Grade by Grade
C. Managing Canada's Resources and Industries · Managing Canada's Resources and Industries

Canada's Natural Resources: Renewable, Non-Renewable and Flow

C1.1 A1.1About 70 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can define a natural resource and explain the difference between renewable, non-renewable and flow resources.
  • I can describe the characteristics of a resource: amount, quality, location, accessibility and renewal rate.
  • I can give Canadian examples of each type of resource and explain why some resources do not fit neatly into one category.
  • I can write factual, comparative, causal and evaluative inquiry questions about resources.

Words to know

natural resource
Something found in nature that people use or value, such as water, soil, trees, fish, minerals, wind or sunlight.
renewable resource
A resource that natural processes replace within a reasonable time, such as forests or fish, as long as we do not use it faster than it renews.
non-renewable resource
A resource with a fixed supply that took millions of years to form, such as oil, natural gas, coal and metal ores. Once used, it is gone (though metals can often be recycled).
flow resource
A resource that must be used when and where it occurs and is not used up, such as wind, sunlight, tides and running water.
mineral
A naturally occurring solid with a definite chemical make-up. Metallic minerals include nickel and gold; non-metallic minerals include potash and salt.
fossil fuel
A fuel formed from the remains of ancient living things: coal, oil and natural gas.
depletion
Using a resource faster than it can be replaced, so the supply shrinks.
raw material
A natural resource before it is processed into a product, like logs before they become lumber.

Hook: a resource-powered morning

Think about the first hour of your day. The water in your shower came from a lake, river or well. The toast may have been made from wheat grown on the Prairies. The light in your kitchen used electricity, which in Ontario comes mostly from nuclear stations and waterpower. Your phone contains copper and other metals that were mined. The school bus burns diesel made from oil.

Before breakfast, you have already used a dozen natural resources. In this unit you will study where Canada's resources are, how they are taken from the land and water, which industries use them, and how Canada can manage them so they last.

What makes something a natural resource?

A natural resource is anything in nature that people use or value. Something becomes a resource when people have the technology and a reason to use it. For example, the oil sands of northern Alberta were known for a long time, but they only became a major resource when companies developed ways to separate the thick oil (bitumen) from the sand at a cost that made sense.

Geographers sort natural resources into three types, based on how (and whether) nature replaces them.

The three types

1. Renewable resources are replaced by natural processes in a reasonable amount of time. Forests regrow, fish reproduce, soil slowly rebuilds, and crops are planted again each spring. But renewable does not mean unlimited. If we cut, catch or erode faster than nature replaces, the resource can be depleted. The collapse of the northern cod off Newfoundland and Labrador (you will study it later in this unit) showed how a renewable resource can almost disappear.

2. Non-renewable resources exist in a fixed amount because they took millions of years to form. This includes fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, coal), metallic minerals (nickel, copper, gold, iron, uranium) and non-metallic minerals (potash, salt, diamonds, gravel). Once fossil fuels are burned, they are gone. Metals are also non-renewable, but many can be recycled again and again.

3. Flow resources are not used up and cannot be stored in their natural form. They must be used when and where they occur: wind, sunlight, tides and running river water. A wind turbine on a calm day makes no electricity, and you cannot pack up the wind from Lake Huron's shore and ship it to Thunder Bay. (We can store the electricity they make in batteries, or store water behind a dam, which is why flow resources are so useful for electricity.)

How long does it take nature to renew a resource?Wind, sunlightalways flowingCropsabout a yearFish stocksa few yearsForestsmany decadesSoilcenturiesOil, coal, gasmillions of yearsfaster renewalslower (not to scale)
Resources renew at very different speeds. The green dots renew fast enough to be called renewable or flow; soil (yellow) renews so slowly it is often treated as non-renewable; fossil fuels take millions of years. The spacing is not to scale.
RENEWABLEreplaced by nature if managedNON-RENEWABLEfixed supply; used upFLOWuse it when and where it occursboreal forestAtlantic codlake troutwheat and canolamoose and caribougroundwater (slow!)nickel and coppergold and diamondspotashoil sands bitumennatural gasuraniumwindsunlightrunning river watertides
Examples of Canadian resources sorted into the three types. Groundwater is listed as renewable, but deep aquifers can refill so slowly that pumping too fast can lower them for a very long time.

Characteristics of a resource

When geographers describe a resource, they look at more than its type. They ask:

  • Quantity: How much is there? (Canada has about 9% of the world's forests and 24% of the world's boreal forest, according to Natural Resources Canada's State of Canada's Forests report, 2025.)
  • Quality or grade: How rich is it? Ore with more metal per tonne is higher grade and cheaper to process.
  • Location: Where is it? Close to people and ports, or far north?
  • Accessibility: How easy is it to reach and remove? Think of roads, depth, climate and permafrost.
  • Renewal rate: How quickly does nature replace it?
  • Value and demand: How much are people willing to pay for it, now and in the future?

Canada is a world leader for several resources. The U.S. Geological Survey reports that in 2024 Canada was the largest potash producer in the world (about 31% of world output), and the World Nuclear Association reports that Canada was the second-largest uranium producer (about 24%). Natural Resources Canada reports that Canada has the third-largest proven oil reserves in the world, almost all of it in Alberta's oil sands.

