Canada

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For other uses, see Canada (disambiguation).

Canada

Flag

Coat of arms

Motto: A mari usque ad mare (Latin)

"From Sea to Sea"

Anthem: "O Canada"

Duration: 1 minute and 24 seconds.1:24

Royal anthem: "God Save the King"[1]

Duration: 51 seconds.0:51

Capital Ottawa
45°24′N 75°40′W
 Largest city Toronto

 English
Official languages
 French

Demonym(s) Canadian

Government Federal parliamentary constitutional

monarchy

• Monarch Charles III

• Governor General Mary Simon
• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Legislature Parliament

• Upper house Senate

• Lower house House of Commons

Independence
from the United Kingdom
• Confederation July 1, 1867
• Statute of Westminster, December 11, 1931
1931
• Patriation April 17, 1982

Area
• Total area 9,984,670 km2 (3,855,100 sq mi) (2nd)
• Water (%) 11.76 (2015)[2]
• Total land area 9,093,507 km2 (3,511,023 sq mi)

Population
• 2024 Q1 estimate 40,769,890[3] (36th)

• 2021 census 36,991,981[4]

• Density 4.2/km2 (10.9/sq mi) (236th)

GDP (PPP) 2024 estimate

• Total $2.472 trillion[5] (16th)

• Per capita $60,495[5] (28th)

GDP (nominal) 2024 estimate

• Total $2.242 trillion[5] (10th)

• Per capita $54,866[5] (18th)

Gini (2024) 29.2[6]

low

HDI (2022) 0.935[7]

very high (18th)
 Currency Canadian dollar ($) (CAD)

Time zone UTC−3.5 to −8

• Summer (DST) UTC−2.5 to −7

Internet TLD .ca

Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend
from 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. It is a sparsely inhabited country of
40 million people, the vast majority residing south of the 55th parallel in urban areas.
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 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 and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom,
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 is the prime minister,
who holds office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the
elected House of Commons and is "called upon" 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
gender equality. It is one of the world's most ethnically
diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration.
A developed country, Canada has a high nominal per capita income globally and its
advanced economy ranks among the largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its
abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade networks.
Recognized as 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.
Etymology
Main article: Name of Canada
While a variety of theories have been postulated for the etymological origins
of Canada, the name is now accepted as coming from the St. Lawrence
Iroquoian word kanata, meaning "village" or "settlement".[8] 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.[9] 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);[9] by 1545, European books and maps had
begun referring to this small region along the Saint Lawrence River as Canada.[9]
From the 16th to the early 18th century, "Canada" referred to the part of New
France that lay along the Saint Lawrence River.[10] In 1791, the area became two
British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada. These two colonies were
collectively named the Canadas until their union as the British Province of Canada in
1841.[11]
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.[12] By the 1950s, the term Dominion of Canada was no longer used by
the United Kingdom, which considered Canada a "realm of the Commonwealth".[13]
The Canada Act 1982, which brought 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.[14] The term Dominion was
used to distinguish the federal government from the provinces, though after
the Second World War the term federal had replaced dominion.[15]
History
Main article: History of Canada
Further information: Timeline of Canadian history and Historiography of Canada
Indigenous peoples
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.
[16][17]
The Paleo-Indian archeological sites at Old Crow Flats and Bluefish Caves are
two of the oldest sites of human habitation in Canada.[18] The characteristics of
Indigenous societies included permanent settlements, agriculture, complex societal
hierarchies, and trading networks.[19][20] 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.[21] Indigenous peoples in
present-day Canada include the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis,[22] 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.[22]
 A map of Canada showing the percent
of self-reported indigenous identity (First Nations, Inuit, Métis) by census division,
according to the 2021 Canadian census [23]

