Rivers in Canada

About the Rivers of Canada

The 61 rivers above with an encyclopedia article, in brief. Each name opens the river's full page, with its course on the map.

Albany

The Albany River is a river in Northern Ontario, Canada, which flows northeast from Lake St. Joseph in Northwestern Ontario and empties into James Bay. It is 982 kilometres long to the head of the Cat River, tying it with the Severn River for the title of longest river entirely in Ontario. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Arctic Red

The Arctic Red River is a tributary to the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories, Canada. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Arnaud

The Arnaud River is a river in Nunavik, Quebec, Canada, flowing from the low plateaux of the Ungava Peninsula through a series of glacial lakes to Ungava Bay. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Assiniboine

The Assiniboine River is a 1,070-kilometre long river that runs through the prairies of Western Canada in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It is a tributary of the Red River. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Athabasca

The Athabasca River in Alberta, Canada, originates at the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park and flows more than 1,231 km before emptying into Lake Athabasca. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Babine

Babine River is a river in central British Columbia, Canada. It drains Babine Lake and is a tributary of the Skeena River, and is about 97 kilometres long. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Burnside

The Burnside River is a river in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. It has its headwaters at Contwoyto Lake, flows across the Precambrian Shield's Contwoyto Plateau, flows through isolated and rugged tundra, into Lake Kathawachaga, and through the Wilberforce Hills region. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Caniapiscau

The Caniapiscau River is a tributary of the Koksoak River in Nunavik, Quebec, Canada. In Cree the name of the river means rocky point. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Columbia

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river forms in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Coppermine

The Coppermine River is a river in the North Slave and Kitikmeot regions of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada. It is 845 kilometres long. It rises in Lac de Gras, a small lake near Great Slave Lake, and flows generally north to Coronation Gulf, an arm of the Arctic Ocean. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Cree

The Cree River is a river in northern Saskatchewan located in the Athabasca Basin of the Canadian Shield. The river flows north from Cree Lake to Black Lake. The river is part of the Mackenzie River drainage basin. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Eastmain

The Eastmain River, formerly written East Main, is a river in west central Quebec. It rises in central Quebec and flows 800 km west to James Bay, draining an area of 46,400 km2. The First Nations Cree village of Eastmain is located beside the mouth. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Ekwan

The Ekwan River is a river in Kenora District in northwestern Ontario, Canada. It appears as Equam on Bellin map of 1744. Ekwan River is of Cree origin, meaning "the river far up the coast". (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Exploits

The Exploits River is a river in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It flows through the Exploits Valley in the central part of Newfoundland. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Finlay

The Finlay River is a 402 km long river in north-central British Columbia flowing north and thence south from Thutade Lake in the Omineca Mountains to Williston Lake, the impounded waters of the Peace River formed by the completion of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam in 1968. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Flathead

The Flathead River, in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Montana, originates in the Canadian Rockies to the north of Glacier National Park and flows southwest into Flathead Lake, then after a journey of 158 miles, empties into the Clark Fork. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Fraser (near Lillooet)

The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for 1,375 kilometres, into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Gatineau

The Gatineau River is a river in western Quebec, Canada, which rises in lakes north of the Baskatong Reservoir and flows south to join the Ottawa River at the city of Gatineau, Quebec. The river is 386 kilometres long and drains an area of 23,700 square kilometres. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Gods

The Gods River is a remote wilderness river in the Hudson Bay drainage basin in Northern Manitoba, Canada. Its flows from its source at Gods Lake to its mouth at the Hayes River. The Hayes River flows to Hudson Bay. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Groundhog

The Groundhog River is a river in Cochrane District and Sudbury District in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. The river is in the James Bay drainage basin and is a left tributary of the Mattagami River. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Harricana

The Harricana River is a river in western Quebec and northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is 533 kilometres long, has a drainage area of 29,300 square kilometres, and has a mean discharge of 570 cubic metres per second. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Hayes

The Hayes River is a river in Northern Manitoba, Canada, that flows from Molson Lake to Hudson Bay at York Factory. It was historically an important river in the development of Canada and is now a Canadian Heritage River and the longest naturally flowing river in Manitoba. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Ivanhoe

The Ivanhoe River is a river in Cochrane District and Sudbury District in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. The river is in the James Bay drainage basin and is a left tributary of the Groundhog River. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Kazan

The Kazan River, is a Canadian Heritage River located in Nunavut, Canada. The Dene name for the river was Kasba-tue meaning "white partridge river." The name was apparently changed to Kazan in the late 19th century due to the influence of Order of Mary Immaculate missionaries. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Keele

The Keele River is a tributary of the Mackenzie River, about 410 kilometres long, in the western part of the Canadian Northwest Territories. Flowing in a generally northeast direction, it drains a sparsely populated, rugged area of the Mackenzie Mountains. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Koksoak

The Koksoak River is a river in northern Quebec, Canada, the largest river in the Nunavik region. The Inuit village and region's administrative centre Kuujjuaq lies on the shores of the Koksoak, about 50 kilometres south from its mouth. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

La Grande

La Grande River is a river in northwestern Quebec, Canada, rising in the highlands of the north-central part of the province and flowing roughly 900 km west to its drainage at James Bay. It is the second-longest river in the province, surpassed only by the Saint Lawrence River. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Liard

The Liard River of the North American boreal forest flows through Yukon, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, Canada. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Mackenzie

The Mackenzie River is a river in the Canadian boreal forest and tundra. It forms, along with the Slave, Peace, and Finlay, the longest river system in Canada, the second largest drainage basin of any North American river after the Mississippi. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Manicouagan

The Manicouagan or Manicuagan River, often clipped to Manic, is a river in Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. The river originates in the Manicouagan Reservoir and flows approximately 200 kilometres south, emptying into the Saint Lawrence River near Baie-Comeau. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Mattagami

