Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database

CPCAD partnerships

The CPCAD database evolved from the Conservation Areas Reporting and Tracking System (CARTS). CARTS was jointly managed between Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and the Canadian Council on Ecological Areas (CCEA). CCEA developed the original tools and guidance to recognize and report on protected areas. Since 2018, CPCAD has been compiled and managed by ECCC in partnership with the data providers.

CPCAD data providers include all 10 provinces, 3 territories and the 4 federal agencies that manage protected areas:

• Parks Canada Agency
• Environment and Climate Change Canada
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada
• National Capital Commission

In 2022, some new contributors were added, including:

• Capital Regional District of British Columbia
• Canadian Border Services Agency
• Natural Resources Canada
• National Research Council Canada

CPCAD is currently endorsed by the Pathway to Canada Target 1 initiative.

Copyright and permission to download

The information in these files was produced or compiled by the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) at ECCC. It provides information about protected and other conserved areas in Canada. The accuracy and completeness of information is the responsibility of individual jurisdictions.

This material is covered by the provisions of the Copyright Act, by Canadian federal, provincial and territorial laws, policies and regulations, and by international agreements. All files were obtained from the various jurisdictions. Copyright and ownership of the data rests with each individual source and jurisdiction.

Non-commercial reproduction

Information in these files has been posted with the intent that it be readily available for personal and public non-commercial use. With the exception of identified third party materials whose reproduction may require the permission of another rights holder, as described below, the information in these files may be reproduced, in part or in whole and by any means, for the sole purpose of its use by the user, without charge or further permission from CWS. However, we require that:

• users exercise due diligence in ensuring the accuracy of the materials reproduced and their appropriateness for the user’s purposes
• the Canadian Wildlife Service be identified as the source
• the reproduction is not represented as an official version of the materials reproduced, nor as having been made with the endorsement of the Canadian Wildlife Service

Third-party materials

Some of the materials and graphical elements downloadable here are subject to copyrights held by other organizations, and as such are not covered by the copyright permissions set out above. In such cases, restrictions may apply to the reproduction of these materials or graphical elements and it may be necessary to seek permission from the rights holder prior to reproducing the material or graphical element in question.

To obtain information concerning copyright ownership and restrictions on reproduction of these files, please contact the Canadian Wildlife Service.

Inclusion of third party information, products or tools on the mapping applications used to display this file does not imply advertisement or endorsement by the Canadian Wildlife Service.

External hyperlinks

These files may contain links to third party sites. The Canadian Wildlife Service provides these links only as a service and convenience. The Canadian Wildlife Service takes no responsibility for the content at third party sites and in no way implies an endorsement or recommendation of the products, services or information found there. A third party site may have a privacy policy different from that of the Canadian Wildlife Service.

The Canadian Wildlife Service disclaims all liability with regard to your access to linked web sites. When you link to sites external to the Canadian Wildlife Service, you do so at your own risk. The Canadian Wildlife Service makes every effort to ensure that the links appearing in this file lead to content that is accessible and available in both official languages. However, that is not always feasible or possible.

Disclaimer

The material in this file includes information of a technical nature, such as geographical information, reference values, statistical data, and the like, which is made available to the public on a free-of-charge basis. While the Canadian Wildlife Service employs reasonable efforts, whenever feasible, to ensure the currency, accuracy and precision of the information they provide, some of this material has technical limitations.

Furthermore, the material or any data derived using same is subject to interpretation. Users are responsible for verifying that the material is appropriate for the use or application for which they wish to employ it. The Canadian Wildlife Service makes no representation or warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, as to the content of the file nor as to its fitness for any particular use, and the Canadian Wildlife Service does not assume nor accept any liability arising from any use of the information and applications used to display or use the information.

The Canadian Wildlife Service does not assume nor accept any liability arising from any use of third party sourced content.

Official languages

The Canadian Wildlife Service is committed to ensuring files are available in both French and English. However, users should be aware that some information from external sources is available only in the language in which it was provided.

CPCAD end-user agreement

In order to download the CPCAD geodatabase of protected areas in Canada (in any format), clicking on any of the links provided indicates that you agree to these terms and conditions.

The CPCAD geospatial data can be used and accessed with Geographic Information System (GIS) software that supports ESRI file geodatabases (.gdb) such as ArcGIS Desktop or QGIS.