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125-513: The St. Lawrence Lowlands is one of the most densely populated, prosperous and productive regions in Canada . Major urban areas include Toronto , Montreal , Ottawa-Gatineau and Quebec City . The St. Lawrence Lowlands was covered by surficial deposits left by ice sheets following the Pleistocene glaciations. It is the smallest of Canada's seven physiographic regions — the others being

250-403: A middle power , Canada's strong support for multilateralism and internationalism has been closely related to its foreign relations policies of peacekeeping and aid for developing countries . Canada is part of multiple international organizations and forums . While a variety of theories have been postulated for the etymological origins of Canada , the name is now accepted as coming from

375-467: A parliamentary system within the context of a constitutional monarchy —the monarchy of Canada being the foundation of the executive, legislative , and judicial branches. The reigning monarch is also monarch of 14 other sovereign Commonwealth countries and Canada's 10 provinces . The monarch appoints a representative, the governor general , on the advice of the prime minister , to carry out most of their ceremonial royal duties. The monarchy

500-671: A consequence of European colonization, the Indigenous population declined by forty to eighty percent. The decline is attributed to several causes, including the transfer of European diseases , to which they had no natural immunity, conflicts over the fur trade, conflicts with the colonial authorities and settlers, and the loss of Indigenous lands to settlers and the subsequent collapse of several nations' self-sufficiency. Although not without conflict, European Canadians ' early interactions with First Nations and Inuit populations were relatively peaceful. First Nations and Métis peoples played

625-567: A constitutional amending formula and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms . The Charter guarantees basic rights and freedoms that usually cannot be overridden by any government; a notwithstanding clause allows Parliament and the provincial legislatures to override certain sections of the Charter for a period of five years. Canada's judiciary interprets laws and has the power to strike down acts of Parliament that violate

750-519: A critical part in the development of European colonies in Canada , particularly for their role in assisting European coureurs des bois and voyageurs in their explorations of the continent during the North American fur trade . These early European interactions with First Nations would change from friendship and peace treaties to the dispossession of Indigenous lands through treaties . From

875-506: A distinguishing element of Canada's political culture. Peace, order, and good government , alongside an Implied Bill of Rights , are founding principles of Canadian federalism . At the federal level, Canada has been dominated by two relatively centrist parties practising "brokerage politics": the centre-left leaning Liberal Party of Canada and the centre-right leaning Conservative Party of Canada (or its predecessors ). The historically predominant Liberals position themselves at

1000-405: A myriad population of other birds, including ravens and crows , predatory birds and many songbirds . The Canadian Shield is one of the world's richest areas in terms of mineral ores . It is filled with substantial deposits of nickel , gold , silver , and copper . There are many mining towns extracting these minerals. The largest, and one of the best known, is Sudbury , Ontario. Sudbury

1125-704: A process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom. This increased sovereignty was highlighted by the Statute of Westminster, 1931 , and culminating in the Canada Act 1982 , which severed the vestiges of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom . Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy in the Westminster tradition . The country's head of government

1250-883: A separate colony in 1769. To avert conflict in Quebec , the British Parliament passed the Quebec Act 1774, expanding Quebec's territory to the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley . More importantly, the Quebec Act afforded Quebec special autonomy and rights of self-administration at a time when the Thirteen Colonies were increasingly agitating against British rule. It re-established the French language, Catholic faith, and French civil law there, staving off

1375-632: A surface area of 1.6 million km2—is the third largest in North America and one of the largest in the world. Three aquifers of the St. Maurice Delta Complex in the Central St. Lawrence Lowlands provide drinking water for Trois-Rivières and most of the other municipalities in the region. The premiers of the provinces of Quebec and Ontario and eight Great Lakes governors from Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin signed

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1500-431: A temperate climate, with a mild and rainy winter. On the east and west coasts, average high temperatures are generally in the low 20s °C (70s °F), while between the coasts, the average summer high temperature ranges from 25 to 30 °C (77 to 86 °F), with temperatures in some interior locations occasionally exceeding 40 °C (104 °F). Much of Northern Canada is covered by ice and permafrost . The future of

1625-647: Is an exception to the normal process of forming minerals in the shield since the Sudbury Basin is an ancient meteorite impact crater . Ejecta from the meteorite impact was found in the Rove Formation in May 2007. The nearby but less-known Temagami Magnetic Anomaly has striking similarities to the Sudbury Basin. This suggests it could be a second metal-rich impact crater. In northeastern Quebec,

1750-554: Is divided into 15 terrestrial and five marine ecozones . These ecozones encompass over 80,000 classified species of Canadian wildlife , with an equal number yet to be formally recognized or discovered. Although Canada has a low percentage of endemic species compared to other countries , due to human activities, invasive species , and environmental issues in the country , there are currently more than 800 species at risk of being lost . About 65 percent of Canada's resident species are considered "Secure". Over half of Canada's landscape

1875-1026: Is intact and relatively free of human development. The boreal forest of Canada is considered to be the largest intact forest on Earth, with approximately 3,000,000 km (1,200,000 sq mi) undisturbed by roads, cities or industry. Since the end of the last glacial period , Canada has consisted of eight distinct forest regions . Approximately 12.1 percent of the nation's landmass and freshwater are conservation areas , including 11.4 percent designated as protected areas . Approximately 13.8 percent of its territorial waters are conserved, including 8.9 percent designated as protected areas. Canada's first National Park , Banff National Park established in 1885 spans 6,641 square kilometres (2,564 sq mi). Canada's oldest provincial park, Algonquin Provincial Park , established in 1893, covers an area of 7,653.45 square kilometres (2,955.01 sq mi). Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area

