Estimated number of persons by quarter of a year and by year, Canada, provinces and territories.

These data support the forthcoming publication "Woods, Water, and Meadows: The Formation of Ukrainian-Canadian Identity Through Land and Settlement". This collection consists of tables and maps that use data from the Canadian Census of Population between the years 1991 - 2021 (inclusive). The paper explores the development and persistence of Ukrainian-Canadian communities in the prairies using a combination of archival documents, township maps, homestead records, and contemporary census data. It addresses the limitations of historical census data in capturing the ethnic origins of early Ukrainian settlers and highlights the importance of archival research in filling these gaps.

The majority of the Canadian population, about 60% is concentrated within a thin belt of land representing 2.2% of the land between Windsor, Ontario and Quebec City. Even though Canada is the second largest country in the world in terms of land area, it only ranks 33rd in terms of population. The agricultural areas in the Prairies and eastern Canada have higher population densities than the sparsely populated North, but not as high as southern Ontario or southern Quebec.

The Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge was established to provide nesting, resting and feeding area for waterfowl. The Refuge management priority goals include; enhance refuge habitats to maintain or increase use by endangered species, provide necessary food and protection to support migrating and wintering Canada geese and other waterfowl, and maintain wildlife diversity.

The term Métis is broadly used in Canada to designate people who have both European and First Nations ancestors. Two-thirds of the Métis population of Canada (210 000 persons) live on the Prairies. In 1996, there were 51 000 Métis enumerated in Alberta, 46 000 in Manitoba and 36 600 in Saskatchewan, representing in total, over a third of the Aboriginal population of the Prairie Provinces. Thirteen per cent of the Métis population of Canada lives in British Columbia and a total of 18% lives in Ontario and Quebec.

In Ontario, British Columbia and in the three Prairie Provinces live 80% of the Aboriginal population of Canada. The most populous province, Ontario, is also the one with the highest number of Aboriginal people, (about 142 000). These people are often integrated in the large centres in the south of the province. British Columbia has almost as many Aboriginal people: 140 000. They are concentrated on Vancouver Island and around Vancouver, but can also be found almost everywhere in this province, which has the largest number of Indian reserves and settlements. In the Prairie Provinces, there are about 363 000 Aboriginal people, divided between Manitoba (128 700), Alberta (122 900) and Saskatchewan (111 300).

This map shows the distribution of the North American Indian population. The largest number of North American Indians live in Ontario (118 830); they make up 80% of the total Aboriginal population of that province. They are distributed in the large agglomerations of the south, but also in the north and west of the province. In British Columbia, 77% of Aboriginal people are Indians (113 315). These two provinces account for 42% of the Indian population in Canada. The three Prairie Provinces are home to another 42% of the North American Indian population.

In Ontario, British Columbia and in the three Prairie Provinces live 80% of the Aboriginal population of Canada. The most populous province, Ontario, is also the one with the highest number of Aboriginal people, (about 142 000). These people are often integrated in the large centres in the south of the province. British Columbia has almost as many Aboriginal people: 140 000. They are concentrated on Vancouver Island and around Vancouver, but can also be found almost everywhere in this province, which has the largest number of Indian reserves and settlements. In the Prairie Provinces, there are about 363 000 Aboriginal people, divided between Manitoba (128 700), Alberta (122 900) and Saskatchewan (111 300).

La 3e édition de l’Atlas du Canada (1957) contient une carte montrant autant de centres habités de la région des Prairies que le permet l’échelle. Elle indique en outre, dans une certaine mesure, le nombre d’habitants de chaque localité, d’après le Recensement du Canada de 1956, et distingue celles constituées en municipalités de celles qui ne le sont pas. Ainsi, cette planche représente les municipalités urbaines dans les parties des diverses provinces couvertes par la carte. Normalement, on estime que la région des Prairies comprend l’Alberta, la Saskatchewan et le Manitoba, néanmoins une grande partie de l’Alberta n’y figure pas tandis que la partie nord-ouest de l’Ontario y est représentée.

Number, percentage and rate (per 100,000 population) of persons accused of homicide, by racialized identity group (total, by racialized identity group; racialized identity group; South Asian; Chinese; Black; Filipino; Arab; Latin American; Southeast Asian; West Asian; Korean; Japanese; other racialized identity group; multiple racialized identity; racialized identity, but racialized identity group is unknown; rest of the population; unknown racialized identity group), gender (all genders; male; female; gender unknown) and region (Canada; Atlantic region; Quebec; Ontario; Prairies region; British Columbia; territories), 2019 to 2023.

