''Canadian Geographic'' is a magazine published by the

Royal Canadian Geographical Society The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS; French: ''Société géographique royale du Canada'') is a Canadian nonprofit educational organization. It has dedicated itself to spreading a broader knowledge and deeper appreciation of Canada, i ...

, (RCGS) based in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, Ontario.

History and profile

After the Society was founded in 1929, the magazine was established the next year in May 1930 under the name ''Canadian Geographical Journal''. The Society's objective was to produce a popular magazine primarily focusing on

Canadian geography Canada has a vast geography that occupies much of the continent of North America, sharing a land border with the contiguous United States to the south and the U.S. state of Alaska to the northwest. Canada stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in t ...

. The first editor was Charles Camsell, since 1915 a fellow of the British

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

, as well as a

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

who had been responsible for mapping large parts of

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on p ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

and the

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

. Originally published out of

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, the magazine is now headquartered in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. The magazine adopted its current title in 1978. Typically the magazine contains articles on physical, historical, political and environmental geography, illustrated with photographs, illustrations and maps. Controversial subjects such as

acid rain Acid rain is rain or any other form of Precipitation (meteorology), precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it has elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). Most water, including drinking water, has a neutral pH that exists b ...

, clear-cut

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, truckswetlands A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

, the pollution of the Great Lakes and energy sources of Canadians have also been covered in print and online. The magazine's website contains substantial extracts from current articles and supplementary information not published in the print edition, and a digital edition is also produced for each issue. In addition to the ''Canadian Geographic'' title, the RCGS also publishes ''

Géographica ''Géographica'' is the French-language magazine of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS), published under the Society's French name, the Société géographique royale du Canada (SGRC). Introduced in 1997, ''Géographica'' is not a stand- ...

'', its French companion, and ''Canadian Geographic Travel'', which concentrates on travel topics.

Canadian Environment Awards

In 2002, the magazine established the

Canadian Environment Awards The Canadian Environment Awards were established in 2002 through a partnership between the Government of Canada and Canadian Geographic Enterprises. The national program recognized dedicated Canadians who act locally to help protect, preserve and r ...

program in partnership with the government and private companies. This award was replaced by the 3M Environmental Innovation Award in 2009.

Controversy

In 2015, the magazine was criticized for allowing its editorial policy to be influenced by its sponsors. In a 2012 issue about the

Calgary Stampede The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, fair, exhibition, and festival held every July in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", attracts over one million visitors per year a ...

, journalist Jesse Brown wrote about improper treatment of horses by the Stampede. The article he filed was later edited to remove any reference to "horse culls". The magazine also distributed free educational resource material to schools across the country that discussed the

Alberta Oil Sands The Athabasca oil sands, also known as the Athabasca tar sands, are large deposits of oil sands rich in bitumen, a heavy and viscous form of petroleum, in northeastern Alberta, Canada. These reserves are one of the largest sources of unconventi ...

. While ''Canadian Geographic'' maintained that the material was independent of influence, it was later revealed that some of the content came from the

Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), with its head office in Calgary, Alberta, is a advocacy group that represents the upstream Canadian oil and natural gas industry. CAPP's members produce "90% of Canada's natural gas and c ...

, an industrial lobby group. In March 2018, in light of the American magazine ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

'', performing a public ''

mea culpa ''Mea culpa'' () is a phrase of Latin origin that means ''my fault'' or ''my mistake'', and is an acknowledgment of having done wrong. The expression is also used as an admission of having made a mistake that should have been avoided and, in a ...

'' for its history of racist depictions, the editorship of ''Canadian Geographic'' publicly announced that it would be performing a similar historical review of its published content to see if it has had similar problems.

References

External links

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The Royal Canadian Geographical SocietyCanadian Geographic Education
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canadian Geographic 1930 establishments in Ontario Bi-monthly magazines published in Canada Science and technology magazines published in Canada Geographic magazines Magazines established in 1930 Magazines published in Ottawa