Halifax, Nova Scotia, incorporated as a city in 1841, population 403,131 (2016 c), 390,096 (2011 c). Halifax is the capital of Nova Scotia and the largest urban area in Atlantic Canada. On 1 April 1996 Halifax was amalgamated with neighbouring communities to form the Halifax Regional Municipal Government. Halifax Regional Municipality occupies a strategic and central location on the province's east coast and is one of the world's largest harbours. Sometimes called "Warden of the North" for its historic military role, today it is a major regional centre for Atlantic Canada's economy.
Toronto, Ontario, incorporated as a city in 1834, population 2,731,571 (2016 c), 2,615,060 (2011 c). As Ontario's capital city, Toronto has a vibrant history of change and growth, ranging from its early occupation over 1,000 years ago to its current status as North America’s fourth largest city. Toronto is Canada's largest municipality and is made up of the former cities of Toronto, North York, Scarborough, York and Etobicoke, and the former borough of East York. The city is home to a large immigrant population, and is a national and international hub for finance, communications and cultural life.2
Montreal, Quebec is a city located on the island of the same name at the junction of the St Lawrence and Ottawa rivers in the province of Québec. The island is one of a cluster that also includes Ile Jésus (which became part of the city of Laval in 1965) and the islands of Bizard and Perrot.
Winnipeg, Manitoba, incorporated as a city in 1873, population 705,244 (2016 c), 663,617 (2011 c). The city of Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, and is located at the confluence of the Red River and Assiniboine River 100 km north of the Minnesota border. The name is derived from the Cree name for Lake Winnipeg, 65 km north, win-nipi, meaning "murky water." Winnipeg is an important economic and cultural centre for the Prairies. Lying midway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, it has been called "Bull's Eye of the Dominion," and because of its location between the Canadian Shield and the prairie, "Gateway to the West."
Edmonton, Alberta, incorporated as a city in 1904, population 932,546 (2016 c) 812,201 (2011 c). Edmonton is the capital of Alberta, and is located on the North Saskatchewan River, near the geographical centre of the province. Commonly known as the "Gateway to the North," it is strategically situated on an economic divide between the highly-productive farmlands of central Alberta and a vast, resource-rich northern hinterland.
Calgary, Alberta, incorporated as a city in 1894, population 1,239,220 (2016 c) 1,096,833 (2011 c). The city of Calgary is situated on the Bow River in southern Alberta, about 220 km north of the American border at the meeting point of the Western prairies and mountain foothills. It is the financial centre of western Canada, based on its key role in the development of the region’s oil and gas industry. With its panoramic backdrop of the Rocky Mountains and its historic association with cattle ranching and oil exploration, Calgary is one of Canada’s most identifiable cities.
St. Jacobs, ON, established as a Police Village in 1904 and dissolved as such in 1972 under the Regional Municipality of Waterloo Act (1972), population 1,891 (2011c), 1,597 (2006c).
Sault Ste Marie, Ont, incorporated as a town in 1887 and as a city in 1912, seat of Algoma district, population 75 141 (2011c), 74 948 (2006c). The City of Sault Ste Marie is located adjacent to the rapids of the St Marys River between Lakes Superior and Huron.
Charlottetown, PEI, incorporated as a city in 1855, population 36,094 (2016 c), 34,562 (2011 c). The capital of Prince Edward Island, the City of Charlottetown is also the administrative centre of Queens County and the principal municipality of Canada's smallest province. It is situated on a broad harbour opening into the Northumberland Strait. Three rivers converge there, with the city located on a low-rising point of land between the Hillsborough (East) and North (Yorke) rivers just opposite the harbour's mouth. Suburban development has spread across the Hillsborough to Stratford, and between the North and West (Eliot) rivers at Cornwall. Besides its governmental functions, Charlottetown services a considerable agricultural hinterland and is the focus of Island communications. Its favourable climate, nearby beaches and claim to be the “Birthplace of Confederation” have made it a major tourist centre.
The twin cities of Kitchener-Waterloo are located in central southwestern Ontario, 105 km southwest of Toronto. Each retains its own political culture within a common historical framework and with similar, but by no means identical, socio-economic developments. Kitchener (originally named Berlin), the larger of the two, was the county seat (1853), judicial and financial centre of Waterloo County from 1853 to 1973. It continues to have a predominant influence in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, which was formed in 1973 by combining several communities and cities, including Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge.
Montréal, Québec, incorporated as a city in 1832, population 1,704,694 (2016 c), 1,649,519 (2011 c). Montréal is Canada’s second largest city and is home to nearly half of the province of Québec’s population. It is the metropolis of the province and was the most populous city in Canada for a century and a half. It is located in southwestern Québec on Île de Montréal at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers. Montréal is a major industrial centre, commercial and financial metropolis, railway and maritime bridgehead, and one of the centres of francophone culture in North America. It is one of the world's great cities and enjoys international acclaim.
Eckville, Alta, incorporated as a village in 1921 and as a town in 1966, population 1125 (2011c), 951 (2006c).
East York, Ont, Urban Community within the city of Toronto. East York was a borough until it was merged in 1998 into the new city of Toronto.
The Eastern Townships region is located in the Appalachian hills of south-central Québec, between Montréal and Québec City. The townships extend from Granby to Lac Mégantic and from Drummondville to the US border.
March 6, 1834 marked the founding of the city Canadians love to hate: the city of Toronto.
In Richmond Prison, at the end of Gottingen Street, Halifax, the warden's young son was drawn to a window by a spectacular display of fireworks. Too sick to go to school that day he had gone to work with his dad.
"I have ascertained by a Route hitherto unknown but to some Indian Hunters, that there is an easy Portage between York and the Waters which fall into Lake Huron of not more than thirty miles in extent....
On September 3, 1962, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker arrived at Rogers Pass to preside at the official opening of the Trans-Canada Highway. This section of pavement through British Columbia's Selkirk Mountains was the final stretch of the highway to be built.
When the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa were reconstructed after a fire during the First World War, stone plaques were erected over the entrance to the Peace Tower.
On 2 October 1758, Nova Scotia's first Legislative Assembly met in Halifax, and Canadian parliamentary government was born.
Soldiers rounding up terrified civilians, expelling them from their land, burning their homes and crops ‒ it sounds like a 20th century nightmare in one of the world's trouble spots, but it describes a scene from Canada's early history, the Deportation of the Acadians.
As the schooners arrived home from the Grand Banks in 1920, word spread among the fishermen that the Americas Cup race off Sandy Hook, NY, had been postponed because of a mere "breeze." The fishermen had contempt for those effete "yachts," which huddled by the docks when the seas ran high.
Nunavut, which translates from the Inuktitut dialect of the Eastern Arctic Inuit as "Our Land," is a territorial subdivision of the erstwhile Northwest Territories.
Africville was an African-Canadian village located just north of Halifax and founded in the mid-18th century. The City of Halifax demolished the once-prosperous seaside community in the 1960s in what many said was an act of racism. The mayor of the Halifax Regional Municipality apologized for the action in 2010. For many people, Africville represents the oppression faced by Black Canadians, and the efforts to right historic wrongs.