The history and cultural heritage of Canada are greatly influenced by its rivers. The ten longest rivers in Canada are shown below. The length of the river overall, not only the parts inside Canadian borders, is used to sort the list.
1. What is the longest river in Canada?
The longest river in Canada is the 4,241 km long Mackenzie River system. From Great Slave Lake to the Beaufort Sea, the Mackenzie River flows through the Northwest Territories. It has the greatest overall drainage basin of any river in Canada.
The river’s peak discharge comes in June, but due to the flat geography east of the river and the numerous major lakes in the system, its flow is often consistent. In late April or early May, the Liard River sees the first ice breaking up. By early June, the river is ice-free, and it remains open until November.
2. Is Mackenzie River the longest river in the world?
The Mackenzie River is the second-longest river system in North America and the twelfth-longest river in the world. It is also the longest river in Canada.
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3. Why is the Mackenzie River named that?
The Dene name for the Mackenzie River, Deh Cho, directly translates to “Big River.” Kuukpak, an Inuvialuktun name, and Nagwichoonjik, a Gwich’in term, both refer to a river that flows through a large country. Both depict the river’s enormous size in the surrounding environment. Alexander Mackenzie, the first European to travel the river’s whole length to its mouth in 1789, is the source of the name in English.
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4. The rich ecosystem of the longest river in Canada
In spring and summer, snowmelt and ice breakup load the Mackenzie River with sediments and solids. The river carries more materials than any circumpolar river year-round. Most of these solids come from the Mackenzie Mountains, Pelly Mountains, and the Rocky Mountains in the Liard sub-basin. The Great Bear River’s beautiful waters run east into the Mackenzie.
Besides, many fish migrate between the Mackenzie and its tributaries. Those who reproduce in freshwater travel the farthest. The arctic cisco goes from the delta to the Mackenzie and Liard rivers. Whitefish, inconnu, and long-nose suckers also move between the Liard and Mackenzie.
Additionally, snow geese, tundra swans, and sandhill cranes use the Mackenzie River as a migration path. Beluga whales calve in the delta each spring. The delta’s tangle of waterways, cutoff lakes, and circular ponds support a robust muskrat population and fur-harvesting industry. Riverbanks are home to moose, mink, beaver, and wood frogs.
5. What can you do in the longest river in Canada?
Paddle for the ages
Travelers still paddle the river in modern times from source to sea. It takes four to six weeks to canoe or kayak the length of the Mackenzie River from Great Slave Lake. Paddlers will pass through ten picture-perfect towns, innumerable fishing and hunting camps, hot springs, a few rapids, a well-known canyon, and more pristine wilderness than you ever dreamed existed on Earth en route.
Take a trip to the north’s biggest bridge
Surprisingly, the Deh Cho Bridge at Fort Providence is the only bridge that crosses the Mackenzie River during its entire course. The $202 million bridge, finished in 2012 and spanned more than a kilometer from shore to shore, is the longest in Northern Canada. To keep wild wood bison from wandering onto the span, it includes cow grates on the structure’s north side.
The bridge is 100 feet above the river at its midpoint, allowing barges and other big boats to pass underneath. The bridge changes size by 47 inches between summer and winter because of the harsh weather in the Northwest Territories.
Ride a ferry
Road users can take seasonal car ferries to cross the Mackenzie at other locations. At Camsell Bend, the M.V. Johnny Berens provides service over the river for passengers traveling on Highway 1 in the direction of Wrigley. At Tsiigehtchic, Dempster Highway, traffic crosses the Mackenzie on the M.V. Louis Cardinal. Both ferries operate between “break up,” which typically occurs in late May or early June, and “freeze up,” which occurs in late October.
Take note of frozen thoroughfare
The Mackenzie transforms into a four-foot-thick ice pavement during the winter. Some Mackenzie Valley Winter Road crosses the river directly, enabling access to summer-only floatplane-only settlements along the river, such as Tulita, Norman Wells, and Fort Good Hope. Aklavik and Inuvik are connected via an ice road in the Mackenzie Delta.
Observe the sun not setting
The Mackenzie River cuts through the Arctic Circle, not far from Fort Good Hope. You may stay up all night on the summer solstice and watch the sun never set. The length of the summer day grows as you follow the river even further north. The sun never sets in the sky for more than two months straight at Tuktoyaktuk, where the Mackenzie River empties into the Arctic Ocean.
Discover well-known landmarks
Visitors will probably treasure Mackenzie’s ageless richness the most, though. Well-known sites along the canal live with Dene spirituality, history, and lore. On the flats of Fort Simpson Island, where Ehdaa National Historic Site is located, the Dene have gathered for centuries during their seasonal rounds to divide up the land, arrange marriages, settle disputes, perform healing and thanksgiving ceremonies, and trade goods and knowledge.
6. Top 10 longest rivers in Canada
- Mackenzie River: 4,241 km
- Yukon River: 3,185 km
- Nelson River: 2,575 km
- Columbia River: 2,000 km
- Saskatchewan River: 1,939 km
- Peace River: 1,923 km
- Churchill River: 1,609
- South Saskatchewan River: 1,392 km
- Fraser River: 1,375 km
- North Saskatchewan River: 1,287 km
