B. People and Environments · Political and Physical Regions of Canada

Canada's Physical Regions: The Big Picture

B3 B2.3About 40 minutes

Learning goals

I can explain what a physical region is.
I can name Canada's physical regions.
I can describe the land, climate and plants of each region in a few words.
I can explain why physical regions cross provincial borders.

Words to know

physical region
A large area where landforms, climate, plants and soil are alike.

landform
A natural shape of the land, such as a mountain, hill, plain or valley.

climate
The usual weather of a place over many years.

natural vegetation
The plants that grow in a place on their own.

permafrost
Ground that stays frozen all year.

tundra
Cold, treeless land with small plants.

cross-section
A side view, as if the land were sliced through.

Remember from Grade 3

In Grade 3 you learned Ontario's three landform regions: the Hudson Bay Lowlands, the Canadian Shield and the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands. Those regions don't stop at Ontario's borders! They keep going into other provinces. And the rest of Canada has even more regions.

What is a physical region?

A physical region is a large area where the natural environment is alike. Geographers look at:

Landforms: the shape of the land (mountains, hills, plains, valleys).
Climate: the usual weather over many years (hot or cold, wet or dry). Weather is what happens today; climate is the pattern year after year.
Natural vegetation: the plants that grow there on their own (forest, grassland, tundra).
Soil, water and wildlife.

Physical regions are made by nature, so their edges do not match the borders of provinces. One province can have several physical regions, and one region can stretch across several provinces.

Hills covered in red, orange and green trees beside a lake, with a small river flowing into it. — Geographers look at landforms (the hills), water (the lake and river), climate and natural vegetation (the mixed forest) to describe a physical region. AI-generated image

A made-up close-up, not a real map. The dashed border is a line people drew. The shaded physical region (the Canadian Shield) ignores it and keeps going into the next province.

Canada's physical regions

Different books divide Canada in slightly different ways. In this unit we use eight physical regions:

Cordillera (say kor-dee-YAIR-uh)
Interior Plains
Canadian Shield
Hudson Bay Lowlands
Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands
Appalachian Region
Arctic Lowlands
Innuitian Mountains (say in-YOO-ish-un)

Some books join the last two into one "Arctic" region, and some call the Cordillera the "Western Cordillera."

A simplified side view (cross-section) of southern Canada from west to east. NOT to scale: the mountains are drawn much taller than real life so you can see them. GL–SL stands for Great Lakes–St. Lawrence. The Hudson Bay Lowlands, Arctic Lowlands and Innuitian Mountains are farther north, so they are not on this line.

Region	Where (mostly)	Land	Climate	Natural vegetation
Cordillera	British Columbia, Yukon, western Alberta	High mountains, valleys, plateaus	Mild and rainy on the coast; colder and drier inland and high up	Coastal rainforest, forests, few plants on the highest peaks
Interior Plains	Alberta, Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba, and north into the Northwest Territories	Flat or gently rolling; deep, rich soil in the south	Cold winters, hot summers; dry in the south	Grassland (prairie) in the south, forest in the north
Canadian Shield	Around Hudson Bay: parts of Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Labrador, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut	Old, hard rock; thousands of lakes; thin soil	Cold winters, warm summers in the south; colder farther north	Huge forests (the boreal forest); tundra in the far north
Hudson Bay Lowlands	Along Hudson Bay and James Bay in Ontario and Manitoba	Very flat and wet: bogs and swamps (muskeg)	Long, very cold winters; short, cool summers	Mosses and small trees
Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands	Southern Ontario and along the St. Lawrence River in Quebec	Flat or gently rolling, with fertile soil	Warm, humid summers; cold, snowy winters	Mixed forests with maple and oak (much is now farms and cities)
Appalachian Region	Atlantic provinces and south-eastern Quebec	Old, worn-down, rounded mountains and hills; long coastlines	Ocean nearby: lots of rain and snow, often foggy	Mixed forests
Arctic Lowlands	Islands in the Arctic (Nunavut and the Northwest Territories)	Low and flat; ground frozen all year (permafrost)	Very cold, long winters; very little rain or snow	Tundra: mosses, lichens, small plants, no trees
Innuitian Mountains	The most northern islands of Nunavut	High mountains, glaciers and ice	The coldest region; very dry	Very few plants

Canada's eight physical regions at a glance. Each region gets a closer look in the next lessons.

