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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The overgrowth of lush vegetation has been cleared away from the remains of Ninstints's longhouses and totem poles, which pay silent homage to their creators.

Lying north of mainland Canada, the Arctic Archipelago consists of 94 major islands (greater than 130 km2) and 36,469 minor islands covering a total of 1.4 million km2. Apart from Greenland, which is almost entirely ice covered, the Canadian Arctic Archipelago forms the world's largest High Arctic land area.

The Arctic Circle is a parallel or line of latitude at approximately 66°33’ N that marks the border of the Arctic, the northernmost region of Earth. The geographic point at the centre of Arctic Circle is the North Pole. In Canada, communities located close to this cartographic boundary include Old Crow in the Yukon, Fort McPherson in the Northwest Territories, and Repulse Bay and Qikiqtarjuaq in Nunavut. The latitude of the Arctic Circle shifts slightly depending on the tilt of the Earth’s rotational axis.

The Arctic Red River flows 499 km north-northwest from glaciers in the North Mackenzie Mountains, crossing 4 mountain ranges before it winds its way through the Mackenzie Lowlands, crossing the Arctic Circle and joining the MACKENZIE RIVER just south of the Mackenzie River Delta.

The Assiniboine River, 1070 km long and with a mean discharge of 45 m3/s, rises in southeastern Saskatchewan.

Athabasca Landing Trail was established 1875 by Hudson's Bay Company between Edmonton and Athabasca Landing to improve and expand northern transportation.

Athabasca Pass, elevation 1,748 m, is situated on the extreme southwest boundary of Jasper National Park, on the ​British Columbia-​Alberta border.

The Athabasca River is the longest river in Alberta (1,538 km). The first 168 km (located in Jasper National Park) are designated as a Canadian Heritage River. As a tributary to the Mackenzie River, water flowing on the Athabasca River eventually drains into the Arctic Ocean. River flow is highest during the summer and lowest during winter, and it is ice-covered from mid-November to mid-April.

Atlin Lake, 775 km2, elev 668 m, is a long, narrow lake in northwestern BC touching the Yukon border. The source of the Yukon River, it was inundated by prospectors during the Klondike Gold Rush 1897-98. The town of Atlin is on the E shore.

Attawapiskat River, 748 km long, formed by the confluence of the Pineimuta, Trading and Otoskwin rivers at Attawapiskat Lake, in northeastern Ontario, flows east, jogs north and runs east to the flatland by James Bay. Its drainage area is 50 200 km2 and its mean discharge 626 m3/s.

Avalon Peninsula, 9220 km2, is a spreading peninsula thrust out into the rich fishing grounds of the north Atlantic, forming the southeast corner of insular Newfoundland.