dreaming the st. roch

I'm seeing a lot of searches in the logs that are for information I never pulled together, such as the names of various provincial/territorial officials not in BC.

If you need to know those kinds of details about a province or territory other than BC, scroll down till you see the entries with little maps. The thumbnail maps will each open a bigger map. Below them are little flags, which link to pages maintained by some arm of the feds, and which give a short history and description of that province or territory.

Under the flags is the name of the province/territory, and that name links to its own website. Between these three, you should be able to get close to the information you need. If you're a student, good luck on your papers, and remember to cite your sources.

Territories

• Yukon Territory
• Northwest Territories
• Nunavut

The North covers more than 1/3 of Canada.

The Canadian government is responsible for the territories, but elected legislatures make most of the decisions.

On April 1st, 1999, the Northwest Territories voted to spin off Nunavut as a separate entity.

The People

Aboriginals have lived in the North for thousands of years. Traditional activities include hunting, trapping, fishing.

Aboriginal people make up about half of the population of the North. Several of the Aboriginal languages have been given legal recognition in the region.

Through recent progress in land claims settlements and self-government agreements, First Nations people have gained greater control over their land and decisions that affect them.

The Economy

Late 1600s: fur trade. The Hudson's Bay Company controlled the northern lands and the fur trade for 300 years.

Aside from hunting, fishing & trapping, mining and oil & gas exploration are large parts of the northern economy.

European miners first came to the Yukon during the Gold Rush of the late 1800s. There are still gold, zinc and diamond mines being worked today.

Inuit art: prints, soapstone carvings sold throughout the world, giving rise to coop businesses for making and marketing arts and crafts.

Tourism: growing.

Ecosystem extremely fragile.

The Climate

The Land of the Midnight Sun. In winter, the sun disappears for three months.

Yukon holds the Canadian record for coldest recorded temperature: -63° C.

Most of the land is tundra; no trees, and the ground is permanently frozen.

Population:

• Nunavut: 31,000
• Northwest Territories: 42,500
• Yukon Territory: 31,000

Total Population: 105,000

pp 27-28

Province

• British Columbia

Three major mountain ranges in BC:

• Rocky Mountains
• Columbia Mountains
• Coast Mountains

The People

First Nations lived here for thousands of years prior to the coming of Europeans. Evolved many customs, traditions, dialects. Developed also a unique form of art: totem poles. First Nations art from BC typically uses natural subjects, such as salmon, bears, ravens, eagles, whales, and the final pieces are highly stylized and much prized around the world.

Europeans first settled in BC in the early 1800s, following the fur trade west.

In the late 1800s, when the railroad went through, large number of Chinese railway workers also settled here, creating the largest Asian population in Canada. 1/3 of British Columbians are of Chinese descent.

The Economy

Rich natural resources have always been important to the BC economy.

forestry

• lumber
• newsprint
• pulp & paper products

Mining is also important.

Tourists come to be overawed by the spectacular scenery and also to fish, hunt, hike, camp and ski.

British Columbia is Canada's second largest source of hydroelectric power. We get a lot of rain rushing down off the mountainsides.

Fishing still a valuable industry on the coast, despite the "downturn in the salmon fishery", and the Okanagan Valley, between the Coast and the Rocky mountain ranges, is known for fruit orchards and wine vinyards.

Vancouver is the third largest city in Canada, and provides important shipping and air links to other countries across the Pacific Ocean. The second largest Chinese community in North America lives in Vancouver.

Population: 4.4 million

pp 25-26

Provinces:

• Manitoba
• Saskatchewan
• Alberta

The Prairie Provinces are known for fertile agricultural land and valuable energy resources.

The Prairies

Flat plains covering much of southern central Canada. Once grassland, now farms and ranches. Few trees, rich soil. Northern and western areas more hills, valleys, rivers. Along the western edge of Alberta, the prairies gradually rise to meet the Rocky Mountains on the border between Alberta and British Columbia.

People

First Nations, and later Métis, lived and worked on the Prairies as traders, suppliers and guides and interpreters. Early Europeans mostly French fur traders.

The railway was built in the early 1800s, enabling serious immigration westward. In the early 1900s, about 3 million people came in from Britain and Europe.

Economy

About 1/2 of Canada's energy comes from natural gas and oil reserves, of which Alberta is the major producer. Alberta also mines coal.

Saskatchewan: oil, gas, uranium, potash.

Manitoba: hydroelectric supplier for Prairie region. Land of a Hundred Thousand Lakes. Looks pretty darn wet on the map.

Most everyone in the Prairie region works in service industries:

• business & financial services
• transportation
• tourism
• retail
• health & education

Farming & Ranching

Manitoba: heavy rainfall nets wide variety of grain crops.

