Portrait of Canada
1959 film
Portrait of Canada is a 10-minute 1959 Canadian documentary film, made by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) as part of the postwar Canada Carries On series. The film, directed by Guy Glover, described the creation of the All Canadian Atlas. The film's French version title is L'Atlas du Canada.
Synopsis
Canadian mapmakers 400 years ago relied on hand-drawn maps derived from personal accounts by explorers, fur traders and settlers. These maps were limited to coastlines and partial interior views. Explorers like Samuel de Champlain, Jacques Cartier and David Thompson made their own maps. Later explorers and prospectors were often the first to go into uncharted regions, and their information on the land was invaluable in drawing up the maps of the time.
In 1959, the new All Canadian Atlas is a product of the joint efforts of geologists, meteorologists, prospectors, agronomists, draughtspersons, naturalists and especially, the Royal Canadian Air Force. Aerial photography was essential in mapping the vast north of Canada. In 1948, No.
“Portrait of Canada” enters the record as 1959 film. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Portrait, Canada and film can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Portrait of Canada” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Portrait, Canada and film provides the most credible route into that argument.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q23582520. The first chronological checks are 1959 and 1948.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
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- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Portrait of Canada” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.