$Unique_ID{COW00721}
$Pretitle{408}
$Title{Canada
Chapter 1.    The Land and Environment}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Ivan P. Fellegi}
$Affiliation{Statistics Canada}
$Subject{region
canada
resources
water
environmental
environment
climate
area
plains
shield}
$Date{1990}
$Log{Ste. Luce, Que.*0072105.scf
Northwest Territories*0072115.scf
}
Country:     Canada
Book:        Canada Handbook
Author:      Ivan P. Fellegi
Affiliation: Statistics Canada
Date:        1990

Chapter 1.    The Land and Environment

Geography

     Canada can be divided into six major regions to help comprehend the
similarities and differences from place to place across its vast area. These
regions are: the Atlantic Provinces, the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands,
the Canadian Shield, the Interior Plains, the Cordillera and the Northwest
Territories. The criteria for defining these regions differ; some correspond
to landform areas, whereas others are political units. Following are
summaries of the characteristics and definitions of each region.

     The Atlantic Provinces are mainly defined politically and include the
three Maritime provinces-New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward
Island-and the island of Newfoundland. Two of the distinctive characteristics
of this region are a relatively fragmented economy and a dispersed
population.

     The Atlantic provinces region differs from the rest of the country in
several physical characteristics such as its low hills and mountains and its
rugged, indented coastline. With the exception of Prince Edward Island, which
is mainly agricultural land, each of the Atlantic provinces consists of a
largely uninhabited centre with bands of continuous, dispersed settlement
along the coasts and in major valleys. A resource base that is relatively
dominant in sea, forest and mineral resources rather than agricultural
resources has led to a pattern of dispersed settlement with relatively few
large cities. This resource base has also resulted in the existence of a
large number of single-industry towns, dispersed along the coastlines.

     Distribution patterns are not static in any region; they change over
time. The geography of agriculture and fishing in the Atlantic provinces
illustrates these changing patterns. Most of the former part-time and
subsistence farms, located on the poorer soils, on steeper slopes and away
from main roads have been abandoned; the distribution of commercial farms is
now much more closely associated with improved roads and access to the larger
cities.

     There have also been changes in the fishing industry, from dispersal to
concentration. In Newfoundland mainly, and to a lesser extent in Nova Scotia,
the small fishing "outports" or villages were dispersed along the coast in
sheltered bays, near headlands, or on islands. Fishermen are now tending to
concentrate in larger towns near the processing or freezing plants where
there are also more health, educational and social services.

     The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands region is clearly bounded-to the
south by the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River and the international
boundary, and to the north by the escarpment of the Canadian Shield. This
northern boundary between the contrasting high intensity agricultural and
urban pattern of the Lowlands, and the higher, forested and sparsely settled
land of the Shield is often highly visible in the landscape.

     The relatively small Lowlands region, which extends across southern
Ontario and southern Quebec, holds more than half of Canada's population and
produces about three-quarters of the value of its manufactured goods. Due to
good soils, a mild climate and a large nearby market, intensive agriculture
is another of its major characteristics. This most densely populated region
of Canada has more large cities (population over 100,000) than any other
part of the nation. Its two largest cities, Toronto and Montreal, each have
a metropolitan area population of more than 3 million. Due to its
concentration of population, industry and agriculture, this region is the
"heartland" of Canada.

     Although strong links of commerce and transportation have been in
existence within this region, the settlement pattern reflects two distinct
cultures. In Quebec, the St. Lawrence Valley was settled more than three
centuries ago by French emigrants; the Ontario section was colonized,
beginning in the 1780s, by mainly English-speaking people. The rural
landscape of southern Quebec, with its long, narrow farms, is distinct within
Canada, and contrasts with the rectangular farms and dispersed farmhouse of
southern Ontario. The rural villages of Ontario, with their small, compact
central business sections and rectangular street patterns contrast with the
linear Quebec villages in which residential and commercial uses are often
interspersed.

