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Exploring Canadian Geography Exam Review

A practice exam with questions from all 5 units, then the key facts from every lesson, unit by unit. For a deeper look at one unit, open its test review.

Unit test reviews

  1. Unit 1. Geographic Thinking & Skills~10%
  2. Unit 2. Physical Geography of Canada~25%
  3. Unit 3. Managing Canada's Resources & Industries~25%
  4. Unit 4. Changing Populations~20%
  5. Unit 5. Liveable Communities~20%

Practice exam

35 questions, the same number from each unit. Each one shows the lesson it comes from.

  1. Unit 1: The Concepts of Geographic Thinking
    1
    Match each concept of geographic thinking to the question it asks.
    Spatial significance
    Patterns and trends
    Interrelationships
    Geographic perspective
  2. Unit 1: The Concepts of Geographic Thinking
    2
    Match each effect of a proposed wind farm to the lens it belongs to.
    Turbines could harm migrating birds and bats
    Landowners earn lease payments for each turbine
    Some neighbours dislike the noise and the view
    The province changes the approval rules for wind projects
  3. Unit 1: Geographic Inquiry and Evaluating Sources
    3
    An image of a wildfire looks real, but the street signs in it are made of jumbled letters and one person seems to have six fingers. What is the best next step?
  4. Unit 1: Maps, Location, Scale and Direction
    4
    On a 1 : 50 000 map, a lake is 8 cm long. How long is the lake in real life, in kilometres?
    km
  5. Unit 1: Maps, Location, Scale and Direction
    5
    Match each map type to the information it shows best.
    Topographic map
    Choropleth map
    Dot density map
    Flow map
    Political map
  6. Unit 1: Geospatial Technology and Geography Careers
    6
    A township has 9600 people on 320 km² of land. What is its population density, in people per km²?
    people/km²
  7. Unit 1: Geospatial Technology and Geography Careers
    7
    Name the type of remote sensing in which the sensor sends out its own signal and measures what bounces back (one word: active or passive).
  8. Unit 2: Canada's Landform Regions
    8
    Match each landform region to its best description.
    Canadian Shield
    Western Cordillera
    Interior Plains
    Appalachian Region
    Hudson Bay Lowlands
  9. Unit 2: Rock Cycle, Plate Tectonics and Glaciation
    9
    Which landform is a long, winding ridge of sand and gravel left by a river that flowed under a glacier?
  10. Unit 2: Climate and Its Factors; Reading Climate Graphs
    10
    A sudden cold snap in southern Ontario in February is most likely caused by which of these?
  11. Unit 2: Water: Drainage Basins, Lakes, Rivers and Ocean Currents
    11
    Match each river to the ocean drainage area it belongs to.
    Mackenzie River
    Fraser River
    St. Lawrence River
    Nelson River
    Milk River
  12. Unit 2: Natural Hazards and Disasters in Canada
    12
    Match each event to the hazard type.
    Lytton, BC, reaches 49.6 °C (2021)
    Elie, Manitoba (2007)
    Frank, Alberta (1903)
    Fiona (2022)
    Haida Gwaii (1949)
  13. Unit 2: Climate Change in Canada: Consequences, Mitigation and Adaptation
    13
    Match each climate impact to the region where it is a major concern.
    Thawing permafrost damaging buildings and runways
    Rising seas and storm surges eroding the coast of PEI
    Less snowpack in the Rockies feeding rivers for farms
    Heavier downpours flooding basements in big cities
  14. Unit 2: People and the Land: Livelihoods, Identity and Stewardship
    14
    Match each national symbol to the part of Canada's physical geography it comes from.
    The loonie
    The maple leaf
    Banff and the Rockies
    "The True North"
  15. Unit 3: Types of Resources and Where They Are Found
    15
    Match each resource to its type.
    Natural gas in northeastern BC
    Tides in the Bay of Fundy
    Black spruce in the boreal forest
  16. Unit 3: Primary Industries: Farming, Forestry, Fishing and Mining
    16
    Match each extraction method to the situation it suits best.
    Open-pit mining
    Underground mining
    In situ (SAGD)
    Selective cutting
  17. Unit 3: Energy Resources and Clean Energy
    17
