Natural Resources in Canada

Canada is rich in natural mineral and energy resources that are spread across various regions of the country. Each province and territory are known for different natural resources, for example, in British Columbia the forestry industry is of great importance, while the oil and gas industry are important in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador. Mining is the principal industry of Northern Ontario, while fishing has long been central to the character of the Atlantic provinces, though it has recently been in steep decline. Canada has mineral resources of coal, copper, iron ore, and gold.

The Department of Natural Resources (French: Ministère des Ressources naturelles), operating under the FIP applied title Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), is the ministry of the government of Canada responsible for managing  resources including: energy, minerals and metals, forests, earth sciences, mapping and remote sensing. It was created in 1995 by amalgamating the now-defunct Departments of Energy, Mines and Resources and Forestry.

NRCan also uses its “expertise in earth sciences to build and maintain an up-to-date knowledge base of our landmass and resources.” To promote internal collaboration, NRCan has implemented a departmental wide wiki based on MediaWiki. NRCan also collaborates with American and Mexican government scientists, along with the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, to produce the North American Environmental Atlas, which is used to depict and track environmental issues for a continental perspective.