Abstract The Jurassic System in western Canada is of interest particularly for the evidence it brings to bear on the early history of the mid-Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous Columbian orogeny, and for its economic significance. Its sediments contain the record of eustatic and epeirogenic events related partly to the early stages of the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean in the east, and the history of collision of allochthonous terranes in the west with the westerly drifting continent. Superimposition of the effects of the early phases of the Columbian Orogeny and the related foredeep on the older pre-orogenic sediments of Western Canada Basin, and the demise of Williston Basin as a depocentre are seen in the Jurassic succession of the western Plains and Rocky Mountains. Late events of the Ellesmerian tectonic phase in Brooks-Mackenzie Basin are recorded in northern Yukon Territory and adjacent Northwest Territories. Jurassic sedimentary rocks form significant hydrocarbon reservoirs and source rocks in western Canada. The immense coal reserves of the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains occur in an Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous succession; the Jurassic of southern Manitoba hosts two of Canada’s major gypsum mines; and some of the phosphate deposits, currently subeconomic, in southeastern British Columbia are Jurassic in age.