The Indigenous population at the time of the first European settlements is estimated
to have been between 200,000[24] and two million,[25] with a figure of 500,000 accepted
by Canada's Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.[26] As a consequence of
European colonization, the Indigenous population declined by forty to eighty percent
and several First Nations, such as the Beothuk, disappeared.[27] The decline is
attributed to several causes, including the transfer of European diseases, such
as influenza, measles, and smallpox, to which they had no natural immunity,[24]
[28]
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.[29][30]
Although not without conflict, European Canadians' early interactions with First
Nations and Inuit populations were relatively peaceful.[31] First Nations and Métis
peoples played 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.[32] These early
European interactions with First Nations would change from friendship and peace
treaties to the dispossession of Indigenous lands through treaties.[33][34] From the late
18th century, European Canadians forced Indigenous peoples to assimilate into a
western Canadian society.[35] These attempts reached a climax in the late 19th and
early 20th centuries with forced integration through state-funded boarding schools,
[36]
health-care segregation,[37] and displacement.[38] A period of redress began with the
formation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada by the Government
of Canada in 2008.[39] This included recognition of past colonial
injustices and settlement agreements and betterment of racial discrimination issues,
such as addressing the plight of missing and murdered Indigenous women.[39][40]
European colonization
 Map of territorial claims in North America by
1750. Possessions of British America (pink), New France (blue), and New
Spain (orange); California, Pacific Northwest, and Great Basin not indicated. [41]

It is believed that the first documented European to explore the east coast of Canada
was Norse explorer Leif Erikson.[42][43] 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.[44] No further European
exploration occurred until 1497, when seafarer John Cabot explored and claimed
Canada's Atlantic coast in the name of Henry VII of England.[45] 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.[46] The
early 16th century saw European mariners with navigational techniques pioneered
by the Basque and Portuguese establish seasonal whaling and fishing outposts
along the Atlantic coast.[47] 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.[48][49]
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.[50] In 1600, the French established their first seasonal trading post
at Tadoussac along the Saint Lawrence.[44] 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).[51] Among
the colonists of New France, Canadiens extensively settled the Saint Lawrence River
valley and Acadians settled the present-day Maritimes, while fur traders and Catholic
missionaries explored the Great Lakes, Hudson Bay, and the Mississippi
watershed to Louisiana.[52] The Beaver Wars broke out in the mid-17th century over
control of the North American fur trade.[53]
The English established additional settlements in Newfoundland in 1610 along with
settlements in the Thirteen Colonies to the south.[54][55] A series of four wars erupted in
colonial North America between 1689 and 1763; the later wars of the period
constituted the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War.[56] 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. [57]
British North America
 Benjamin West's The Death of General Wolfe (1771)
dramatizes James Wolfe's death during the Battle of the Plains of
Abraham at Quebec City. [58]

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.[14] St John's Island (now Prince Edward Island) became a separate
colony in 1769.[59] To avert conflict in Quebec, the British Parliament passed
the Quebec Act 1774, expanding Quebec's territory to the Great Lakes and Ohio
Valley.[60] 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.[61] It re-established the French language, Catholic faith,
and French civil law there, staving off the growth of an independence movement in
contrast to the Thirteen Colonies.[62] 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.[14]
After the successful American War of Independence, the 1783 Treaty of
Paris recognized the independence of the newly formed United States and set the
terms of peace, ceding British North American territories south of the Great Lakes
and east of the Mississippi River to the new country.[63] 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 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.[64] 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.[65]

War of 1812 heroine Laura Secord warning British

commander James FitzGibbon of an impending American attack at Beaver Dams [66]

The Canadas were the main front in the War of 1812 between the United States and
the United Kingdom. Peace came in 1815; no boundaries were changed.
[67]
Immigration resumed at a higher level, with over 960,000 arrivals from Britain
between 1815 and 1850.[68] New arrivals included refugees escaping the Great Irish
Famine as well as Gaelic-speaking Scots displaced by the Highland Clearances.
[69]
Infectious diseases killed between 25 and 33 percent of Europeans who
immigrated to Canada before 1891.[24]
The desire for responsible government resulted in the abortive Rebellions of 1837.
[70]
The Durham Report subsequently recommended responsible government and the
assimilation of French Canadians into English culture.[14] 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.[71] The signing of the Oregon Treaty by Britain and 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).[72] 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 the exact demarcation of the
Alaska–Yukon and Alaska–BC border.[73]
Confederation and expansion

Animated map showing the growth and

change of Canada's provinces and territories since Confederation in 1867 [74]

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.[75][76] Canada assumed
control of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory to form the Northwest
Territories, where the Métis' grievances ignited the Red River Rebellion and the
creation of the province of Manitoba in July 1870.[77] 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,[78] while Prince Edward Island joined in 1873.[79] In 1898, during the Klondike
Gold Rush in the Northwest Territories, Parliament created the Yukon
Territory. Alberta and Saskatchewan became provinces in 1905.[79] Between 1871
and 1896, almost one quarter of the Canadian population emigrated south to the US.
[80]

