Managing Canada's Resources & Industries: Test Review

Everything for the Unit 3 test on one page: the key facts from all 7 lessons, the mistakes that cost the most marks, and a practice test that points you back to the lessons you need.

Key facts

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.

Where marks get lost

Thinking renewable means it can never run out. Fish, forests and soil are renewable only if they are used more slowly than they renew; the 1992 cod collapse shows what happens otherwise. (Types of Resources and Where They Are Found)
Mixing up renewable and flow resources. A forest renews only if we leave enough trees; wind and sunlight keep coming no matter how much we use, but must be used when and where they occur. (Types of Resources and Where They Are Found)
Saying a resource is found somewhere "because it is cold" or "because it is in the North." Explain with physical geography instead: rock type, soil, climate, ocean currents. (Types of Resources and Where They Are Found)
Assuming every known deposit will be developed. Distance, cost, price, technology, environmental rules and Indigenous rights decide whether a resource is accessible. (Types of Resources and Where They Are Found)
Treating Canada's fresh water as unlimited. Much of it is stored from the ice age, most river water drains north, and local supplies can be overused. (Types of Resources and Where They Are Found)
Saying clear-cutting is always wrong and selective cutting is always right. Each suits different forests; the key questions are forest type, regrowth and what else people value in that forest. (Primary Industries: Farming, Forestry, Fishing and Mining)
Thinking the cod collapsed only because of foreign boats. Canadian fleets, overly high quotas and slow responses to warnings were also major causes. (Primary Industries: Farming, Forestry, Fishing and Mining)
Calling in situ oil sands production "clean." It disturbs less land than mining, but making steam burns natural gas and releases a lot of greenhouse gas. (Primary Industries: Farming, Forestry, Fishing and Mining)
Assuming open-pit mining is used because it is cheaper wherever ore exists. Depth decides: deep ore can only be reached from underground. (Primary Industries: Farming, Forestry, Fishing and Mining)
Forgetting that aquaculture has costs as well as benefits: sea lice, disease, escaped fish and waste can harm wild stocks. (Primary Industries: Farming, Forestry, Fishing and Mining)
Confusing electricity with all energy. Canada's electricity is mostly clean, but most transportation and much heating still run on oil and natural gas. (Energy Resources and Clean Energy)
Calling nuclear power renewable. Uranium is a non-renewable mineral, even though nuclear plants emit very little greenhouse gas. (Energy Resources and Clean Energy)
Saying hydroelectricity has no environmental impact. Reservoirs flood land, block fish and can raise mercury levels in fish. (Energy Resources and Clean Energy)
Assuming every province makes electricity the same way as Ontario. Quebec, Manitoba and BC are mostly hydro; Alberta is mostly natural gas. (Energy Resources and Clean Energy)
Thinking wind and solar can run a grid alone today. Because they are variable, they need storage, backup or links to other sources. (Energy Resources and Clean Energy)
Classifying a job by the company instead of the task. An office accountant at a mining company does tertiary (or quaternary) work, not primary. (Economic Sectors, Knowledge-Based Industries and Careers)
Thinking primary industries no longer matter because few people work in them. They employ few people directly but earn a large share of Canada's export income. (Economic Sectors, Knowledge-Based Industries and Careers)
Believing knowledge industries locate near raw materials. Their key input is skilled people, so they cluster near universities, other firms and investors. (Economic Sectors, Knowledge-Based Industries and Careers)
Forgetting skilled trades when listing resource-sector careers. Electricians, millwrights, welders and equipment technicians are essential and in high demand. (Economic Sectors, Knowledge-Based Industries and Careers)
Naming only one location factor. Most locations are explained by several factors together (market, transportation, labour, energy, government). (Where Industries Locate, and Canada's Trade Connections)
Assuming every industry locates near its raw materials. Aluminium smelters follow cheap electricity, and many factories locate near markets or skilled workers. (Where Industries Locate, and Canada's Trade Connections)
Confusing a percentage with a change in percentage points. A drop from 75.9 percent to 68.3 percent is a drop of 7.6 percentage points. (Where Industries Locate, and Canada's Trade Connections)
Thinking tariffs are paid by the exporting country's government. A tariff is a tax collected by the importing country on goods coming in, and it usually raises prices for that country's buyers. (Where Industries Locate, and Canada's Trade Connections)
Describing current trade disputes with only one side's view. Explain what supporters and critics each argue, and check the latest reliable news. (Where Industries Locate, and Canada's Trade Connections)
Thinking that reserve land is owned outright by the First Nation. Under the Indian Act, legal title to reserve land is held by the Crown, set apart for the First Nation's use and benefit; modern treaty lands, by contrast, are owned by the Indigenous government or organization. (Land Tenure, Indigenous Rights and Economic Reconciliation)
Mixing up comprehensive and specific claims. Comprehensive claims settle rights where no treaty existed; specific claims fix past broken promises or mismanagement. (Land Tenure, Indigenous Rights and Economic Reconciliation)
Saying companies have the duty to consult. The legal duty belongs to the Crown (governments), although governments often hand practical parts of consultation to companies. (Land Tenure, Indigenous Rights and Economic Reconciliation)
Treating all First Nations, Métis and Inuit as having one opinion on a project. Communities, and people within them, hold different views. (Land Tenure, Indigenous Rights and Economic Reconciliation)
Assuming the owner of the surface also owns the minerals underneath. In much of Canada, mineral rights belong to the Crown. (Land Tenure, Indigenous Rights and Economic Reconciliation)
Thinking sustainable development means only protecting the environment. It balances environment, society and economy; a plan that wrecks a community's economy is not sustainable either. (Sustainable Development and the Life of Everyday Products)
Assuming recycling is the best option. Reducing, reusing and repairing usually save far more resources and energy than recycling. (Sustainable Development and the Life of Everyday Products)
Evaluating a strategy from only one perspective. Ask how it looks to workers, companies, Indigenous communities, environmental groups and governments, and look for evidence of results. (Sustainable Development and the Life of Everyday Products)
Forgetting the hidden stages of a product's life. Most of a phone's environmental impact comes from mining and manufacturing, before you ever buy it. (Sustainable Development and the Life of Everyday Products)
Treating an eco-label as proof that a product has no impact. Labels show that certain standards were met, not that a product is harmless. (Sustainable Development and the Life of Everyday Products)