2000-587: Is one of the world's best preserved mineralized Neoarchean caldera complexes, which is 2.7 Ga. The Canadian Shield also contains the Mackenzie dike swarm , which is the largest dike swarm known on Earth. The North American craton is the bedrock forming the heart of the North American continent, and the Canadian Shield is the largest exposed part of the craton's bedrock. The Canadian Shield

2125-597: Is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration . Canada's long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its history , economy , and culture . A developed country , Canada has a high nominal per capita income globally and its advanced economy ranks among the largest in the world by nominal GDP , relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade networks . Recognized as

2250-673: Is part of an ancient continent called Arctica , which was formed about 2.5 Ga during the Neoarchean era. Mountains have deep roots and float on the denser mantle much like an iceberg at sea . As mountains erode, their roots rise and are eroded in turn. The rocks that now form the surface of the shield were once far below the Earth's surface. The high pressures and temperatures at those depths provided ideal conditions for mineralization. Although these mountains are now heavily eroded, many large mountains still exist in Canada's far north called

2375-634: Is solely a federal responsibility and is uniform throughout Canada. Law enforcement, including criminal courts, is officially a provincial responsibility, conducted by provincial and municipal police forces. In most rural and some urban areas, policing responsibilities are contracted to the federal Royal Canadian Mounted Police . Canadian Aboriginal law provides certain constitutionally recognized rights to land and traditional practices for Indigenous groups in Canada. Various treaties and case laws were established to mediate relations between Europeans and many Indigenous peoples. The role of Aboriginal law and

2500-533: Is the prime minister , who holds office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the elected House of Commons and is appointed by the governor general , representing the monarch of Canada , the ceremonial head of state . The country is a Commonwealth realm and is officially bilingual (English and French) in the federal jurisdiction. It is very highly ranked in international measurements of government transparency, quality of life, economic competitiveness, innovation, education and human rights. It

2625-584: Is the second-largest country . By land area alone, Canada ranks fourth , due to having the world's largest area of fresh water lakes . Stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the east, along the Arctic Ocean to the north, and to the Pacific Ocean in the west, the country encompasses 9,984,670 km (3,855,100 sq mi) of territory. Canada also has vast maritime terrain, with

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2750-546: Is the Earth's greatest area of exposed Archean rock. The metamorphic base rocks are mostly from the Precambrian (between 4.5 Ga and 540 Ma) and have been repeatedly uplifted and eroded. Today it consists largely of an area of low relief 300–610 m (980–2,000 ft) above sea level with a few monadnocks and low mountain ranges (including the Laurentian Mountains ) probably eroded from the plateau during

2875-452: Is the smallest landform region in Canada, Southern Ontario and Quebec have a dense population and are home to about 50 percent of the population of Canada. Historically, the lower Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Valley region attracted European immigrants and United Empire Loyalists with its "diversified resource base". Eventually, the area became the site of the "political consolidation of Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec) forming

3000-521: Is the source of sovereignty and authority in Canada. However, while the governor general or monarch may exercise their power without ministerial advice in rare crisis situations , the use of the executive powers (or royal prerogative ) is otherwise directed by the Cabinet , a committee of ministers of the Crown responsible to the elected House of Commons and chosen and headed by the prime minister,

3125-562: Is the world's largest freshwater protected area, spanning roughly 10,000 square kilometres (3,900 sq mi). Canada's largest national wildlife region is the Scott Islands Marine National Wildlife Area which spans 11,570.65 square kilometres (4,467.45 sq mi). Canada is described as a " full democracy ", with a tradition of liberalism , and an egalitarian , moderate political ideology. An emphasis on social justice has been

3250-666: The Canada Elections Act limits this to four years with a "fixed" election date in October; general elections still must be called by the governor general and can be triggered by either the advice of the prime minister or a lost confidence vote in the House. The 105 members of the Senate, whose seats are apportioned on a regional basis, serve until age 75. Canadian federalism divides government responsibilities between

3375-705: The Dominion Lands Act to regulate settlement and established the North-West Mounted Police to assert authority over the territory. This period of westward expansion and nation building resulted in the displacement of many Indigenous peoples of the Canadian Prairies to " Indian reserves ", clearing the way for ethnic European block settlements . This caused the collapse of the Plains Bison in western Canada and

3500-472: The Arctic Cordillera . This is a vast, deeply dissected mountain range, stretching from northernmost Ellesmere Island to the northernmost tip of Labrador. The range's highest peak is Nunavut's Barbeau Peak at 2,616 metres (8,583 ft) above sea level. Precambrian rock is the major component of the bedrock. The current surface expression of the shield is one of very thin soil lying on top of

3625-874: The Arctic Lands , the Cordillera , the Interior Plains , the Canadian Shield , the Hudson Bay Lowlands and the Appalachian Uplands — distinguished by topography and geology. The boundaries of the area largely reflect that of the Mixedwood Plains Ecozone , the smallest of Canada's fifteen terrestrial ecozones . The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands includes a section of southern Ontario bounded on

3750-470: The Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean , making it the world's second-largest country by total area , with the world's longest coastline . Its border with the United States is the world's longest international land border. The country is characterized by a wide range of both meteorologic and geological regions. With a population of just over 41   million people, it has widely varying population densities, with

3875-775: The Battle of the Scheldt in 1944. Canada provided asylum for the Dutch monarchy while that country was occupied and is credited by the Netherlands for major contributions to its liberation from Nazi Germany . The Canadian economy boomed during the war as its industries manufactured military materiel for Canada, Britain, China , and the Soviet Union . Despite another Conscription Crisis in Quebec in 1944, Canada finished

