Browse "Geographical features"

Aberdeen Lake, 1100 km2, elev 80 m, maximum length 91 km, is located in Nunavut, 213 km south of the Arctic Circle.

Lake Abitibi, 932 km2, elev 265 m, straddles the Québec-Ontario border about 280 km south of James Bay.

Lake Agassiz was the largest glacial lake in North America. It was formed 11 500 years ago in front of the northeastwardly retreating Laurentide Ice Sheet, which acted as a dam.

Albany River, 982 km long, is the second longest and largest river in Ontario.

Allison Pass, elevation 1,352 metres, is located at kilometre 60, the highest point on the Hope-Princeton Highway (opened 1949) through the Cascade Mountains of southern British Columbia.

The Alsek River originates in the highest mountains in Canada, the St Elias Range.

Amadjuak Lake, 3115 km2, elevation 113 m, is one of 2 lakes situated in the Great Plain of the Koukdjuak in south-central Baffin Island. This lower-lying area only emerged recently (in geological terms) from beneath the waters of Foxe Basin. Amadjuak Lake is the third-largest in Nunavut.

Amund Ringnes Island, 5255 km2, located between Ellef Ringnes and Axel Heiberg islands in the Arctic Archipelago. It is flat (highest point about 610 m) and windswept; in winter its coasts are virtually indistinguishable from the surrounding ice.

Today, Canadians in increasing numbers are participating in trail related activities spurring the growth of trails all across the country for hiking, walking and cycling.

Fury and Hecla Strait is located at the northern end of Foxe Basin, connecting the basin with the Gulf of Boothia, and separating Melville Peninsula on the mainland and Baffin Island to the north.

Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, French islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 20 km southwest of the Burin Peninsula, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Grosse Île is an island in the St. Lawrence Estuary, 46 km downstream from Quebec City. It is 2.9 km long and 1 km wide and consists of a wooded Appalachian ridge surrounded by a coastline of coves and capes. It is one of the 21 islands composing the Isle-aux-Grues archipelago. It has also been known as Île de Grâce and Quarantine Island. From 1832 to 1937, it was used as a quarantine station for the port of Quebec City. Over this century of activity, more than 4 million immigrants passed through this station, including nearly 90,000 during the “black year” of 1847. Closely tied to memories of Irish immigration to Canada, Grosse Île is a Canadian national historic site, administered by Parks Canada and open to the public.

Between about 15 000 and 10 000 years ago, as the glaciers retreated from the last ice age, parts of Georges Bank and other shallow areas were dry land; fragments of trees and mammoth teeth from this era are still found occasionally in fishing trawls.

Anderson River, 692 km long, originates in a group of lakes north of Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories and meanders north and west to empty into Liverpool Bay, an arm of the Beaufort Sea, just east of the Mackenzie Delta.

Strait of Anian, part of the legendary Northwest Passage linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, likely Bering Strait.

Following the retreat of glacial ice, about 13 000 years ago, the lowlands were nearly completely flooded by the sea to a height of 30 m.

Internationally known for its SKIING facilities, 7 World Cup races have been held there since 1969. The area is superbly equipped; downhill skiers and snowboarders enjoy 51 runs totalling 60 km (15 km are illuminated for night skiing).

Anse du Cap des Rosiers [Fr, "cove of the cape of rosebushes"] was named for the many wild rosebushes found there. The cape that forms the bay is a steep and shrub-covered promontory.