British Columbia has been shaped by the Cordillera, because it separates the province from the rest of Canada. Being so far from Canadian markets made it very difficult for British Columbia to grow. The railway system was British Columbia’s first connection with the rest of Canada. Due to its long distance from the center of Canada, British Columbia strived to compete with foreign markets. British Columbia is the only province to have made substantial population growth every decade since confederation, due mostly to immigrants from the Pacific Rim. In 1996, the province constituted 12.7% of Canada’s population and 13.3% of the national GDP.
British Columbia has had to depend on its hinterland for its success and survival. Its natural wealth has given the province its place in the world today. Even though the province’s high technology and producer services sectors are greatly expanding, it’s the combination of these that will determine British Columbia’s fate and success as a major heartland in the future.
Western Canada
Western Canada is comprised of the vast interior of Canada, and the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It also consists of two major physiographic regions; the Interior Plains and the Canadian Shield, and two minor physiographic regions: the Hudson Bay Lowlands and the Cordillera. Western Canada has two subregions: a northern resource hinterland (forested Canadian Shield) and an agricultural and industrial core (Interior Plains).
As for Alberta, portions of the Rockies attract visitors to Banff and Jasper National Parks. The Interior Plains have valuable deposits of fossil fuel found in sedimentary rocks. The province’s four leading mineral resources are oil, gas, coal and potash. Most petroleum production occurs in geological structures known as the Western Sedimentary Basin. There are also huge petroleum reserves in the Athabaska tar sands in northeastern Alberta.
As for Manitoba and Saskatchewan, the Canadian Shield makes cultivation of land virtually impossible in the northern parts of these provinces. Forestry does exist along the southern edge of the Canadian Shield in Manitoba, but large scale companies are mostly limited to mining and hydroelectricity. Hydroelectric dams and generators exist in northern Manitoba on the Nelson River. Northern Saskatchewan is where Canada gets most of its uranium.
Climate is also another factor that affects Western Canada’s success. All of Western Canada has continental climate, which has extreme daily and seasonal fluctuations and low annual precipitation. It is also a very dry region because of the distance from the ocean and the Cordillera block moist Pacific air masses from entering the land. Natural vegetation and soils depend on precipitation and good weather. Northern regions have cooler temperatures, less evaporation, which is ideal for forestry. The fertile belt, spanning from Winnipeg, to Saskatoon to Edmonton, is where agriculture is the most successful.
Even though, According to Friedman’s model, Western Canada is considered to be an upward transitional region, Western Canada is faced with several fundamental geographic weaknesses that it would have to over come before the area could expand economically and industrially. Its isolation from the world (partially overcome by the Canadian Pacific Railway), makes it very difficult for Western Canada to compete on a national and global market because of its elevated shipping costs. The regions variable climates, resulting in a short growing season, also affect the core of this region. It has to deal with unexpected frosts and bad crops. Finally, the region also has to deal with the chance of drought. Since Western Canada’s economy depends a lot on its agricultural sectors, a drought can cause massive havoc for the area with loss of crops.
The Territorial North
The Territorial North is the biggest geographic region with the smallest population and economy within Canada. The region consists of the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. The area is covered with four physiographic regions: the Canadian Shield, the Interior Plains, the Cordillera and the Artic lands, which give this region a varied topography, from mountainous to flat plains. The regions climate zones are the Arctic climate zone and the Subarctic climate zone. This climate gives the area short summers and the arctic air masses cause dry and cold weather.
The remote location of the Territorial North hinders economic growth and settlement. Energy and minerals are most of the areas output. This homeland for aboriginal people has a non renewable resource export based economy. Due to its cold environment, the region has a low rate of biological productivity for renewable resources. In 2000, 100,500 residents lived in the Territorial North on 4 million km2 of land, which is a population density of 2.5 people per 100km2. This is caused by the cold environment of the area, the nature of the resources being non-renewable, the distance from markets and the high-cost for imported food and goods to the region.