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4000-612: The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada began on January 27, 2020, with widespread social and economic disruption. In 2021, the possible graves of hundreds of Indigenous people were discovered near the former sites of Canadian Indian residential schools . Administered by various Christian churches and funded by the Canadian government from 1828 to 1997, these boarding schools attempted to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture . By total area (including its waters), Canada

4125-585: The Canada Act 1982 , the patriation of Canada's constitution from the United Kingdom, concurrent with the creation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms . Canada had established complete sovereignty as an independent country under its own monarchy . In 1999, Nunavut became Canada's third territory after a series of negotiations with the federal government. At the same time, Quebec underwent profound social and economic changes through

4250-573: The Canadian Shield , the Hudson Bay Lowland , the Arctic Lands , the Interior Plains , the Cordillera , and the Appalachian Uplands . The region is "underlain by carbonate-rich" limestone Paleozoic sedimentary rock, The glacial till deposits formed moraines , drumlins and glacial lake bottoms. The landforms of the Great Lake – St. Lawrence Lowlands, with its rolling hills and slopes, were carved by glacial streams. Two of

4375-762: The Canadian Shield , the interior plains , the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands , the Appalachian region , the Western Cordillera , Hudson Bay Lowlands , and the Arctic Archipelago . Boreal forests prevail throughout the country, ice is prominent in northern Arctic regions and through the Rocky Mountains , and the relatively flat Canadian Prairies in the southwest facilitate productive agriculture. The Great Lakes feed

4500-684: The Cenozoic Era. During the Pleistocene Epoch, continental ice sheets depressed the land surface (creating Hudson Bay ) but also tilted up its northeastern "rim" (the Torngat ), scooped out thousands of lake basins, and carried away much of the region's soil. The northeastern portion, however, became tilted up so that, in northern Labrador and Baffin Island , the land rises to more than 1,500 metres (5,000 feet) above sea level. When

4625-564: The Constitution of Canada fully under Canadian control, referred only to Canada . Later that year, the name of the national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day . The first inhabitants of North America are generally hypothesized to have migrated from Siberia by way of the Bering land bridge and arrived at least 14,000 years ago. The Paleo-Indian archeological sites at Old Crow Flats and Bluefish Caves are two of

4750-752: The Eastern Great Lakes lowland forests ecoregion. The lowland forest area stretches across the lowlands of the American states of New York and Vermont, and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The New York and Vermont lowlands surround the Adirondack Mountains . The Quebec lowlands are along the St. Lawrence River. The lowlands in southern Ontario stretch between Lake Ontario and the Georgian Bay / Lake Huron region. The Great Lakes – St. Lawrence hydrographic system—with

4875-506: The First Nations , Inuit , and Métis , the last being of mixed descent who originated in the mid-17th century when First Nations people married European settlers and subsequently developed their own identity. The Indigenous population at the time of the first European settlements is estimated to have been between 200,000 and two million, with a figure of 500,000 accepted by Canada's Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples . As

5000-742: The Great Lakes–Saint Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement on December 13, 2005, which came into force in 2015. It is a good faith agreement detailing the management and use of the Great Lakes Basin's water supply. It was signed on December 13, 2005. It succeeds and builds on the Great Lakes Charter signed in 1985 and its Annex signed in 2001. Even though the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands

5125-646: The Greenland section is included, the Canadian Shield is approximately circular, bounded on the northeast by the northeast edge of Greenland, with Hudson Bay in the middle. It covers much of Greenland, all of Labrador and the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland , most of Quebec north of the St. Lawrence River , much of Ontario including northern sections of the Ontario Peninsula ,

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5250-769: The Meech Lake Accord failed in 1990. This led to the formation of the Bloc Québécois in Quebec and the invigoration of the Reform Party of Canada in the West. A second referendum followed in 1995, in which sovereignty was rejected by a slimmer margin of 50.6 to 49.4 percent. In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled unilateral secession by a province would be unconstitutional, and the Clarity Act

5375-696: The Oka Crisis of 1990, the first of a number of violent confrontations between provincial governments and Indigenous groups. Canada joined the Gulf War in 1990 and was active in several peacekeeping missions in the 1990s, including operations in the Balkans during and after the Yugoslav Wars , and in Somalia , resulting in an incident that has been described as " the darkest era in the history of

5500-437: The Ottawa River and the Saint Lawrence River and extends to Québec city. Major cities include Trois-Rivières . The Lowlands include a small area on the north shore near Québec City. The St. Lawrence Lowlands are underlain by marine and lacustrine clays and bedrock outcrops of Paleozoic limestone . In the north it is bounded by the Laurentian Highlands . The East Lowland includes Anticosti Island , Îles de Mingan ,

5625-446: The Parliament of Canada and the commissioners represent the King in his federal Council , rather than the monarch directly. The powers flowing from the Constitution Act, 1867 , are divided between the federal government and the provincial governments to exercise exclusively and any changes to that arrangement require a constitutional amendment , while changes to the roles and powers of the territories may be performed unilaterally by

5750-404: The Proterozoic Eon that were progressively amalgamated during the interval 2.45–1.24 Ga, with the most substantial growth period occurring during the Trans-Hudson orogeny , between c. 1.90–1.80 Ga. The Canadian Shield was the first part of North America to be permanently elevated above sea level and has remained almost wholly untouched by successive encroachments of the sea upon the continent. It

5875-425: The Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, giving birth to a secular nationalist movement. The radical Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) ignited the October Crisis with a series of bombings and kidnappings in 1970, and the sovereigntist Parti Québécois was elected in 1976, organizing an unsuccessful referendum on sovereignty-association in 1980. Attempts to accommodate Quebec nationalism constitutionally through