Words to know

Permafrost: ground that stays frozen all year, even in summer.
Tundra: cold, treeless land where only small plants grow.
Boreal forest: the huge northern forest of evergreens like spruce and pine, plus trees like birch and poplar. It stretches across Canada.
Fertile soil: soil that is rich and good for growing crops.

Just for fun

Why don't mountains ever catch a cold?

They always wear their snow caps!

Worked example

Let's name the region from clues

Clues: "The land is flat. In the south there is grassland and deep, rich soil. Summers are hot and winters are cold. Farmers grow lots of wheat here." Which physical region is it?

Flat land rules out the Cordillera, the Innuitian Mountains and the Appalachian Region.
Grassland and rich soil rule out the Canadian Shield (rock and thin soil) and the Arctic Lowlands (tundra).
Hot summers, cold winters and wheat farms match the Interior Plains.

The Interior Plains.

Worked example

Let's think about edges

Ontario has three physical regions. Does the Canadian Shield stop at the Ontario–Manitoba border?

Borders between provinces were made by people.
Physical regions are made by nature: rock, soil and landforms.
The rock of the Shield keeps going under the border into Manitoba, and on into other provinces and territories.

No. The Canadian Shield continues into Manitoba and beyond. Physical regions don't follow political borders.

Hands-on activity

Build a cross-section of Canada

You need: a long strip of cardboard or a shoebox lid, play dough or modelling clay (or crumpled paper and tape), markers, small paper labels and toothpicks. A grown-up should be close by: toothpicks are sharp, and keep small pieces away from little brothers and sisters.

Along the strip, from left (west) to right (east), build: tall jagged mountains (Cordillera), a long flat part (Interior Plains), bumpy rock with little lakes (Canadian Shield), another flat part (Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands), and low rounded hills (Appalachian).
Add ocean at each end: Pacific on the left, Atlantic on the right.
Make toothpick flags with each region's name.
Explain your model to a grown-up: "Here the land is ___, so people can ___."

What to look for: regions in the right order, the mountains in the west higher and sharper than the hills in the east, and both oceans.

Your turn

What is a physical region?

Which physical region has Canada's highest mountains?

Which region is rocky with thousands of lakes and thin soil?

Which region has old, worn-down, rounded mountains in the east?

What is permafrost?

Name the two northern regions made of Arctic islands.

What is the difference between weather and climate?

More practice: warm-up

How many physical regions do we use in this unit?

Which region is very flat and wet, beside Hudson Bay?

What is tundra?

Which region is in southern Ontario and along the St. Lawrence River?

Are physical regions made by people or by nature?

More practice: on your own

Clues: "I am the farthest north. I have high mountains, glaciers and ice. Very few plants grow here." Which region am I?

Why can one province have more than one physical region? Give an example.

Which two regions are lowlands that are not in the Arctic?

Compare the land of the Interior Plains and the Canadian Shield.

Look at the cross-section diagram. Going from west to east, which region comes right after the Interior Plains?

Challenge

The Arctic Lowlands get very little rain or snow, but the ground is often covered in snow. How can that be?

Vancouver (on the B.C. coast) and Winnipeg are about the same distance north. Why is winter in Vancouver much milder?

A friend says, "All of Canada is cold and snowy." Use what you learned about the regions to give a better answer.

Check your understanding

Quiz

Which region has Canada's highest mountains?

Climate means...

Which region has rocky land with thousands of lakes?

Ground that stays frozen all year is called...

Which region has old, rounded mountains in eastern Canada?

Do physical regions follow the borders of provinces?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Canada can be divided into physical regions where landforms, climate, vegetation and soil are alike. This unit uses eight regions (some resources use seven by combining the Arctic Lowlands and Innuitian Mountains). Physical regions cross political borders.

How to help at home:

Look at photos of Canadian landscapes online or in books (mountains, prairie, lakes and rock, farmland, Atlantic coast, tundra) and play "Which region?".
Talk about your own region: "We live in the ___. What is the land like? What grows here?"
Watch the weather map for a week and compare temperatures across Canada.

Common difficulties:

Weather vs climate. Weather is today; climate is the long-term pattern.
Thinking regions match provinces. Show that the Canadian Shield crosses many provinces.
Long names. It is fine to shorten them ("the Shield", "the Plains", "the Lowlands").

The cross-section diagram is simplified and not to scale.