Niagara Falls, Halifax's Pier 21 and the Rockies have always been considered significant Canadian landmarks, but they now can be counted as true Canadian "wonders."

After 20,000 nominations and more than one million votes cast via phone and internet, the three sites made the list for CBC's Seven Wonders of Canada campaign, with the igloo, the canoe, old Quebec City and Prairie skies rounding out the Top 7.

The seven picks were made by three judges: author and columnist Roy MacGregor, Ra McGuire, the lead vocalist of the band Trooper, and Roberta Jamieson, the CEO of the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation.

Judges reduced the shortlist of 52 nominations down to a much shorter list of 15.

In making their choices, the judges debated and deliberated, guided in part by the popular vote and by five criteria:

  • Essential "Canadian-ness" — historically significant, character filled, valued.
  • Originality/uniqueness of the pitch and place.
  • Spectacular physical site or amazing human creation.
  • Ability to inspire.
  • Range within the final seven — diversity of location, type of wonder.

In terms of popularity, Thunder Bay's Sleeping Giant received the most votes (177,305), followed by Niagara Falls (81,818), Bay of Fundy (67,670), Nahanni National Park (64,920), the northern lights (61,417), the Rockies (55,630) and the Cabot Trail (44,073).

"I learned a great deal about this country and I think all Canadians did through this process," Jamieson said about the campaign. "It was fun but it was not easy."

McGuire said choosing the final seven from a list of 52 wonders was very difficult.

"[The list] slowly dwindled and it was our fault. That had to go, this had to go and by the end we were eliminating things that were very very near and dear to our hearts."

MacGregor said the whole venture is a useful exercise even though it pits people against one another.

"Anytime people are talking about the things that they love and are saying, 'My choice is better than your choice,' I don't see that as being a bad thing at all," he said.

"It gets Canadians to open up and talk and brag about their country a bit."