Sarnia is a city in
Lambton County,
Ontario, Canada. It had a
2021 population of 72,047,
and is the largest city on
Lake Huron
Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrology, Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Strait ...
. Sarnia is located on the eastern bank of the junction between the Upper and Lower
Great Lakes where Lake Huron flows into the
St. Clair River in the
Southwestern Ontario
Southwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula bounded by Lake Huron, including Georgian Bay, to the north and northwest; the St. Clair River, Lake St. ...
region, which forms the
Canada–United States border
The border between Canada and the United States is the longest international border in the world. The terrestrial boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Can ...
, directly across from
Port Huron, Michigan
Port Huron is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of St. Clair County. The population was 30,184 at the 2010 census. The city is adjacent to Port Huron Township but is administered separately.
Located along the St. Clair ...
. The site's natural harbour first attracted the French explorer
La Salle. He named the site "The Rapids" on 23 August 1679, when he had horses and men pull his 45-ton barque ''Le Griffon'' north against the nearly four-knot current of the St. Clair River.
This was the first time that a vessel other than a canoe or other oar-powered vessel had sailed into Lake Huron, and La Salle's voyage was germinal in the development of commercial shipping on the Great Lakes. Located in the natural harbour, the Sarnia port remains an important centre for
lake freighters and oceangoing ships carrying cargoes of grain and petroleum products. The natural port and the salt caverns that exist in the surrounding areas, together with the oil discovered in nearby
Oil Springs in 1858, led to the dramatic growth of the petroleum industry in this area. Because Oil Springs was
the first place in Canada and North America to drill commercially for oil, the knowledge that was acquired there resulted in oil drillers from Sarnia travelling the world teaching other enterprises and nations how to drill for oil.
The complex of refining and
chemical companies is called Chemical Valley and located south of downtown Sarnia. In 2011 the city had the highest level of
particulates air pollution of any Canadian city, but it has since dropped to rank 30th in this hazard. About 60 percent of the particulate matter comes from industries and polluters in the neighbouring United States.
Lake Huron is cooler than the air in summer and warmer than the air in winter; therefore, it moderates Sarnia's
humid continental climate, making temperature extremes of hot and cold less evident.
In the winter, Sarnia occasionally experiences
lake-effect snow
Lake-effect snow is produced during cooler atmospheric conditions when a cold air mass moves across long expanses of warmer lake water. The lower layer of air, heated up by the lake water, picks up water vapor from the lake and rises up through ...
from Arctic air blowing across the warmer waters of Lake Huron and condensing to form snow squalls over land.
History
Name
The name "Sarnia" is Latin for
Guernsey
Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency.
It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...
, a British
Channel Island
The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...
. In 1829
Sir John Colborne, a former governor of Guernsey, was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada.
In this capacity, he visited two small settlements in 1835 that had been laid out on the shores of Lake Huron. One of these, named "The Rapids," consisted then of 44 taxpayers, nine frame houses, four log houses, two brick dwellings, two taverns and three stores.
The villagers wanted to change its name but were unable to agree on an alternative. The English settlers favoured the name "Buenos Aires," and the ethnic Scottish favoured "New Glasgow".
Sir John Colborne suggested Port Sarnia. On 4 January 1836, the name was formally adopted by a vote of 26 to 16, and Colborne also named the nearby village Moore after British military hero Sir John Moore.
Sarnia adopted the nickname "The Imperial City" on 7 May 1914 because of the visit of Canada's
Governor General,
the Duke of Connaught, and his daughter
Princess Patricia
Lady Victoria Patricia Helena Elizabeth Ramsay, (born Princess Patricia of Connaught; 17 March 1886 – 12 January 1974) was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Upon her marriage to Alexander Ramsay, she relinquished her title of a British prin ...
.
Early history
![Sarnia, Ontario satellite image](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Sarnia%2C_Ontario_satellite_image.jpg)
Ethnic French colonists, who came from
Detroit, were the first European colonizers of what became Sarnia in about 1807–1810; their role is marked by a historic plaque installed by the Ontario Heritage Society. They were fur traders with the Huron and
Three Fires Confederacy. At this time the French Jesuits also established a mission near the Huron village on the east bank of the river. Later the men established farms, attracted other settlers, and stimulated growth in the area.
The township was surveyed in 1829, and in the early 1830s, a wave of Scottish immigrants settled in the area. They became dominant as English speakers and for decades claimed to have founded the city.
