Northwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Northern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north and west of Lake Superior and west of

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay ( crj, text=ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, translit=Wînipekw; crl, text=ᐐᓂᐹᒄ, translit=Wînipâkw; iu, text=ᑲᖏᖅᓱᐊᓗᒃ ᐃᓗᐊ, translit=Kangiqsualuk ilua or iu, text=ᑕᓯᐅᔭᕐᔪᐊᖅ, translit=Tasiujarjuaq; french: b ...

and James Bay. It includes most of

subarctic The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of humid continental regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, and the Cairngorms. Generally, ...

Ontario. Its western boundary is the Canadian province of Manitoba, which disputed Ontario's claim to the western part of the region. Ontario's right to Northwestern Ontario was determined by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1884ONTARIO-MANITOBA BOUNDARY CASE and confirmed by the Canada (Ontario Boundary) Act, 1889, of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. In 1912, the

Parliament of Canada The Parliament of Canada (french: Parlement du Canada) is the federal legislature of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and is composed of three parts: the King, the Senate, and the House of Commons. By constitutional convention, the ...

by the ''Ontario Boundaries Extension Act'' gave jurisdiction over the District of Patricia to Ontario, thereby extending the northern boundary of the province to Hudson Bay. For some purposes, Northwestern Ontario and Northeastern Ontario are treated as separate regions, while for other purposes they are grouped together as Northern Ontario.

Geographic subdivisions

Northwestern Ontario consists of the districts of

Kenora Kenora (), previously named Rat Portage (french: Portage-aux-Rats), is a city situated on the Lake of the Woods in Ontario, Canada, close to the Manitoba boundary, and about east of Winnipeg by road. It is the seat of Kenora District. The his ...

, Rainy River and Thunder Bay. Major communities in the region include Thunder Bay,

, Dryden,

Fort Frances Fort Frances is a town in, and the seat of, Rainy River District in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. The population as of the 2016 census was 7,739. Fort Frances is a popular fishing destination. It hosts the annual Fort Frances Canadian Bass Cham ...

, Sioux Lookout, Greenstone, Red Lake,

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

, and Atikokan. There are also several dozen First Nations in Northwestern Ontario.

Time zones

Northwestern Ontario is divided between the Eastern Time Zone and the Central Time Zone.

Population

Northwestern Ontario is the province's most sparsely populated region: 54% of the region's entire population lives in the Thunder Bay census metropolitan area alone. Aside from Thunder Bay, Kenora is the only other municipality in the entire region with a population greater than 10,000. The overall population of Northwestern Ontario has been in decline over the past decade, mainly because of a downturn in the forestry sector, but some individual municipalities within the region have seen modest population growth over the period.

Politics

Northwestern Ontarians tend to lean

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

politically, mainly due to the history and influence of

labour unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

and a growing environmental ethic. At the federal level, Northwestern Ontario is represented by Liberal MPs Marcus Powlowski in Thunder Bay—Rainy River and Patty Hajdu in

Thunder Bay—Superior North Thunder Bay—Superior North (french: Thunder Bay—Supérieur-Nord; formerly known as Thunder Bay—Nipigon) is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada The House of Comm ...

, as well as Conservative MP Eric Melillo in the Kenora District,. Provincially, PC Greg Rickford represents

Kenora—Rainy River Kenora—Rainy River was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1925 to 2004. It was located in the province of Ontario. This riding was created in 1924 from parts of Fort William and Rainy River and Por ...

, NDP Sol Mamakwa represents Kiiwetinoong, NDP Judith Monteith-Farrell represents

Thunder Bay—Atikokan Thunder Bay—Atikokan was a federal electoral district in northwestern Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1979 to 2003 and in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1999 to 2007. The federal riding wa ...

, and Liberal Michael Gravelle represents

. In 2005, some residents of the region expressed dissatisfaction at the level of attention paid to the region by the provincial government. Some, most notably former Kenora mayor

Dave Canfield David S. Canfield is a Canadian politician, who served as the mayor of Kenora, Ontario from 2000 to 2006 and from 2010 to 2018. Formerly the mayor of Jaffray Melick, Canfield was elected mayor of the newly amalgamated city in 2000. Prior to bein ...

,"Kenora eyes joining Manitoba"
cbc.ca, August 3, 2005 and Fort Frances town councillor Tannis Drysdale, have proposed the idea of the region as a whole, or parts of it, seceding from Ontario to join Manitoba, although the campaign did not attract widespread public support."So, how does Kenora, Man., sound to you?", ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', April 1, 2006

Notes

External links