Not every resource fits in one box

Real resources can be tricky:

  • Water in a flowing river is a flow resource, but water in a deep aquifer or an ancient glacier renews so slowly it behaves like a non-renewable resource.
  • Soil is renewable in theory, but a few centimetres can take hundreds of years to form. Lost topsoil is lost for our lifetimes.
  • Fish and forests are renewable only if they are managed well.

In a test or project, explain your reasoning rather than only naming a category. That is what Grade 9 geographers do.

Worked example

Modelled example: classify and explain

Classify each resource and justify your choice: (a) nickel at Sudbury, (b) the Niagara River at a generating station, (c) a red pine plantation, (d) natural gas in northeastern British Columbia.

  1. Ask: Does nature replace it? How fast? Is it used up when we use it?
  2. (a) Nickel formed in rock over geologic time. Mining removes it and nature will not replace it. Non-renewable (but nickel can be recycled from old batteries and steel).
  3. (b) The Niagara River keeps flowing. The generating station uses the water's movement, and the water continues on. Flow resource.
  4. (c) A red pine plantation can be harvested and replanted. It regrows in decades. Renewable, if it is replanted and not overharvested.
  5. (d) Natural gas formed from ancient organisms over millions of years and is burned when used. Non-renewable.

Non-renewable, flow, renewable, non-renewable. Each answer includes a reason based on renewal rate and whether use uses it up.

Think like a geographer: asking inquiry questions (A1.1)

Strong questions guide an investigation. Try these four kinds:

  • Factual: What minerals are mined in Ontario?
  • Comparative: How is forestry in British Columbia different from forestry in Ontario?
  • Causal: Why did the northern cod stock collapse?
  • Evaluative: Should Canada expand nuclear power? To what extent is the oil sands industry sustainable?

Evaluative questions are the richest because you must gather evidence and judge using criteria.

Hands-on activity

Resource detective at home

You need: paper, a pencil, and 10 objects from around your home (for example a pencil, a glass, a cotton T-shirt, a wooden spoon, a soup can, a plastic bottle, a phone charger, a bag of flour, a candle, a coin).

  1. Make a table with columns: Object, Main raw material(s), Natural resource it came from, Type (renewable, non-renewable, flow).
  2. Fill it in. Example: soup can → steel (and a thin coating) → iron ore → non-renewable. Wooden spoon → wood → trees → renewable.
  3. Count how many objects depend on non-renewable resources. Were you surprised?
  4. Write one causal and one evaluative inquiry question that your table makes you wonder about.

What to look for: most plastic items trace back to oil or natural gas; glass comes from sand (silica), a non-renewable mineral; cotton and paper trace back to plants (renewable).

Just for fun

Why did the wind turbine get invited to every party?

Because it was a huge fan, and it never ran out of energy.

Your turn

1

Define flow resource and give two Canadian examples.

2

Classify potash and explain.

3

Why can a renewable resource still run out?

4

Name three characteristics a geographer would use to describe a mineral deposit.

5

Is uranium renewable, non-renewable or flow? What is it used for in Canada?

6

Write one comparative inquiry question about Canadian forests.

More practice: warm-up

1

Is a lake trout population renewable or non-renewable?

2

Is coal renewable, non-renewable or flow?

3

Is sunlight renewable, non-renewable or flow?

4

Give one example of a non-metallic mineral.

5

Which type of resource can never be stored in its natural form?

More practice: on your own

1

Explain why soil is sometimes treated as non-renewable even though it forms naturally.

2

Canada has 9% of the world's forests (NRCan, 2025). Does a large quantity mean the forests cannot be depleted? Explain.

3

Why might a high-grade ore deposit be developed before a larger, low-grade one?

4

Metals are non-renewable. How does recycling change how we think about them?

5

Turn this factual question into an evaluative one: Where are Ontario's wind farms?

Challenge

1

A company says natural gas is a 'bridge fuel' between coal and renewables. Using the three resource types, explain one argument for and one argument against this idea.

2

Explain how one resource can change category depending on how it is used. Use water as your example.

3

Something is a resource only when people have the technology and a reason to use it. Explain with the oil sands, and predict one 'non-resource' that could become a resource in the future.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

Which resource is a flow resource?

2.

Why are forests called renewable and not flow resources?

3.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey (2024 data), Canada is the world's largest producer of which mineral?

4.

Which statement about metals such as copper is most accurate?

5.

Which of these is the best evaluative inquiry question?

6.

A river is used to generate electricity at a dam. Which statement is true?

For parents and teachers

This lesson sets up the vocabulary for the whole unit. Ask your teen to classify things you use at home and explain why, not just name the category. Common difficulties: thinking 'renewable' means 'unlimited'; mixing up flow and renewable (a flow resource is not used up and must be used when it occurs); forgetting that metals can be recycled even though they are non-renewable. The statistics quoted come from Natural Resources Canada (2025), the U.S. Geological Survey (2024 data) and the World Nuclear Association (2024 data). Encourage your teen to always say where a number comes from; this is a key Grade 9 geography skill.