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There are 804 communities that are at least 30% reliant on agriculture and agricultural products processing. Of these communities, the majority (502) have a reliance of 50% or higher and 302 have a reliance between 30 and 49%.

There are 652 forestry-reliant communities, of which 324 have a reliance of 50% or greater, and 328 have a reliance of 30 to 49%. The communities are spread across Canada and closely match the distribution of commercially usable forests.

There are 185 mining-reliant communities, of which 88 have a reliance of 50% or greater, and 97 have a reliance of 30 to 49%. The economy of these communities depends either on local mining activity or on metal-processing plants.

There are 207 fishery-reliant communities, of which 80 have a reliance of 50% or greater and 127 have a reliance of 30 to 49%. The communities are almost all located near salt water. Only one, Grand Rapids, Manitoba on the shores of Lake Winnipeg, is in the interior of Canada.

There are 149 energy-reliant communities, of which 60 have a reliance of 50% or greater, and 89 have a reliance of 30 to 49%. The distribution of communities closely relates to the extent of the main oil and gas producing area of Canada, which is located in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin.

There are nearly 2000 reliant-communities shown on this map. They represent all the communities that have a substantial economic reliance on activities directly related to one of five resource sectors – agriculture, energy, fisheries, forestry and mining.

Each of the 84 communities shown on this map has a 30% or higher reliance on two of the resource sectors of agriculture, energy, fisheries, forestry or mining. The large majority of these communities are located in the four western provinces (48) or in Quebec (25). Most are small communities in terms of population: only Brant, Ontario and Val-d’Or, Quebec, have more than 12 000 people; five other communities in western Canada have 10 000 to 12 000 people. Almost all other communities have 2 000 or fewer inhabitants.

The metropolitan influence zone classification, developed by researchers at Statistics Canada, classifies communities (census subdivisions) that lie outside census metropolitan areas (CMAs) and census agglomerations (CAs) according to the degree of influence that CMA/CAs have on them. The classification was used in this mapping project on quality of life to compare similar communities (or census subdivisions), in order to recognize inherent differences in the social and economic characteristics of different communities and differences in their geographic locations, which may have important influences on quality of life.

Day programs provide employment, skills training, and day program opportunities for adults with disabilities in communities across Nova Scotia. They help people with disabilities develop meaningful relationships and expand skills that increase self-reliance and independence.

The reliance on wind as a source of energy is increasing in Canada and around the world. Some residents in communities that host large-scale turbine electricity generators have reported adverse health effects which they attribute to the sound emitted by operating wind turbines.