Canadian Amber is unsually rich in inclusions; and with respect to ancestral lineage, contains more genera and species that are extinct today as compared to Baltic Amber which even sometimes contains species that are still alive today. In other words, most Canadian Amber insect inclusions fit into established Orders, sub-Orders, Superfamilies and Families, but at this level in some cases, new Families had to be created in order to accomadate some of these insect finds in Canadian Amber. Most of the Canadian Amber insect finds required a new Genera and all required new species names.


The major deposits of Canadian Amber are at Cedar Lake, Manitoba, with some minor deposits, primarily in Western Canada. Most Canadian Amber is Cretaceous in age, but some can be Tertiary and there is even a report stated in 1909, (Logan 1909) that an Amber occurrence in Gaspe Quebec was Devonian in Age. (this Devonian age Amber is probably not Devonian at all since land plants much less land plants producing resin had not yet evolved by the Devonian).


At the time the Cedar lake deposit was dicovered in 1889, Amber in the Baltic was being used for industrial and gemstone purposes to a high degree, so that the discovery of the Cedar Lake Amber was given considerable attention as an economic source of industrial and gem quality amber.


Between 1895 and 1937 almost 1 tonne of amber was recovered out of the site at Cedar Lake, mainly for commercial use. Presently there is not enough amber at Cedar Lake to pull out economically for commercial use, and the amber that is recovered there know is primarily used for scientific study or goes into private or public collections.

This is a scale photograph of a piece of Canadian Amber from Medicine Hat, Alberta, (Royal Canadian Museum of Nature Catalogue #: R459). This image was taken with the aid of Richard Day, B.Sc., from the Royal Canadian Museum of Nature, Research Building.