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. The first editor was Charles Camsell, since 1915 a fellow of the British Royal Geographical Society, as well as a geologist 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 ...
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
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
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, 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'', its French companion, and ''Canadian Geographic Travel'', which concentrates on travel topics.
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, 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. 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, an industrial lobby group.
In March 2018, in light of the American magazine '' National Geographic'', performing a public '' mea culpa'' 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.