Download Canada Provinces & Territories Boundaries
Free download of all 10 Canadian provinces plus 3 territories. Loads automatically — pick the format you need: GeoJSON, Shapefile, KML, SVG, DXF, GeoPackage, TopoJSON, or FlatGeobuf.
Boundary data provided by geoBoundaries (Runfola et al., 2020), licensed CC-BY 4.0. Please provide attribution when using this data.
About the Canada provinces dataset
This page gives you a one-click download of all 13 Canadian provinces and territories — the first-level subnational division (ADM1) of Canada. Data is sourced from geoBoundaries — an open, peer-reviewed dataset released under CC-BY 4.0. The authoritative Canadian source is Statistics Canada Cartographic Boundary Files.
For census-division-level (ADM2) boundaries — about 293 Canadian CDs — see the Canada census divisions page. For other countries use the administrative boundaries downloader.
All 13 Canadian provinces and territories
| Alberta | CA-AB | Edmonton | 4,800,000 | 661,848 |
| British Columbia | CA-BC | Victoria | 5,580,000 | 944,735 |
| Manitoba | CA-MB | Winnipeg | 1,460,000 | 647,797 |
| New Brunswick | CA-NB | Fredericton | 855,000 | 72,908 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | CA-NL | St. John’s | 545,000 | 405,212 |
| Northwest Territories | CA-NT | Yellowknife | 45,000 | 1,346,106 |
| Nova Scotia | CA-NS | Halifax | 1,070,000 | 55,284 |
| Nunavut | CA-NU | Iqaluit | 41,000 | 2,093,190 |
| Ontario | CA-ON | Toronto | 16,000,000 | 1,076,395 |
| Prince Edward Island | CA-PE | Charlottetown | 178,000 | 5,660 |
| Quebec | CA-QC | Quebec City | 9,000,000 | 1,542,056 |
| Saskatchewan | CA-SK | Regina | 1,230,000 | 651,036 |
| Yukon | CA-YT | Whitehorse | 45,000 | 482,443 |
When to use which format
GeoJSON
The most flexible choice — opens in QGIS, ArcGIS Pro, Mapbox, Leaflet, MapLibre, D3. Use the simplified version for client-side web maps.
Shapefile
Use for desktop GIS workflows in ArcGIS, QGIS, or MapInfo. ZIP contains .shp / .dbf / .prj / .shx.
KML
Use for Google Earth and Google My Maps. Each province/territory appears as a labelled polygon.
SVG
Designer-ready vector paths with each province as a separate path. Opens in Illustrator, Figma, Sketch, or Inkscape.
DXF
AutoCAD format for engineers and architects. Each province becomes a closed polyline.
TopoJSON
Topology-encoded GeoJSON, much smaller for choropleths. Common in D3.js dashboards.
GeoPackage
OGC-standard single-file SQLite container. Ideal for portable GIS workflows.
FlatGeobuf
Binary streaming format optimised for fast loading in MapLibre, OpenLayers, or Leaflet.
Common uses for Canadian province boundaries
- • Federal and provincial election mapping
- • Joining StatCan demographic or economic data to geometry
- • Provincial healthcare reporting and dashboards
- • Sales-territory mapping for Canada
- • Backgrounds for D3.js / MapLibre choropleths
- • Cross-province comparison studies
- • Editorial maps for newspapers and magazines (SVG export)
- • Reporting maps in Power BI, Tableau, or Looker Studio
Need to process these boundaries before download?
Download the Canadian provinces GeoJSON above, then drop it into the Workflow Builder to simplify, buffer, clip to a bounding box, generate centroids, or chain multiple operations before exporting in any format.
Alternative Canadian boundary sources
- • Statistics Canada Cartographic Boundary Files — authoritative federal source. Multiple resolutions and vintages, freely available.
- • Natural Resources Canada — Atlas of Canada — official thematic and base mapping.
- • Natural Earth — cartographer-friendly generalised data for small-scale maps.
- • OpenStreetMap — community-edited boundaries via Overpass queries or Geofabrik extracts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many provinces and territories does Canada have?
Canada has 10 provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan) and 3 territories (Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon). All 13 are included as ADM1 features.
What is the difference between a province and a territory?
Provinces derive their authority from the Constitution Act and have their own jurisdiction over many areas. Territories are administered by the federal government and have powers delegated to them by Parliament. In practice, the three territories operate similarly to provinces today, but the constitutional status is different.
Where does this Canada boundary data come from?
The boundaries are sourced from geoBoundaries (Runfola et al., 2020), an open peer-reviewed dataset. The authoritative Canadian source is Statistics Canada via its Cartographic Boundary Files. geoBoundaries data is released under CC-BY 4.0 and is suitable for thematic mapping and most analytical work.
Can I download Canadian census divisions or census subdivisions?
Provinces are ADM1. Census divisions (CDs) — about 293 across Canada — are ADM2 and available on the Canada census divisions page. Census subdivisions (CSDs), at over 5,000, are not yet covered here; for those use Statistics Canada directly.
Can I download the Canadian provinces as SVG for design work?
Yes — the SVG export produces a vector file with each province and territory as a separate path. Open in Illustrator, Figma, Sketch, or Inkscape to recolour for election infographics, editorial maps, or posters. Projection used is Web Mercator at a 1000-pixel viewBox.
How big is the Canada provinces GeoJSON file?
The full-resolution Canada ADM1 GeoJSON is typically 5–15 MB because the territories and Atlantic provinces contain very long coastlines. The simplified version is well under 1 MB and is the right choice for client-side web maps. The SVG export is around 30–100 KB.
Can I use this data commercially?
Yes — geoBoundaries data is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY) licence. You may use it in commercial products, modify it, and redistribute it as long as you provide attribution to geoBoundaries (Runfola et al., 2020).