     In addition to a prosperous intensive agriculture, a closely-linked
urban system has evolved. The activities in industry, commerce, transport,
service and recreation of more than 13 million people in the Lowlands are all
closely interrelated.

[See Ste. Luce, Que.: Silhouette of a village at sunset, Ste. Luce, Que.]

     The Canadian Shield is another landform region, defined on the basis
of its exposed ancient Precambrian rock base. Its physical environmental
characteristics of bare rocks, forests and lakes are quite distinct from the
Lowlands. Because it is a huge area, there is environmental diversity within
this region, but there are also large areas of similarity. The southern part
of the Canadian Shield is known for its vast natural resources which are
functionally linked to the heartland region. The northwestern part of the
Shield has a different surface environment and different human use and is
included as part of the Northwest Territories. Settlement in the northern
region is generally in communities of aboriginal Canadians.

     The enormous Shield occupies about half of the mainland of Canada. It is
a region of forests, lakes and rocks; it is a region of few people, mainly
living in communities. The southern Shield has a resource-based economy; its
products-minerals, wood and waterpower-are exported outside of the region or
outside of Canada. Many of the raw materials of the Shield move to the
Lowlands for processing or consumption; a reverse flow of people comes into
the Shield for recreation or holidays.

     The Interior Plains are sharply bounded on the west by the high wall of
the Rocky Mountains, but on the east and north the geological and landform
edge of the Shield is often hidden beneath former glacial lakebed deposits or
by coniferous forest. The Plains are the largest area of nearly level land in
Canada; human use of this region is characterized by large grain farms, and
by ranching. Although all of the Prairie provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan
and Alberta) might be discussed as a political region, corresponding to
provincial boundaries, the environmental, economic and human characteristics
of the Shield sections of northern Manitoba and northern Saskatchewan are
very different from the Plains.

     The words "flat, prairie, wheat and petroleum" might well characterize
the environment and resources of the Interior Plains of Canada. Although
these words accurately describe certain outstanding parts of the Plains'
environment and economy, they do not tell of the variety found within the
region. It is true that large areas of the Plains are very flat, but the
landform regions include hills, escarpments, entrenched river valleys and
even low mountains; although prairie grasslands of varying height once covered
the southern Plains prior to cultivation, now more than half of the region
is forested; although wheat became a staple crop for export after the land
was subdivided for settlement, other grains were also grown and several new
crops now occupy significant acreages; although petroleum was important in
diversifying the Plains' economy after 1947, other fuels and minerals have
become significant in particular parts.

     One of the geographical characteristics of the Interior Plains is the
geometric spacing of its villages, towns and cities. The size and function
of Prairie villages and towns are related to the number of farmers in the
surrounding area needing certain urban goods and services. Other specialized
items and services, needed less frequently, tend to be located in larger
cities where they can serve more people locally and also be available to
people from a larger surrounding rural area.

     The Cordillera is a mountainous region which coincides closely, but not
entirely with the political limits of British Columbia and Yukon. The level
section of northeastern British Columbia is part of the Interior Plains. The
geography of the Cordillera is characterized by great contrasts within small
areas in the physical environment and in population densities. Only a small
part of the land in this region is settled; agriculture is entirely lacking
over large areas or is confined to certain narrow valleys or flood plains.
The urban population is concentrated in a small area of southwestern British
Columbia where 75 per cent of the population lives. Most settlements
throughout the remainder of the Cordillera are based on exploitation of a
natural resource or on providing services to the agricultural and resource
sectors. In its strong dependence on resource, the economy and to an extent
the settlement pattern are similar to those of the Canadian Shield and the
Atlantic provinces region.

     The original commercial forestry developed in the southwest, on Vancouver
Island and adjacent areas along the Strait of Georgia, and the wood-processing
industry is still concentrated there. However, after 1950, growing world
demand, plus increased rail and road access to the little used forest reserves
of the interior permitted a more widespread pattern of forestry activity in
British Columbia.