The Mattagami River is a river in Northern Ontario, Canada. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Miramichi

The Miramichi River is a river located in the east-central part of New Brunswick, Canada. The river drains into Miramichi Bay in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Missinaibi

The Missinaibi River is a river in northern Ontario, Canada, which flows northeast from Missinaibi Lake, north of Chapleau, and empties into the Moose River, which drains into James Bay. This river is 755 kilometres in length. It is one of the longest free-flowing and undeveloped rivers in Ontario. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Natashquan

The Natashquan is a river in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. It flows south into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Nechako

The Nechako River arises on the Nechako Plateau east of the Kitimat Ranges of the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, and flows north toward Fort Fraser, then east to Prince George where it enters the Fraser River. "Nechako" is an anglicization of netʃa koh, its name in the indigenous Carrier language which means "big river". (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Nelson

The Nelson River is a river of north-central North America, in the Canadian province of Manitoba. The river drains Lake Winnipeg and runs 644 kilometres before it ends in Hudson Bay near Port Nelson. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

North Saskatchewan

The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows into the Hudson Bay via Lake Winnipeg and the Nelson River. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Nottaway

The Nottaway River is a river in Quebec, Canada. The river drains Lake Matagami and travels 225 kilometres north-west before emptying into Rupert Bay at the south end of James Bay. Its drainage basin is 65,800 square kilometres and has a mean discharge of 1190 m3/s. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Ottawa

The Ottawa River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word "to trade", as it was the major trade route of Eastern Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border between these two provinces. It is a major tributary of the St. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Peace

The Peace River is a 1,923-kilometre-long river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Pelly

The Pelly River is a river in Canada, and is a headstream of the Yukon River. The river originates west of the Mackenzie Mountains and flows 530 km through south-central Yukon. The Pelly has two main tributaries, the Ross and Macmillan rivers. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Péribonka

The Peribonka River is a river emptying in Sainte-Monique, in Lac-Saint-Jean-Est Regional County Municipality, in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean area in Quebec, Canada. It is 451 kilometres long and drains an area of 28,200 square kilometres. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Porcupine

The Porcupine River is a 916 km tributary of the Yukon River in Canada and the United States. It rises in the Ogilvie Mountains north of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Richelieu

The Richelieu River is a river of Quebec, Canada, and a major right-bank tributary of the St. Lawrence River. It rises at Lake Champlain, from which it flows northward through Quebec and empties into the St. Lawrence. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Rupert

The Rupert River is a river in Quebec, Canada. From its headwaters in Lake Mistassini, the largest natural lake in Quebec, it flows 556 kilometres west into Rupert Bay on James Bay. The Rupert drains an area of 43,400 square kilometres. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Saguenay

The Saguenay River is a major river of Quebec, Canada. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Saskatchewan

The Saskatchewan River is a major river in Canada. It stretches about 550 kilometres from where it is formed by the joining of the North Saskatchewan River and South Saskatchewan River just east of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Severn

The River Severn is the longest river in Great Britain, with a length of 220 miles. It is also the river with the most voluminous flow of water by far in all of England and Wales, with an average flow rate of 107 m3/s at Apperley, Gloucestershire. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Skeena

The Skeena River is the second-longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Slave

The Slave River is a Canadian river that flows from the confluence of the Rivière des Rochers and Peace River in northeastern Alberta and runs into Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

South Nahanni

The South Nahanni River is a major tributary of the Liard River, located roughly 500 km west of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the centerpiece of Nahanni National Park Reserve, which adjoins the Nááts'ihch'oh National Park Reserve. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

South Saskatchewan

The South Saskatchewan River is a major river in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The river begins at the confluence of the Bow and Oldman Rivers in southern Alberta and ends at the Saskatchewan River Forks in central Saskatchewan. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

St. Clair

The St. Clair River is a 40.5-mile-long river in eastern North America that flows from Lake Huron into Lake St. Clair, forming part of the international boundary between Canada and the United States and between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Michigan. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Stikine

The Stikine River is a major river in northern British Columbia, Canada, and southeastern Alaska in the United States. It drains a large, remote upland area known as the Stikine Country east of the Coast Mountains. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Teslin

The Teslin River is a river in southern Yukon Territory and northwestern British Columbia, Canada, that flows 632 kilometres from its source south of Teslin Lake to its confluence with the Yukon River. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Thelon

The Thelon River stretches 900 kilometres across northern Canada. Its source is Whitefish Lake in the Northwest Territories, and it flows east to Baker Lake in Nunavut. The Thelon ultimately drains into Hudson Bay at Chesterfield Inlet. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Thlewiaza

The Thlewiaza River is a river in Canada. Although some sources define the river as originating out of Nueltin Lake, according to the Canadian Geographical Names Database the river begins at Snyder Lake in northwestern Manitoba. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Thompson

The Thompson River is the largest tributary of the Fraser River, flowing through the south-central portion of British Columbia, Canada. The Thompson River has two main branches, the South Thompson River and the North Thompson River. The river is home to several varieties of Pacific salmon and trout. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Winisk

The Winisk River is a river in northern Ontario, Canada, that starts at Wunnummin Lake and flows east to Winisk Lake. From there it continues in a mostly northerly direction to Hudson Bay. The Winisk River is 475 kilometres long and has a drainage basin of 67,300 square kilometres. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Winnipeg

Winnipeg River is a Canadian river that flows roughly northwest from Lake of the Woods in the province of Ontario to Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba. This river is 235 kilometres long from the Norman Dam in Kenora to its mouth at Lake Winnipeg. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Yukon

The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. From its source in British Columbia, it flows through Canada's territory of Yukon. The lower half of the river continues westward through the U.S. state of Alaska. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)