    What is the name of the Canadian nuclear reactor design used in Ontario's power plants?
  18. Unit 3: Economic Sectors, Knowledge-Based Industries and Careers
    18
    Natural Resources Canada reported that in 2024 the natural resource sector contributed about 16.0 percent of Canada's nominal GDP, worth about 459 billion dollars. Use these numbers to estimate Canada's total nominal GDP, in billions of dollars, to the nearest billion.
    billion dollars
  19. Unit 3: Where Industries Locate, and Canada's Trade Connections
    19
    What is the name of the trade agreement among Canada, the United States and Mexico that replaced NAFTA in 2020? (Give the Canadian abbreviation.)
  20. Unit 3: Land Tenure, Indigenous Rights and Economic Reconciliation
    20
    Which historic treaty covers much of Ontario's far north, including the Ring of Fire?
  21. Unit 3: Sustainable Development and the Life of Everyday Products
    21
    Match each group to the way it most directly influences resource use.
    Federal government
    Advocacy group
    Forest company
    Individual consumer
  22. Unit 4: Measuring Population: Rates, Growth and the Census
    22
    A country has a birth rate of 18.5 per 1000 and a death rate of 7.0 per 1000. What is its rate of natural increase, per 1000 people? Give your answer to one decimal place.
    per 1000
  23. Unit 4: Population Pyramids, Aging and Dependency
    23
    A country has 42% of its people aged 0–14 and 3% aged 65 and over. Calculate its total dependency ratio (dependents per 100 people aged 15–64), to one decimal place.
  24. Unit 4: Immigration to Canada: Categories, Sources and Trends
    24
    Match each newcomer to the category that fits.
    A welder from Ireland chosen by Saskatchewan to fill a local job
    Grandparents from Jamaica sponsored by their son in Toronto
    An Eritrean family fleeing persecution, resettled from a camp abroad
    A student from Nigeria on a study permit at a university in Halifax
  25. Unit 4: Internal Migration and Settlement Patterns
    25
    What term do geographers use for the permanently inhabited part of a country?
  26. Unit 4: Internal Migration and Settlement Patterns
    26
    Which pair of factors best explains why the Windsor–Quebec City corridor is Canada's most densely populated region?
  27. Unit 4: Quality of Life and Well-Being: Indicators and Data
    27
    Put the steps of analyzing a quality-of-life data set in a sensible order.
    1. 1Draw a conclusion and note what the data leave out
    2. 2Explain the patterns using interrelated factors and their causes
    3. 3Describe the patterns and trends you see
    4. 4Identify the source, the year and how the data were collected
    5. 5Calculate comparable values, such as rates per person or gaps between groups
  28. Unit 4: Population Issues for Canada and the World
    28
    What is distinctive about Canada's private sponsorship of refugees?
  29. Unit 5: Land Use in Communities
    29
    Match each place to its land-use category.
    An auto parts factory
    A regional hospital
    A ravine park with trails
    A shopping plaza
    A GO train line
  30. Unit 5: Urban Growth, Sprawl and Planning Tools
    30
    A new suburb has 6,000 residents on 4 km² of land. What is its population density, in people per km²?
    people/km²
  31. Unit 5: Sustainable Food Systems
    31
    Put the stages of the food system in order.
    1. 1Consumption
    2. 2Retail
    3. 3Waste and recovery
    4. 4Production on the farm
    5. 5Processing
    6. 6Distribution
  32. Unit 5: Transportation Systems and Their Sustainability
    32
    Using the UK government emission factors in this lesson, order these from LOWEST to HIGHEST emissions per passenger-kilometre.
    1. 1National rail
    2. 2Domestic flight
    3. 3Petrol car with one person
    4. 4Walking
  33. Unit 5: Transportation Systems and Their Sustainability
    33
    A city widens a busy highway, and within a few years traffic is as bad as before. Which idea explains this?
  34. Unit 5: Energy Use in Communities: Policy and Choices
    34
    Why might a family that rents an apartment find it hard to switch to a heat pump?
  35. Unit 5: Sustainable and Culturally Informed Community Design
    35
    Which feature would make a new neighbourhood MOST like a complete community?