Port Sarnia expanded throughout the 19th century; on 19 June 1856, Parliament passed ''An Act to Incorporate the Town of Sarnia,'' and the name Port Sarnia was officially changed to Sarnia, effective 1 January 1857. The Act mentioned 1,000 inhabitants in three wards. The important lumber industry was based on the wealth of virgin timber in the area, at a time of development around the Great Lakes. Lumber was especially in demand in the booming US cities of
Chicago and
Detroit.
The discovery of oil in nearby Oil Springs in 1858 by
James Miller Williams, and the arrival of the
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
in 1858 and the
Grand Trunk Railway in 1859, all stimulated Sarnia's growth. The rail lines were later linked directly to the United States by the opening of the
St. Clair Tunnel
The St. Clair Tunnel is the name for two separate rail tunnels which were built under the St. Clair River between Sarnia, Ontario and Port Huron, Michigan. The original, opened in 1891 and used until it was replaced by a new larger tunnel in 1995, ...
under the St. Clair River at Sarnia in 1890, by the Grand Trunk Railway. This was the first railroad tunnel ever constructed under a river. The tunnel was an engineering marvel in its day, achieved through the development of original techniques for excavating in a compressed air environment.
20th century to present
Canada Steamship Lines formed in 1913 from many previous companies that plied the waters of the St. Clair River. One of these companies was Northwest Transportation Company of Sarnia, which was founded in 1870. By 20 April 1914, when Parliament passed ''An Act to Incorporate the City of Sarnia'', the population had grown to 10,985 in six wards. Sarnia officially became a city as of 7 May 1914.
![Two Lake Freighters Loading in Sarnia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Two_Lake_Freighters_Loading_in_Sarnia.jpg)
Sarnia's grain elevator, which in the early 21st century is the 15th-largest operating in Canada, was built in 1927 after the dredging of Sarnia Harbour in order to allow access to larger ships. Two years later, grain shipments had become an important part of Sarnia's economy.
The grain elevator rises above the harbour, and next to it is the slip for the numerous bulk carriers and other ships that are part of the contemporary shipping industry. They include vessels from all over the world. The waterway between Detroit and Sarnia is one of the world's busiest, as indicated by the average of of shipping that annually travelled the river going in both directions during the period 1993–2002. Lake freighters and oceangoing ships, which are known as "salties," pass up and down the river at the rate of about one every seven minutes during the shipping season.
The
Paul M. Tellier Tunnel, which was named after
the retired president of CN in 2004, was bored and began operation in 1995. It accommodates
double-stacked rail cars and is located next to the original tunnel, which has been sealed.
A petroleum industry was established in the Sarnia area in 1858, and in 1942,
Polymer Corporation manufactured synthetic rubber there during
World War II, enhancing Sarnia's notability as a petrochemical centre. During the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
, the United States Government included Sarnia on its list of possible targets for a Soviet nuclear strike because of its petrochemical industry.
On 1 January 1991, Sarnia and the neighbouring town of Clearwater (formerly Sarnia Township) were amalgamated as the new city of Sarnia-Clearwater. The amalgamation was originally slated to include the village of
Point Edward, although that village's residents resisted. They were eventually permitted to remain independent of the city. On 1 January 1992, the city reverted to the name Sarnia.
Sarnia's population continued to grow from 1961 to 1991, with a 1991 population of 74,376. In 2001 the population had declined by approximately 3,000. Since 2001 Sarnia's population has been growing slowly, with a 2011 population count of 72,366.
An April 2010 report "Sarnia-Lambton's Labour Market" states: "Large petrochemical companies are the community's main economic drivers. Over the recent past, several plants have shutdown,[sic] and of those still in operation, increased automation and outsourcing has led to significantly fewer workers."
These shutdowns and the resulting loss of jobs, and therefore of population as workers search for employment elsewhere, will contribute to a general decline as forecast by an August 2011 study. It projects a 17% decline in population over the next twenty-five years. The Monteith-Brown study cited outlines a plan for restructuring the city based on hybrid zoning areas, which will bring work opportunities closer to the neighbourhoods where people live. The City of Sarnia and Lambton County are also implementing an economic development plan with an emphasis on bio-industries and renewable energy.
In 2020, Sarnia began to experience a "soaring murder rate".
Sarnia had one homicide from 2016 to 2019, and eight homicides from 2020 to 2022. The ''Toronto Sun'' said the increased murder rate was drug-related, and that Sarnia "is awash in drugs, with a small army of methheads always looking to score".
Geography
Sarnia is located on the eastern shore of Lake Huron at its extreme southern point, where it flows into the St. Clair River. Most of the surrounding area is flat, and the elevation ranges from above sea level. The soil mostly comprises clay. Despite this high percentage of clay, the soil is remarkably rich for cultivation.