Identifying the specific environmental features and associated density-dependent processes that limit population growth is central to both ecology and conservation. Comparative assessments of sympatric species allow for inference into how ecologically similar species differentially respond to their shared environment, which can be used to inform community-level conservation strategies. Comparative assessments can nevertheless be complicated by interactions and feedback loops among the species in question. We developed an integrated population model based on sixty-one years of ecological data describing the demographic histories of Canvasbacks (Aythya valisineria) and Redheads (Aythya americana), two species of migratory diving ducks that utilize similar breeding habitats and affect each other’s demography through interspecific nest parasitism. We combined this model with a transient life table response experiment to determine the extent that demographic rates, and their contributions to population growth, were similar between these two species. We found that demographic rates and, to a lesser extent, their contributions to population growth covaried between Canvasbacks and Redheads, but the trajectories of population abundances widely diverged between the two species during the end of the 20th century due to inherent differences between the species life-histories and sensitivities to both environmental variation and harvest pressure. We found that annual survival of both species increased during years of restrictive harvest regulations; however, recent harvest pressure on female Canvasbacks may be contributing to population declines. Despite periodic, and often dramatic, increases in breeding abundance during wet years, the number of breeding Canvasbacks declined by 13% whereas the number of breeding Redheads has increased by 37% since 1961. Reductions in harvest pressure and improvements in submerged aquatic vegetation throughout the wintering grounds have mediated the extent to which populations of both species contracted during dry years in the Prairie Pothole Region. However, continued degradation of breeding habitats through climate-related shifts in wetland hydrology and agricultural conversion of surrounding grassland habitats may have exceeded the capacity for demographic compensation during the non-breeding season. Methods DATA COLLECTION We combined a series of long-term data sets into a single integrated population model that provided insights into how variation in seasonal survival (band releases and recoveries) and offspring production (harvest age-ratios) contributed to fluctuations in population growth (breeding survey, harvest estimates) for Canvasbacks and Redheads from 1961–2021. Banding Data – Information regarding the banding and subsequent harvest of ducks was acquired from the GameBirds Database CD (Bird Banding Lab, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel MD, USA, version August 2022). Male and female Canvasbacks and Redheads were captured following breeding but prior to the hunting season (Pre-Hunting) as ducklings (Local) or hatch year (HY; fledged juvenile) individuals as well as after hatch year (AHY; adult) individuals or following the hunting season (Post-Hunting) as an undifferentiated mixture of second year (SY) and after second year (ASY) individuals captured and released across North America from 1961–2022. We limited the pre-harvest banding data for both species to include all individuals banded and released alive in areas within the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, as well as the states of Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota within the USA (Fig. 1). For the pre-hunting banding group, we retained individuals captured between 1961–2021 during the late summer (Jul 15th – Sep 15th) with a known sex (M or F) and age-class (local, HY or AHY) that were released without any additional markers considered to meaningfully affect survival of an individual (e.g., nasal saddles or dual banding were permissible but telemetered individuals were excluded; Lameris & Kleyheeg, 2017). For post-hunting banding, we limited the spatial boundary of banding efforts to only consider individuals released from the Atlantic, Central, or Mississippi Flyways (Fig. 1). We followed the same data selection procedures, but limited releases to occur between Jan. 1st – March 15th from 1962–2022. Because too few banders differentiated SY from ASY at time of banding, we treated all post-hunting samples as AHY adults. Individuals banded during this period that were reported to be harvested during the winter they were originally banded were censored from the analysis, as the underlying model assumption was that this cohort of individuals had already survived the current hunting season. For both seasonal banding efforts, we only included recoveries of hunter-shot individuals harvested between September and February in which a known year-of-death could be ascertained. In addition to self-reported recoveries (i.e., reported by the hunter), we included hunter-harvested individuals that were instead reported by federal, state, or provincial entities (e.g., outcomes of hunter check stations or other forms of solicitation). We limited the dataset to only include recoveries of hunter-harvested individuals killed within 15 years of initial banding, which represented > 99% of pre-hunting and post-hunting recoveries. This cut-off was arbitrarily selected but did not meaningfully bias parameter estimation while vastly improving computational efficiency by bypassing the estimation of hundreds of zero-equivalent cell probabilities (personal communication S. Bonner). Harvest Intensity – We used the average number of Canvasbacks or Redheads allowed to be harvested per day (i.e., bag limit; (Appendix S1: Tables S1a-b) across the U.S. portions of the Atlantic, Mississippi, Central, and Pacific flyways during each year of the study as an index of harvest regulatory pressure. Annual harvest restrictions were acquired from the published literature (Péron et al., 2012), the annual release of the Late-Season Migratory Bird Hunting Regulations (e.g., USFWS 2022), and direct requests to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. For these species, liberal harvest regulations were bag limits of two (Canvasbacks) and two to four (Redheads) allowable harvest per day, whereas conservative harvest regulations were either a bag limit of one individual per day or total closure. Harvest Composition – Data describing the age and sex structure of the harvested Canvasback and Redhead populations were derived from the annual Parts Collection surveys conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) where a subset of hunters submit a wing from every duck they harvested (Pearse et al. 2014). These data were acquired through a direct request to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Additionally, estimates of the total number of Canvasbacks and Redheads harvested in the United States and Canada were derived from the Harvest Information Program (Steeg et al., 2002) and Canadian National Harvest Survey (Smith et al., 2022), respectively. Breeding Duck and Pond Densities – The relative number of breeding Canvasbacks and Redheads, as well as the relative amount of their breeding habitat (i.e., flooded ponds) within the Prairies were calculated using count data from the USFWS Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey (hereafter BPOP; Smith, 1995), which has conducted an annual survey of breeding waterfowl and their habitats throughout the core part of these species’ breeding ranges (i.e., central Canada and the north-central United States) during the spring from 1961 through 2022 (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2022). However, BPOP surveys did not occur during 2020 and 2021. For the purposes of this study, we limited the spatial extent of BPOP survey to only include transects flown within Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Agriculture Development – The amounts of active cropland in the Prairies during each year of the study were estimated from Canada and United States Agriculture Census data (see Buderman et al., 2020). Annual estimates of active cropland acreages were summarized to represent an index of agricultural development during 1961–2021. Although agricultural development is predicted to have greater impact on upland-nesting dabbling ducks (Duncan and Devries 2018), it also impacts the wetland habitats in which Canvasbacks and Redheads forage and nest, as well as the predator communities that can access overwater nesting pochards (Sargeant et al. 1993, Bartzen et al. 2010). Winter Habitat – Winter habitat conditions were assumed to be related to submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) within the Chesapeake for Canvasbacks and environmental salinity (TDS; total dissolved solids) in the Laguna Madre for Redheads. Although Redheads likely respond to variation in SAV, time series data describing SAV were not available for the Laguna Madre. Therefore, we assumed that annual fluctuations in salinity were an informative proxy of both SAV conditions and osmotic constraints (Quammen and Onuf 1993, Moore 2009), which in turn was representative of winter habitat conditions that simultaneously influenced Redhead food availability and harvest risk (Ballard et al. 2021).. Climate Data – We used the average Pacific/North American (PNA; Leathers et al., 1991) teleconnection pattern from April–July as an index of drought severity or environmental stress during the breeding season throughout the Prairies, and average sea-surface temperatures (SST) from September–March in the Chesapeake and Laguna Madre as an index of winter severity for Canvasbacks and Redheads, respectively (see Data Availability statement).