Key facts by unit

Unit 1: Geographic Thinking & Skills

The Concepts of Geographic Thinking

  • The four concepts of geographic thinking: spatial significance, patterns and trends, interrelationships, geographic perspective.
  • Spatial significance asks why a place or feature is where it is and why that location matters.
  • A pattern repeats across space; a trend is a change over time.
  • Interrelationships are connections between the natural and human environments (and within each).
  • Geographic perspective looks at an issue through environmental, economic, social and political lenses, and through the eyes of different groups of people.

Geographic Inquiry and Evaluating Sources

  • The geographic inquiry process: formulate questions, gather and organize, interpret and analyse, evaluate and draw conclusions, communicate.
  • Question types: factual, comparative, causal, predictive and evaluative (judgement). Strong inquiry questions are open, researchable and focused.
  • Primary sources are first-hand (field notes, interviews, satellite images, oral histories); secondary sources interpret or summarize others' evidence.
  • Judge credibility by checking author, date, purpose, evidence, corroboration and bias.
  • To check AI-generated or manipulated content, look for visual or factual errors, reverse-search images, and confirm the source, date and author with a trusted second source.

Maps, Location, Scale and Direction

  • Map elements: title, orientation (north arrow), date, author and source, legend, scale (TODALS).
  • Latitude: 0° at the equator to 90° N or S. Longitude: 0° at the prime meridian to 180° E or W. Give latitude first: Toronto ≈ 43.7° N, 79.4° W.
  • One degree of latitude ≈ 111 km, so north–south distance ≈ (difference in latitude) × 111 km.
  • Real distance = map distance × scale; 1 km = 100 000 cm, so 1 : 50 000 means 1 cm represents 0.5 km.
  • Bearings are measured clockwise from north (N = 000°, E = 090°, S = 180°, W = 270°). Grid references: easting first, then northing.
  • Close contour lines mean a steep slope; widely spaced lines mean a gentle slope.

Geospatial Technology and Geography Careers

  • Geospatial technology collects, stores, analyses and displays data tied to locations on Earth.
  • GIS stores data in layers that share the same locations; overlaying layers answers spatial questions.
  • GPS (one of several GNSS) finds position by timing signals from at least four satellites.
  • Remote sensing gathers information from a distance; radar (such as Canada's RADARSAT satellites) sees through cloud, day or night.
  • Population density = population ÷ land area (people per km²).
  • Geography careers include GIS technician, land surveyor (regulated), planner, drone pilot, forestry technician, conservation officer and construction trades.
Unit 2: Physical Geography of Canada

Canada's Landform Regions

  • A landform region is a large area with similar landforms, rock and origin; regions are told apart by relief, elevation, rock type, origin, drainage and soils.
  • The Canadian Shield is ancient igneous and metamorphic rock covering about half of Canada: thin soils and many lakes, but rich in minerals and hydro power.
  • Lowlands (Interior Plains, Hudson Bay Lowlands, Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands, Arctic Lowlands) are flat layers of sedimentary rock.
  • Highlands: the young, rugged Western Cordillera and Innuitian Mountains versus the old, worn-down Appalachians.
  • Ontario has three regions: Canadian Shield, Hudson Bay Lowlands and Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands.

Rock Cycle, Plate Tectonics and Glaciation

  • Igneous rock forms from cooling magma or lava; sedimentary from compacted, cemented layers of sediment; metamorphic from rock changed by heat and pressure.
  • Plate boundaries: convergent (toward; subduction off BC), divergent (apart; Mid-Atlantic Ridge), transform (sliding past; Queen Charlotte Fault).
  • Canada's largest known earthquake: Cascadia, January 26, 1700 (about M9); largest recorded: Haida Gwaii, 1949 (M8.1). The Ottawa–Montréal area also has earthquakes (Val-des-Bois, 2010, M5.0).
  • Glaciers erode (scrape, pluck, carve basins) and deposit (moraines, drumlins, eskers, erratics); they shaped the Great Lakes and stripped the Shield's soil.
  • Weathering breaks rock down in place; erosion moves the pieces away.

