Hearst is a town in the district of Cochrane,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada. It is located on the Mattawishkwia River in

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Pro ...

, approximately west of

Kapuskasing Kapuskasing is a town on the Kapuskasing River in the Cochrane District of Northern Ontario, Canada, approximately east of Hearst. The town was known as MacPherson until 1917, when the name was changed so as not to conflict with another rail ...

, approximately east of Thunder Bay along Highway 11. At Hearst, Highway 583 extends northward to Lac-Sainte-Thérèse and southward to Jogues, Coppell and Mead. Just over 96% of the town's resident's speak French as their mother language, the highest proportion in Ontario.

History

The town was established as a

divisional point In Canada, a divisional point (or division point) is a local operational headquarters for a railway. Divisional points are significant in railway maintenance of way operations. Especially historically, they could be the location of facilities and in ...

of the National Transcontinental Railway in 1913, 208 km west of Cochrane and 201 km east of the divisional point of

Grant Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom * Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama * Grant, Inyo County, ...

. There is some indeterminacy with the name Grant as the original site of Hearst was also called Grant and was changed to Hearst in 1911. Hearst was named to honour William Howard Hearst, then Ontario Minister of Forests and Mines and later Premier of Ontario. It was incorporated in 1922. Many settlers to the town originally came from the province of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. Many also came from Europe and other regions in Canada and the USA.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by Statistics Canada, Hearst had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Economy

Hearst has a long tradition of being a "lumber town". Currently the major employers include a

Tembec Tembec Industries Inc., known as Tembec, was a paper company in Canada, founded by Frank Dottori. In 2011, Tembec had approximately 3000 employees,Columbia Forest Products.

Arts and culture

93.7% of Hearst's population is francophone. Different cultures can be found in Hearst such as Finn, Slovak,

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

and also

Black Canadians Black Canadians (also known as Caribbean-Canadians or Afro-Canadians) are people of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, though ...

. The town is home to the

Université de Hearst Université de Hearst (formerly Collège universitaire de Hearst) is a public French-language university with its main campus in Hearst, Ontario, Canada. The university has additional campuses in Timmins and Kapuskasing. For most of its histor ...

, formerly a federated school of Laurentian University in Sudbury. The Hearst Public Library was founded on December 17, 1974. In its beginning, the library was situated in the basement of the Hearst High School where it shared its space with the school library. On June 4, 1984, the library moved to its present location, 801 George Street (formerly Stedman's). Hearst is a four-season destination. Many years ago, the town proclaimed itself the Moose Capital of Canada. Local outdoor activities include fishing, hunting, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, camping, swimming, canoeing, and golf.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Hearst is served by

Hearst (René Fontaine) Municipal Airport Hearst (René Fontaine) Municipal Airport (Aéroport municipale de Hearst Municipal Airport) , named after René Fontaine, is located northwest of Hearst, Ontario, Canada. The airport is owned by the Town of Hearst and day-to-day operations m ...

. Hearst was the northern terminus for a Canadian National Railways-operated passenger train service from

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Sault Ste. Marie ( ) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is at the St. Mary's River on the Canada–US border. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay. The Ojibwe, the indigenous Anishinaabe inhabitants ...

, running over the tracks of the former

Algoma Central Railway The Algoma Central Railway is a railway in Northern Ontario that operates between Sault Ste. Marie and Hearst. It used to have a branch line to Wawa, Ontario. The area served by the railway is sparsely populated, with few roads. The ra ...

. Hearst is the northern terminus for

Ontario Northland The Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC), or simply Ontario Northland, is a Crown agency of the Government of Ontario responsible for providing transportation services for passengers and goods in northern Ontario. It reports to ...

's coach service.

Education

Hearst has both elementary and high schools (public and Catholic). It also has the

, a post-secondary institution federated with Laurentian University in Sudbury. Education can also be sought at the collegiate level with the

Collège Boréal Collège Boréal is a French-language College of Applied Arts and Technology serving Northern and Central Southwestern Ontario. Youngest of the 24 Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology, Collège Boréal has for the 12th time in 13 years ach ...

Media

Radio

Hearst's only local radio service is provided by

CINN-FM CINN-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 91.1 FM in Hearst, Ontario. Owned and operated by Radio de l'Épinette Noire cooperative, it is a non-profit community radio station for the region's franco-ontarian community. CINN-FM began ...

, a community radio station. All other radio stations available in the community are rebroadcasters of stations from

Timmins Timmins ( ) is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada, located on the Mattagami River. The city is the fourth-largest city in the Northeastern Ontario region with a population of 41,145 (2021). The city's economy is based on natural resource ext ...

or Sudbury.

Television

Hearst used to be served by CBCC-TV and CBLFT-TV-5, rebroadcasters of the Toronto-based

CBLT-DT CBLT-DT (channel 5) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the English-language service of CBC Television. It is part of a twinstick with Ici Radio-Canada Télé outlet CBLFT-DT (channel 25). Bo ...

( CBC Television) and CBLFT-DT ( Ici Radio-Canada Télé) respectively, but the transmitters were shut down in 2012 due to budget cuts at the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

Notable people

Réginald Bélair Réginald Bélair (April 6, 1949 – March 3, 2020) was a Canadian politician. Bélair was a Liberal member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 2004, representing the riding of Cochrane—Superior until 1997 and subsequently Timmi ...

, politician *

René Fontaine Jacques Noe René Fontaine (November 5, 1933 – March 17, 2012) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Ontario Liberal Party, Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1985 to 1990, and was a cabinet minister in the ...

, politician.

is named in his honour. *

Doric Germain Doric Germain (born 1946 in Lac-Sainte-Thérèse, Ontario) is a Canadian writer and university professor. Educated at the University of Ottawa and Université Laval, he briefly taught high school before publishing his debut novel, first novel in 1 ...

, writer whose books centre on Franco-Ontarian heritage *

Claude Giroux Claude Giroux (; born January 12, 1988) is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward and alternate captain for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has previously played for the Philadelphia Flyers and the Florida Panth ...

, professional hockey player * Claude Larose, professional hockey player *

Rumun Ndur Rumun Ndur (born July 7, 1975) is a Nigerian-born Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Ndur played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Buffalo Sabres, the New York Rangers, and the Atlanta Thrashers. Ndur was the first Nigeria ...

, professional hockey player * Eric Sorensen, journalist * Pierre LeBrun, journalist

References

External links

* {{Authority control Municipalities in Cochrane District Single-tier municipalities in Ontario Towns in Ontario