Neighbourhoods
Wiltshire Park, Woodland, Oak Acres, Wees Beach, Oakwood Corners, Woodrow Shores, and Blackwell, are part of the North End of Sarnia, which begins immediately north of
Ontario Highway 402 and terminates at the shore of Lake Huron. Coronation Park, Heritage Park, College Park, The Tree Streets, Mitton Village, and Sherwood Village are some of the neighbourhoods south of the highway.
The village of Blue Water was built to house workers and their families in Chemical Valley during the construction of Polymer Corporation; at one point it had nearly 3,000 residents. In 1961, all the residents were relocated, mostly to the North End, to make way for expansion of the chemical industry. The village was demolished, and all that remains is a historical marker at the corner of Vidal Street and Huron Avenue. This neighbourhood was largely forgotten until historian Lorraine Williams wrote two books about it. She was instrumental in gaining approval for the historical plaque.
Climate
Sarnia has a humid continental climate (
Köppen climate classification ''Dfb''). Winters are cold with a few short-lasting
Arctic air masses that dip far enough south and bring with them daily high temperatures below .
Sarnia, while not quite located in the southwestern Ontario snowbelt, sometimes receives large quantities of
lake-effect snow
Lake-effect snow is produced during cooler atmospheric conditions when a cold air mass moves across long expanses of warmer lake water. The lower layer of air, heated up by the lake water, picks up water vapor from the lake and rises up through ...
. Sarnia averages of snow per year, while London averages .
The lake creates a seasonal lag and, compared to the rest of Canada and inland Ontario, Sarnia has a noticeably longer warm period following summer. However, cooler temperatures tend to prevail for longer after winter. Lake Huron can also create large temperature differences within the city in spring and early summer, particularly on hot days in late May and early June. Finally, extreme temperatures, particularly lows, rarely occur. Daily lows of less than occur an average of 30 days a year, and less than , two days a year. Summers are warm to hot and usually humid.
Humidex
The humidex (short for humidity index) is an index number used by Canadian meteorologists to describe how hot the weather feels to the average person, by combining the effect of heat and humidity. The term ''humidex'' was coined in 1965. The humid ...
readings can be very high at times from late May to late September. Sarnia has the second greatest number of high humidex days at or above (with 23.16 days on average per year) and humidex days at or above (with 61.20 days on average per year) in Canada, ranking after
Windsor, Ontario.
Thunderstorms can become quite severe from April to September. Destructive weather is very rare in the area but has occurred, such as the
tornado event of 1953.
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
Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...
, Sarnia 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.
As of the 2021 Census, Sarnia was 86.2% White, 8.3% visible minorities, and 5.5% Indigenous. The largest visible minority groups in the city are
South Asians (2.7%),
Black Canadians (1.6%), and
Latin Americans (0.9%). In 2021, 87.5% of Sarnians called English their mother tongue, 2.2% listed French and 3.4% said another language was their mother tongue. 1.1% listed both English and a non-official language as their mother tongue.
The
median
In statistics and probability theory, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as "the middle" value. The basic fe ...
age in Sarnia is 46.0 as of 2021 which is older than the Canadian median of 41.6, indicative of Sarnia's aging population.
In 2021, 56.8% of residents were
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
, down from 69.5% in 2011. 25.2% of the population was
Catholic, 21.1% were
Protestant, and 6.6% were Christians of unspecified denomination. All other Christian denominations/Christian-related traditions made up 3.9% of the population. 39.5% of residents were nonreligious or secular, up from 27.9% in 2011. All other religions (or spiritual beliefs) made up 3.6% of residents total. The largest non-Christian religions were
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
(1.2%) and
Hinduism (1.1%).
The median income counting all persons 15 years old or older in Sarnia in 2015 was $33,833 while median family income was $86,654, in line with the averages for Ontario as a whole, at $33,539 and $91,089, respectively. In 2021, the median price of a house in Sarnia was $430,000, compared to the $887,290 of Ontario as a whole.
Economy
![Sarnia Chemical Valley](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Sarnia_Chemical_Valley.JPG)
The Sarnia-Lambton Workforce Development Board states in its March 2011 Labour Market Report that: "Even though employment in both the petrochemical and agricultural industries has declined significantly in recent years, these two industries remain central drivers of the Sarnia Lambton economy."
When World War II threatened
tropical sources of natural
latex for
rubber, Sarnia was selected as the site to spearhead development of synthetic petroleum-based rubbers for
war materials
Materiel (; ) refers to supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context.
In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers either to the specifi ...
, and Polymer Corporation was built by
Dow Chemical
The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world.
