Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario is that part of the Canadian North-West Territories which was transferred to the province of Ontario in 1882 and 1912 – roughly speaking, all of Ontario northward from the French River, including Algoma (chief cities Sault Ste Marie, Elliot Lake), the District of Sudbury (chief cities Sudbury, Espanola) and Nipissing (chief city North Bay). Northern Ontario covers 1 million square kilometres and constitutes 90% of the surface area of Ontario, although it contains only 10% of the population.

Most of Northern Ontario is situated on the Canadian Shield, a vast rocky plateau. The climate is characterized by extremes of temperature, extremely cold in winter and hot in summer. The principal industries are mining, forestry, and hydroelectricity.

The chief cities are Kenora, Thunder Bay, Hearst, Cochrane, Timmins, Kirkland Lake, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Elliot Lake and North Bay. There are universities in Thunder Bay (Lakehead University), North Bay (Nipissing University) and Sudbury (Laurentian University).

The mining boom of the early twentieth century attracted many francophones to Northern Ontario, and French is still widely spoken there. While the Canadian constitution never required the Province of Ontario to recognize French as an official language, the government provides full services in the French language to any citizen, resident, or vistor wishing it including communications, schools, hospitals, social services, and in the courts. As well, the Government of Canada provides French and English equally in all matters. See Franco-Ontarian for further information.

For some purposes, Northern Ontario is further subdivided into Northeastern and Northwestern Ontario. When the region is divided in this way, the dividing line roughly follows the 85th meridian from the eastern shore of Lake Superior to Hudson Bay. "Northeastern Ontario" contains most of Northern Ontario's population.