6000-428: The Saint Lawrence River as Canada . From the 16th to the early 18th century, Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the Saint Lawrence River. Following the British conquest of New France , this area was known as the British Province of Quebec from 1763 to 1791. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada . These two colonies were collectively named

6125-479: The St. Lawrence Iroquoian word kanata , meaning "village" or "settlement". In 1535, Indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona . Cartier later used the word Canada to refer not only to that particular village but to the entire area subject to Donnacona (the chief at Stadacona); by 1545, European books and maps had begun referring to this small region along

6250-584: The St. Lawrence River (in the southeast) where the lowlands host much of Canada's economic output. Canada has over 2,000,000 lakes—563 of which are larger than 100 km (39 sq mi)—containing much of the world's fresh water . There are also fresh-water glaciers in the Canadian Rockies , the Coast Mountains , and the Arctic Cordillera . Canada is geologically active , having many earthquakes and potentially active volcanoes . Average winter and summer high temperatures across Canada vary from region to region. Winters can be harsh in many parts of

6375-454: The Strait of Belle Isle and the Newfoundland Coastal Lowland. To the south it is bordered by the Eastern Quebec Uplands. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands is listed as one of Canada's seven physiographic regions, which in turn have their own subregions and divisions—distinguished by topography and geology. This map shows the location of these physiographic regions, including their subregions and divisions. The other physiographic regions are

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6500-441: The head of government . To ensure the stability of government, the governor general will usually appoint as prime minister the individual who is the current leader of the political party that can obtain the confidence of a majority of members in the House. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is one of the most powerful institutions in government, initiating most legislation for parliamentary approval and selecting for appointment by

6625-563: The Adirondack Mountains of New York , the northernmost part of Lower Michigan and all of Upper Michigan , northern Wisconsin , northeastern Minnesota , the central and northern portions of Manitoba , northern Saskatchewan , a small portion of northeastern Alberta , mainland Northwest Territories to the east of a line extended north from the Saskatchewan-Alberta border, most of Nunavut's mainland and, of its Arctic Archipelago , Baffin Island and significant bands through Somerset , Southampton , Devon and Ellesmere islands. In total,

6750-418: The Atlantic coast. In general, early settlements during the Age of Discovery appear to have been short-lived due to a combination of the harsh climate, problems with navigating trade routes and competing outputs in Scandinavia. In 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert , by the royal prerogative of Queen Elizabeth I , founded St John's, Newfoundland , as the first North American English seasonal camp . In 1600,

6875-409: The Atlantic coast. As a consequence of various armed conflicts , France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation , Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces. This began an accretion of provinces and territories resulting in the displacement of Indigenous populations , and

7000-442: The Canadas until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867 , Canada was adopted as the legal name for the new country at the London Conference and the word dominion was conferred as the country's title. By the 1950s, the term Dominion of Canada was no longer used by the United Kingdom, which considered Canada a "realm of the Commonwealth". The Canada Act 1982 , which brought

7125-466: The Canadian military ". Canada sent troops to Afghanistan in 2001 , resulting in the largest amount of Canadian deaths for any single military mission since the Korean War in the early 1950s. In 2011, Canadian forces participated in the NATO-led intervention into the Libyan Civil War and also became involved in battling the Islamic State insurgency in Iraq in the mid-2010s. The country celebrated its sesquicentennial in 2017, three years before

7250-423: The Crown the governor general, lieutenant governors , senators, federal court judges, and heads of Crown corporations and government agencies. The leader of the party with the second-most seats usually becomes the leader of the Official Opposition and is part of an adversarial parliamentary system intended to keep the government in check. The Parliament of Canada passes all federal statute laws. It comprises

7375-439: The First Nations to education, government and legal rights. Because Britain still maintained control of Canada's foreign affairs under the British North America Act, 1867, its declaration of war in 1914 automatically brought Canada into the First World War . Volunteers sent to the Western Front later became part of the Canadian Corps , which played a substantial role in the Battle of Vimy Ridge and other major engagements of

7500-400: The French established their first seasonal trading post at Tadoussac along the Saint Lawrence. French explorer Samuel de Champlain arrived in 1603 and established the first permanent year-round European settlements at Port Royal (in 1605) and Quebec City (in 1608). Among the colonists of New France, Canadiens extensively settled the Saint Lawrence River valley and Acadians settled

7625-420: The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands physiographic region, as defined by Geological Survey of Canada , differs from the boundaries of ecozones defined by the Canadian Council on Ecological Areas (CCEA) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), for example. Statistics Canada described the St. Lawrence Lowlands as a densely populated 41,770 km2 ecoregion in Quebec and Ontario, with the St. Lawrence River flowing through

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7750-431: The Lowlands provide about 50 million jobs. There is Utica shale , the stratigraphical unit of Upper Ordovician age occupies about 16,000 square kilometres in the Central Lowlands subregion of the St. Lawrence Lowlands (SLL) in the administrative regions of Montérégie , Centre-du-Québec and Chaudière-Appalaches . There are about 3,500 species of animals and plants in the Lowlands. Characteristic wildlife includes

7875-418: The Lowlands which is in southern Ontario and northern New York and Vermont is divided by the Niagara Escarpment , which extends northeast from the Niagara River to the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island . Most of the area which is east of the Niagara Escarpment—from Lake Ontario north to Georgian Bay —has low relief. The characteristic of this area, which was "entirely covered by glaciers during parts of

8000-439: The Mixedwood Plains Ecozone, is one of the "most productive ecozones in Canada". The ecozone extends along the St. Lawrence shoreline to Quebec City. It represents the "most populous and prosperous terrestrial ecozone". and is home to nearly half of Canada's population, including its two largest cities, Toronto , Ontario and Montreal , Quebec. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) describes the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River lowlands as

