''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 dedicated to imparting a broader knowledge and deeper appreciation of Canada—its people ...

, (RCGS) based in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, 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 the ...

. 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 solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, alt ...

who had been responsible for mapping large parts of

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Prov ...

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Win ...

and the

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

. Originally published out of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

, the magazine is now headquartered in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. 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, clear-cut logging, vanishing

wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free ( anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

, the

pollution of the Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five 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.

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, 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 and feat ...

, 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 Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

, an industrial lobby group. In March 2018, in light of the American magazine '' National Geographic'', performing a public ''

mea culpa ' is a Latin phrase that means "my fault" or "my mistake" and is an acknowledgement of having done wrong. The expression is used also as an admission of having made a mistake that should have been avoided, and may be accompanied by beating the b ...

'' 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