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 the Dominion Lands Act to regulate
settlement and established the North-West Mounted Police to assert authority over
the territory.[81][82] This period of westward expansion and nation building resulted in
the displacement of many Indigenous peoples of the Canadian Prairies to "Indian
reserves",[83] clearing the way for ethnic European block settlements.[84] This caused
the collapse of the Plains Bison in western Canada and the introduction of
European cattle farms and wheat fields dominating the land.[85] The Indigenous
peoples saw widespread famine and disease due to the loss of the bison and their
traditional hunting lands.[86] The federal government did provide emergency relief, on
condition of the Indigenous peoples moving to the reserves.[87] During this time,
Canada introduced the Indian Act extending its control over the First Nations to
education, government and legal rights.[88]
Early 20th century
1918 Canadian War bond posters depicting three French women pulling a plow that had been constructed for
horses

French version of the poster roughly translates as "They serve France–Everyone can serve; Buy Victory
Bonds".

The same poster in English, with subtle differences in text. "They serve France—How can I serve Canada?
Buy Victory Bonds".

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.[89] 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 the war.[90] Out of
approximately 625,000 Canadians who served in the First World War, some 60,000
were killed and another 172,000 were wounded.[91] 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.[92] The Military Service Act brought in
compulsory military service, though it, coupled with disputes over French language
schools outside Quebec, deeply alienated Francophone Canadians and temporarily
split the Liberal Party.[92] In 1919, Canada joined the League of Nations independently
of Britain,[90] and the Statute of Westminster, 1931, affirmed Canada's independence.
[93]

The Great Depression in Canada during the early 1930s saw an economic downturn,
leading to hardship across the country.[94] 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.[95] 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 the United Kingdom. The delay underscored Canada's independence.[90]
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 and
approximately 42,000 were killed and another 55,000 were wounded.[96] 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 the Battle of the Scheldt in 1944.[90] 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.[97]
The Canadian economy boomed during the war as its industries manufactured
military materiel for Canada, Britain, China, and the Soviet Union.[90] Despite
another Conscription Crisis in Quebec in 1944, Canada finished the war with a large
army and strong economy.[98]
Contemporary era
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.[99] After two referendums, Newfoundlanders voted to join Canada in
1949 as a province.[100]
Canada's post-war economic growth, combined with the policies of successive
Liberal governments, led to the emergence of a new Canadian identity, marked by
the adoption of the maple leaf flag in 1965,[101] the implementation of official
bilingualism (English and French) in 1969,[102] and the institution of official
multiculturalism in 1971.[103] 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.[104]