Dow manufactures plastics ...
at the request of the Government of Canada. Large pipelines bring
Alberta oil to Sarnia, where
oil refining
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, liquefie ...
and petrochemical production have become mainstays of the city's economy.
Shell Canada,
Imperial Oil
Imperial Oil Limited (French: ''Compagnie Pétrolière Impériale Ltée'') is a Canadian petroleum company. It is Canada's second-biggest integrated oil company. It is majority owned by American oil company ExxonMobil with around 69.6 percent ...
, and
Suncor Energy (
Sunoco
Sunoco LP is an American master limited partnership organized under Delaware state laws and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that is a wholesale distributor of motor fuels. It distributes fuel to more than 5,500 Sunoco-branded gas stations, ...
) operate refineries in Sarnia. Large salt beds found under the city became a source of
chlorine and other significant ingredients which contributed to the success of Chemical Valley. Chemical companies operating in Sarnia include
NOVA Chemicals,
Bayer
Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of busi ...
(
Lanxess and H.C. Starck),
Cabot Corporation, and
Ethyl Corporation.
Dow ceased operations at its Sarnia site in 2009 and returned in 2019, buying out Dupont's local production. The original Dow plant was decommissioned, and the land has been sold to neighbouring
TransAlta Energy Corporation. TransAlta produces power and steam for industry, and is the largest natural gas co-generation plant in Canada. It has created the Bluewater Energy Park on the former Dow site. Lanxess produces more than of
butyl rubber annually at its Sarnia location, and is the sole producer of regulatory-approved, food-grade butyl rubber, used in the manufacture of
chewing gum. Within the boundaries of its Sarnia plant Lanxess has also created the Bio-industrial Park Sarnia.
Chemical Valley and the surrounding area are home to 62 facilities and refineries. These industrial complexes are the heart of Sarnia's infrastructure and economy. They directly employ nearly 8,000, and contribute to almost 45,000 additional jobs in the area. In 1971, the Canadian government deemed this area so important to the economic development of the country that it printed an image of a Sarnia Oil Refinery on the reverse of the
Canadian $10 note. The huge industrial area is the cause of significant air and water pollution. The Canada Wide Daily Standard for airborne particulate matter and ozone pollution, regulation PM2.5, is 30 micrograms per cubic metre. Forty-five percent of this particulate air pollution in Sarnia comes from Chemical Valley, and the rest drifts over the St. Clair River from the neighbouring United States in the form of what is known as "Transboundary Air Pollution."
Sarnia is the location of
Enbridge's
Sarnia Photovoltaic Power Plant
Sarnia Photovoltaic Power Plant near Sarnia, Ontario, is Canada's largest photovoltaic plant with an installed capacity of 97 MWP (80 MWAC).
In 2009, Ontario introduced a feed-in tariff renewable energy payments program paying up t ...
. The facility went into full commercial operation in December 2009, with 20
MW of power. , the plant was the largest
photovoltaic
Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...
(PV)
solar power generation facility in the world, putting out 97 MW.
The Western University Research Park, Sarnia-Lambton Campus was established in 2003 by the
University of Western Ontario as a joint initiative with the County of Lambton and the City of Sarnia. The park is also the location of the Bioindustrial Innovation Centre, Canada's centre for the commercialization of industrial biotechnology.
In 2015,
BioAmber
BioAmber Inc. was a Delaware (USA) registered Canadian sustainable chemicals company that was headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its proprietary technology platform combined industrial biotechnology and chemical catalysis to convert renewa ...
opened a $141 million plant that manufactures of
succinic acid per year, a chemical used to make plastics, lubricants, paint, cosmetics, food additives, and other products. BioAmber plans to construct a second site and may build it in Sarnia. Solutions4CO2 is developing a demonstration facility at Bluewater Energy Park. This company captures waste gas/water streams to process into value-added co-products, pharmaceutical drugs, and biofuels. PlantForm Corporation, a Canadian biotech startup company producing ultra-low-cost therapeutic antibody drugs, opened an office at the Western University Research Park in 2011. At the same Park, from the summer of 2012 to the summer of 2016, KmX Corporation operated a pilot plant to produce membranes that filter wastewater from industrial processes. KmX production in Sarnia has since moved to Ottawa and Edmonton.
Retail and hospitality
Sarnia has one large mall,
Lambton Mall, with 72 stores. The mall, along with several smaller shopping centers, stores, and hotels, is the primary shopping area.