The Marsh Ecology Research Program (MERP) was a long-term interdisciplinary study on the ecology of prairie wetlands. A scientific team from a variety of disciplines (hydrology, plant ecology, invertebrate ecology, vertebrate ecology, nutrient dynamics, marsh management) was assembled to design and oversee a long-term experiment on the effects of water-level manipulation on northern prairie wetlands. Ten years of fieldwork (1980 -1989), combining a routine long-term monitoring program and a series of short-term studies, generated a wealth of new and diverse information on the ecology and function of prairie wetlands (Murkin, Batt, Caldwell, Kadlec and van der Valk, 2000). This data set includes muskrat population data, collected as part of the vertebrate monitoring program of MERP. Re-colonizing muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) populations in the MERP experimental cells were monitored during the 1985-1989 sampling seasons to explore the effects water level and associated vegetation characteristics had on muskrat density, population size, habitat use, body condition, and survival and reproductive rates (Clark and Murkin, 1989).

For further information on the Marsh Ecology Research Program (MERP), please visit: http://www.ducks.ca/conserve/research/projects/merp/index.html

References: Clark, W.R., and H.R. Murkin. 1989. Vertebrates. In: Marsh Ecology Research Program: Long-term Monitoring Procedures Manual. (Eds.) E.J. Murkin and H.R. Murkin, pp. 35-38. Manitoba, Canada: Delta Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Station. Murkin, H.R., B.D.J. Batt, P.J. Caldwell, J.A. Kadlec and A.G. van der Valk. 2000a. Introduction to the Marsh Ecology Research Program. In Prairie Wetland Ecology: The Contribution of the Marsh Ecology Research Program. (Eds) H.R. Murkin, A.G. van der Valk and W.R. Clark. pp. 3-15. Ames: Iowa State University Press.

Resulting Publications on Muskrat Populations Clark., W.R. 1990. Compensation in furbearer populations; current data compared with a review of concepts. Transactions of the North American Wildlife and Natural resources Conference 55: 491-500. Clark, W.R. 1994. Habitat selection by muskrats in experimental marshes undergoing succession. Canadian Journal of Zoology 72: 675-680. Clark, W.R., and D.W. Kroeker. 1993. Population dynamics of muskrats in managed marshes at Delta, Manitoba. Canadian Journal of Zoology 71: 1620-1628. Clark, W.R. 2000. Ecology of muskrats in prairie wetlands. In Prairie Wetland Ecology: The Contribution of the Marsh Ecology Research Program. (Eds.) H.R. Murkin, A.G. van der Valk, and W.R. Clark, pp. 37-54. Iowa: Iowa State University Press.

