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The Bonnet Plume River begins its journey in the Mackenzie Mountains on the Yukon and NWT border.

The Columbia River runs from the southeast corner of British Columbia through Washington and Oregon states to the Pacific Ocean.

The Niagara River, 58 km long, issues from Lake Erie and flows north over Niagara Falls to Lake Ontario. The river’s drainage area is about 684,000 km², and its average flow at Queenston is 5,885 m³/s. The Niagara River forms part of the border between Canada and the United States.

The Athabasca River is the longest river in Alberta (1,538 km). The first 168 km (located in Jasper National Park) are designated as a Canadian Heritage River. As a tributary to the Mackenzie River, water flowing on the Athabasca River eventually drains into the Arctic Ocean. River flow is highest during the summer and lowest during winter, and it is ice-covered from mid-November to mid-April.

Albany River, 982 km long, is the second longest and largest river in Ontario.

The St Lawrence Seaway (Great Lakes Waterway) is the system of locks, canals and channels linking the Great Lakes and the St Lawrence River with the Atlantic Ocean.

The Rouge River is a tributary of the Ottawa River. Its source is Lac de la Fougère, in the northeast part of Rouge-Matawin Wildlife Reserve in Québec.

Nagwichoonjik, meaning "river flowing through a big country," is the Gwich'in name for the Mackenzie River, the longest river in Canada and the 9th longest river in the world. The river flows through the heart of the traditional homeland of the Gwichya Gwich'in, who now largely reside in  Tsiigehtchic (formerly Arctic Red River), a small community of 200 people at the confluence of the Arctic Red and Mackenzie rivers, in the northern part of the Northwest Territories. ( See also Indigenous Territory).

Thelon River, 904 km long, issues from Lynx Lake, east of Great Slave Lake, NWT.

Dubawnt River, 842 km long, rises from a web of lakes in the Northwest Territories, 120 km northeast of Lake Athabasca, flows northeast, gathering the waters of Wholdaia, Boyd, Barlow, Nicholson, Dubawnt, Wharton and Marjorie lakes, and turns abruptly northwest to join the Thelon River at Beverly Lake. 

The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated.

When the first sod was turned near Cornwall, Ont., August 10, 1954, it was not so much the beginning of the great ​St Lawrence Seaway as a continuation of centuries of dreams.

This article is from our Toronto Feature series. Features from past programs are not updated.

This article is from our Toronto Feature series. Features from past programs are not updated.

This article is from our Toronto Feature series. Features from past programs are not updated.

This article is from our Toronto Feature series. Features from past programs are not updated.

The St. Lawrence River is a grand river and estuary, which together with the Great Lakes forms a hydrographic system that penetrates 3,058 km into North America. The river proper, about 1,197 km long, issues from Lake Ontario, flows northeast past Montreal and Quebec City to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The route of early explorers and the main axis of New France, the St. Lawrence River figured prominently in Canada's early history, and it remains the focus of settlement for much of the province of Quebec. It is still the most important commercial waterway in Canada, as well as a source of electric power and natural beauty. (See also St Lawrence Lowland.)

The North Saskatchewan River (1,287 km long, the first 48.5 km of which is designated as a Canadian Heritage River) is a major tributary to the Saskatchewan River, which ultimately flows into Hudson Bay. The mean annual flow is 241 m3/s; however, flow varies between the peak in July and minimum in February. It served as a major transportation route from the end of the last Ice Age through the mid-20th century.

At 3,185 km (1,149 km of which lie in Canada), the Yukon River is among the longest rivers in the country (see also Longest Rivers in Canada). Its headwaters are in the northwest corner of British Columbia, at the province’s border with the Yukon. It flows north and northwest across the Yukon into Alaska, then west to Norton Sound on the Bering Sea. Within the large central plateau of the Yukon, ringed by the Mackenzie Mountains to the east and the St. Elias range to the southwest, the Yukon River and its tributaries form the region’s dominant drainage basin.

The Mackenzie River’s main stem is 1,738 km long, making it one of the longest rivers in Canada. The Mackenzie River system, which includes tributaries such as the Liard River, is 4,241 km. The Mackenzie River runs northwest through the Northwest Territories, from Great Slave Lake to the Beaufort Sea. Its total drainage basin — 1.8 million km² — is the largest of any river in Canada and its mean discharge of 9,700 m³/s is second only to that of the St. Lawrence. The river's peak discharge occurs in June, but its flow is generally uniform because of the flat topography east of the river and the many large lakes in the system. The break-up of ice begins at the Liard River in late April, early May. The river is free of ice by early June and stays open until November.