8125-411: The Métis' grievances ignited the Red River Rebellion and the creation of the province of Manitoba in July 1870. British Columbia and Vancouver Island (which had been united in 1866) joined the confederation in 1871 on the promise of a transcontinental railway extending to Victoria in the province within 10 years, while Prince Edward Island joined in 1873. In 1898, during the Klondike Gold Rush in

8250-414: The Northwest Territories, Parliament created the Yukon Territory. Alberta and Saskatchewan became provinces in 1905. Between 1871 and 1896, almost one quarter of the Canadian population emigrated south to the US. To open the West and encourage European immigration, the Government of Canada sponsored the construction of three transcontinental railways (including the Canadian Pacific Railway ), passed

8375-452: The Parliament of Canada. Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield ( French : Bouclier canadien [buklje kanadjɛ̃] ), also called the Laurentian Shield or the Laurentian Plateau , is a geologic shield , a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks . It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia) , the ancient geologic core of the North American continent. Glaciation has left

8500-417: The Pleistocene", are "lakes, poorly drained depressions, morainic hills, drumlins, eskers, outwash plains, and other glacial features." Soils in this area include "peat, muck, marl, clay, silt, sand, and gravel" This subregion includes the Bruce Peninsula to the northwest and the Niagara Peninsula , which is the warmest and most intensely cultivated part of the ecozone. The Central Lowland stretches between

8625-422: The Saint Lawrence River. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands was the traditional lands of the Mohawk —the most easterly tribe of the Iroquoian -speaking Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples, and the Cree —one of the largest groups of First Nations in North America. Canada Canada is a country in North America . Its ten provinces and three territories extend from

8750-423: The St. Lawrence Lowlands in Quebec from southern Ontario. In the north the Lowlands are bounded by the Laurentian Highlands and to the south by the Eastern Quebec Uplands. The Geological Survey of Canada published an updated map in 2014 defining the boundaries of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands physiographic region. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence's lowlands include three sub-regions. The southwest region of

8875-425: The United Kingdom. The delay underscored Canada's independence. The first Canadian Army units arrived in Britain in December 1939. In all, over a million Canadians served in the armed forces during the Second World War . Canadian troops played important roles in many key battles of the war, including the failed 1942 Dieppe Raid , the Allied invasion of Italy , the Normandy landings , the Battle of Normandy , and

9000-642: The United States in 1846 ended the Oregon boundary dispute , extending the border westward along the 49th parallel . This paved the way for British colonies on Vancouver Island (1849) and in British Columbia (1858) . The Anglo-Russian Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1825) established the border along the Pacific coast, but, even after the US Alaska Purchase of 1867, disputes continued about

9125-528: The abortive Rebellions of 1837 . The Durham Report subsequently recommended responsible government and the assimilation of French Canadians into English culture. The Act of Union 1840 merged the Canadas into a united Province of Canada and responsible government was established for all provinces of British North America east of Lake Superior by 1855. The signing of the Oregon Treaty by Britain and

9250-434: The area of greatest glacial impact (scraping down to bare rock) creating the thin soils. The age of the Canadian Shield is estimated to be 4.28 Ga . The Canadian Shield once had jagged peaks, higher than any of today's mountains, but millions of years of erosion have changed these mountains to rolling hills. The Canadian Shield is a collage of Archean plates and accreted juvenile arc terranes and sedimentary basins of

9375-464: The area with only a thin layer of soil , through which exposures of igneous bedrock resulting from its long volcanic history are frequently visible. As a deep, common, joined bedrock region in eastern and central Canada , the shield stretches north from the Great Lakes to the Arctic Ocean , covering over half of Canada and most of Greenland ; it also extends south into the northern reaches of

9500-426: The bedrock, with many bare outcrops . This arrangement was caused by severe glaciation during the ice ages that covered the shield and scraped the rock clean. The lowlands of the Canadian Shield have a very dense soil that is not suitable for forestation; it also contains many marshes and bogs ( muskegs ). The rest of the region has coarse soil that does not retain moisture well and is frozen with permafrost throughout

9625-525: The black bear, grey wolf , coyote , beaver , snowshoe hare , white-tailed deer , lynx , moose , and otter . Birds include waterfowl, warblers, blue birds, red-winged black birds, eagles, and hawks. Major cities in the Lowlands include " Quebec City , Toronto , Montreal , Trois-Rivières , Saint-Hyacinthe , Cornwall , Brockville , Ottawa / Gatineau , and Pembroke ." For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples have been living along both sides of

9750-592: The case of polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ), the shield area contains many of their denning locations, such as the Wapusk National Park . The many lakes and rivers on the shield contain a plentiful quantity of different sports fish species, including walleye , northern pike , lake trout , yellow perch , whitefish , brook trout , arctic grayling , and many types of baitfish. The water surfaces are also home to many waterfowl , most notably Canada geese , loons and gulls . The vast forests contain

9875-802: The centre of the political scale. Five parties had representatives elected to the Parliament in the 2021 election —the Liberals, who formed a minority government; the Conservatives, who became the Official Opposition ; the New Democratic Party (occupying the left ); the Bloc Québécois ; and the Green Party . Far-right and far-left politics have never been a prominent force in Canadian society. Canada has

10000-555: The constitution. The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court, final arbiter, and has been led since 2017 by Richard Wagner , the Chief Justice of Canada . The governor general appoints the court's nine members on the advice of the prime minister and minister of justice . The federal Cabinet also appoints justices to superior courts in the provincial and territorial jurisdictions. Common law prevails everywhere except Quebec, where civil law predominates. Criminal law

