The Department of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan; French: Ministère des Ressources naturelles Canada; RNCan), is the department of the federal Government of Canada responsible for natural resources, energy, minerals and metals, forests, earth sciences, mapping and remote sensing. It was created in 1995 by amalgamating the now-defunct Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, and Department of Forestry.
The current minister of natural resources is Seamus O'Regan.
Natural Resources Canada works to ensure the responsible development of Canada's natural resources, including energy, forests, minerals and metals. NRCan also uses its expertise in earth sciences to build and maintain an up-to-date knowledge base of our landmass and resources. To promote internal collaboration, NRCan has implemented a departmental wide wiki based on MediaWiki. Natural Resources Canada 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.
Under the Constitution Act, 1867, responsibility for natural resources belongs to the provinces, not the federal government. However, the federal government has jurisdiction over off-shore resources, trade and commerce in natural resources, statistics, international relations, and boundaries.
The department is governed by the Resources and Technical Surveys Act, R.S.C., c.R-7 and the Department of Natural Resources Act, S.C. 1994, c. 41.
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