     The West Coast fishery has different areal patterns than those on the
Atlantic Coast. The western industry has adapted to the natural habits and
migrations of the five main species of salmon. Fish canneries were established
at or near the mouths of most rivers all along the coast early in this
century, but the greatest concentrations were at the mouths of the Fraser
and Skeena rivers since these rivers had the largest drainage basins and
thus the most fish production. Fishing technology gradually improved so that
larger and faster fishing vessels, with better gear, could harvest a larger
area away from the river mouths; thus the need for many small dispersed
canneries decreased, and the processing industry concentrated into large
canneries near the mouths of the Fraser and Skeena rivers. The relative lack
of coastal fishing settlements contrasts with the type of fishery settlement
in Eastern Canada.

     Through more than a century of mining the geographical patterns of
development have been consistent. At the turn of this century southeastern
British Columbia was one of the important mining areas of Canada while the
rest of the provinces was struggling to create a viable economy. This region
is still a major mining and smelting area, but these activities have become
important in other parts of British Columbia, with coal in the southeast and
northeast, and non-ferrous metals in other parts of the province.
Mineralization is widespread throughout the Yukon Territory, but the
relatively few mines are found only in its southern part or in areas where the
high cost of new road access has been justified by the size of the operation.

     The Cordilleran region is known for its spectacular mountain
landforms - the only other comparable mountainous area of Canada is the
northeastern Arctic. Although the Cordilleran mountains seem to be a jumbled
mass of peaks when viewed locally, and stretch endlessly to the horizon when
seen from the air, they have specific patterns and can be classified into
smaller sub-regional landform units. The Rocky Mountains, for example, are a
specific line of mountain ranges extending from Montana along part of the
Alberta-British Columbia border to the broad plain of the Liard River in
northeastern British Columbia. The Rockies are bounded by the Interior Plains
to the east and by the Rocky Mountain Trench to the west. The trench is one of
the world's longest continuous valleys, extending from Montana to southern
Yukon.

     The Northwest Territories are defined by political boundaries and lack
the uniformity of certain physical or economic criteria used to describe other
regions of Canada. This region is characterized by diversity of its natural
environments, a comparative lack of developed resources and scanty population.
Within the huge area of the Territories there are two sub-regions: the
subarctic Mackenzie River Valley in the west and the arctic area of islands
and north-central mainland.

     The agricultural and forestry uses of this enormous area are minor in the
subarctic and entirely lacking in the arctic sections. Not only are summers
too cool in the arctic part but its landscape is characterized by bare,
glacially-scoured rock without agricultural soils. More favourable summer
conditions in the Mackenzie Valley would permit the possibility of some types
of agriculture, but the lack of large local markets discourages agriculture as
an occupation.

     This is the only region of Canada in which undomesticated animal
resources are a significant element in the local economy. Game resources are
still significant to some Mackenzie Valley Indians and for many Inuit the sea
remains an important source of food. For both groups, however, animals
constitute a decreasing percentage of their food intake.

     Mineral resources are a major contributor to the economic base of the
Northwest Territories. However, development of some resources has been
hampered by difficulties of water transport in seas that are ice-covered for
nine to 12 months of the year.

     As in other regions of sparse population in Canada, the total natural
environment, or scenery, may attract short-term visitors. The vague "lure of
the North", and the chance to see a different environment and different people
may yet be one of the most valuable elements in the arctic resources base.

The Climate

     Climate is both a resource and a liability. As a resource, it provides
the heat and moisture that are essential for life; it is a basis for
agriculture, it provides warm lakes for swimmers and snow for skiers, and it
drives ocean currents. Drought, floods and hurricanes are among its hazards;
they can destroy life, damage property and inconvenience people, often
disrupting normal social and economic activities within a community. Changes
in climate, over long periods of time, can drastically alter regional
economies by modifying the ecosystems that are fundamental to their way of
life.

