Many communities in Canada depend to some extent on forestry and the forest sector. The importance of the forest industry to the regional economy can be assessed using the Canadian Ecumene GIS (Geographic Information System) Database. “Ecumene” is a term used by geographers, meaning “inhabited lands.” A forest ecumene refers to areas where human settlement coincides with forested areas, including locations where people depend on the forest for their livelihood. Populated places in the ecumene database are referenced using natural boundaries, as opposed to administrative or census boundaries, and provide a more suitable means for integrating socio-economic data with ecological and environmental data in a region.

The Canadian Ecumene GIS Database includes the custom boundaries for more than 4,200 populated areas across Canada, many of which were derived from remote-sensing “night-lights” imagery. Each ecumene place has a corresponding set of attributes pertaining to place name, province and other descriptive information, as well as an initial custom set of demographic and labour force variables derived from Statistics Canada Census and National Household Survey data for 2001, 2006 and 2011. An analysis of ecumene labour force data and location of mill facilities resulted in a generalized rendering showing regional dependency of the forest industry. The location of mill facilities layer includes information on mill type (i.e., pulp and saw) and ownership. The sensitivity to forest industry layer shows which forest communities and regions are more sensitive to economic impacts in the forest industry.

Three layers are provided: the Canadian Ecumene GIS Database, the location of mill facilities, and the sensitivity of forest communities and regions to forest industry.