Canada`s Regions and Agricultural Communities

Article 1
Canada’s Regions
and Agricultural
Communities
Agriculture is important to many communities
across Canada, including both urban and
rural ones. Agricultural activities can actually
be found across many of Canada’s diverse
landscapes and regions. Regions are areas
that share common characteristics. They are
identified by similarities between natural
features or geographic characteristics. Regions
are often named by identifying the main
physical or geographic feature in an area. For
example, the main geographic feature in the
Atlantic region is the Atlantic ocean. The main
geographic features in the Canadian Shield
region is the Canadian Shield!
Canada can be divided into six main regions:
• Arctic or North
• Cordillera
• Interior Plains
• Canadian Shield
• Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Lowlands
• Atlantic or Appalachian
The human activity in communities that are
found across Canada’s different regions can
vary greatly. However, most human activities
are found in more than just one region. For
example, animal and crop farming is found in
a multitude of different places across Canada.
People grow and raise animals and plants for
food in a variety of conditions, including on
different types of land and in different climates.
Did You Know?
Canada has 15 ecozones throughout its six
regions. Ecozones help us understand more
about the characteristics of Canada’s six
regions. An ecozone is formed where there
are similar types of plants, animal life, climate,
landforms, and human activities. The living
and non-living characteristics of one ecozone
are different from those found in another
ecozone.
Go to the Dairy Drive Interactive
Dairy Drive App in the Dairy Drive inquiry page
on the Moo2You website at
www.moo2you.ca. Can you identify each of
Canada’s 15 ecozones from the Ecozone map?
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Canada’s Regions
Atlantic or Appalachian
Interior Plains
Canadian Shield
Cordillera
Arctic or North
Great Lakes St. Lawrence Lowlands
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Canada’s Ecozones
Canada’s
Ecozones
N
W
E
S
N N
Pacific Maritime
Southern Arctic
Arctic Cordillera
Boreal Cordillera
Taiga Shield
Northern Arctic
Taiga Cordillera
Boreal Plains
Hudson Plains
Montane Cordillera
Prairies
Mixed Wood Plains
Boreal Shield
Atlantic Maritime
W W
E E
S S
Taiga Plains
Pacific
Pacific
Maritime
Maritime
Southern
Southern
Arctic
Arctic
Arctic
Arctic
Cordillera
Cordillera
Boreal
Boreal
Cordillera
Cordillera
TaigaTaiga
Shield
Shield
Northern
Northern
Arctic
Arctic
TaigaTaiga
Cordillera
Cordillera
Boreal
Boreal
Plains
Plains
Hudson
Hudson
Plains
Plains
Montane
Montane
Cordillera
Cordillera
Prairies
Prairies
Mixed
Mixed
Wood
Wood
Plains
Plains
TaigaTaiga
Plains
Plains
Boreal
Boreal
Shield
Shield
Atlantic
Atlantic
Maritime
Maritime
How do you think the characteristics of Canada’s ecozones help us define the bigger regions in the
map of Canada’s regions on the previous page?
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Finding Farms in Canada
The natural resources found in Canada’s regions
have a strong connection to the ways of life and
activities of the people who live there.
Natural resources make up the world around us!
They include the land, air, soil, and water. They
also include wildlife, plants, and minerals.
Agriculture, or farming, is both a natural
resource and a human activity. Agriculture
depends on the natural resources that are
available. That is why Canadian farmers’ ways
of life are closely connected to the land. The
choices they make about where to farm are
based on the resources that are available.
The location of many farms is also connected
to centres of population, or the number
of people living in surrounding or nearby
communities. The Atlas of Canada identifies 804
communities in Canada that rely, or depend
upon, agricultural activities. These communities
are found in areas of farmland.
The two provinces with the highest number of
communities that rely on agricultural activities
are Saskatchewan, with 281, and Quebec,
with 245. Manitoba has 95 communities and
Alberta has 69.
Most of these 804 communities are smaller
towns or cities, with fewer than 20 000 people.
Only three have more than 20 000 people
living in them – Abbotsford, British Columbia;
Brant, Ontario; and Sainte-Hyacinthe, Quebec.
Most of these communities have fewer than
5 000 people living in them.
From Natural Resources Canada; The Atlas of Canada: AgricultureReliant Communities, 2001. http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/
maps/economic/rdc2001/agrrdc/1
Canadian Communities that
Rely on Agriculture
Communities
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Researcher’s Corner
Comparing and Analyzing Maps
Maps are tools that people use to help us see locations, places,
and features in a large area. A map of Canada’s landforms helps us
understand how the land is similar or different, how much land is
covered by similar features, and where places are in relation to each other.
Maps often have a specific focus. For example, one
map can show Canada’s landforms while another can
show its rivers and lakes. Yet another map can show
communities, cities, and areas of settlement. Multiple
maps can help us make comparisons, see patterns, and
draw conclusions.
Compare the Canada’s Regions and Canadian
Communities that Rely on Agriculture maps.
Here’s how you can make comparisons between two
different maps:
• Use the outline map of Canada on the next page to lightly shade or colour the general areas of each of Canada’s six regions.
• Then, using a different colour, shade the areas covered by communities that depend on
agricultural activities.
• Use your map to respond to the questions that follow.
Naming Canada’s Regions
Go to Weblinks on www.
moo2you.ca to select and
read or listen to a summary of
Canada’s regions on the Canadian
Geographic Atlas online website
at www.canadiangeographic.
ca/atlas/themes.
aspx?id=shield&sub=shield_
basics_regions&lang=En. Click
on the name of each region in the
sidebar to find out more.
How are the regions in the
Canadian Geographic Atlas
different from the geological
regions of Canada? How are they
similar?
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1.In which regions of Canada would you expect to find the most farms? Why would you
expect this?
2.What type of communities do you think rely more on agriculture – urban or rural?
Why do you think this is so?
3.In what ways do you think large urban centres in Alberta depend on agriculture?
4.What natural resources would you expect to find around dairy farms? Why would you
expect to find each of these resources?
5.How do you think dairy farmers use these resources?
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