Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North America—New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the Province of Canada (which upon Confederation was divided into Ontario and Quebec)—united to form a federation, becoming a fully independent country over the next century. Over its history, Canada's international borders have changed several times as it has added territories and provinces, making it the world's second-largest country by area.
The major difference between a Canadian province and a territory is that provinces receive their power and authority from the Constitution Act, 1867 (formerly called the British North America Act, 1867). Territories are federal territories whose territorial governments have powers delegated to them by the Parliament of Canada. Powers are divided between the Government of Canada (the federal government) and the provincial governments by the Constitution Act, either exclusively or concurrently. A change to the division of powers between the federal government and the provinces requires a constitutional amendment. A similar change affecting the territories can be performed unilaterally by the government or Parliament of Canada.
In modern Canadian constitutional theory, the provinces are considered to be co-sovereign, based on the division of responsibility between the provincial and federal governments within the Constitution Act, 1867; each province thus has its own representative, the lieutenant governor, of the Canadian Crown. The territories are not sovereign but have their authorities and responsibilities devolved from the federal level; as a result, each has a commissioner who represents the federal government.
There are three territories in Canada. Unlike the provinces, the territories of Canada have no inherent sovereignty and have only those powers delegated to them by the federal government. They include all of mainland Canada north of latitude 60° north and west of Hudson Bay, and all islands north of the Canadian mainland, from those in James Bay to the Queen Elizabeth Islands. They cover 40% of Canada's land, but contain only 0.3% of the population.
Another territory, the District of Keewatin, existed from October 7, 1876, to September 1, 1905, when it rejoined the Northwest Territories and became the Keewatin Region. It occupied the area that is now the Kenora District of Ontario, northern Manitoba, and mainland Nunavut. The government of Keewatin was based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The territory did not have any representation in federal parliament.
The Northwest Territories has varied in size substantially through the years. In 1880, it covered 7.1 million km2 (2.7 million sq mi), and from 1925 to 1999, it covered 3.4 million km2 (1.3 million sq mi).
The vast majority of Canada's population is concentrated in areas close to the Canada–US border. Its four largest provinces by area (Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta) are (with Quebec and Ontario switched in order) its most populous. Together they account for 86% of Canada's population. The territories (the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon) account for over a third of Canada's area but are only home to 0.3% of its population, which skews the national population density value.
Canada's population grew by 5.0% between the 2011 and 2016 censuses. Except for New Brunswick, all territories and provinces increased in population during this time. In terms of percent change, the fastest-growing province or territory was Nunavut with an increase of 12.7% between 2011 and 2016, followed by Alberta with 11.6% growth, while New Brunswick's population decreased by 0.5%.
Generally, Canadian provinces have steadily grown in population along with Canada. However, some provinces such as Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador have experienced long periods of stagnation or population decline. Ontario and Quebec have always been the two biggest provinces in Canada, with together over 60% of the population at any given time. The population of the West relative to Canada as a whole has steadily grown over time, while that of Atlantic Canada has declined.
Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia were the original provinces, formed when three British North American colonies federated on July 1, 1867, into the Dominion of Canada and by stages began accruing the indicia of sovereignty from the United Kingdom. (Ontario and Quebec had been united as the Province of Canada from 1841 to 1867.) Over the next six years, Manitoba (1870), British Columbia (1871), and Prince Edward Island (1873) joined as provinces.
The British Crown had claimed two large areas, known as Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory, northwest of the original Dominion and assigned them to the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1870, the company relinquished its claims for £300,000 (CND$1.5 million), assigning the vast territory to the government of Canada. The area entered confederation as the Province of Manitoba and the North-West Territories.
The North-West Territories encompassed all of current northern and western Canada except for the British Arctic Territories in the Arctic Archipelago, the Colony of British Columbia, and the original Province of Manitoba, a small area in the south of today's province (which expanded to its present size in 1912). It also included the northern two-thirds of Ontario and Quebec.
In 1880, the British claims to the Arctic islands were transferred to Canada, adding to the size of the North-West Territories. In 1898, the Yukon Territory, renamed "Yukon" in 2003, was carved from the area surrounding the Klondike gold fields. In September 1905, a portion of the North-West Territories south of the 60th parallel north became the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. In 1912, the boundaries of Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba were expanded northward: Manitoba's to the 60° parallel, Ontario's to Hudson Bay and Quebec's to encompass the District of Ungava.
In 1869, the people of Newfoundland voted to remain a British colony over fears that taxes would increase with Confederation, and that the economic policy of the Canadian government would favour mainland industries. In 1907, Newfoundland acquired dominion status. In the middle of the Great Depression in Canada, Newfoundland underwent a prolonged economic crisis, and the legislature turned over political control to the Newfoundland Commission of Government in 1933. Following Canada's participation in the Second World War, in a 1948 referendum, a narrow majority of Newfoundland citizens voted to enter into Confederation, and on March 31, 1949, Newfoundland became Canada's tenth province. The province was renamed Newfoundland and Labrador in 2001.
Bermuda, the last British North American colony, which had been somewhat subordinated to Nova Scotia, was one of two Imperial fortress colonies in British North America – the other being Nova Scotia, and more particularly the city of Halifax. Halifax and Bermuda were the sites of the Royal Navy's North America and West Indies Station main bases, dockyards, and Admiralty Houses (called variously the River St. Lawrence and Coast of America and North America and West Indies Station, the North America and Newfoundland Station, the North America and West Indies Station, and the America and West Indies Station). The squadron of the station was based at Royal Naval Dockyard, Halifax, during the summers and Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda, in the winters. In the 1820s, Bermuda, which was better located to control the Atlantic Seaboard of the United States, impossible to attack over land, and almost impregnable against attack over water, became the main base year round.
A large British Army garrison in Bermuda, which fell under the commander-in-chief in Nova Scotia, existed to defend the colony as a naval base, and to prevent it becoming as useful a base to the navy of an adversary, and to support amphibious operations throughout the region, such as the Chesapeake campaign during the American War of 1812. Bermuda was consequently the most important British naval and military base in the Americas.