McGarry is an incorporated

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

Timiskaming District Timiskaming is a district and census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. The district was created in 1912 from parts of Algoma, Nipissing, and Sudbury districts. In 1921, Cochrane District was created from pa ...

Northeastern Ontario Northeastern Ontario is a secondary region of Northern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario, which lies north of Lake Huron and east of Lake Superior. Northeastern Ontario consists of the districts of Algoma, Sudbury, Cochrane, Timiskami ...

, Canada. It includes the communities of Virginiatown, North Virginiatown, and Kearns. The township borders with

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 ...

to the east, along Highway 66 between Kirkland Lake and Rouyn-Noranda. The northern border of the township forms part of the border between Timiskaming District and

Cochrane District Cochrane District is a district and census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was created in 1921 from parts of Timiskaming and Thunder Bay districts. In 2016, the population was 79,682. The land area of th ...

. Highway 66 was rerouted in 2017 because of concerns that aging mine shafts under the road could cause it to collapse. J.T. Kearns (after whom one of the communities was named) staked a claim in 1907, which became the Chesterville Gold Mines (1938–1952). An shaft connected 20 levels, and its 500-ton stamp mill produced a total of 458,880 ounces of gold. Virginiatown and North Virginiatown were built to house the Kerr Addison workers. Kerr Addison Gold mines started in 1936, and employed 1,456 people by 1959. In 1960, the mine produced the most gold in the Western Hemisphere, and the 10 millionth ounce of gold was produced in 1982.

History

Gold in the area was originally reported in the late 1800s by Chief Ignace Tonené of the

Temagami First Nation The Temagami First Nation is located on Bear Island in the heart of Lake Temagami. The island is the second largest in Lake Temagami, after Temagami Island. Its community is known as Bear Island 1. Temagami First Nation (TFN) members are status ...

. He staked a claim near the north arm of Larder Lake but claimed it was stolen. He reported it, but Indian Affairs was unable to help. Chief Tonenè Lake was named in his honour. On December 21, 1972, masked thieves successfully robbed the Virginiatown

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC; french: Banque canadienne impériale de commerce) is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered at CIBC Square in the Financial District of Toronto, Ontario. ...

on the Kerr Addison miners' payday. The robbers were never captured.

Beaverhouse First Nation

In 2018,

Beaverhouse First Nation Beaverhouse First Nation is an Indigenous first nation located on the banks Kirkland Lake in the Misema River system. After initially being excluded from the Treaty 9 agreement between Indigenous nations and Canada, the government of Canada offici ...

submitted a claim to the Government of Ontario, asserting the community is a distinct

First Nation Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

and did not sign

Treaty 9 ''Treaty No. 9'' (also known as ''The James Bay Treaty'') is a numbered treaty first signed in 1905-1906 between Anishinaabe (Algonquin and Ojibway) and Omushkegowuk Cree communities and the Canadian Crown, which includes both the governm ...

, or any other treaty. On April 19, 2022, Beaverhouse First Nation was officially recognized as a First Nation under Section 35 of Canada’s Constitution.

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, McGarry 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

McGarry's economy has historically been supported by the mining industry, and struggled when the mines were not producing. The Armistice Gold mine was purchased by Bonterra Resources from Kerr Resources in 2016, and gold exploration and modelling was done to update the resource to a

National Instrument 43-101 National Instrument 43-101 (the "NI 43-101" or the "NI") is a national instrument for the ''Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects'' within Canada. The Instrument is a codified set of rules and guidelines for reporting and displaying informat ...

Compliant Resource. Gold Candle Ltd. and investors purchased the historic Chesterville Gold Mines and Kerr Addison Gold Mines property in 2016, and conducted a feasibility study and gold exploration with Canadian Exploration Services Limited on the old Chesterville Gold Mines and Kerr Addison Gold Mines property.

Tourism

McGarry hosts several events, including an annual fish derby at Larder Lake, and a Labour Day weekend music event at the McGarry community centre. Gem Lake Maple Bedrock Provincial Park is located in McGarry Township. Sport fishing is permitted within Gem Lake Maple Bedrock Provincial Park. McGarry Township Forest Conservation Reserve, shared with McFadden Township, is located in McGarry Township.

References

External links

* {{Timiskaming District Municipalities in Timiskaming District Single-tier municipalities in Ontario Township municipalities in Ontario History of mining in Canada