B. People and Environments · Living and Working in Ontario

Jobs and the Land: Working in Ontario

B1.2 B1.1 B3 B2.4About 40 minutes

Learning goals

I can sort jobs into three kinds: getting resources, making things, and giving services.
I can explain how the natural environment of a region affects the jobs there.
I can compare the jobs in two municipal regions of Ontario.

Words to know

job (employment)
Work that people do to earn money.

goods
Things that are grown or made, like apples, cars or paper.

services
Work that helps people, like teaching, nursing, fixing cars or driving a bus.

manufacturing
Making goods in a factory.

tourism
Visitors travelling to a place for fun, and the jobs that serve them, like hotels and tour guides.

port
A place on a lake, river or ocean where ships load and unload goods.

Why do people work where they work?

Ask a few grown-ups what their job is. You might hear: nurse, farmer, truck driver, miner, teacher, cook, builder.

Many jobs depend on where you live. A town beside a forest has forestry jobs. A town beside a big lake may have a port. Today we look at how the land and its resources shape the jobs in different parts of Ontario.

Three kinds of jobs

Getting resources from nature: farmers, miners, forestry workers, people who fish.
Making goods: factory workers who build cars, bake bread in big bakeries, or make paper (manufacturing), and construction workers.
Giving services: teachers, nurses, doctors, store clerks, bus drivers, police officers, hotel workers, computer programmers.

Today, most people in Ontario work in services. But resource and manufacturing jobs are still very important, especially in some regions.

The three kinds of jobs. Most people in Ontario work in services, but resource and manufacturing jobs are very important in some regions.

Municipal region	Natural environment and resources	Some jobs there
Greater Sudbury	Canadian Shield rock with nickel and copper	mining, processing metal, making mining equipment, mining research
Niagara region	fertile soil, mild climate between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, Niagara Falls	fruit farms and wineries, tourism (hotels, restaurants, boat tours), hydroelectric power
Thunder Bay	beside Lake Superior, surrounded by forests	port jobs shipping grain and other goods, forestry, paper and lumber mills, health care, a university
Windsor	flat land, on the Detroit River across from the United States	car manufacturing, trucking goods across the border
Muskoka	Canadian Shield lakes, forests and rocky shores	tourism: cottages, resorts, marinas, camps
Holland Marsh (near Bradford)	very rich, dark soil in an old marsh	growing vegetables like carrots and onions
Ottawa	capital of Canada	working for the federal government, technology companies
Toronto	on Lake Ontario, Canada's biggest city	banks, offices, film and TV, stores, hospitals, universities

Some Ontario regions and their jobs

Connections

Look at the table for patterns:

Rock with minerals → mining jobs (Sudbury).
Fertile soil and a mild climate → farming jobs (Niagara, Holland Marsh).
Big lakes and harbours → shipping and port jobs (Thunder Bay).
Beautiful lakes and forests → tourism jobs (Muskoka, Niagara Falls).
Lots of people in one place → lots of service jobs (Toronto, Ottawa).

When a region has a resource that people need, jobs grow there, and then communities grow to house the workers and their families.

Long rows of lettuce and carrots grow in dark, rich soil on a flat vegetable farm beside a canal. — Rich, dark soil, like the soil in the Holland Marsh, grows lots of vegetables. That means farming jobs in this part of Ontario. AI-generated image

Worked example

Let's compare two regions

Compare jobs in Sudbury and the Niagara region. Why are they different?

Sudbury's land: hard rock on the Canadian Shield, full of nickel and copper. So many people work in mining and jobs connected to mining.
Niagara's land: fertile soil and a mild climate between two Great Lakes. So many people work on fruit farms and in wineries.
Niagara also has Niagara Falls, which brings millions of visitors, so there are many tourism jobs.
Both places have service jobs too: teachers, nurses, store workers.

The jobs are different because the natural environment is different: rock and minerals in Sudbury, soil, climate and a famous waterfall in Niagara.

Worked example

Let's sort jobs

Sort these jobs: miner, nurse, car factory worker, apple farmer, hotel clerk.

Getting resources from nature: miner, apple farmer.
Making goods: car factory worker.
Giving services: nurse, hotel clerk.

Resources: miner, apple farmer. Making goods: car factory worker. Services: nurse, hotel clerk.

Just for fun

Joke: Why did the miner get an award at work?

Because she really dug her job!

Jobs are connected

One job creates others! A mine needs miners, but also truck drivers, mechanics, cooks in the cafeteria, engineers, and stores where workers shop. When a big mine or factory opens or closes, it affects a whole community.

One job creates others! A mine needs many kinds of workers, so a whole community grows around it.

Hands-on activity

Job interview at home

You need: paper, a pencil and one or two grown-ups to interview (in person, on the phone or by video call).

Ask: "What is your job?"
Ask: "Is it getting resources, making goods, or giving a service?"
Ask: "Does your job depend on the land, water or resources near where you work? How?"
Ask: "What do you like about your job?"
Write or draw the answers. Then make a tally chart of the jobs of everyone you asked, sorted into the three kinds.

What to look for: at least two interviews, each job sorted correctly, and one connection between a job and the land (or a clear note that this job does not depend much on the land, which is true for many service jobs).

Your turn

Name the three kinds of jobs from this lesson.

Is a teacher a resource job, a goods job or a service job?

What kind of job is a forestry worker?

Why are there many mining jobs in Sudbury?

What kind of jobs does Niagara Falls bring to the Niagara region?

Which city has many jobs working for the government of Canada?

What is a port?

More practice: warm-up

What kind of job is a car factory worker?

What vegetables grow in the Holland Marsh?

What is tourism?

Name a city on Lake Superior with a port.

What kind of job is a bus driver?

More practice: on your own

Why does Muskoka have many tourism jobs?

Why is Windsor a good place to make cars and ship them?

Explain how a mine creates jobs that are not mining jobs.

Thunder Bay is surrounded by forest. Name one job connected to the forest.

Why do most people in Toronto work in services instead of farming?

Challenge

Pick two regions from the table. Write one sentence for each that connects the land to the jobs.

Peaches grow well in the Niagara region but not in Timmins. Why?

A big factory in a small town closes. Describe two ways this could affect the town.

Check your understanding

Quiz

Which is a service job?

Why are there many mining jobs in Sudbury?

What helps the Niagara region grow so much fruit?

A worker who builds cars in a factory has which kind of job?

Which place is known for tourism jobs at cottages, resorts and marinas?

Which sentence is true?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: The natural environment of a region (rock and minerals, soil and climate, forests, lakes and harbours, scenery) shapes the kinds of jobs found there, and jobs in turn shape how communities grow. Students compare two or more municipal regions of Ontario.

How to help at home:

Talk about your own job and those of relatives: what kind of job it is and whether it connects to local resources.
When you travel in Ontario, notice the work around you: orchards, mines, mills, ports, cottages.
Read local news headlines about a business opening or closing and talk about how it affects the community.

Common difficulties:

Goods vs. services. Goods are things you can hold; services are work done for you.
Only seeing the main industry. Every community also has many service jobs (teachers, nurses, store workers).
Sensitive topic: if a family member has lost a job, keep the discussion general and reassuring.