Elk are by far the dominant ungulate in Waterton Lakes Naitonal Park, with a population large enough to influence park ecosystems, particularly in the montane and aspen parkland ecoregions. As important grazers, they help to maintain grassland health by preventing woody plant encroachment, but overgrazing will cause grassland health to deteriorate. In Waterton Lakes National Park, aerial elk surveys (Figure 1) have been conducted since the early 1970s. The winter elk population census is conducted by means of an aerial or ground survey, in which a complete minimum population count is calculated, with the goal of detecting change over time. Historic counts are collated from park files and annual reports, as well as survey reports.

This Alberta Official Statistic describes the proportion of population based on language spoken most often at home in each economic region as reported in the 2011 population census. Alberta is divided into eight economic regions as follows: Lethbridge – Medicine -Hat; Camrose-Drumheller; Calgary; Banff – Jasper – Rocky Mountain House; Red Deer; Edmonton; Athabasca – Grande Prairie – Peace River; and Wood Buffalo – Cold Lake.

Number of nests (n), nest fates (S  =  successful; F  =  failed), and relative nest density (RND; nests per km2) for Eastern Prairie Population Canada geese and lesser snow geese nests at two study areas near Cape Churchill, in northern Manitoba, Canada between 2001 and 2007.

These species included; blue-winged teal (Anas discors), gadwall (A. strepera), mallard (A. platyrhynchos), northern pintail (A. acuta), and northern shoveler (A. clypeata).Footnote: data source abbreviations in order of appearance: National Wetlands Inventory (NWI); (CanVec); Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC); United States Fish and Wildlife Service and Canadian Wildlife Service Breeding Population Survey (BPOP); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Earth Observation Data Portal (EODP), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS); Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM); National Landcover Dataset (NLCD), Agriculture Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). All data layers are available from https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/535fa1aae4b078dca33ae3ad?community=LC+MAP+-+Landscape+Conservation+Management+and+Analysis+Portal.Description of the explanatory variables used to predict the abundance of count of 5 species of dabbling ducks within a ∼ 11 km2 scale within the Prairie Pothole Region of the U.S. and Canada during 2002–2010.

This dataset is a customization of Statistics Canada data to present information on the 2011 Census of Population by Alberta Enterprise and Advanced Education Service Regions. The following are the regions presented: Alberta, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Calgary, Central, Lakeland, Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Northern Lakes, Portage, and Keyano . The Census topics being presented on are population and sex by age, marital status, family composition, and languages.

This Alberta Official Statistic describes the growth of Alberta’s population by Economic Regions between the 2006 Census and the 2011 Census. Alberta is divided into eight economic regions as follows: Lethbridge – Medicine Hat; Camrose-Drumheller; Calgary; Banff – Jasper – Rocky Mountain House; Red Deer; Edmonton; Athabasca – Grande Prairie – Peace River; and Wood Buffalo – Cold Lake.

This Alberta Official Statistic shows the proportion of population by mother tongue in the eight Alberta economic regions for the 2011 Census year. Alberta is divided into eight economic regions as follows: Lethbridge – Medicine -Hat; Camrose-Drumheller; Calgary; Banff – Jasper – Rocky Mountain House; Red Deer; Edmonton; Athabasca – Grande Prairie – Peace River; and Wood Buffalo – Cold Lake. Mother tongue refers to the first language learned at home in childhood and still understood by the person on May 10, 2011. Non-official languages are languages other than English or French. According to the 2011 census, 77.8% of Albertans reported English as their mother tongue, followed by a non-official language (20.1%), and French (2.1%). The Red Deer economic region reported the highest proportion of Albertans with English as a mother tongue (89.7%) and the lowest proportion of Albertans with a non-official language as a mother tongue (8.9%), while Calgary reported the lowest proportion (73.4%) of Albertans with English as mother tongue and the highest proportion of Albertans with a non-official language as a mother tongue (24.9%).

This Alberta Official Statistic provides the distribution of Alberta’s population within the 8 economic regions of Alberta for 2011. Alberta is divided into eight economic regions as follows: Lethbridge – Medicine -Hat; Camrose-Drumheller; Calgary; Banff – Jasper – Rocky Mountain House; Red Deer; Edmonton; Athabasca – Grande Prairie – Peace River; and Wood Buffalo – Cold Lake. The economic regions of Calgary and Edmonton account for the largest proportion (69.0%) of Alberta’s population. The remaining six economic regions each accounted for less than 10% of the population.