Natural ResourcesCanada (NRCan; French: Ressources naturelles Canada; RNCan)[NB 1] is the department of the Government of Canada responsible for natural resources, energy, minerals and metals, forests, earth sciences, mapping, and remote sensing. It was formed in 1994 by amalgamating the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources with the Department of Forestry.
Under the Constitution Act, 1867, primary responsibility for natural resources falls to provincial governments, however, the federal government has jurisdiction over off-shore resources, trade and commerce in natural resources, statistics, international relations, and boundaries. The department administers federal legislation relating to natural resources, including energy, forests, minerals and metals. The department also collaborates with American and Mexican government scientists, along with the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, to produce the North American Environmental Atlas, which is used to depict and track environmental issues for a continental perspective.
^Natural Resources Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Natural Resources (French: Ministère des Ressources naturelles).
