Inquiry

What can I learn about the Atlantic region from a map?



Newfoundland and Labrador are the most easterly land location in North America. This province is so far east, it has its own time zone. Settled early because of its fisheries, Newfoundland has an old and distinct culture. Today, off-shore oil and gas reserves are the province's non-renewable main resource. Labrador also has renewable hydro-electric resources. 


Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) is a small island connected to the mainland of New Brunswick by a really long Confederation Bridge.   PEI's two main resources are the soil and the sea, making fishing and agriculture major industries.  The production of potatoes helps to make agriculture on this island a major commodity.  PEI's main industry, though, is tourism, especially Green Gables House, home of a well-known Canadian author, Lucy Maud Montgomery.  She based her novels of Anne of Green Gables on the Green Gables farm and its surroundings.


New Scotland (Nova Scotia) has the world's highest tides in the Bay of Fundy.  Halifax was, and can be, an important defence location and harbour. Traditional industries were shipbuilding, fisheries, and shipping.  Nova Scotia has the non-renewable resource of coal, which made mining a major industry, and renewable resources of forests and farmland led to the growth of forestry and agriculture industries.


New Brunswick has the second largest river system on North America’s Atlantic coastline, the St. John River system. Its main industries are forestry, agriculture, fisheries, mining, food processing, and tourism. New Brunswick has three main cities: Saint John is the largest city; Moncton is the Acadian centre; and Fredericton is the historic capital. 

New Brunswick is proud that it is Canada's only officially bilingual province.  That is because the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms specifically recognizes English and French as official languages of New Brunswick.


What is the difference between a renewable and non-renewable resource? Watch the video to find out.




Resources for Inquiry


  1. Textbook
      • Read pages 36 and 37.
  • Look at the map of the region and the legend to learn as much as possible about the region.   Look carefully at the photos on these two pages and read the captions.

Some things to think about:

  • Read aloud the place names on the map.  Some sound French and others English.  Why do you think this is?
  • How is Alistair’s description of his home different from or the same as yours?
  • Atlantic Canada is within one day's drive of more than one-third of North America's entire population. Atlantic ports for ships are two days closer to Europe than any other ports in North America. Atlantic Canada is well connected by road, sea, air and rail. Do you think this is why Atlantic Canada was settled first?

 Skill Builder


Click here to learn how to use a legend.

 The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a system of 24 satellites in space that work together to depict an exact view of Earth's surface.  These satellites compare one location to a grid of numbers and then find the location very accurately.  Google maps, or GPS, creates digital maps that are easy to use for travellers around the world.

 

Digging Deeper


  • Do you want to learn more about pirates in Canada or the French islands of St Pierre and Miquelon?  Click on the appropriate button.


  • To learn more about how the Canadian Labrador and Newfoundland dogs got their names, click
    . 
  • Look up the terms dulse and dulse recipes in Images on the Internet.  You might find the images intriguing.  You might be interested in looking up dulse recipes under Web to learn how these dishes are prepared.
  • To get more of a sense of what living in the Atlantic region is like, read one of the fiction stories about Newfoundland.  For example, The Killick is about a grandfather who shares his memories of fishing and sealing with his grandson.


When you feel confident about the information you explored in this inquiry, complete the Lesson 2 Self-Check on the following page.