     The heat, cold, precipitation and wind of Canadian weather are
exploitable resources. Definition of the nature of climatic resources has been
a major occupation over the past century - in the planning of land use
(particularly for agriculture), in the development of water supplies and in
the development of drainage and irrigation systems. The trend to increased
productivity through fuller exploitation of climatic energy, light and
moisture sources is increasing as natural resource supplies diminish.

     Renewable resources are the basis of much of Canada's industry; they
provide the necessities of life - food, drink and shelter - and earn about
one-half of our export dollars. These resources depend primarily on climate.
Resource management and use must therefore be based on an understanding of
climate, and the use of weather and climate forecasts for improved
productivity.

     The extraction and use of other resources are also highly
climate-dependent. Oil and gas, for example, are used to offset cold, snow and
heat. Climate-dependent ice fields and weather control the economics of arctic
development. Much of our industrial energy is generated from climate-dependent
water resources and water is used extensively in processing - for example, up
to 22 m^3 (cubic metres) to refine one cubic metre of petroleum and 3,000
m^3 to make one tonne of synthetic rubber.

     On the other hand, the impact of industry, cities and people on the
atmospheric environment places an upper limit on certain types of economic
endeavour. Economic activity must therefore be tailored by an understanding of
the environment, man's influence thereon and the capacity of the atmosphere to
safely disperse industrial effluents. The interactions of weather, ecology and
economy require understanding.

     Climatic hazards stand out in our memory because of their great impact on
society and their resulting newsworthiness. Canada, like most countries in
temperate and polar regions, has a fluctuating climate that has caused
crises from the times of early settlement. Direct economic losses have been
caused by various notable weather events in Canada. A number of these events
are recognized historically as major disasters.

     Agriculture and forestry are among the activities that are particularly
vulnerable to weather extremes. Weather forecasts and planning information are
therefore essential in coping with major hazards, such as drought, frost,
hail, excessive rainfall, flood, wind, snow, and winterkill, as well as
climatically influenced diseases, epidemics and insect infestations. Forest
fire costs average about $23 million per year and have been as high as $184
million.

     Precipitation is the primary source of surface water supplies and
evaporation is the major consumer. Planning, public and political conviction
and economic decisions as to the viability of a hydrologic system are
therefore frequently dependent on climatology. The magnitude and reliability
of supplies is dictated by rainfall and snowfall characteristics. Flood
prevention, irrigation, urban water demands, storm-sewer capacity and culvert
size are all dependent on climate. The operation of water containment systems
for flood control and conservation of water in times of drought is contingent
on reliable weather and climate forecasts.

     Development of Canada's resources poses major environmental problems in
which climatology must play a significant role. For example, sulphur dioxide
and other gaseous emissions form industrial processes such as refining and
smelting are returned to earth as acidic precipitation and as such are
destroying vegetation over vast land areas. The capacity of the atmosphere to
disperse contaminants is of increasing concern. Safety and security from
natural hazards are major factors to be considered in offshore drilling,
pipelining, the transmission of electrical energy and the operation of nuclear
generating stations.

     Environmental impact assessments are an essential defence against
undesirable environmental effects of man's activities, both deliberate and
inadvertent. In preparing an assessment, developers are forced to consider the
side effects of their proposals over the short, medium and long terms, and of
possible alternatives, one of which is not to proceed. The decision
process can generate much public discussion and possible program change.
Subsequent climate monitoring and impact studies are important.

Environment

     Environment Canada has a mandate to foster harmony between society and
the environment for the economic, social and cultural benefits of present and
future generations of Canadians.