Practice test

21 questions from across the unit. Each one shows the lesson it comes from.

Types of Resources and Where They Are Found
1
Match each resource to its type.
Natural gas in northeastern BC
Tides in the Bay of Fundy
Black spruce in the boreal forest
Types of Resources and Where They Are Found
2
In 2023 Canada produced about 5.1 million barrels of oil per day (Canada Energy Regulator). About how many million barrels is that in a 365-day year? Round to the nearest 10 million.
million barrels
Types of Resources and Where They Are Found
3
Name the deep black, fertile grassland soil that makes the southern Prairies so productive for grain.
Primary Industries: Farming, Forestry, Fishing and Mining
4
Match each extraction method to the situation it suits best.
Open-pit mining
Underground mining
In situ (SAGD)
Selective cutting
Primary Industries: Farming, Forestry, Fishing and Mining
5
Which statement about aquaculture is the most accurate?
Primary Industries: Farming, Forestry, Fishing and Mining
6
Which pair is correctly matched?
Energy Resources and Clean Energy
7
Match each energy source to its biggest drawback.
Nuclear
Large hydro dam
Solar
Natural gas
Energy Resources and Clean Energy
8
What is the name of the Canadian nuclear reactor design used in Ontario's power plants?
Energy Resources and Clean Energy
9
Which statement best describes Canada's greenhouse gas emissions from energy?
Economic Sectors, Knowledge-Based Industries and Careers
10
Match each worker to the economic sector of their job.
A miner drilling ore underground near Timmins
A worker assembling SUVs in Alliston
A nurse at a Thunder Bay hospital
A researcher training an AI model in Montréal
Economic Sectors, Knowledge-Based Industries and Careers
11
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
Economic Sectors, Knowledge-Based Industries and Careers
12
Which of these is the best example of a knowledge-based industry?
Where Industries Locate, and Canada's Trade Connections
13
Match each industry to the location factor that best explains where it is.
Aluminium smelter in Saguenay, Quebec
Pulp mill in a northern Ontario forest town
Large commercial bakery in Mississauga
AI startup in Toronto
Where Industries Locate, and Canada's Trade Connections
14
What is the name of the trade agreement among Canada, the United States and Mexico that replaced NAFTA in 2020? (Give the Canadian abbreviation.)
Where Industries Locate, and Canada's Trade Connections
15
Which statement describes a RISK of depending on one main trading partner?
Land Tenure, Indigenous Rights and Economic Reconciliation
16
Match each type of land to its description.
Private land
Provincial Crown land
Reserve land
Modern treaty settlement land
Land Tenure, Indigenous Rights and Economic Reconciliation
17
What do we call a contract between a resource company and an affected Indigenous community that sets out jobs, training, payments and environmental protections?
Land Tenure, Indigenous Rights and Economic Reconciliation
18
Which historic treaty covers much of Ontario's far north, including the Ring of Fire?
Sustainable Development and the Life of Everyday Products
19
Match each sustainability approach to its example.
Circular economy
Certification
Extended producer responsibility
Indigenous-led conservation
Sustainable Development and the Life of Everyday Products
20
What name is given to an economy that keeps materials in use through reuse, repair and recycling, instead of take, make, waste?
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