Climate and Its Factors; Reading Climate Graphs

  • Weather is the atmosphere's condition now; climate is the long-term pattern, measured with 30-year normals (currently 1991–2020).
  • LOWERN: Latitude, Ocean currents, Wind and air masses, Elevation, Relief, Nearness to water.
  • Annual temperature range = warmest month − coldest month; mean annual temperature = sum of 12 months ÷ 12; total precipitation = sum of 12 months.
  • Continental climates have large ranges and less precipitation; maritime climates have small ranges and more precipitation.
  • Air cools about 6.5 °C per 1000 m of elevation; the leeward side of mountains lies in a dry rain shadow.

Ecozones: Vegetation, Soils and Wildlife

  • An ecozone is a large area where climate, landforms, soil, vegetation, wildlife and human activity fit together; Canada has 15 terrestrial ecozones.
  • Vegetation regions from north to south in central Canada: tundra, boreal forest, mixed forest, deciduous (Carolinian) forest; grassland on the dry Prairies; temperate rainforest on the BC coast.
  • Chernozems (Prairies) are fertile and black; podzols (boreal) are acidic and leached; cryosols (Arctic) are frozen.
  • Permafrost: ground at or below 0 °C for at least two years; about half of Canada is in the permafrost region. The treeline marks the northern limit of trees.
  • Ontario's ecozones: Mixedwood Plains, Boreal Shield and Hudson Plains.

Water: Drainage Basins, Lakes, Rivers and Ocean Currents

  • A drainage basin (watershed) is all the land drained by a river and its tributaries; divides separate basins.
  • Canada's five ocean drainage areas: Hudson Bay (largest), Arctic, Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico.
  • The Mackenzie is Canada's longest river (about 4240 km); the Great Lakes hold about 21% of the world's surface fresh water.
  • Warm currents (North Pacific, Gulf Stream) warm coasts; the cold Labrador Current chills Atlantic Canada; fog forms over the Grand Banks where they meet.
  • El Niño (warm tropical Pacific) often brings milder Canadian winters; La Niña (cool) often brings colder western winters.

Natural Hazards and Disasters in Canada

  • A natural hazard is a natural event that could cause harm; a disaster is a hazard that seriously disrupts a community.
  • Risk = hazard × vulnerability: risk falls if either the hazard or people's vulnerability is reduced.
  • Key Canadian events: 1998 ice storm (January 5–10), Hurricane Hazel (October 15, 1954), BC heat dome and Lytton's 49.6 °C (June 2021), Hurricane Fiona (September 24, 2022), the record 2023 wildfire season.
  • Emergency management stages: mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery.
  • Some hazards are increasing in severity with a warming climate and more people in harm's way, but better detection also raises reported counts.

Climate Change in Canada: Consequences, Mitigation and Adaptation

  • Canada's Changing Climate Report 2026: Canada warmed about 2.0 °C from 1948 to 2023, about 65% faster than the global average (almost twice as fast since 1970); northern Canada warmed about 2.6 °C, more than twice the global rate.
  • The ice–albedo feedback speeds up warming in the North: melting ice exposes darker surfaces that absorb more sunlight.
  • Mitigation reduces greenhouse gas emissions (the cause); adaptation reduces harm from the effects.
  • Consequences can be analysed through environmental, economic, social and political perspectives.
  • Toronto's 2009 green roof bylaw was the first in North America to require green roofs on new large buildings; it helps with flooding, heat and energy use.

