Ignace is a township (Canada), township in the Kenora District of Northwestern Ontario, Canada, located at Ontario Highway 17, Highway 17 (Trans Canada Highway) and Ontario Highway 599, Secondary Highway 599, and on the Canadian Pacific Railway between Thunder Bay and Kenora. It is on the shore of Agimak Lake, and as of 2016, the population of Ignace was 1,202.
The town was named after Ignace Mentour by Sir Sandford Fleming in 1879. Ignace Mentour was the key Indigenous guide through this region during Fleming's 1872 railway survey, recorded in George Monro Grant's journal of the survey, ''Ocean to Ocean''. Mentour had also served with George Simpson (administrator), Sir George Simpson in Simpson's final years as governor of Rupert's Land.
During Ignace's early days, there was a settlement of railway boxcars used by the English residents there called "Little England".
Although Ignace was incorporated in 1908, it was something of a latecomer to some modern conveniences, such as rotary dial telephone, which did not arrive in the town until 1956.
Forestry and tourism support Ignace's economy, today, and one attraction is the three-storey log White Otter Castle, located on White Otter Lake at Turtle River, and built by James Alexander McOuat between 1903 and 1914.
Ignace is one of two Ontario communities being considered as a potential deep geological repository site for Canada's used nuclear fuel. Initial borehole drilling and core sample testing are taking place in a rock formation known as the Revell Batholith, located south of Highway 17, about 35 kilometres west of Ignace (between Ignace and Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation).
In the 1950s, Ignace's first newspaper, the ''Village Tattler'', started there to serve the town. It was published by the local YMCA. In 1971, Dennis Smyk started the ''Ignace Driftwood'', which was suspended two years later, but was revived in 1979 and ran until 2018. During ''Driftwoods suspension, the ''Ignace Courier'' was published for the town's local news.
Demographics
In the 2021 Canadian census, 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Ignace 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.
Historic populations:
[Statistics Canada: Canada 1996 Census]
* Population in 2016: 1,202 (unchanged from 2011)
* Population in 2011: 1,202 (-16.0% from 2006)
* Population in 2006: 1,431 (-16.3% from 2001)
* Population in 2001: 1,709 (-4.1% from 1996)
* Population in 1996: 1,782 (-7.9% from 1991)
* Population in 1991: 1,935
Local media
Newspapers
* ''Ignace Driftwood'' – In 1971, Dennis Smyk started the ''Ignace Driftwood'', which was suspended two years later, but was revived in 1979 and ceased operations in 2018. During Driftwood's suspension, the ''Mattabi Memo'' and the ''Ignace Courier'' were published for the town's local news.
Radio
* CBQT-FM, CBES AM 690 (CBC Radio One) – rebroadcast transmitter of station based in Thunder Bay
* CKDR-FM, CKDR AM 1340 – rebroadcast transmitter of station based in Dryden
See also
*List of townships in Ontario
*List of francophone communities in Ontario
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Municipalities in Kenora District
Single-tier municipalities in Ontario
Township municipalities in Ontario
1879 establishments in Ontario
Populated places established in 1879