Saskatchewan: leading wheat producer of Canada.

Alberta: leading producer of beef cattle and feed grain production.

Manufacturing

Manitoba: food, transportation equipment, metal products, electrical goods, clothing.

Saskatchewan: some sort of manufacturing. Forestry & mining, too.

Alberta: food & beverage processing.

Population:

• Manitoba: 1.2 million
• Saskatchewan: 1 million
• Alberta: 3.4 million

Total Population: 5.6 million

pp 23-24

Provinces:

• Ontario
• Quebec

Over half of all Canadians live in southern Quebec and Ontario.

Central Canada is the industrial and manufacturing heartland of Canada

The Great Lakes:

• Lake Ontario
• Lake Erie
• Lake Huron
• Lake Michigan
• Lake Superior

The Great Lakes have been in use for thousands of years as trading routes, sources of food and water. Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world.

Connected to the Atlantic via the St. Lawrence Seaway.

The Canadian Shield

Composed of the land in northern Quebec and Ontario, the Shield is a rock formation millions of years old. It is chock full of minerals, metals and iron ore.

On the surface, the Shield is covered by forests, which support Canada's major pulp and paper mills.

Industries enabled by the Shield include forestry, energy, mining (asbestos, gold, copper, silver, iron ore). Abundant freshwater resources means that Quebec is Canada's largest producer of hydroelectricity.

Quebec

First people to live in Quebec were First Nations and Inuit. Settlers from France established communities along the St. Lawrence River in the early 1600's. More than 3/4 of the people of Quebec speak French today, while approximately a third are bilingual. Quebec has the greatest number of bilingual Canadians.

Commercial Activities

Mostly Montréal region. Industries include manufacturing, space and aeronautics, energy, pharmaceuticals.

Farming

Lowlands on or near the St. Lawrence. Vegetables, fruit & feed crops, plus dairy farms. Largest dairy farmer in Canada

Quebec. 7.7 million people call it home.

Ontario

Ontario boasts the largest population of any Canadian province: over 12 million people. They don't all live in Toronto, it just looks that way.

Most Ontario residents speak English, but the French-speaking population is the largest outside of Quebec.

First people were the Algonquin and Iroquois nations. Later settlers from Europe given big boost by the influx of United Empire Loyalists. Waves of immigrants have been steady on since.

Industry

Ontario's economy is Canada's largest. Most people work in service or manufacturing sectors, including 130,000 in making automobiles alone.

• steel
• machinery
• metal
• plastic
• chemical products
• food

Ontario mines produce:

• nickel
• gold
• silver
• platinum
• uranium
• zinc
• copper

Ontario's forests produce:

• pulp
• lumber
• newsprint
• paper

Home to Niagara Falls. Tourism is Ontario's third largest industry

Farming

Southern Ontario and the Niagaran Peninsula produces fruit, dairy, beef, poultry, vegetable and grain crops.

Population of Central Canada: 20.5 million

pp 20-22

Provinces:

• Nova Scotia
• New Brunswick
• Newfoundland & Labrador
• Prince Edward Island

First part of Canada to be visited by Europeans and later settled. First settlers were from France.

Early Europeans came to Atlantic Canada to fish and trade with Aboriginal peoples.

Later settlers worked in three main industries: farming, fishing, shipbuilding.

1605: First permanent European settlement: Port-Royal, on the Bay of Fundy in Acadia, later Nova Scotia. Founders: Samuel Champlain, Pierre de Monts and Baron Jean de Poutrincourt.

United Empire Loyalists were refugees from the American Revolutionary War, and included German, Swiss, Dutch, Italian, Jewish & African-American peoples, as well as English, Irish and Scottish. They resettled mainly in the Atlantic region.

New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province. About 1/3rd of NB's population speaks French as their first language.

Traditional Industries

• fishing
• farming
• forestry
• mining

Modern Developments

• information technology
• professional services
• advanced manufacturing
• aquaculture
• oil & gas exploration

Pigeonholing

• Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island: potatoes and fruit
• New Brunswick and Nova Scotia: extensive forests
• Newfoundland & Labrador: fishing, mining, oil & gas

Hibernia Oil Field, off the coast of NFL, is the fifth largest oil field in Canada.

Service industries employ more people than traditional industries.

Tourist Attractions

• spectacular scenery
• natural coastlines
• warm beaches
• world-class golf courses

Approximately 2.34 million people live in the Atlantic Region.

pp 18-19

(click thumbnail to see map)

Capitol: Ottawa, on the border between Quebec and Ontario.

Population: 33 million people

Size: 10 million square kilometres

Bounding Oceans

• Atlantic to the east
• Pacific to the west
• Arctic to the north

pp 16-17