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Create AccountNova Scotia is Canada’s second-smallest province (following Prince Edward Island) and is located on the southeastern coast of the country. The province includes Cape Breton, a large island northeast of the mainland.
The Northwest Territories lie northwest of central Canada, bordered to the east by Nunavut, to the west by the Yukon and to the south by the northeastern corner of British Columbia, as well as the entire northern borders of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
New Brunswick is one of three provinces collectively known as the "Maritimes." Joined to Nova Scotia by the narrow Chignecto Isthmus and separated from Prince Edward Island by the Northumberland Strait, New Brunswick forms the land bridge linking this region to continental North America.
Nunavut, which translates from the Inuktitut dialect of the Eastern Arctic Inuit as "Our Land," is a Canadian territory.
Quebec is the largest Canadian province. At 1.5 million km², its territory accounts for 15.5 per cent of Canada's total area. The province shares borders with Ontario, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Ontario is Canada's most populous and second-largest province. It stretches from Canada's southernmost point at Middle Island in Lake Erie in the south, to the Manitoba-Ontario border on Hudson Bay in the north, and from the banks of the St. Lawrence River in the east, to the Manitoba border in the west.
Canada's national parks are protected areas established under federal legislation to preserve Canada's natural heritage.
Sometimes referred to as the “keystone” province because of its position in the centre of the country, Manitoba is bounded by Nunavut and Hudson Bay to the north, Ontario to the east, the United States to the south and Saskatchewan to the west.
Saskatchewan is part of the Prairie region and is the only province with entirely artificial boundaries. It is bordered by the US to the south, the Northwest Territories to the north, and Manitoba and Alberta to the east and west respectively.
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.
British Columbia is Canada's most westerly province, and is a mountainous area whose population is mainly clustered in its southwestern corner. BC is Canada’s third-largest province after Québec and Ontario, making up 10 per cent of Canada’s land surface.
Vancouver, British Columbia, incorporated as a city in 1886, population 662,248 (2021 census), 631,486 (2016 census). Vancouver is the largest city in British Columbia and the eighth largest in Canada (see also Largest Cities in Canada by Population). The City of Vancouver lies on a peninsula in the southwest corner of the province's mainland. Two surrounding waterways — Burrard Inlet and the Strait of Georgia — provide a sheltered deep-sea port and convenient access to the Pacific Ocean, while the Fraser River offers an easy route to the rich agricultural lands of the Fraser River Lowland and the interior. Railways and highways give easy access to the interior.
Hogan’s Alley was a Vancouver, BC, neighbourhood that was home to multiple immigrant communities but was known largely for its African-Canadian population. The name “Hogan’s Alley” was not official, but was the popular term for a T-shaped intersection, including Park Lane, and the nearby residences and businesses at the southwestern edge of Strathcona. Beginning in 1967, the city of Vancouver began leveling the western half of Hogan’s Alley in order to construct freeway, spelling the end the neighbourhood.
Grand Portage was a fur-trade depot and route of the voyageurs at the western extremity of Lake Superior.
The McCord Stewart Museum is one of the few museums in Canada dedicated to the study of social history. Initially opened as the McCord National Museum in 1921, it closed to the public during the Great Depression. It reopened in McGill University’s old Student Union Building in downtown Montreal in 1971. It merged with the Stewart Museum in 2013 and absorbed the Fashion Museum in 2018. The McCord Stewart Museum was originally created to house the extensive collection of Canadiana amassed by David Ross McCord. The museum holds an estimated 2.1 million items, including objects, images and manuscripts.
The Quebec City mosque shooting took place in 2017 at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City, located in the suburb of Sainte-Foy. The gunman pleaded guilty to six counts of first-degree murder and six counts of attempted murder. It was one of the deadliest mass shootings in Canadian history, described as an act of terrorism by both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard. The event prompted widespread public debate around Islamophobia, racism and the rise of right-wing terrorism in Canada.
Toronto, Ontario, incorporated as a city in 1834, population 2,794,356 (2021 census), 2,731,571 (2016 census). Toronto is Ontario’s capital city, Canada’s largest municipality and the fourth largest city in North America (see also Largest Cities in Canada by Population). It is made up of the former cities of Toronto, North York, Scarborough, York and Etobicoke, and the former borough of East York. The city is home to a large immigrant population, and is a national and international hub for finance, communications and cultural life.
Val-des-Sources, Quebec, incorporated as a village in 1899 and as a town in 1937, population 7,088 (2021 census), 6,786 (2016 census). The town of Val-des-Sources is located in the Eastern Townships region, 53 km north of Sherbrooke and 58 km southeast of Drummondville. Originally called Asbestos, the town was named after the mineral mined there from 1881 to 2011. During that time, Asbestos produced much of the world’s supply of the asbestos mineral, which is now banned in many countries because of its negative health effects. Asbestos was renamed Val-des-Sources in December 2020. Val-des-Sources is located on ancestral Abenaki lands. The land is unceded and is considered Indigenous territory.
The North Saskatchewan River (1,287 km long, the first 48.5 km of which is designated as a Canadian Heritage River) is a major tributary to the Saskatchewan River, which ultimately flows into Hudson Bay. The mean annual flow is 241 m3/s; however, flow varies between the peak in July and minimum in February. It served as a major transportation route from the end of the last Ice Age through the mid-20th century.