Arts and culture
Music, theatre, and arts
The
International Symphony Orchestra
The International Symphony Orchestra of Sarnia, Ontario and Port Huron, Michigan began in 1957. The Little Orchestra Society of Sarnia and the Port Huron String Ensemble came together and formed the Orchestra. The Orchestra is a non-profit organ ...
plays at the Imperial Theatre for an annual season lasting from September to April. In addition to symphonic concerts, the Imperial Theatre offers year-round dramatic productions;
Michael Learned played the lead in ''
Driving Miss Daisy
'' Driving Miss Daisy'' is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Bruce Beresford and written by Alfred Uhry, based on his 1987 play of the same name. The film stars Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman, and Dan Aykroyd. Freeman reprised his ...
'' at the theatre in 2010.
Former
Max Webster frontman
Kim Mitchell has returned to his hometown on occasion to play a concert, including his visit in 2008 for Sarnia's popular Ribfest, a competition where local amateur chefs share their recipes for barbecued ribs and compete against each other. Canadian composer and music educator
Raymond Murray Schafer was born in Sarnia and developed his radical
schizophonia
Schizophonia is a term coined by R. Murray Schafer to describe the splitting of an original sound and its electroacoustic reproduction. This concept comes from the invention of electroacoustic equipment for the transmission of sound, which meant t ...
techniques there.
The Sarnia Bayfest (which was preceded by the "Festival by the Bay") was an annual concert festival that featured big-name
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
and
country bands. Musicians and groups such as
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...
,
KISS,
Keith Urban,
Jon Bon Jovi
John Francis Bongiovi Jr. (born March 2, 1962), known professionally as Jon Bon Jovi, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He is best known as the founder and frontman of the rock band Bon Jovi, which was formed in 1983. He ...
and
Rascal Flatts have played at the event. Financial problems caused the event's cancellation in 2013. In the summer of 2017, a new festival called Bluewater Borderfest enjoyed a successful inaugural event.
Besides the single museum in Sarnia proper, six other museums in the local area document Sarnia's history, including its legacy as the home of the North American oil industry. Gallery Lambton offers 12 annual art exhibitions. In 2012 the Judith and Norman Alex Art Gallery opened. It is an international Category A art gallery, featuring exhibitions of Canadian art history, including paintings from the
Group of Seven.
In 2015, the
South Western International Film Festival was launched at the city's Imperial Theatre.
During the Christmas season, the city of Sarnia presents the annual "Celebration of Lights" in Centennial Park. The event was created in 1984 by Dr. Wills Rawana and a committee funded by the retail chain
Hudson's Bay, and the national telecommunications company
Telus. From modest beginnings, the event has garnered numerous awards as it has grown, including second place in the 2002 Canadian Government's Canada WinterLights competition. The celebration was incorporated in its national prizewinning year and is now run by a voluntary Board of Directors.
Attractions
There are more than 100 parks in Sarnia,
the largest being Canatara Park, which covers more than along the shore of Lake Huron.
Canatara is an
Ojibwe word that means ''Blue Water''. The park was opened in 1933. Within the park is Lake Chipican, a haven for many different species of birds on their migration routes.
Most years, birdwatchers recognize around 150 species. The park also maintains a Children's Animal Farm as part of Sarnia's commitment to wildlife. The annual "Christmas on the Farm" weekend event held at the Farm in early December is a popular community event enjoyed by families.
Canatara Park is one of the first parks in southern Ontario to feature an outdoor fitness equipment installation.
The largest recreational park in Sarnia is Germain Park, which incorporates five baseball diamonds, four soccer fields, an outdoor pool, and the Community Gardens.
As a memorial to Canadian aviators who died in World War II, one of the remaining
Canadair Sabres in Canada is on display in the park.
Centennial Park was opened on
Dominion Day
Dominion Day was a day commemorating the granting of certain countries Dominion status — that is, "autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external ...
in 1967, as part of Canada's centenary celebrations. The City of Sarnia decided in 2013 to close much of Centennial Park, after the discovery of toxic levels of lead and asbestos in the soil.
After years of remediation, the park was reopened in 2017.
Howard Watson Trail is a former railway line that passes through a combination of urban and rural areas. This linear park is managed by a volunteer committee and spans through wooded areas and alongside ponds. Benches are available along the path as well as washroom facilities. The path is open year-round: bicycling, running, and dog walking are popular activities in the summer. Snow shoeing and cross-country skiing can be enjoyed on snowy days. An access to Lake Huron is available at Blackwell Side Road.
Sarnia connects to the Great Lakes
Waterfront Trail
Stretching over 3600 km (2236 miles) from Prince Township, west of Sault Ste. Marie, to the Quebec border, the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail is a signed route of interconnecting roads and off-road trails joining over 150 communities and First Na ...