Environmental Research

     Conservation and Protection, a service of Environment Canada, is
concerned with the management and development of Canada's water and land
resources, migratory birds management and other national and international
wildlife issues. Additional concerns are the prevention, reduction or
elimination of adverse environmental threats from new developments; releases
of pollutants; and the use of hazardous chemicals. Conservation and Protection
provides advice for cleaning up harmful substances that have been spilled and
makes major contributions to be research and monitoring of the impacts of
toxic substances and acid rain on the environment. This service consists of
three decentralized sectors (Inland Waters Conservation, Wildlife Conservation
and Environmental Protection).

     The Inland Waters Conservation Sector is involved in planning,
implementing and participating in federal-provincial and international water
management policies and programs. The sector collects, analyzes, archives and
distributes data; provides information and advice to users on the quantity
and quality of Canada's inland water resources; carries out research; and
provides information on nationally significant water management problems.

     A water quantity monitoring system has been in operation in Canada since
1909. Water level and flow data are collected from over 3,500 locations across
Canada under cost-shared agreements with all the provinces and the Northwest
Territories. An integrated water quality monitoring network is being
established to provide comprehensive chemical and micro-biological data on
water supplies across Canada. Analysis and interpretation of the collected
water quantity and quality data, and basic and applied research influence
decisions governing the expenditure of billions of dollars at all levels of
government and private industry on sewage and drinking water treatment, health
costs, tourism and recreation, fisheries, hydro power, agriculture and
industrial use.

     The Wildlife Conservation Sector (Canadian Wildlife Service) conducts
programs to maintain or enhance migratory bird and other wildlife populations
and their habitats. It surveys and regulates waterfowl hunting in Canada and
works to conserve "non-game" bird populations such as seabirds, shorebirds
and songbirds. To protect migratory bird habitat, 44 national wildlife areas
and 99 migratory bird sanctuaries have been established across Canada. This
sector conducts research and conservation programs on endangered species and
other wildlife of national and international interest; conserves critical
wildlife habitat; and assists the provinces and territories with their
wildlife conservation efforts. It also promotes the environmentally sound use
and management of Canada's land resources in keeping with federal
responsibilities and national objectives.

     The Environmental Protection Sector ensures that polluters comply with
federally-set standards and environmental quality objectives. This sector is
responsible for controlling the amounts of pollutants introduced into the
environment and for reducing environmental losses from inappropriate or
willful releases of toxic chemicals. It contains or restricts the use of
hazardous substances and ensures that spills and waste sites which cause
environmental damage are cleaned-up. This sector is the primary contact point
on environmental protection matters with other federal departments, industry,
international, provincial and municipal governments and agencies, and the
general public.

     The Atmospheric Environment Service (AES) provides weather warnings,
forecasts and climate information for the safety and economic well-being of
all Canadians. Research scientists also study the chemistry of the atmosphere,
probing such key phenomena as climate change, acid rain, depletion of the
ozone layer and the transport of toxic pollutants. AES has nine
state-of-the-art weather centres, 62 weather offices, 14 weather radar sites
and 32 upper-air stations. The service is also responsible for ice
reconnaissance and ice research to aid shipping in the Arctic, off the
Atlantic Coast and in inland waters.

     The Environmental Assessment and Review Process determines potential
environmental and directly related social impacts of all proposals to be
undertaken by the federal government or in which the government is involved.
This is done early in planning before irrevocable decisions are taken. The
process applies to any federal department, board, or agency, and to any
regulatory body or Crown corporation where legislation permits.

     Northern Research. Canada has long recognized the contribution research
makes to the socio-economic development of the North. Moreover, the Canadian
North has some unique characteristics that are of particular interest to the
scientific community.

     The Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development has designed
certain long-term measures to encourage and support northern research. The
training of graduate students is assisted by special grants administered by
the department. In addition, substantial programs of applied problem-oriented
research have been organized, such as: the Arctic Land Use Research program;
the environmental-social program; the Eastern Arctic Marine Environmental
Studies; the Beaufort Sea project; oil-spill studies; waste disposal studies;
and regional socio-economic studies.

[See Northwest Territories: Travel in the harsh frigid climate of the
Northwest Territories.]