10125-660: The continental United States . The Canadian Shield is a physiographic division comprising four smaller physiographic provinces: the Laurentian Upland , Kazan Region , Davis and James. The shield extends into the United States as the Adirondack Mountains (connected by the Frontenac Axis ) and the Superior Upland . The Canadian Shield is a U-shaped subsection of the Laurentia craton signifying

10250-581: The core of the Canadian Confederation in 1867". Southern Ontario's Golden Horseshoe and the St. Lawrence lowlands formed Canada's industrial and manufacturing heartland. Stretching from Windsor, Ontario , along the shores of Lake Ontario to Quebec City, the formed a "densely populated urban ribbon at a length of some 1000 km and a width of 100-300 km". The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region of Canada provides drinking water to over 8.5 million Canadians. The region holds "largest freshwater system in

10375-576: The country and consists of written text and unwritten conventions. The Constitution Act, 1867 (known as the British North America Act, 1867 prior to 1982), affirmed governance based on parliamentary precedent and divided powers between the federal and provincial governments. The Statute of Westminster, 1931 , granted full autonomy, and the Constitution Act, 1982 , ended all legislative ties to Britain, as well as adding

10500-421: The country, particularly in the interior and Prairie provinces, which experience a continental climate , where daily average temperatures are near −15  °C (5  °F ), but can drop below −40 °C (−40 °F) with severe wind chills . In non-coastal regions, snow can cover the ground for almost six months of the year, while in parts of the north snow can persist year-round. Coastal British Columbia has

10625-597: The early 1930s saw an economic downturn, leading to hardship across the country. In response to the downturn, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in Saskatchewan introduced many elements of a welfare state (as pioneered by Tommy Douglas ) in the 1940s and 1950s. On the advice of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King , war with Germany was declared effective September 10, 1939, by King George VI , seven days after

10750-633: The emergence of a new Canadian identity , marked by the adoption of the maple leaf flag in 1965, the implementation of official bilingualism (English and French) in 1969, and the institution of official multiculturalism in 1971. Socially democratic programs were also instituted, such as Medicare , the Canada Pension Plan , and Canada Student Loans ; though, provincial governments, particularly Quebec and Alberta, opposed many of these as incursions into their jurisdictions. Finally, another series of constitutional conferences resulted in

10875-693: The exact demarcation of the Alaska–Yukon and Alaska–BC border. Following three constitutional conferences, the British North America Act, 1867 officially proclaimed Canadian Confederation on July 1, 1867, initially with four provinces: Ontario , Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. Canada assumed control of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory to form the Northwest Territories , where

11000-549: The exposed area of the shield covers approximately 8,000,000 km (3,100,000 sq mi). The true extent of the shield is greater still and stretches from the Western Cordillera in the west to the Appalachians in the east and as far south as Texas , but these regions are overlaid with much younger rocks and sediment. The Canadian Shield is among the oldest geologic areas on Earth, with regions dating from 2.5 to 4.2 billion years. The multitude of rivers and lakes in

11125-416: The federal government and the 10 provinces. Provincial legislatures are unicameral and operate in parliamentary fashion similar to the House of Commons. Canada's three territories also have legislatures, but these are not sovereign, have fewer constitutional responsibilities than the provinces, and differ structurally from their provincial counterparts. The Constitution of Canada is the supreme law of

11250-511: The giant Manicouagan Reservoir is the site of an extensive hydroelectric project (Manic-cinq, or Manic-5). This is one of the largest-known meteorite impact craters on Earth , though not as large as the Sudbury crater. The Flin Flon greenstone belt in central Manitoba and east-central Saskatchewan "is one of the largest Paleoproterozoic volcanic-hosted massive sulfide ( VMS ) districts in

11375-482: The growth of an independence movement in contrast to the Thirteen Colonies. The Proclamation and the Quebec Act in turn angered many residents of the Thirteen Colonies, further fuelling anti-British sentiment in the years prior to the American Revolution . After the successful American War of Independence, the 1783 Treaty of Paris recognized the independence of the newly formed United States and set

11500-462: The introduction of European cattle farms and wheat fields dominating the land. The Indigenous peoples saw widespread famine and disease due to the loss of the bison and their traditional hunting lands. The federal government did provide emergency relief, on condition of the Indigenous peoples moving to the reserves. During this time, Canada introduced the Indian Act extending its control over

11625-521: The late 18th century, European Canadians forced Indigenous peoples to assimilate into a western Canadian society. Settler colonialism reached a climax in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A period of redress began with the formation of a reconciliation commission by the Government of Canada in 2008. This included acknowledgment of cultural genocide , settlement agreements , and betterment of racial discrimination issues, such as addressing

11750-675: The later wars of the period constituted the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War . Mainland Nova Scotia came under British rule with the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht and Canada and most of New France came under British rule in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 established First Nation treaty rights, created the Province of Quebec out of New France, and annexed Cape Breton Island to Nova Scotia. St John's Island (now Prince Edward Island ) became

11875-604: The lower St Lawrence Estuary, hemmed in on the north shore by the Canadian Shield and on the south which faces into the flow of the river, has accreted alluvial soils from the Great Lakes basin. Huge glacial seas such as Lake Agassiz , and the Champlain Sea (in the east), and vast, continent-wide 2 kilometres thick ice sheets contributed to the formation of the region. The present form of Great Lakes–St. Lawrence basin developed about 7,000 years ago. It began to emerge from glacial sheets about 14,000 years ago. The extent of

12000-626: The lowlands of the lower St. Lawrence at the Thousand Islands by the Frontenac Axis , where ancient granite of the Canadian Shield cross over and become the Adirondacks . The next notable pinching occurs at Quebec City, where again the Shield meets the shore. Anticosti Island and Newfoundland , both being islands, are separated by stretches of open saltwater. Due to the presence of a deep fault line, this water eventually siphoned into