, which stretches over along the Canadian shores of Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair, Lake Huron and the Niagara, Detroit, and St. Lawrence rivers. The Great Lakes Waterfront Trail connects 114 communities and hundreds of parks and natural areas including wetlands, forests, and beaches.
Sarnia has one museum within its city limits, known as "Stones 'N Bones", which houses more than 6,000 exhibits. The collection includes rocks, artifacts, fossils, and bones from all over the world.
The former Discovery House Museum has been converted into a
hospice
Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life by ...
. This historic house, built between 1869 and 1875, is recognized as a testament to
Victorian Era construction.
The city's sandy fresh water beaches are a popular tourist attraction, while the sheltered harbour houses marinas for recreational
sailing. Since 1925, the
Mackinac race from Sarnia/Port Huron to
Mackinac Island
Mackinac Island ( ; french: Île Mackinac; oj, Mishimikinaak ᒥᔑᒥᑭᓈᒃ; otw, Michilimackinac) is an island and resort area, covering in land area, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the island in Odawa is Michilimackinac an ...
at the north end of the lake has been the highlight of the sailing season, drawing more than 3,000 sailors each year.
Sarnia's fresh-cut potato fries are another popular tourist attraction. Thousands of visitors annually visit the chip trucks parked under the Blue Water Bridge. In 2012, during construction along the waterfront, Sarnia officials created a special detour to enable visitors to reach the chip trucks. Realizing the popularity of Sarnia's chip trucks, the Ontario Medical Association includes them in a campaign to have fries and other junk food labelled for being dangerous in the same manner as cigarettes.
Sports
Sarnia is home to the
Sarnia Sting, a junior ice hockey team in the
Ontario Hockey League.
Dino Ciccarelli, a former
NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
player, was a part owner of the team. Former Sting player
Steven Stamkos was selected first overall in the
2008 NHL Entry Draft
The 2008 NHL Entry Draft was the 46th NHL Entry Draft. It was hosted by the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place in the city of Ottawa, Ontario, on June 20–21, 2008. The Senators were originally awarded the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, but because of ...
by the
Tampa Bay Lightning, and was followed by
Nail Yakupov in
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
. Sarnia is also home to the
Sarnia Legionnaires ice hockey team, which plays in the
Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League
The Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL) is a Canadian junior ice hockey league based in Southern Ontario, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Association, Ontario Hockey Federation, and Hockey Canada. The league is c ...
. The team is the successor to the
Sarnia Legionnaires (1954–1970), who won five Western Jr. 'B' championships and four
Sutherland Cup
The Sutherland Cup is the ice hockey Ontario Junior "B" Provincial Championship trophy. The trophy was first awarded in 1934, and named in honour of former OHA and CAHA president, James T. Sutherland.
The Sutherland Cup is now the championship t ...
s during 16 seasons in the
Ontario Hockey Association
The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) is the governing body for the majority of junior and senior level ice hockey teams in the Province of Ontario. The OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern Ontario Hockey As ...
.
Sarnia has a successful tradition in
Canadian football. As members of the
Ontario Rugby Football Union, the local team
Sarnia Imperials twice won the
Grey Cup
The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...
, in 1934 and 1936. The modern
Sarnia Imperials are a semi-professional team playing in the Northern Football Conference.
Mike Ceresia
Mike Ceresia is a Canadian retired racquetball player from Sarnia, Ontario. He was a member of five Canadian teams that won gold at the Racquetball World Championships, which is the most gold medals won by a Canadian at thInternational Racquetba ...
is a Sarnia native. He won four IRF World Racquetball Championships and earned multiple silver medals between 1988 and 2002.
The Sarnia-born world champion curler
Steve Bice played as alternate for the
Glenn Howard rink in the 2007
Tim Hortons Brier and
2007 Ford World Men's Curling Championship
The 2007 World Men's Curling Championship (branded as 2007 Ford World Men's Curling Championship for sponsorship reasons) was held at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada from March 31 to April 8. Team Canada skipped by Glenn Howard won the go ...
, winning both times.
Government
Sarnia City Council The Sarnia City Council is the governing body for the city of Sarnia, 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 po ...
consists of nine elected members: the Mayor, four members from the city, and four members from the county. The Mayor and all Council members are elected to four-year terms. The four Lambton County Council members serve both County and City Council.
The current mayor,
Mike Bradley, has held the position since December 1988 and is currently the second longest-serving mayor in the province of
Ontario behind
Milton
Milton may refer to:
Names
* Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname)
** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet
* Milton (given name)
** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...
's
Gord Krantz
Gordon "Gord" Krantz is the mayor of Milton, Ontario, in Canada. He was elected mayor in the Municipal Elections of 1980, after serving as town councillor from 1965 to 1980. He has been re-elected for a total of 21 terms (7 as councillor and 14 as ...