The Territorial North’s challenge is to break its dependency on Ottawa. According to Friedman’s model, the area is a resource frontier. The area falls in this category because of many obstacles that stand in the way of growth and economical freedom. Obstacles such as: being far from world markets, its resource development is dependent on external demands, its resource development being limited by the physical geography and having an economy which is sensitive to fluctuations in world prices for its resources. The Territorial North is trying to develop a commercial based economy, but at the moment it ultimately depends on its primary industries such as; energy and mining. The Klondike Gold Rush marked the beginning of mining in the Territorial North. This area does get short term economical booms from Megaprojects developing in certain area, but the controversy involved when aboriginal land is at stake causes major problems for the region. To top it all off, the area suffers from a boom-and-bust economic cycle due to Megaprojects closing down (ex: Faro, Yukon; Pine Point, Northwest Territories; Rankin Inlet, Nunavut).
Settlement Patterns
Before European explorers reached British Columbia in the mid-eighteenth century, Indians had already been living along the Pacific coast for over 10,000 years. Several years later, in the early nineteenth century, fur trading posts from the North West Company were established along the Columbia River, attracting more people to the area. Even after confederation, it took a long time for British Columbia to grow due to its distance from the rest of the world. It was not until 1885, when the Canadian Pacific Railway was built, did British Columbia have access to the rest of the world and the rest of the world was free to experience British Columbia. Several other Railway systems built in the coming years connected the towns to resources such as: logging opportunities and mining in the northern areas. After the completion of the railway systems, British Columbia began to flourish and Vancouver soon became the center of the west coast. By 1901, Vancouver was populated with 27,000 people and Victoria with 24,000 people. The end of World War II allowed British Columbia to boost its depressed economy by starting full military production such as: aircraft manufacturing and expanding British Columbia’s industrial output. It also helped its resource sectors with mass production of forestry and mining products. This lead to a population boom, British Columbia continued to grow rapidly up until 1996 where a halt in the Asian economy affected the region. In 2000, British Columbia’s population was 4,063,800 people from 1,165,200 in 1951.
An agricultural frontier was marked when in 1872; Western Canada began to be settlement by migration. Most of the migration came from Ontario and to a lesser degree, the Maritimes, Québec and the United States. In 1896, Western Canada was promoted by the government to Great Britain and Europe to lure settlers to the area. By the end of World War I the area had been settled by Central and Eastern Europeans, Alberta and Saskatchewan had enough people to get provincial status. The Canadian Pacific Railway built between Winnipeg, Regina and finally Calgary, opened the area for another boom of settlers. In 1921, Western Canada accounted for more than 250, 000 farms. The promise of fertile and arable lands for cheap prices continued to attract people to the area. By 1951, the population of Western Canada had reached 2,547,700 people, and by the year 2000, the area accounted for 5,168,700 people.
For the vast size of the Territorial North, its settlement was very poor. Due to climate and topography of the area, it was not an attractive region for migration or immigration. The Territorial North has always been settled by Aboriginal people and is with whom explorers first encountered when they discovered the Great North. Virtually all people who live in the Territorial North live in villages, towns, cities or settlements, and they do this for survival. It was in the 1950’s, when trading posts were established in the region that people started to migrate to the North and form new settlements. Since the federal government has most of the control over the natural resources and the monies received from them, the Territorial North is very unappealing to most settlers. By 1951, the population of the Territorial North only accounted for 0.1% of the country’s total population, and in 2000 the population was only 0.3% of the country’s population.
Conclusion
British Columbia and Western Canada have been described as upward transitional areas and the Territorial North has been described as a resource frontier. Each area has been shaped by the varied physical elements pertaining to each area. It is possible that the description of each region according to Friedman’s model can change in the future but, each area will remain to be restricted or hindered by its physical elements. Only each area’s longing to be the best they can be will determine their place in the world. The Canadian writer John Ralston Saul puts it best by stating: “Because, in spite of intellectual claims to the contrary, not religion, not language, not race but place is the dominant feature of civilizations. It decides what people can do and how they will live.”
Outline
1. Introduction
2. Body
- What is the core/periphery model?
- British Columbia
- Describe biophysical environment
- How does the core/periphery model apply?
- Describe biophysical environment
- How does the core/periphery model apply?
- Describe biophysical environment
- How does the core/periphery model apply?
- Unique settlement patterns of each area
3. Conclusion
4. Maps of physiographic regions
5. Bibliography
Bibliography
Bone, Robert M. The Regional Geography of Canada. 2nd ed. Toronto: Oxford Press, 2002, pages 226-325, 432-482.
Riendeau, Roger. A Brief History of Canada. Toronto: Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 2000.
