18 4.4 Canada
Learning Objectives
- Identify where in the country most Canadians live and why.
- Identify and locate the dominant physical features of Canada.
- Distinguish between the French-speaking and English-speaking areas of Canada and discuss the key activities in the effort to promote French culture in Canada.
- Name the characteristics of some of the minority ethnic groups in Canada.
- Determine which economic sectors are at the core of the Canadian economy and how the Canadian and US economies are connected.
Canadian Provinces and Territories
Canada’s democratic state shares a similar developmental history and economic status with the United States. As of 2011, Canada had a population of just over thirty-four million (2011), which is less than the population of California. Canada is larger than the United States, making it the second-largest country in the world. However, despite this vast territory for a relatively small population, more than 90 percent of Canadians live within 150 miles of the US border. Northern Canada is not considered part of Canada’s ecumene, or habitable zone, for permanent human settlement. Only a narrow band of territory in southern and eastern Canada has the climate and physical geography suitable for agricultural production and widespread settlement. Moreover, Canada’s economy is so closely tied to that of the United States that it makes sense for people to live close to the US border.
Canada consists of ten provinces and three territories (see Table 4.3 “Canadian Provinces, Territories, and Capitals”). Ottawa is the nation’s capital, and Toronto is its largest city.
| Table 4.3 Canadian Provinces, Territories, and Capitals | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | Province/Territory | Capital | |
| Maritime Provinces of the east | 2.3 million | Newfoundland | St. Johns |
| Nova Scotia | Halifax | ||
| New Brunswick | Fredericton | ||
| Prince Edward Island | Charlottetown | ||
| French Canada | 7.9 million | Quebec | Quebec (City) |
| South Canada | 13.2 million | Ontario | Toronto |
| Prairie Provinces | 6.0 million | Manitoba | Winnipeg |
| Saskatchewan | Regina | ||
| Alberta | Edmonton | ||
| Pacific Canada | 4.5 million | British Columbia | Victoria |
| Territories | About 110,000 | Yukon | Whitehorse |
| Northwest Territories | Yellowknife | ||
| Nunavut | Iqaluit |
Physical Geography of Canada
As you can see from Table 4.3 “Canadian Provinces, Territories, and Capitals”, Ontario has by far the largest population of any of Canada’s provinces, with about 39 percent of the total. Quebec, the dominantly French-speaking province, is home to about 23 percent. Almost everyone else lives in British Colombia, west of the Rocky Mountains (13 percent); in the prairies (18 percent); or along the Atlantic coast (7 percent). The wide-open areas of Canada’s far north are occupied by only one-third of 1 percent of the population.
Type D (continental) climates dominate most of central Canada, with their characteristicall