. Past mayors of the city have included
Andy Brandt
Andrew S. Brandt (born June 11, 1938) is a former politician and public administrator who has served in a number of roles in the province of Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Progressive Conservative from ...
,
Marceil Saddy
Marceil Saddy (died March 7, 1988) was a Canadian politician, who served as mayor of Sarnia, Ontario from 1980 until his death in 1988. Prior to becoming the city's mayor, he was a journalist and editor of the '' Sarnia Gazette''.
Saddy was partic ...
,
Paul Blundy
Paul Blundy (1918 – May 11, 1992) was a Canadian politician, who represented the electoral district of Sarnia in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1977 to 1981. He was a member of the Ontario Liberal Party. He served as mayor of Sarnia, ...
, and
Thomas George Johnston
Thomas George Johnston (August 4, 1849 – July 4, 1905) was a Canadian physician and politician.
Born in Sarnia, Canada West, was educated at the public and grammar schools of Sarnia. He graduated in medicine from McGill College and took ...
.
At the
provincial
Provincial may refer to:
Government & Administration
* Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country
* Provincial city (disambiguation)
* Provincial minister (disambiguation)
* Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...
level, Sarnia is located within the
Sarnia—Lambton provincial electoral district, represented in 2013 by
Bob Bailey Bob Bailey may refer to:
*Bob Bailey (actor) (1913–1983), American radio actor
*Bob Bailey (baseball) (1942–2018), American third baseman in Major League Baseball
*Bob Bailey (ice hockey) (1931–2003), Canadian ice hockey right winger
*Bob Bai ...
, a member of the
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. At the federal level, Sarnia is located within the
Sarnia—Lambton federal electoral district, which in 2019 is represented by Conservative
Marilyn Gladu
Marilyn Gladu (''née'' McInerney; born 1962) is a Canadian politician who has been the Conservative Member of Parliament for Sarnia—Lambton since 2015. She was elected to the House of Commons in the 2015 Canadian federal election and served i ...
.
Over the past 50 years, Sarnia's voters have been moderate, and the party affiliation of its Members of Parliament, both provincial and federal, has swung back and forth largely between the Liberal and Progressive Conservative parties (a
New Democrat was elected in their
1990 provincial wave).
Infrastructure
Transportation
The Blue Water Bridge links Sarnia and its neighbouring village of Point Edward to the city of Port Huron in the United States. It spans the St. Clair River, which connects Lake Huron to
Lake St. Clair
Lake St. Clair (french: Lac Sainte-Claire) is a freshwater lake that lies between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Michigan. It was named in 1679 by French Catholic explorers after Saint Clare of Assisi, on whose feast day ...
. The bridge's original three-lane span, opened in 1938, was twinned on 22 July 1997, making the bridge the fourth-busiest border crossing in Ontario.
The Blue Water Bridge border crossing makes use of both the
NEXUS and the
Free and Secure Trade (FAST) program. Linking
Highway 402 with the American
Interstate 94
Interstate 94 (I-94) is an east–west Interstate Highway connecting the Great Lakes and northern Great Plains regions of the United States. Its western terminus is just east of Billings, Montana, at a junction with I-90; its eastern ter ...
(I-94) and
I-69, the bridge forms part of the
NAFTA Superhighway. It is one of the most important gateways on the north–south truck routes.
Public transportation within the City of Sarnia, including conventional bus transit, transportation of people with disabilities, transportation support for major events, and charter services, is provided by
Sarnia Transit
Sarnia Transit provides public transportation within the City of Sarnia and the independent village of Point Edward in Ontario, Canada. This includes conventional bus transit, transportation of people with disabilities (Care-A-Van), transportatio ...
. From the city's local
Sarnia Chris Hadfield Airport,
Jazz Aviation operated services to and from
Toronto Pearson International Airport on behalf of
Air Canada Express
Air Canada Express is a brand name of regional feeder flights for Air Canada that are subcontracted to other airlines. As of March 2021, Jazz Aviation is the sole operator of Air Canada Express. They primarily connect smaller cities with Air Cana ...
. For rail travel, Sarnia is one of the two western
termini, along with Windsor, of the
Via Rail Quebec City – Windsor Corridor
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 ...
. It has service departing
Sarnia station in the morning and returning in the evening.
Health care
Sarnia is served by Bluewater Health, a hospital with 188 acute care beds, 70 complex continuing care beds and 27 rehabilitation beds. The hospital opened in 2010, following the amalgamation of several smaller facilities.
