Alberta

G

2

Highways

In 2004 Alberta had 32,800 km (20,381 mi) of highways, roads, and streets, at least 35,000 km (22,000 mi) of which was paved. Much freight is moved by truck transport. Edmonton is the southern terminus of the Mackenzie Highway, which extends by way of the Peace River to Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories. The city is also linked by road with Dawson Creek, British Columbia, the southern terminus of the Alaska Highway. The Trans-Canada Highway crosses Alberta, passing through Medicine Hat, Calgary, and Banff. Another east-west highway connects Edmonton to Jasper and continues through Yellowhead Pass into British Columbia. The 290-km (180-mi) Banff-Jasper highway is one of the world’s most scenic highways.

G

3

Airways

Alberta’s two international airports are located near Edmonton and Calgary. There are more than two dozen smaller airports in the province. Several airlines offer both national and international service from Calgary and Edmonton.

G

4

Pipelines

Natural gas pipelines connect Alberta’s Peace River region with Vancouver, and with U.S. centers as far southwest as Los Angeles and as far southeast as Chicago. Pipelines also connect southeastern Alberta with eastern Canada. In addition, crude oil is moved by pipeline to the West Coast and as far east as Montréal. A network of pipelines links the oil and gas fields with distribution centers in Alberta.

IV

The People of Alberta

A

Population Patterns

According to the 2001 national census, Alberta ranked fourth among the provinces (after Ontario, Québec, and British Columbia), with a population of 2,974,807. This figure represented an increase of 16.9 percent over the 1991 figure of 2,545,553. The average population density in 2006 was 5.1 persons per sq km (13.3 per sq mi). People living in urban communities account for 81 percent of Alberta’s residents. The most densely populated areas are in the central and southern regions. More than one-half of the province’s inhabitants live in the Edmonton and Calgary metropolitan areas.

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A plurality of Alberta’s population is of British ancestry. The remainder is mainly of German, Ukrainian, French, Scandinavian, and Dutch ancestry. In 2006, 5.8 percent of inhabitants were indigenous peoples or Métis (people of mixed indigenous and European ancestry).

Indigenous peoples now living on reserves in southern and central Alberta include the Cree, the Blackfoot (including the Siksika, Blood, and Piegan), the Tsuu T’ina Nation, and the Assiniboine. Indigenous peoples living in northern Alberta include the Chipewyan, the Beaver, and the Slave.

In 1876 and 1877 the indigenous peoples signed treaties with the Canadian government and were settled on reserves. Most Alberta indigenous peoples still live on the reserves, where some of them have become successful farmers. Others have prospered by leasing the rights to drill for oil and gas on their lands. A number of indigenous peoples have left the reserves for a variety of occupations.

In the decades following the 1880s, immigrants arriving in Alberta tended to form separate communities along ethnic lines. By 1890 a number of German families had settled near Edmonton, and French and Belgian immigrants settled near Morinville. Scandinavians settled around Camrose, and many Ukrainians made their homes northeast of Edmonton. During the 20th century, however, these separate ethnic groups became assimilated to some degree.

Alberta’s population grew rapidly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with agricultural settlement of the province. Population growth tapered off during the worldwide depression of the 1930s, but expanded again with Alberta’s economic recovery after World War II (1939-1945). The postwar expansion of mining, manufacturing, and services attracted large numbers of immigrants to Alberta, a trend that continued during the 1970s as rising world oil prices led to a boom in the petroleum industry. Population growth leveled off with declining oil prices beginning in the early 1980s. During the 1990s and early 2000s, however, Alberta’s strong and increasingly diversified economy fuelled robust population growth, the highest in Canada. From 1996 to 2001 Alberta’s population increased by 10.3 percent, more than double the national growth rate of 4 percent during the same period. The majority of immigrants to Alberta were young, working-age people. Population growth was especially pronounced in Calgary and Edmonton.

B

Principal Cities

The two largest cities of Alberta are Calgary and Edmonton. Edmonton, with a population of 730,372, is the provincial capital and one of the province’s two leading industrial centers. It also ranks as one of the principal commercial and transportation hubs in western Canada and is a center for public administration, education, and medical services. Calgary, with a population of 988,193, is the chief commercial, industrial, and transportation center of southern Alberta and is one of the major financial centers of western Canada. Calgary is home to extensive business and professional services, a vibrant high-technology sector, and the headquarters of many large energy corporations.

Red Deer, with a population of 82,772 in 2006, was the province’s third largest city at the 2001 census. It is situated in an oil and gas producing area between Calgary and Edmonton, but its primary industries are based on local farm products. Other cities include Lethbridge, an industrial city and the trade center for an agricultural area southeast of Calgary; Medicine Hat, situated on the main line of the Canadian Pacific and site of the largest industrial complex of southeastern Alberta; St. Albert, a suburb of Edmonton; Fort McMurray, a railhead on the Athabasca River in the northeast; and Grande Prairie, a center for agriculture, forest products, and petroleum refining in northwestern Alberta.

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