12125-788: The main front in the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom . Peace came in 1815; no boundaries were changed. Immigration resumed at a higher level, with over 960,000 arrivals from Britain between 1815 and 1850. New arrivals included refugees escaping the Great Irish Famine as well as Gaelic -speaking Scots displaced by the Highland Clearances . Infectious diseases killed between 25 and 33 percent of Europeans who immigrated to Canada before 1891. The desire for responsible government resulted in

12250-404: The majority residing in urban areas and large areas of the country being sparsely populated. Canada's capital is Ottawa and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto , Montreal , and Vancouver . Indigenous peoples have continuously inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years. Beginning in the 16th century, British and French expeditions explored and later settled along

12375-518: The middle and included cities such as Ottawa–Gatineau, Montréal, Trois-Rivières and Québec in this ecoregion. StatsCan said that, by 2006, 80 percent of the St. Lawrence Lowlands were covered by forests and cropland. The ecoregion produced 38.5 percent of Canada's total corn cropland, 22.6 percent of Canada's maple tree taps, 23.6 percent of the "Canadian pig population and 32.9 percent of Canadian dairy cows". The Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands terrestrial region overlaps with Mixedwood Plains Ecozone ,

12500-688: The monarch, the House of Commons, and the Senate . While Canada inherited the British concept of parliamentary supremacy , this was later, with the enactment of the Constitution Act, 1982, all but completely superseded by the American notion of the supremacy of the law . Each of the 338 members of Parliament in the House of Commons is elected by simple plurality in an electoral district or riding. The Constitution Act, 1982 , requires that no more than five years pass between elections, although

12625-413: The most northerly parts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Hydrologic drainage is generally poor, the soil compacting effects of glaciation being one of the many causes. Tundra typically prevails in the northern regions. Many mammals such as beaver , caribou , white-tailed deer , moose , wolves , wolverines , weasels , mink , otters , grizzly bear , polar bears and black bears are present. In

12750-580: The most prominent geological features include the Niagara Escarpment and the Frontenac Axis . The Niagara Escarpment bifurcates the region from Niagara Falls to the northern tip of the Bruce Peninsula , then extends to Manitoulin Island . The Frontenac Axis , is an exposure of Canadian shield rocks that extends south to the St. Lawrence River near Kingston, creating the Thousand Islands. Peninsular Ontario lowlands are separated from

12875-632: The name of Henry VII of England . In 1534, French explorer Jacques Cartier explored the Gulf of Saint Lawrence where, on July 24, he planted a 10-metre (33 ft) cross bearing the words, "long live the King of France", and took possession of the territory New France in the name of King Francis I . The early 16th century saw European mariners with navigational techniques pioneered by the Basque and Portuguese establish seasonal whaling and fishing outposts along

13000-595: The north by the Canadian Shield and by three of the Great Lakes — Lake Huron , Lake Erie , and Lake Ontario , and extends along the Saint Lawrence River to the Strait of Belle Isle The St. Lawrence Lowlands ecoregion includes the Ottawa River and the St. Lawrence River lowlands. The Frontenac Axis , a wedge of the Canadian Shield that protruded southwards into the northern United States, separates

13125-488: The ocean. Thus, the primary defining historic feature of the lowlands is the presence of deep soils within the watershed and estuary of the St. Lawrence River. This feature occurs in more than one distinct Peninsular Ontario south and west of and the surrounding area, including the lower Ottawa Valley and St. Lawrence below the Thousand Islands , as far as Quebec City . A narrow ribbon of land along both shores of

13250-430: The oldest sites of human habitation in Canada. The characteristics of Indigenous societies included permanent settlements, agriculture, complex societal hierarchies, and trading networks. Some of these cultures had collapsed by the time European explorers arrived in the late 15th and early 16th centuries and have only been discovered through archeological investigations. Indigenous peoples in present-day Canada include

13375-565: The permafrost is uncertain because the Arctic has been warming at three times the global average as a result of climate change in Canada . Canada's annual average temperature over land has risen by 1.7 °C (3.1 °F), with changes ranging from 1.1 to 2.3 °C (2.0 to 4.1 °F) in various regions, since 1948. The rate of warming has been higher across the North and in the Prairies. In

13500-552: The plight of missing and murdered Indigenous women . It is believed that the first documented European to explore the east coast of Canada was Norse explorer Leif Erikson . In approximately 1000 AD, the Norse built a small short-lived encampment that was occupied sporadically for perhaps 20 years at L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland . No further European exploration occurred until 1497, when seafarer John Cabot explored and claimed Canada's Atlantic coast in

13625-671: The present-day Maritimes , while fur traders and Catholic missionaries explored the Great Lakes , Hudson Bay , and the Mississippi watershed to Louisiana . The Beaver Wars broke out in the mid-17th century over control of the North American fur trade. The English established additional settlements in Newfoundland in 1610 along with settlements in the Thirteen Colonies to the south. A series of four wars erupted in colonial North America between 1689 and 1763;

13750-488: The provinces collect more revenue than the federal government, equalization payments are made by the federal government to ensure reasonably uniform standards of services and taxation are kept between the richer and poorer provinces. The major difference between a Canadian province and a territory is that provinces receive their sovereignty from the Crown and power and authority from the Constitution Act, 1867 , whereas territorial governments have powers delegated to them by

13875-446: The region is classical example of a deranged drainage system , caused by the watersheds of the area being disturbed by glaciation and the effect of post-glacial rebound . The shield was originally an area of very large, very tall mountains (about 12,000 m or 39,000 ft) with much volcanic activity, but the area was eroded to nearly its current topographic appearance of relatively low relief over 500 Ma. Erosion has exposed