Education
![Sarnia Education Center](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Sarnia_Education_Center.jpg)
The
Lambton Kent District School Board is responsible for the 13 elementary and three secondary public schools (Northern Collegiate Institute and Vocational School, Alexander MacKenzie Secondary School, and Great Lakes Secondary School) located within Sarnia's boundaries.
The
St. Clair Catholic District School Board is responsible for the city's seven elementary and only secondary Catholic,
St. Patrick's. In 2014, St. Patrick's and St. Christopher's merged, under the St. Patrick's name, on St. Christopher's North Sarnia site.
The ''
Conseil scolaire catholique Providence'' (CSC Providence) represents the two French Catholic schools in the city, Saint-François-Xavier and Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin, while the ''
Conseil scolaire Viamonde'' operates two French public schools, the elementary École Les Rapides and the secondary École Secondaire Franco-Jeunesse. There are also two independent Christian elementary schools in Sarnia—Sarnia Christian School and Temple Christian Academy.
Lambton College
Lambton College is a publicly funded college in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. It has approximately 3,500 full-time students, 6,500 part-time students and 3,500 international students worldwide. Lambton College also has campuses in Mississauga and Toron ...
, which offers two and three year programs and diplomas, is one of Ontario's 21 colleges of applied arts and technology. It has a full-time enrolment of 3,500 and a part-time enrolment of about 8,000. It is the city's only post-secondary school.
Media
There are four radio stations that originate from Sarnia, although other stations rebroadcast their signal there, notably
CKTI-FM, a First Nations produced station from
Kettle Point
Kettle & Stony Point First Nation ( oj, Wiiwkwedong Anishinaabek, meaning: "in/at the bay") comprises the Kettle Point reserve and Stony Point Reserve (which is under remedial cleanup after over 50 years of occupation by the Canadian Armed Forces), ...
, and
CBEG-FM and
CBEF-3-FM, simulcasts of
CBC Radio One and
Ici Radio-Canada Première, respectively, from
Windsor, Ontario.
*
CHOK
CHOK (1070 AM) is a Canadian radio station, licensed to Sarnia, Ontario and owned by Blackburn Radio. The station broadcasts a country format with local news, talk and sports. CHOK also has an FM translator, CHOK-1-FM, broadcasting at 103.9&nb ...
,
country/
news
News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...
/
sports
*
CFGX-FM
CFGX-FM is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts at 99.9 FM in Sarnia, Ontario. The station broadcasts an adult contemporary format with the brand name ''The Fox''. Its main competitors are WGRT and WBTI.
CFGX-FM can be heard in the easter ...
The Fox,
adult contemporary
*CHOK-1-FM (rebroadcaster of CHOK AM)
*
CHKS-FM,
active rock
Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...
The city's main daily newspaper is the ''
Sarnia Observer
The ''Observer'' has been serving Sarnia-Lambton since 1853 and publishes five times per week, Tuesday through Saturday.
The offices of the ''Observer'' are in Sarnia. The paper is printed in London, Ontario, on presses owned by Postmedia, which ...
'', owned by
Postmedia, which purchased
Sun Media
Sun Media Corporation was the owner of several tabloid and broadsheet newspapers in Canada and the 49 percent owner of the now defunct Sun News Network. It was a subsidiary of Quebecor Media.
On October 6, 2014, Quebecor Media announced the sal ...
in 2014 for $316 million. A weekly newspaper called the ''Sarnia Journal'' began distribution in March 2014. It is distributed to 30,000 households in Sarnia, Bright's Grove, Point Edward and Corunna. The community publications ''Sarnia This Week'', ''Lambton County Smart Shopper'' and ''Business Trends'' are owned by Bowes Publishing. The monthly business oriented newspaper ''First Monday'' is owned by Huron Web Printing and Graphics. Lambton Shield Publishing has been in operation since November 2010 and runs an on-line only news website, lambtonshield.com, delivering local news and services to the Sarnia-Lambton area. There are two magazines currently published in Sarnia, ''Business Trends'' and ''Report on Industry''. ''Business Trends'' is distributed through City Hall and Report on Industry is sent to executives in surrounding businesses. ''Report on Industry'' articles are available online.
Notable people
See also
*
Environmental impact of the chemical industry in Sarnia
Sarnia's Chemical Valley and the surrounding area are home to sixty-two facilities and refineries. A widely quoted 2007 Ecojustice Canada report showed those large industrial facilities located within 25 km of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada emitted ...
Notes
References
External links
*
{{Good article
Cities in Ontario
Populated places on Lake Huron in Canada
Port settlements in Ontario
Lower-tier municipalities in Ontario
St. Clair River
Populated places established in the 1830s
1830s establishments in Upper Canada