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Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral on St. George Street, Moncton, photographed in 2016.
CA-K366Culture & sport

Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral, Moncton

Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral in Moncton, New Brunswick, built in 1939–1940 as the Monument of Remembrance, is a symbol of the achievements and resilience of Acadians. Its sculptures and stained glass tell Acadian history, and its construction rallied Acadians and their diaspora to build the first large-scale building commemorating them as a distinct people.

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Photo: James Mann from Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada · Photo licence: CC BY 2.0 · Credit & context
Abbot Pass and the refuge hut, seen from the Alberta side in 2010, before its demolition.
CA-K361Places & geography

The Abbot Pass Refuge Cabin, lost to erosion

The rustic stone Abbot Pass Refuge Cabin, built by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1922 high in the Rockies between Mount Lefroy and Mount Victoria, sheltered hikers and mountaineers from 1923 until 2018. Erosion of the slope, accelerated by climate change, made the hut unstable and forced its demolition in 2022.

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Photo: Florin Chelaru · Photo licence: CC BY 2.0 · Credit & context
The David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill, Ontario, photographed in 2019.
CA-K353History

The David Dunlap Observatory and black holes

The David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill, Ontario, opened in 1935 for the University of Toronto and helped establish academic astronomy in Canada; its dome housed what was once the world’s second-largest telescope. There Thomas Bolton published evidence for a black hole in 1972, and Helen Sawyer Hogg catalogued star clusters.

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Photo: Mhsheikholeslami · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Credit & context
The Victoria Memorial Museum Building, now home of the Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, photographed in 2018.
CA-K352Culture & sport

The Victoria Memorial Museum, Ottawa

The Victoria Memorial Museum in Ottawa, built from 1905 to 1911, was the first purpose-built federal museum in Canada, the culmination of decades of effort by the Geological and Natural History Survey. When completed in 1911 it housed the National Gallery and the Survey’s collections, and it was a leader in new exhibit techniques.

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Photo: Navpreet Singh · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Credit & context
The Château Laurier in Ottawa, south view, photographed in 2017.
CA-K351Culture & sport

Château Laurier and the Château style

The Château Laurier in Ottawa, built between 1908 and 1912, was the first of a series of hotels by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway to draw tourists to its transcontinental routes. The Château style of Canadian railway hotels evolved into a distinctly Canadian architectural type, and the hotel’s closeness to Parliament made it a model for that style.

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Photo: DXR · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Credit & context
The Rock Garden pond at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton, Ontario, in 2024.
CA-K349Places & geography

The Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton

The Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton and Burlington, Ontario, developed over 60 years from a late-1920s plan to beautify Hamilton, is one of Canada’s most important botanical gardens. Its world-renowned lilac collection made it the international registration authority for lilac cultivar names.

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Photo: Wiki.cullin · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Credit & context
The school building at Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, around 1914–1915 (Library and Archives Canada).
CA-K344Indigenous peoples & reconciliation

The former Portage la Prairie Indian Residential School

At the Portage la Prairie Indian Residential School in Manitoba, built in 1914–1915 and open until 1975, Indigenous children endured abuse, severe discipline, punishment for speaking their languages and isolation from their families. Operated by the Presbyterian and United Churches for the federal government, it was part of a policy the Truth and Reconciliation Commission called cultural genocide; Long Plain First Nation took ownership in 1981 and has made it a place of commemoration and resilience.

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Photo: BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives · Photo licence: CC BY 2.0 · Credit & context
Skoki Lodge in Banff National Park, photographed in 2007.
CA-K341Culture & sport

Skoki Ski Lodge, Banff National Park

Skoki Ski Lodge in Banff National Park, opened in 1931 by a group of ski enthusiasts using timbers cut nearby, was one of the earliest backcountry lodges built for skiers in Canada’s Rocky Mountain parks. It is a fine example of the rustic log building tradition and a rare link with the early days of backcountry skiing.

