Canada's oil sands and heavy oil represent a major North American energy source. However, many technological, economic, and environmental challenges must be overcome in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency required for converting these unconventional oils into clean and high-quality transportation fuels that meet the ever-increasing social licence associated with these energy resources. In oil sands bitumen and heavy oil upgrading, and petroleum refining, over 70% of the processes involve catalysts and catalytic technologies. To advance new catalysts and catalytic technology development for bitumen upgrading and refining, fundamental and applied research has been conducted at CanmetENERGY on hydroprocessing (including catalyst development, reaction mechanism and kinetics, and process/reactor modelling and simulation), fluid catalytic cracking evaluation of bitumen-derived feedstocks, and other related subjects. In addition, research collaborations have been established and maintained with a number of national and international universities, research organizations, and industrial companies to promote new upgrading and refining technology development. These research efforts have resulted in important impacts on academic R&D and industrial practice for catalytic conversion of Canadian oil sands bitumen and heavy oil. At the same time, reliable technical data and information have been generated to help government agencies in developing and implementing policies and regulations for oil sands development.