Marine transportation is the oldest and most important mode of moving people and goods for travel and commerce. This has been especially the case in the development of Canada as a trading nation. The First Nations of Canada used our many rivers, streams and lakes as their critical source of travel in search of favourable sites for their communities, their food and trade with other tribes.European explorers charted the lands and waterways deep into the Canadian landscape, eventually conducting their own trade with the indigenous peoples. These waterways carried furs and lumber from the interior to new coastal centres in Montreal, Toronto, and Halifax to be further transported across the oceans to European markets, thus serving as the initial gateways to the emerging Canadian economy. Later, Vancouver became an important costal centre for global trade across the Pacific and remote norther communities will emerge as important ports of call for Arctic transport.