People and the Land: Livelihoods, Identity and Stewardship

  • Physical characteristics support particular activities: mining and hydro on the Shield, farming and energy on the Plains, forestry and tourism in the Cordillera, cities and industry in the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands, fishing on the Atlantic coast.
  • About two-thirds of Canadians live within 100 km of the southern border, where climate, soils and transportation are most favourable.
  • National symbols drawn from the land: the maple leaf (flag, 1965), the loonie (1987), the North, the Rockies (Banff, 1885), the Group of Seven (first exhibition, 1920), the beaver.
  • Stewardship is caring for land and water for the future; Indigenous Guardians monitor and protect their territories; IPCAs are protected areas where Indigenous governments have the primary role.
  • Thaidene Nëné (2019), led by the Łutsël K'é Dene First Nation, protects about 26,000 km² around the East Arm of Great Slave Lake.
Unit 3: Managing Canada's Resources & Industries

Types of Resources and Where They Are Found

  • A natural resource is something in nature that people use; a reserve is the part that is known and recoverable with today's technology and prices.
  • Renewable resources (forests, fish, soil) renew naturally if not overused; non-renewable resources (oil, gas, minerals) exist in fixed amounts; flow resources (wind, sun, flowing water, tides) must be used where and when they occur.
  • Physical geography explains resource locations: metals in the Canadian Shield, oil, gas and potash in the sedimentary rock of the Interior Plains, farmland on fertile Prairie and lowland soils, fish on continental shelves, hydro where rivers drop.
  • Canada has about 20 percent of the world's fresh water but only about 7 percent of its renewable supply, and roughly 60 percent of its river water drains north.
  • A deposit is developed only if it is accessible: size and grade, depth, distance to transportation and markets, climate, price, technology, rules and Indigenous rights all matter.

Primary Industries: Farming, Forestry, Fishing and Mining

  • Primary industries extract or harvest resources: farming, forestry, fishing, mining, and oil and gas. In 2024 the natural resource sector made up about 16 percent of GDP (directly and indirectly) and about 53 percent of merchandise exports (Natural Resources Canada).
  • The extraction method depends on the resource and its accessibility: open-pit for shallow ore, underground for deep ore; oil sands mining only for bitumen less than about 75 m deep, in situ (SAGD) for the rest.
  • Clear-cutting removes all trees in an area and suits same-aged boreal forest; selective cutting removes chosen trees and keeps forest cover.
  • The northern cod moratorium was announced on July 2, 1992, after overfishing; tens of thousands of fishers and plant workers lost their jobs. A limited commercial fishery reopened in 2024.
  • Aquaculture is fish and shellfish farming; it eases pressure on wild stocks but open-net pens can spread sea lice and disease. BC open-net salmon farms must close by June 30, 2029.

Energy Resources and Clean Energy

  • In 2023 Canada ranked fourth in the world for oil production and fifth for natural gas, and by the CER's count it holds the third-largest proven oil reserves, about 97 percent of them in the oil sands.
  • About 60 percent of Canada's electricity comes from hydro (2021); provinces differ: Quebec, Manitoba, BC and Newfoundland and Labrador mostly hydro; Ontario mostly nuclear and hydro; Alberta mostly natural gas.
  • Ontario's nuclear stations (Bruce, Darlington, Pickering) use Canadian CANDU reactors, fuelled by natural uranium with heavy water; Ontario stopped burning coal for electricity in 2014.
  • Every source has trade-offs: hydro floods land, nuclear leaves long-lived waste, wind and solar are variable, and fossil fuels emit greenhouse gases.
  • Batteries and other storage help flow resources (wind, solar) supply power when it is needed; First Nations co-own projects such as Henvey Inlet Wind (2019) and Oneida Energy Storage (2025).

Economic Sectors, Knowledge-Based Industries and Careers

  • Primary sector: extracts resources; secondary: manufactures and builds; tertiary: provides services; quaternary: creates and shares knowledge.
  • About 4 out of 5 Canadian workers have service jobs; fewer than 2 percent work in farming, because machines let fewer people produce more.
  • Human capital is the knowledge, skills, creativity and health of people; knowledge-based industries (software, AI, life sciences, video games, finance) depend on it and cluster near universities and skilled workers.
  • Canada's major tech hubs include the Toronto–Waterloo corridor, Montréal, Ottawa, Vancouver and Edmonton; Canada launched the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy in 2017.
  • Careers in the marine sector, natural resources and tourism use geospatial tools: GIS, GPS, sonar, LiDAR, drones and satellite remote sensing.

