The total area of Canada (land area and fresh water) is around 10 million sq km, making it the second largest country in the world, second only to the Soviet Union.

For various historic and economic reasons Canada's population of 20 million is very largely concentrated in the southern part of the country, with about twothirds of the population living in large urban centres. The heavy broken line on Fig 1 shows the northern boundary of the densely populated portion of Canada. Only 1·5 per cent of Canada's total population, or 300000 people, live north of this frontier, and out of this total only about 38000 live in the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories. The Yukon has a population of only twenty seven people per 1000 sq km, and the Northwest Territories of eight people per 1000 sq km. The total Eskimo population in both territories is about 13600 and the total Indian population some 8000.