Adams Lake ferry
Cable ferryBritish Columbia · BC inland ferries
a free Shuswap crossing with a two-hour night pause
None; provincial inland ferryFare
On demand 05:00–03:00; 03:00–05:00 emergencies onlyService hours
6 minutesCrossing time
Most of the ferries on this site belong to a road, not a cruise brochure: a Saskatchewan cable ferry across the South Saskatchewan River, a free BC inland ferry, a northern highway crossing that stops for freeze-up. Each page gives the hours the operator publishes, what it costs and whether the crossing was running on the day we checked.
Canada's short ferries are mostly public road infrastructure. Saskatchewan's Ministry of Highways runs its river crossings on demand and free of charge; British Columbia's inland ferries are free too, operated by contractors for the Ministry of Transportation and Transit; Yukon and the Northwest Territories keep a ferry in service on a highway until the river starts to freeze, then wait for an ice crossing. On those crossings there is no ticket to buy, and the practical questions are different: what hours the crew works, what weight the ramp will take this week, and when the season stops.
A few crossings are private businesses with a fare box. On the Ottawa River, the Oka–Hudson boat takes cash only and the Rockland–Thurso cable ferry charges per vehicle, both in Canadian dollars. The Coho between Victoria and Port Angeles is an international service that publishes its fares in US dollars and sends everyone through customs. We say which model each page follows at the top of its fare table.
This is the tail end of the 2026 season for many of these crossings, and none of the provincial or territorial authorities had posted a 2026 closing date when we checked on 29 September. Each page shows the date its status was read and the source it came from, and says plainly when a figure could not be confirmed.
Every pin is a landing, and the dashed line joins the two sides of the same crossing. Tap a pin or a line for the hours, the fare and a link to the full page.
a free Shuswap crossing with a two-hour night pause
three sailings a day shrinking to two, then a winter refit
the free five-minute hop to the south shore, day and night
the Saint John River crossing that came back
the MV Lafferty and Fort Simpson's road link
nine dollars a car on a battery-powered cable boat
a cash-only crossing of the Lake of Two Mountains
the westernmost provincial crossing, open until freeze-up
open for light loads only, 4,000 kg cap
Dawson City's free Yukon River crossing to West Dawson
The same facts for every crossing in one table. A dash means the operator does not publish that figure, not that we left it out.
| Crossing | Province or territory | Kind | Time across | Hours or sailings | Run by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adams Lake ferry | British Columbia | Cable ferry | 6 minutes | On demand 05:00–03:00; 03:00–05:00 emergencies only | BC inland ferries |
| Coho ferry, Victoria–Port Angeles | British Columbia | Cross-border ferry | About 90 minutes | 3 a day to 12 Oct; 2 a day from 13 Oct | Black Ball Ferry Line |
| Harrop ferry | British Columbia | Cable ferry | 5 minutes | On demand, 24 hours | BC inland ferries |
| Gagetown ferry | New Brunswick | Cable ferry | 0.6 km, about 5 minutes | On demand, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily | NB Transportation and Infrastructure |
| Liard River ferry | Northwest Territories | Vehicle ferry | 730 metres, about 10 minutes | 8 a.m. to midnight | GNWT Infrastructure |
| Rockland ferry to Thurso | Ontario | Cable ferry | – | 05:00–22:00 weekdays, 06:00–22:00 weekends | Ecolos |
| Oka–Hudson ferry | Quebec | Vehicle ferry | – | On demand, no timetable | Traverse Oka-Hudson |
| Estuary ferry | Saskatchewan | Cable ferry | – | 7 a.m. to midnight, on demand | Sask. Ministry of Highways |
| Lemsford ferry | Saskatchewan | Cable ferry | – | 07:00 to midnight, daily in season | Sask. Ministry of Highways |
| George Black ferry | Yukon | Vehicle ferry | 6 to 7 minutes | 24 hours, 7 days; may be cut late in season | Government of Yukon |
A cable ferry pulls itself along a fixed line and usually crosses in minutes; a highway ferry in the north carries through traffic on a numbered road; the cross-border boat runs to a timetable and needs a passport. Grouping them this way is often the quickest route to the page you want.
Not on the crossings covered here. The Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways ferries at Estuary and Lemsford and the BC inland ferries at Harrop and Adams Lake carry vehicles and passengers free, as do the territorial ferries at Dawson City and Fort Simpson and New Brunswick's Gagetown ferry.
When the river freezes, not on a fixed date. As of 29 September 2026 none of the crossings on this site had a 2026 closing date announced; the Liard River ferry page gives the territory's average closing date and the George Black ferry page gives last year's final sailing.
Three. Oka–Hudson and Rockland–Thurso charge per vehicle in Canadian dollars, and the Coho between Victoria and Port Angeles publishes its fares in US dollars.
Every crossing page carries the date its hours, fares and status were read, and a date by which it is due to be checked again. Where an official website blocked us or gave two different figures, the page says so instead of guessing.