Where Industries Locate, and Canada's Trade Connections

  • Industrial location factors: raw materials, market, labour, transportation, energy, water and government; most locations are explained by several working together.
  • Industries using heavy inputs that lose weight in processing locate near raw materials; industries making bulky or perishable products locate near markets; energy-intensive industries locate near cheap power.
  • Southern Ontario's auto industry is explained by its nearness to North American markets, Highway 401 and border crossings, skilled labour, Hamilton steel and government policy since the 1965 Auto Pact.
  • Aluminium smelters locate in Quebec because of cheap, plentiful hydroelectricity and deep-water ports, even though the ore is imported.
  • The US is by far Canada's largest trading partner (about 76 percent of exports in 2024, Statistics Canada); trade is governed by CUSMA, in force since July 1, 2020 and reviewed every year since July 2026; US tariffs since 2025 have made trade diversification a national issue.

Land Tenure, Indigenous Rights and Economic Reconciliation

  • Land tenure is the system of rights to hold, use and control land; in Canada it includes private land, federal and provincial Crown land, reserve land, modern treaty settlement lands and conservation lands.
  • Most of Canada (roughly 80 to 90 percent) is Crown land; about 87 percent of Ontario is Crown land, mostly in the north. Surface rights and mineral rights can have different owners.
  • Comprehensive claims (modern treaties) settle Aboriginal rights where no treaty was signed, e.g. the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (1975, the first), the Nunavut Agreement (1993) and the Nisga'a Final Agreement (2000). Specific claims address broken treaty promises or mismanaged reserve land and money.
  • Haida Nation (2004): governments have a duty to consult and, where appropriate, accommodate when decisions may harm Aboriginal or treaty rights; section 35 of the Constitution (1982) protects those rights.
  • Economic reconciliation includes impact–benefit agreements, Indigenous equity ownership of energy and resource projects, loan guarantees, co-owned clean energy and support for Indigenous-owned businesses.

Sustainable Development and the Life of Everyday Products

  • Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Brundtland Commission, 1987); it balances environment, society and economy.
  • Models include the circular economy (keep materials in use instead of take, make, waste), certification and eco-labels (FSC, MSC), extended producer responsibility, ecosystem-based management and Indigenous-led conservation.
  • Strategies must be judged by evidence and from several perspectives: the Great Bear Rainforest agreements (2016) protect about 85 percent of the region's forest; Ontario's 2014 coal phase-out cut emissions; cod recovery after 1992 has been slow.
  • Governments, industries, advocacy groups, community organizations, Indigenous governments and individuals all influence how resources are used.
  • A product's life cycle runs from resource extraction to processing, manufacturing, distribution, use and disposal; reuse, repair and recycling close the loop.
Unit 4: Changing Populations

Measuring Population: Rates, Growth and the Census

  • Population change = (births − deaths) + (immigrants − emigrants): natural increase plus net migration.
  • Birth and death rates are given per 1000 people per year; rate of natural increase = birth rate − death rate (divide by 10 to get a percentage).
  • Growth rate (%) = population change ÷ starting population × 100; population density = population ÷ land area (people per km²).
  • Canada passed 40 million people on June 16, 2023; it grew about 2.8% in 2023/2024 but only about 0.5% from July 2025 to July 2026, mostly because of fewer temporary residents (Statistics Canada).
  • Canada's fertility rate was 1.25 children per woman in 2024, a record low and well below the replacement level of about 2.1, so almost all of its growth comes from immigration.
  • Canada holds a census every five years; Statistics Canada updates population estimates every three months in between.