A copy of the Canadian Charter of Rights and

Freedoms [105]
Finally, another series of constitutional conferences resulted in 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.[106][107][108] Canada had
established complete sovereignty as an independent country under its own
monarchy.[109][110] In 1999, Nunavut became Canada's third territory after a series of
negotiations with the federal government.[111]
At the same time, Quebec underwent profound social and economic changes
through the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, giving birth to a
secular nationalist movement.[112] The radical Front de libération du Québec (FLQ)
ignited the October Crisis with a series of bombings and kidnappings in 1970,[113] 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 the Meech Lake Accord failed in 1990.[114] This led
to the formation of the Bloc Québécois in Quebec and the invigoration of the Reform
Party of Canada in the West.[115][116] A second referendum followed in 1995, in which
sovereignty was rejected by a slimmer margin of 50.6 to 49.4 percent.[117] In 1997,
the Supreme Court ruled unilateral secession by a province would be
unconstitutional, and the Clarity Act was passed by Parliament, outlining the terms of
a negotiated departure from Confederation.[114]
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;[118] the École
Polytechnique massacre in 1989, a university shooting targeting female students;
[119]
and the Oka Crisis of 1990,[120] the first of a number of violent confrontations
between provincial governments and Indigenous groups.[121] 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,[122] and
in Somalia, resulting in an incident that has been described as "the darkest era in the
history of the Canadian military".[123][124] 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.[125][126]
In 2011, Canadian forces participated in the NATO-led intervention into the Libyan
Civil War[127] and also became involved in battling the Islamic State insurgency in Iraq
in the mid-2010s.[128] The country celebrated its sesquicentennial in 2017, three years
before the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada began on January 27, 2020, with
widespread social and economic disruption.[129] In 2021, the possible graves
of hundreds of Indigenous people were discovered near the former sites of Canadian
Indian residential schools.[130] 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.[36]
Geography
Main article: Geography of Canada
Further information: Environment of Canada
 A topographic map of Canada, in polar
projection (for 90° W), showing elevations shaded from green to brown (higher)
By total area (including its waters), Canada is the second-largest country in the
world, after Russia.[131] By land area alone, Canada ranks fourth, due to having the
world's largest area of fresh water lakes.[132] 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 km2 (3,855,100 sq mi) of territory.[133] Canada also
has vast maritime terrain, with the world's longest coastline of 243,042 kilometres
(151,019 mi).[134][135] In addition to sharing the world's largest land border with the
United States—spanning 8,891 km (5,525 mi)[a]—Canada shares a land border
with Greenland (and hence the Kingdom of Denmark) to the northeast, on Hans
Island,[136] and a maritime boundary with France's overseas collectivity of Saint Pierre
and Miquelon to the southeast.[137] 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.[138]
Canada can be divided into seven physiographic regions: 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.[139] 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.[133] The Great Lakes feed the St. Lawrence
River (in the southeast) where the lowlands host much of Canada's economic output.
[133]
Canada has over 2,000,000 lakes—563 of which are larger than
100 km2 (39 sq mi)—containing much of the world's fresh water.[140][141] There are also
fresh-water glaciers in the Canadian Rockies, the Coast Mountains, and the Arctic
Cordillera.[142] Canada is geologically active, having many earthquakes and potentially
active volcanoes, notably Mount Meager massif, Mount Garibaldi, Mount Cayley, and
the Mount Edziza volcanic complex.[143]
Climate
Main article: Temperature in Canada
 Köppen climate classification types of
Canada
Average winter and summer high temperatures across Canada vary from region to
region. Winters can be harsh in many parts of 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.[144] 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 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).[145]
Much of Northern Canada is covered by ice and permafrost. The future of the
permafrost is uncertain because the Arctic has been warming at three times the
global average as a result of climate change in Canada.[146] 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.[133] The rate of warming has been
higher across the North and in the Prairies.[147] In 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
in Canada.[148]
Biodiversity
Main article: Wildlife of Canada
 Terrestrial ecozones and ecoprovinces of
Canada. Ecozones are identified with a unique colour. Ecoprovinces are
subdivisions of ecozones and are identified with a unique numeric code. [149]

Canada is divided into 15 terrestrial and five marine ecozones.[150] These ecozones
encompass over 80,000 classified species of Canadian wildlife, with an equal
number yet to be formally recognized or discovered.[151] Although Canada has a low
percentage of endemic species compared to other countries,[152] due to human
activities, invasive species, and environmental issues in the country, there are
currently more than 800 species at risk of being lost.[153] About 65 percent of Canada's
resident species are considered "Secure".[154] Over half of Canada's landscape is
intact and relatively free of human development.[155] The boreal forest of Canada is
considered to be the largest intact forest on Earth, with approximately
3,000,000 km2 (1,200,000 sq mi) undisturbed by roads, cities or industry.[156] Since the
end of the last glacial period, Canada has consisted of eight distinct forest regions,
[157]
with 42 percent of its land area covered by forests (approximately 8 percent of the
world's forested land).[158]
Approximately 12.1 percent of the nation's landmass and freshwater
are conservation areas, including 11.4 percent designated as protected areas.
[159]
Approximately 13.8 percent of its territorial waters are conserved, including 8.9
percent designated as protected areas.[159] Canada's first National Park, Banff
National Park established in 1885, spans 6,641 square kilometres (2,564 sq mi)[160] of
mountainous terrain, with many glaciers and ice fields, dense coniferous forest, and
alpine landscapes.[161] 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).
It is dominated by old-growth forest with over 2,400 lakes and 1,200 kilometres of
streams and rivers.[162] Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area is the
world's largest freshwater protected area, spanning roughly 10,000 square
kilometres (3,900 sq mi) of lakebed, its overlaying freshwater, and associated
shoreline on 60 square kilometres (23 sq mi) of islands and mainland.[163] 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)[164] and protects critical
breeding and nesting habitat for over 40 percent of British Columbia's seabirds.[165]