14000-819: The rights they support were reaffirmed by section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 . These rights may include provision of services, such as healthcare through the Indian Health Transfer Policy , and exemption from taxation. Canada is a federation composed of 10 federated states , called provinces, and three federal territories . These may be grouped into four main regions : Western Canada , Central Canada , Atlantic Canada , and Northern Canada ( Eastern Canada refers to Central Canada and Atlantic Canada together). Provinces and territories have responsibility for social programs such as healthcare , education , and social programs , as well as administration of justice (but not criminal law). Although

14125-586: The roots of the mountains, which take the form of greenstone belts in which belts of volcanic rock that have been altered by metamorphism are surrounded by granitic rock. These belts range in age from 3.6 to 2.7 Ga. Much of the granitic rock belongs to the distinctive tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite family of rocks, which are characteristic of Archean continental crust . Many of Canada's major ore deposits are associated with greenstone belts. The Sturgeon Lake Caldera in Kenora District , Ontario,

14250-542: The smallest of Canada's fifteen terrestrial ecozones. The Canadian Shield the largest of the ecozones overlaps with the boreal forest terrestrial ecozone in the Mixedwood Plains Ecozone. The triangular area between three of the Great Lakes — Lake Huron , Lake Erie , and Lake Ontario and the area along the St. Lawrence River are part of the Mixedwood Plains Ecozone. Because of its "rich fertile soils", relatively mild climate, and extensive waterways,

14375-756: The southeast. Canada is also home to the world's northernmost settlement, Canadian Forces Station Alert , on the northern tip of Ellesmere Island —latitude 82.5°N—which lies 817 kilometres (508 mi) from the North Pole. In latitude, Canada's most northerly point of land is Cape Columbia in Nunavut at 83°6′41″N, with its southern extreme at Middle Island in Lake Erie at 41°40′53″N. In longitude, Canada's land extends from Cape Spear , Newfoundland, at 52°37'W, to Mount St. Elias , Yukon Territory, at 141°W. Canada can be divided into seven physiographic regions:

14500-485: The southern regions of Canada, air pollution from both Canada and the United States—caused by metal smelting, burning coal to power utilities, and vehicle emissions—has resulted in acid rain , which has severely impacted waterways, forest growth, and agricultural productivity. Canada is one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters globally , with emissions increased by 16.5 percent between 1990 and 2022. Canada

14625-506: The terms of peace, ceding British North American territories south of the Great Lakes and east of the Mississippi River to the new country. The American war of independence also caused a large out-migration of Loyalists , the settlers who had fought against American independence. Many moved to Canada, particularly Atlantic Canada, where their arrival changed the demographic distribution of the existing territories. New Brunswick

14750-545: The war with a large army and strong economy. The financial crisis of the Great Depression led the Dominion of Newfoundland to relinquish responsible government in 1934 and become a Crown colony ruled by a British governor. After two referendums , Newfoundlanders voted to join Canada in 1949 as a province. Canada's post-war economic growth, combined with the policies of successive Liberal governments, led to

14875-546: The war. The Conscription Crisis of 1917 erupted when the Unionist Cabinet's proposal to augment the military's dwindling number of active members with conscription was met with vehement objections from French-speaking Quebecers. In 1919, Canada joined the League of Nations independently of Britain, and the Statute of Westminster, 1931 , affirmed Canada's independence. The Great Depression in Canada during

15000-439: The world" representing over 80 per cent of freshwater in North America. In 2014, the economy of the Lowlands was valued at about $ CDN 5.8 trillion. About 50 percent of Canada's industrial capacity is in this region. With the abundance of water and fertile soil, the Lowlands account for about 25 percent of "Canada's agricultural capacity." With its dense population and an economy valued at about $ CDN 5.8 trillion in 2014, industries in

15125-464: The world's longest coastline of 243,042 kilometres (151,019 mi). In addition to sharing the world's largest land border with the United States —spanning 8,891 km (5,525 mi) —Canada shares a land border with Greenland (and hence the Kingdom of Denmark ) to the northeast, on Hans Island , and a maritime boundary with France 's overseas collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon to

15250-481: The world, containing 27 copper - zinc -( gold ) deposits from which more than 183 million tonnes of sulfide have been mined." The portion in the Northwest Territories has recently been the site of several major diamond discoveries. The kimberlite pipes in which the diamonds are found are closely associated with cratons, which provide the deep lithospheric mantle required to stabilize diamond as

15375-523: The year. Forests are not as dense in the north. The shield is covered in parts by vast boreal forests in the south that support natural ecosystems as well as a major logging industry. The boreal forest area gives way to the Eastern Canadian Shield taiga that covers northern Quebec and most of Labrador. The Midwestern Canadian Shield forests that run westwards from Northwestern Ontario have boreal forests that give way to taiga in

15500-696: Was in turn split from Nova Scotia as part of a reorganization of Loyalist settlements in the Maritimes, which led to the incorporation of Saint John, New Brunswick , as Canada's first city. To accommodate the influx of English-speaking Loyalists in Central Canada, the Constitutional Act of 1791 divided the province of Canada into French-speaking Lower Canada (later Quebec ) and English-speaking Upper Canada (later Ontario ), granting each its own elected legislative assembly. The Canadas were

15625-430: Was passed by Parliament, outlining the terms of a negotiated departure from Confederation. In addition to the issues of Quebec sovereignty, a number of crises shook Canadian society in the late 1980s and early 1990s. These included the explosion of Air India Flight 182 in 1985, the largest mass murder in Canadian history; the École Polytechnique massacre in 1989, a university shooting targeting female students; and

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