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

Canada's Provinces and Territories

B3 B2.3About 40 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can name Canada's 10 provinces and 3 territories.
  • I can find each province and territory on a map of Canada.
  • I can explain what a political region is.
  • I can tell one difference between a province and a territory.

Words to know

region
An area that is alike in some way.
political region
An area with borders made by people and its own government, such as a province or territory.
province
One of Canada's 10 political regions. Its powers are written into Canada's Constitution.
territory
One of Canada's 3 northern political regions. It gets its powers from the federal government.
border
A line where one place ends and another begins.
federal government
The government of all of Canada, which meets in Ottawa.

Remember from Grade 3

In Grade 3 you explored Ontario. You learned that Ontario is one of Canada's ten provinces, that Canada also has three territories, and that Ontario's neighbours are Manitoba (west) and Quebec (east).

This year we zoom out to see all of Canada: every province and territory, its big land regions, and the people who live and work there.

What is a political region?

A region is an area that is alike in some way.

  • A political region is an area with borders that people decided on, and its own government. Provinces and territories are Canada's political regions.
  • A physical region is an area where the land itself is alike: mountains, flat plains, rocky land with lakes. Nature made those. You will learn about physical regions later in this unit.

Today is all about Canada's political regions.

Canada is huge!

  • Canada is the second-largest country in the world by area. Only Russia is bigger.
  • Canada touches three oceans: the Pacific Ocean in the west, the Atlantic Ocean in the east and the Arctic Ocean in the north.
  • To the south is the United States. The American state of Alaska is to the north-west, beside Yukon and British Columbia.
  • Canada is made of 10 provinces and 3 territories. That makes 13 political regions.
A view from a rocky hilltop over dark green forest and many blue lakes that stretch all the way to the horizon.
Forests and lakes as far as the eye can see. Canada is the second-largest country in the world, with huge areas where few people live. AI-generated image
Arctic OceanPacificAtlanticYTNTNUBCABSKMBONQCNLNBPENSUnited States (south)
A simplified diagram of Canada, NOT a real map: real borders are not straight boxes and the sizes are not exact. Provinces are shaded green and territories yellow. The letters are each place's short form (see the table below).
Province or territoryShort formPart of Canada
British ColumbiaBCWest Coast
AlbertaABPrairies
SaskatchewanSKPrairies
ManitobaMBPrairies
OntarioONCentral Canada
QuebecQCCentral Canada
New BrunswickNBAtlantic Canada
Nova ScotiaNSAtlantic Canada
Prince Edward IslandPEAtlantic Canada
Newfoundland and LabradorNLAtlantic Canada
YukonYTThe North (territory)
Northwest TerritoriesNTThe North (territory)
NunavutNUThe North (territory)
Canada's 13 provinces and territories, listed from west to east, then the three territories. The short forms are the ones Canada Post uses on addresses.

Groups of provinces

Canadians often group the provinces into bigger parts:

  • West Coast: British Columbia, beside the Pacific Ocean.
  • The Prairies: Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
  • Central Canada: Ontario and Quebec.
  • Atlantic Canada: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador. (The first three are also called the Maritimes.)
  • The North: Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
West CoastBC1 provincePrairiesABSKMB3 provincesCentralONQC2 provincesAtlanticNBNSPENL4 provincesThe NorthYTNTNU3 territories1 + 3 + 2 + 4 = 10 provinces, plus 3 territories = 13westeast
The five groups of provinces and territories, from west to east, with the territories across the North. Count them: 1 + 3 + 2 + 4 = 10 provinces, plus 3 territories. Not a map: the boxes only show the groups.

Province or territory: what's the difference?

Both have their own government and their own capital city. The difference is where their powers come from:

  • A province has its own powers written into Canada's Constitution, the country's most important set of laws.
  • A territory gets its powers from Canada's federal government in Ottawa.

The three territories are all in the North. They are very big, but few people live there.

Some record-breakers

  • Biggest province (by area): Quebec.
  • Smallest province: Prince Edward Island.
  • Biggest of all 13: the territory of Nunavut.
  • Most people: Ontario.
  • Newest: Nunavut, created in 1999. Most people in Nunavut are Inuit, and the name Nunavut means "our land" in Inuktitut, the Inuit language.
Just for fun

Prince Edward Island is the smallest province, but it has a giant bridge: the Confederation Bridge is almost 13 km long. That's a very long walk just to say "Hi, neighbour!" (Don't worry, you drive across it.)