Population Pyramids, Aging and Dependency

  • A population pyramid shows the percentage of males and females in each age group; each bar is a cohort that moves up over time.
  • Expansive = wide base, high birth rate, fast growth; stationary = column, births and deaths balanced; constrictive = narrow base, low birth rate, aging.
  • Dependency ratio = (ages 0–14 + ages 65 and over) ÷ ages 15–64 × 100, in dependents per 100 working-age people.
  • Canada's baby boom (1946–1965) is now at the top of the pyramid; by July 1, 2026, 20.0% of Canadians were 65 or older and 15.0% were under 15 (Statistics Canada).
  • Age structures differ across Canada: Nunavut and the Indigenous population are much younger than average; Newfoundland and Labrador is the oldest province.

Immigration to Canada: Categories, Sources and Trends

  • Permanent immigrants come in three main categories: economic (about 58% in 2024), family (about 22%) and refugees and protected persons (about 16%), plus a small humanitarian group (IRCC).
  • Temporary residents (international students, temporary workers, asylum claimants) are non-permanent residents; many later become permanent residents.
  • In 2024 India was by far the largest source of new permanent residents, followed by the Philippines; most newcomers settle in Ontario, especially the Toronto area.
  • Push factors drive people away (war, persecution, poverty, disasters); pull factors attract them (jobs, safety, family, education); intervening obstacles stand between.
  • Canada admitted 483 640 permanent residents in 2024, then lowered its targets to 395 000 for 2025 and 380 000 a year for 2026–2028, and cut temporary resident arrivals.

Internal Migration and Settlement Patterns

  • Internal migration includes interprovincial, rural-to-urban, urban-to-suburban, return and seasonal moves; Alberta has had the largest net interprovincial gains in recent years and Ontario the largest losses (Statistics Canada, to mid-2025).
  • The ecumene is the permanently inhabited part of a country; in 2016 two-thirds (66%) of Canadians lived within 100 km of the US border, on about 4% of Canada's territory.
  • In 2021 nearly three in four Canadians lived in one of 41 census metropolitan areas, and 17.8% lived in rural areas.
  • The six CMAs over one million in 2021 were Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver, Ottawa–Gatineau, Calgary and Edmonton, home to nearly half of all Canadians.
  • Settlement is shaped by physical factors (climate, landforms, soil, water, resources) and human factors (transportation, history, jobs, services, government policy).

Quality of Life and Well-Being: Indicators and Data

  • Quality of life includes health, education, income, housing, safety, environment and community; it is broader than standard of living (material wealth).
  • The Human Development Index combines life expectancy, education (years of schooling) and income per person into one score from 0 to 1; Canada is in the very high group.
  • Life expectancy at birth in Canada was 81.7 years in 2023: 83.9 for females and 79.5 for males (Statistics Canada).
  • The Community Well-Being Index scores communities on education, labour force activity, income and housing; in 2016 First Nations communities averaged 58.4 vs 77.5 for non-Indigenous communities, a 19.1-point gap.
  • The well-being gap is rooted in history and policy (the reserve system, the Indian Act, residential schools, unequal funding of services), not in the communities themselves.

Population Issues for Canada and the World

  • Canada's main population issues are aging (health care, pensions, labour shortages), housing demand, and managing growth driven by immigration; a young, fast-growing Indigenous population brings both needs and opportunities.
  • Strategies include the Immigration Levels Plan, CPP and OAS changes, housing programs such as the Housing Accelerator Fund (2023), home care, and caps on temporary residents; each has trade-offs.
  • The world reached about 8 billion people on November 15, 2022, and is projected by the UN to peak at about 10.3 billion in the mid-2080s; most growth will be in sub-Saharan Africa.
  • The demographic transition model: death rates fall first, then birth rates, so growth is fastest in Stage 2; Nigeria is young and growing, Japan is old and shrinking, Canada is in Stage 4 and grows through immigration.
  • UNHCR counted 123.2 million forcibly displaced people at the end of 2024; Canada is a leading resettlement country and pioneered private refugee sponsorship.
Unit 5: Liveable Communities

Land Use in Communities

  • The seven main land uses are residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, transportation, open space and recreation, and agricultural.
  • Accessibility and land value explain much of a city's pattern: the CBD has the highest land values and tallest buildings, industry follows rail, highways and water, and suburbs spread outward along roads.
  • Planners separate incompatible uses (heavy industry and homes) with buffers, but separating everything increases driving.
  • Floodplains, wetlands, permafrost, fire-prone forests and unstable slopes limit where communities can safely build, and climate change is increasing several of these risks.

