Click the above image to View Photo Gallery

Canadians and the Natural Environment [F-13-11]

Since before there was a “Canada,” humans had an intimate relationship to their natural surroundings. This was true of the First Peoples who relied upon nature for sustenance. European exploration and settlement brought other, extractive, uses of nature. As Canada developed, resources were crucial to the economic progress of the nation. Canadians also regarded wilderness symbols as important to their identity. In the more contemporary period, Canadians have sought to protect their natural world; e.g., through the creation of parks. This presentation will take up the manifold ways in which the natural environment pervades the Canadian experience.

Neil Forkey is a member of the Canadian Studies Department at St. Lawrence University. He has authored two books: Shaping the Upper Canadian Frontier: Environment, Society, and Culture in the Trent Valley (University of Calgary Press, 2003); and, Canadians and the Natural Environment to the Twenty-First Century (University of Toronto Press, 2012).

[F-13-11]