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Photo: Jim Baerg · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Credit & context
The Dominion Observatory in Ottawa, photographed in 2022.
CA-K340History

The Dominion Observatory, Ottawa

The Dominion Observatory Complex, built between 1902 and 1954 on the grounds of Ottawa’s Central Experimental Farm, is an outstanding collection of early-20th-century scientific buildings. It supported practical astronomy across Canada in surveying, time service and geophysics, and reflects the federal government’s vision of national scientific institutions in the capital.

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Photo: Harleyd613 · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Credit & context
The Newfoundland National War Memorial in St. John’s, photographed in 2008.
CA-K339History

The Newfoundland National War Memorial

The Newfoundland National War Memorial in St. John’s, unveiled in 1924, commemorates the Dominion of Newfoundland’s contributions to the First World War. An allegorical female figure stands above bronze figures representing the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, Royal Naval Reserve, Mercantile Marine and Forestry Corps, beside the harbour where soldiers departed and returned.

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Photo: Nilfanion · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Credit & context
The S.S. Klondike in Whitehorse, Yukon, photographed in winter 2012.
CA-K338History

The S.S. Klondike sternwheeler

The S.S. Klondike, a shallow-draft sternwheeler launched in 1937, carried freight and passengers on the Yukon River until 1955, shortly before commercial navigation on the river ended in 1957. Restored by Parks Canada in Whitehorse, it commemorates inland water transportation in the Yukon.

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Photo: Anthony DeLorenzo · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 · Credit & context
Flower beds and a path at the Jardins de Métis (Reford Gardens), Quebec, photographed in 2015.
CA-K337Culture & sport

Jardins de Métis (Reford Gardens)

The Jardins de Métis (Reford Gardens) in Quebec were created by Elsie Reford from about 1926 to 1958. Their English-inspired design includes specialized gardens, winding paths and an allée royale. The site’s favourable microclimate supports a diverse collection of plants.

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Photo: Marc-Lautenbacher · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Credit & context
The Bar U Ranch National Historic Site, Alberta, seen from the interpretive centre in 2011.
CA-K336Economy & trade

The Bar U Ranch and Alberta ranching

The Bar U Ranch in the Alberta foothills was established in 1882 under the federal grazing lease policy and played an important role in Canada’s ranching industry. Owned in turn by the North-West Cattle Company, cattleman George Lane and Patrick Burns, the historic ranch represents Alberta ranching from 1880 to 1950.

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Photo: David Mathew · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 · Credit & context
Cabot Tower on Signal Hill, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, photographed in 2013.
CA-K333History

Signal Hill and Marconi’s 1901 transmission

Signal Hill, overlooking the Narrows into St. John’s Harbour, was important for defence and communications for three centuries, with fortifications built as France and Britain battled for the continent. In 1901, Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless transmission atop the hill, a landmark in global communications history.

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Photo: KristaKals · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 · Credit & context
The Sunken Garden at Butchart Gardens, British Columbia, photographed in 2006.
CA-K322Culture & sport

Butchart Gardens, a quarry turned garden

Butchart Gardens, on the Saanich Peninsula about 21 kilometres north of Victoria, is an internationally known attraction open to visitors since 1904. The gardens occupy a former quarry beside Tod Inlet and were developed under the guidance of Jennie Butchart between 1904 and 1939.

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Photo: Warfieldian · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 · Credit & context
Houses in the ghost town of Val-Jalbert, Quebec, photographed in 2008.
CA-K319Economy & trade

Val-Jalbert, a pulp and paper company town

Val-Jalbert, near Lac Saint-Jean in Quebec, was founded in 1901 around a pulp and paper mill. The mill’s closure in 1927 led to the village’s gradual abandonment. Its mill, institutional buildings and wooden workers’ houses were conserved and developed as an open-air museum in the early 1960s, reflecting growing interest in heritage preservation.

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Photo: Mathieu BROSSAIS · Photo licence: CC BY 4.0 · Credit & context
The Gulf of Georgia Cannery in Steveston, Richmond, British Columbia, photographed in 2019.
CA-K318Economy & trade

The Gulf of Georgia Cannery, Steveston

The Gulf of Georgia Cannery, a large complex of wooden fish-processing and canning buildings on a wharf at the mouth of the Fraser River in Steveston, British Columbia, recalls the West Coast fishing industry from the 1870s on. Its buildings, built and modified between 1894 and 1964, stand in what was historically the most important fishing village on the West Coast.