Urban Growth, Sprawl and Planning Tools

  • Urban sprawl is low-density, car-dependent growth with separated land uses; compact growth uses intensification (infill, redevelopment, more homes per lot) to fit more people on less land.
  • Population density = number of people ÷ land area; higher density makes frequent transit and walkable services practical.
  • In Ontario, the Planning Act and the Provincial Planning Statement (in effect since October 20, 2024) guide municipal official plans and zoning bylaws; appeals go to the Ontario Land Tribunal.
  • Ontario's Greenbelt was created in 2005; land removed in late 2022 was returned by a law that received royal assent on December 6, 2023.
  • Tools to manage growth include greenbelts, intensification, transit-oriented development, mixed use, missing middle housing and the 15-minute neighbourhood idea.

Sustainable Food Systems

  • A food system includes production, processing, distribution, retail, consumption and waste; a sustainable one feeds everyone now without harming the ability to feed people in the future.
  • Ontario's farm area fell 4.7 percent between 2016 and 2021, to about 11.8 million acres (Statistics Canada), with development near growing cities a major cause.
  • A 2019 Second Harvest study estimated that about 58 percent of food produced in Canada is lost or wasted along the chain.
  • Food insecurity is highest in the North: 46.1 percent of people in Nunavut lived in food-insecure households in 2022; Nutrition North Canada (since 2011) subsidizes eligible foods and supports harvesting.
  • Strategies include protecting farmland, local food, community gardens and urban farms, food rescue and composting, better access in food deserts, and Indigenous food sovereignty.

Transportation Systems and Their Sustainability

  • Transportation produced about 22 percent of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions in 2024, second only to oil and gas (Environment and Climate Change Canada).
  • Per passenger, walking, cycling and well-used transit use far less space and energy than driving alone; a short domestic flight has the highest emissions per passenger-km of the modes compared in this lesson.
  • Transit needs enough people near stops, so land use and transportation must be planned together; adding highway lanes often induces more driving.
  • Recent and planned Ontario systems include new LRT lines (Finch West, 2025; Eglinton, 2026), GO Expansion and the proposed Alto high-speed rail line from Toronto to Québec City.
  • Assess transportation options with environmental, social, economic and political perspectives at the local, provincial, national and international scale.

Energy Use in Communities: Policy and Choices

  • Buildings produced about 12 percent and transportation about 22 percent of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions in 2024 (Environment and Climate Change Canada).
  • Ontario's electricity is mostly low-emission (nuclear, hydro, wind, solar) since coal was phased out in 2014, so electrifying heating and transportation cuts emissions there.
  • A heat pump moves heat instead of making it, typically delivering two to three units of heat for each unit of electricity over a season, and it also cools in summer.
  • Governments (codes, standards, rebates, zoning), corporations (buildings, fleets, power purchases) and individuals (heating, vehicles, where to live) all shape community energy use.
  • District energy, such as Toronto's Deep Lake Water Cooling (since 2004) or Oujé-Bougoumou's wood-waste heating, serves many buildings from one efficient system.

Sustainable and Culturally Informed Community Design

  • A sustainable community balances environmental, economic and social goals; a complete community puts homes, jobs, schools, shops, parks and transit within walking or cycling distance.
  • Housing is usually considered affordable when it costs less than 30 percent of a household's before-tax income.
  • Green infrastructure (green roofs, rain gardens, bioswales, permeable pavement, trees) reduces flooding and urban heat; Toronto's green roof bylaw dates from 2009.
  • Ontario's Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (2005) set a goal of an accessible province by 2025; universal design makes places usable by everyone without later adaptation.
  • Culturally informed design involves communities from the start and reflects their cultures: for example, the Squamish Nation's Sen̓áḵw rental development in Vancouver and Douglas Cardinal's Canadian Museum of History (1989).