Canada’s Regions

Canada is divided into five regions, each with its own geography, economy, and culture. Ten provinces and three territories make up the country.

The Atlantic Provinces

Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.

• Fishing, shipbuilding, forestry, mining, and tourism drive the regional economy.
• Halifax is the largest port and home to Canada's busiest navy base.
• Acadian and Celtic heritage are strong here. The Acadian deportation of 1755 was one of the great injustices of early Canadian history.
• Newfoundland and Labrador joined Confederation in 1949 — the last province to do so. Its accent and dialect are unique in North America.

Central Canada

Quebec and Ontario — together more than half of Canada's population and most of its manufacturing output.

• Toronto is the country's largest city and financial centre; the Toronto Stock Exchange is one of the largest in the world.
• Montreal is the heart of French-speaking North America and a global centre of culture and aerospace.
• Ottawa — in Ontario, across the river from Gatineau, Quebec — is the national capital. Parliament Hill, the Supreme Court, the National Gallery, and the Canadian War Museum are all here.
• Quebec City is the capital of Quebec and the only walled city north of Mexico — a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Prairie Provinces

Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.

• The breadbasket of Canada: wheat, canola, barley, beef.
• The source of most of Canada's oil and natural gas — the Alberta oil sands hold the third-largest proven oil reserves in the world.
• Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, and Winnipeg are the main urban centres.
• Home to the largest Aboriginal population by percentage of any region in Canada.
• The Calgary Stampede is one of the world's largest rodeos.

The West Coast

British Columbia — the Pacific gateway.

• Forestry, fishing, mining, agriculture (especially fruit and wine in the Okanagan), and a booming tech sector.
• Vancouver is one of the most ethnically diverse cities on earth and Canada's main port for trade with Asia.
• BC includes coastal rainforests, snow-capped mountains, dry interior plateaus, and over 6,000 islands.
• The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics introduced BC to a global audience.

The Northern Territories

Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.

• Together they cover more than a third of Canada's land area but house less than 1% of the population.
• The Klondike Gold Rush of 1897–98 brought tens of thousands to the Yukon.
• Nunavut was created in 1999 from the eastern part of the Northwest Territories as a homeland for the Inuit. Iqaluit is its capital.
• Mining, fishing, hunting, trapping, and tourism support local economies.
• The territory is rich in oil, natural gas, gold, diamonds, and rare-earth minerals.
• Inuit, First Nations, and Métis peoples make up most of the population in much of the North.