Names with deep roots

Indigenous peoples lived on this land long before any of these borders were drawn, and they still live in every province and territory today. Many place names come from Indigenous languages:

  • Canada comes from kanata, a word of the St. Lawrence Iroquoian people that means "village" or "settlement".
  • Saskatchewan comes from the Cree name for the Saskatchewan River, meaning "swift-flowing river".
  • Nunavut means "our land" in Inuktitut.
Worked example

Let's sort the provinces together

Sort these into provinces and territories: Manitoba, Yukon, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Alberta.

  1. Remember there are only three territories: Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
  2. Yukon and Nunavut are on that list, so they are territories.
  3. Everything else is a province: Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Alberta.

Provinces: Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Alberta. Territories: Yukon, Nunavut.

Worked example

Let's travel across Canada

You start in British Columbia and travel straight east, staying in the provinces, until you reach Quebec. Which provinces do you pass through, in order?

  1. Find British Columbia on the west coast.
  2. Going east, the next province is Alberta, then Saskatchewan, then Manitoba. These three are the Prairies.
  3. Next comes Ontario, and then Quebec.

British Columbia → Alberta → Saskatchewan → Manitoba → Ontario → Quebec.

Hands-on activity

Make a Canada puzzle

You need: a printed outline map of Canada with the provinces and territories (from an atlas, a library, or printed with a grown-up from a government website), cardboard from a cereal box, glue, crayons or markers, and scissors. A grown-up should help with the scissors.

  1. Colour each province one colour and each territory a different colour.
  2. Write the name or short form on each one.
  3. Glue the map onto the cardboard and let it dry.
  4. With a grown-up, cut out the 13 pieces. Little Prince Edward Island is tiny, so cut carefully or leave it attached to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
  5. Mix up the pieces. Put Canada back together, saying each name as you place it. Time yourself, then try to beat your time.

What to look for: Your child places British Columbia on the west, the Atlantic provinces on the east, and all three territories along the top. They can say which pieces are territories.

Your turn

1

How many provinces and how many territories does Canada have?

2

Name the three territories.

3

Which province is on the west coast, beside the Pacific Ocean?

4

Name the three Prairie provinces.

5

Which ocean is north of Canada?

6

What is the short form for Prince Edward Island?

7

What is a political region?

More practice: warm-up

1

Which country is south of Canada?

2

Which province has the most people?

3

What is the smallest province?

4

Which territory is the newest?

5

Is Saskatchewan a province or a territory?

More practice: on your own

1

Name the four Atlantic provinces.

2

Name the two provinces of Central Canada. Which is bigger by area?

3

Which province is between Saskatchewan and Ontario?

4

Explain one difference between a province and a territory.

5

Which provinces or territories touch the Pacific Ocean?

Challenge

1

Nunavut is the biggest of all 13 provinces and territories, but Ontario has many more people. How can a bigger place have fewer people? Think about the land and climate.

2

Why do you think the borders between provinces were made by people and not by nature? Give an example of a border that follows something in nature.

3

Your cousin in Halifax sends you a letter. The address ends with NS. What does that tell you, and which part of Canada is it?

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

How many territories does Canada have?

2.

Which of these is a Prairie province?

3.

Which ocean is on Canada's east coast?

4.

Which is the biggest province by area?

5.

What does Nunavut mean in Inuktitut?

6.

Provinces and territories are examples of...

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Canada is divided into 13 political regions: 10 provinces and 3 territories. Students learn their names, rough positions (west to east), common groupings (West Coast, Prairies, Central, Atlantic, North) and the basic difference between a province and a territory.

How to help at home:

  • Keep a map of Canada on the fridge or wall. When a province comes up in the news, a hockey game or a family story, find it together.
  • Play "Next door": name a province and ask your child to name its neighbours.
  • Look at mail: the two-letter short forms (ON, QC, BC...) appear on addresses.

Common difficulties:

  • Mixing up provinces and territories. There are only three territories, and they are all along the top of the map.
  • Order of the Prairie provinces. West to east: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba (remember "A Sunny Morning": A, S, M).
  • Newfoundland and Labrador is one province with two parts: the island of Newfoundland and Labrador on the mainland.

The diagram in this lesson is a simplified diagram, not a real map. Use a real atlas or map for the activity.