section of the Canadian portion of the NIAGARA ESCARPMENT.
Little Manitou Lake, 13.3 km2, is a saline lake that lies in the rich, rolling prairie of south-central Saskatchewan near Watrous.
The St Lawrence Seaway (Great Lakes Waterway) is the system of locks, canals and channels linking the Great Lakes and the St Lawrence River with the Atlantic Ocean.
The Cariboo Mountains is the most northern range making up the Columbia Mountains.
The Rouge River is a tributary of the Ottawa River. Its source is Lac de la Fougère, in the northeast part of Rouge-Matawin Wildlife Reserve in Québec.
Nagwichoonjik, meaning "river flowing through a big country," is the Gwich'in name for the Mackenzie River, the longest river in Canada and the 9th longest river in the world. The river flows through the heart of the traditional homeland of the Gwichya Gwich'in, who now largely reside in Tsiigehtchic (formerly Arctic Red River), a small community of 200 people at the confluence of the Arctic Red and Mackenzie rivers, in the northern part of the Northwest Territories. ( See also Indigenous Territory).
The Great Lakes are the largest group in a chain of large lakes (including Winnipeg, Athabasca, Great Slave and Great Bear) that lies along the southern boundary of the Canadian Shield. From west to east the Great Lakes comprise lakes Superior, Michigan (entirely in the US), Huron, St. Clair, Erie and Ontario. They have a total area of approximately 244,100 km 2 and drop from 183 m above sea level at Lake Superior to 74 m at Lake Ontario — the most dramatic drop occurring at Niagara Falls. Lake St Clair, while not properly a “great lake,” is considered part of this Laurentian chain.
Manitoulin Island, 2,765 km2, the largest island in the world located in a lake, is part of an archipelago at the top of Lake Huron straddling the Ontario-Michigan border. Its northern shore encloses the North Channel, which leads to the St. Mary's River at Sault Ste Marie. An extension of the Niagara Peninsula, Manitoulin Island has an irregular, rocky shoreline and many interior lakes.
Lake Ontario is 18,960 km2 (10,000 km2 in Canada), with a drainage area of 60,030 km2, an elevation of 75 m, a mean depth of 86 m (max 244 m), length 311 km and width 85 km. It is the smallest in surface area and most easterly of the Great Lakes and eighth-largest body of fresh water in North America. The lake receives most of its water supply from the other Great Lakes through the Niagara River and discharges into the St Lawrence River through the Kingston Basin at its northeast end. Other tributaries are the Genesee, Oswego and Black rivers in New York state and the Trent River in Ontario. (See also Largest Lakes in Canada.)
Lake Erie, 25,700 km2 (including islands), of which 12,800 km2 lie in Canada, elevation 173.3 m; 388 km long, 92 km wide and 64 m deep. The shallowest of the five major Great Lakes (excluding Lake St. Clair), it receives most of its waters from Lake Huron via the Detroit River. Other major inflowing streams are the Maumee and Cuyahoga rivers in Ohio, and the Grand River in Ontario. The lake outflows through the Niagara River at Fort Erie, falling almost 100 m to Lake Ontario; more than 50 m of this drop occurs at Niagara Falls. It is also joined to Lake Ontario by the Welland Canal. (See also Largest Lakes in Canada.)
Great Bear Lake is located in the Northwest Territories. With a surface area of 31,328 km2, Great Bear Lake is the largest lake located entirely inside Canadian borders. It is also the fourth largest in North America and the eighth largest in the world. Water flows out of the lake into the Great Bear River, then into the Mackenzie River. Other rivers connected to the lake include the Dease, Camsell and Johnny Hoe. Great Bear Lake is made up of five separate arms, each with their own names: Dease, McTavish, McVicar, Keith and Smith. (See also Largest Lakes in Canada.)
Lake Winnipeg, 23,750 km2, elevation 217 m, estimated maximum depth 36 m, sixth-largest freshwater lake in Canada, is located in central Manitoba. Extending 416 km north-south, it drains approximately 984,200 km2 of land by way of the Saskatchewan, Red-Assiniboine and Winnipeg river systems. (See also Largest Lakes in Canada.)
Lake Huron, 59,600 km2, elevation 176 m, 332 km long, 295 km wide, max depth 229 m; total shoreline length, including islands, 6,159 km. Lake Huron is the second largest of the Great Lakes and fifth-largest lake in the world (see also Largest Lakes in Canada). In Canada, the Lake Huron is part of the traditional territories of the Tionontati (Petun), Neutral, Huron-Wendat and Anishinaabe. Samuel de Champlain visited Georgian Bay and Lake Huron with the French scout Étienne Brûlé in 1615.
Thelon River, 904 km long, issues from Lynx Lake, east of Great Slave Lake, NWT.
