Land of lakes

The 10 ‘great lakes’ entirely within Canada’s borders

WWhat makes a lake a “lake,” anyway? The answer to that question isn’t as clear-cut as you might think; in fact, it’s been up for debate in the past. Perhaps the best definition we have in Canada was struck down in 1983, when Alberta Justice W.G. Egbert had to rule on the nature of a contested body of water on private land near Calgary. He declared that, unlike the impermanent slough he was dealing with, a lake was “any body of water of considerable depth surrounded by a welldefined beach or bank and with a reasonably permanent nature where one can swim if the water is not too cold.”

That makes sense to us, but by any measure, Canada has more lakes than any other country — some two million in total, covering 7.6 per cent of the nation’s land mass and accounting for a disproportionate amount of Earth’s fresh water. From tiny basins of blue alpine run-off to Great Bear, our lakes are dynamic ecosystems that support communities and industries. And we know surprisingly little about most of them.

Of course, from grade school on we can all list the Great Lakes, four of the five cleft by the Canada-united States border. But consider that Canada also contains 10 lakes between 4,500 and more than 30,000 square kilometres (about the size of Belgium), and you get an even better picture of our home and lake-filled land.

are Canada’s other greats, the massive bodies of water that lie entirely within the nation’s boundaries.