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Photo: Ymblanter · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Credit & context
The Gur Sikh Temple (Abbotsford Sikh Temple), British Columbia, photographed in 2012.
CA-K314History

The Abbotsford Sikh Temple, 1911

The Abbotsford Sikh Temple in British Columbia, built in 1911 and used continuously since, is the oldest surviving example of the temples that played a crucial religious, social and political role in the pioneer phase of Sikh immigration to North America. Its simple false-front wooden building adapts Sikh traditions to a Canadian architectural form.

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Photo: Jacobsimmonds · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 · Credit & context
The Vancouver Japanese Language School and Hall on Alexander Street, Vancouver, photographed in 2016.
CA-K313Language & names

The Vancouver Japanese Language School

The Vancouver Japanese Language School, in the city’s Japantown, was the first and largest Japanese language school in Canada, and its 1928 Art Deco building is a rare surviving interwar language school. Of the thousands of properties the federal government confiscated from Japanese Canadians during the Second World War, it is one of very few known buildings returned to its owners after internment.

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Photo: Cordovanorth · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Credit & context
The Africville Monument at Seaview Memorial Park, Halifax, listing the community’s founding families, photographed in 2017.
CA-K311History

Africville, a site of remembrance

Africville, on Bedford Basin in Halifax, was a Black community settled in the 1830s and 1840s, with its own school and church. Its houses were demolished in the 1960s in the name of urban renewal and the land became Seaview Park; the clearance became an enduring symbol to Black Canadians of the need to defend their institutions, and the site is now a place of remembrance and pilgrimage.

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Photo: Coastal Elite from Halifax, Canada · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 2.0 · Credit & context
A stone tablet dated 1717 from the French mission chapel at Meductic, as recorded around 1897.
CA-K307Indigenous peoples & reconciliation

Mehtawtik (Meductic), a Wolastoqey village

Mehtawtik (Meductic), on the west bank of the Wəlastəkw (Saint John River) in New Brunswick, was the principal settlement of the Wəlastəkwiyik (Maliseet) from before the 17th century, valued for hunting, fishing and fertile soil where families planted corn. The village site has been under the waters of the Mactaquac hydroelectric dam since 1968.

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Photo: W.O. Raymond. · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
Dredge No. 4 in the Klondike, Yukon, which carries his commemorative plaque, photographed in 2012.
CA-K290Economy & trade

“Klondike Joe” Boyle and large-scale gold mining

Joseph Whiteside “Klondike Joe” Boyle (1867–1923) arrived in Dawson in 1897 and soon saw the potential of large-scale mining, returning in 1909 to head one of the Klondike’s largest mining operations. Known as “The King of the Klondike,” he left in 1916 to aid the Allied war effort and was decorated by several European nations for his work in Russia and Romania.

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Photo: Anthony DeLorenzo from Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 2.0 · Credit & context
The Hydrostone district in Halifax, Nova Scotia, photographed in 2011.
CA-K287Institutions

Thomas Adams and the Hydrostone

Thomas Adams (1871–1940), a leading town planner in early-20th-century Canada, influenced provincial planning laws in seven provinces and led the early professionalization of planning. He designed public housing projects such as Lindenlea in Ottawa and the Hydrostone district of Halifax, planned to rebuild the Richmond neighbourhood after the 1917 Halifax Explosion.

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Photo: Paul from Hacketts Cove, Canada · Photo licence: CC BY 2.0 · Credit & context
Bowring Park in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, at sunset in 2011.
CA-K286Culture & sport

Frederick Todd, Canada’s first professional landscape architect

Frederick Gage Todd (1876–1948), Canada’s first professional landscape architect, trained with the Olmsted firm and designed beloved parks including Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg, Bowring Park in St. John’s and the Plains of Abraham battlefields park in Québec City. His 1903 plan for Ottawa influenced every later plan for the capital.

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Photo: Sivaprasad.ucc · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 · Credit & context