Smooth Rock Falls is an incorporated town in the

Cochrane District Cochrane District is a district and Census divisions of Canada, census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. It was created in 1921 from parts of Timiskaming District, Timiskami ...

Northeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

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 Ca ...

, Canada, with a population of 1,330 at the 2016 census.

Geography and transportation

The town lies on the

Mattagami River The Mattagami River is a river in Northern Ontario, Canada. The Mattagami flows from its source at Mattagami Lake in geographic Gouin Township in the Unorganized North Part of Sudbury District, on the Canadian Shield southwest of Timmins, Lengt ...

and on Highway 11. The next full-service towns in each direction are

Cochrane Cochrane may refer to: Places Australia *Cochrane railway station, Sydney, a railway station on the closed Ropes Creek railway line Canada * Cochrane, Alberta * Cochrane Lake, Alberta * Cochrane District, Ontario ** Cochrane, Ontario, a town wit ...

, about 59 km (37 mi) to the east and slightly south by road, and

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 railw ...

, about 65 km (40 mi) to the west and slightly north. Highway 634 connects Smooth Rock Falls northward with the community of

Fraserdale Fraserdale is an unincorporated place and Railroad switch, railroad point in Cochrane, Unorganized, North Part, Ontario, Unorganized Cochrane, North Part in Cochrane District, Ontario, Cochrane District, Northern Ontario, Northern Ontario, Canada ...

, and Highway 655, starting in

Driftwood __NOTOC__ Driftwood is wood that has been washed onto a shore or beach of a sea, lake, or river by the action of winds, tides or waves. In some waterfront areas, driftwood is a major nuisance. However, the driftwood provides shelter and fo ...

east of Smooth Rock Falls, provides easier access to

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 ...

, the dominant regional centre, about 102 km (63 m) south by that route. The town is served by the

Ontario Northland Railway The Ontario Northland Railway is a Canadian railway operated by the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, a provincial Crown agency of the government of Ontario. Originally built to develop the Lake Timiskaming and Lake Nipissing area ...

for freight service, and by Ontario Northland passenger buses.

Economy

The Smooth Rock Falls economy was dominated by the

Tembec Tembec Industries Inc., known as Tembec, was a paper company in Canada, founded by Frank Dottori. In 2011, Tembec had approximately 3000 employees,pulp mill A pulp mill is a manufacturing facility that converts wood chips or other plant fiber sources into a thick fiber board which can be shipped to a paper mill for further processing. Pulp can be manufactured using mechanical, semi-chemical, or ful ...

, which was closed on December 5, 2006. Prior to that, the mill had been in a state of indefinite shutdown since July 31, 2006. The closure of the mill meant the loss of about 210 jobs. The town of Smooth Rock Falls made a series of announcements regarding community investments since Tembec's departure and the closure of the pulp mill. On July 13, 2007 a joint news conference between the town and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources revealed the former Tembec pulp mill would be converted into a value-added cedar plant. Quebec-based Hardy Cedar Lumber took control of the mill and was provided with 50,000 cubic metres of cedar from the province. The cedar project would provide the community with as many as 44 full-time jobs. One month prior to the cedar announcement, the town made public an investor's plan to build a new seniors retirement home, 80-100 room hotel and establish a new Indian restaurant. Nightingale Premier, an investment company based in Great Britain, first met with town officials in November 2006. The British company made its plans for a new seniors home, hotel and restaurant known on June 13, 2007. In 2017 the town announced incentives to encourage new construction that included up to $2,500 off building permit fees, property tax forgiveness over three years of 100%, 75% and 25% per year and 90% of the market value of building lots. The long closed motel reopened in August 2017.

NorthernTel NorthernTel LP (formerly Northern Telephone Limited or NTL) is a telephone company in Ontario, Canada. NorthernTel began in April 1905 in New Liskeard, Ontario, as the Temiskaming Telephone Company. It grew by buying other regional telephone prov ...

Ontera Ontera is a telecommunications company in Ontario, Canada and a subsidiary of Bell Aliant. It provides local telephone service in the Northern Ontario towns of Bear Island, Iroquois Falls, Marten River, Moosonee, Moose Factory and Temagami, and ...

, and

Persona Communications Persona Communications, formerly Regional Cablesystems, was a cable television, Internet and telecommunications provider in Canada. Persona was purchased by EastLink in 2007. At that point it ceased to be an independent company, and the Persona ...

provide telecommunications services.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population 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 ...

, Smooth Rock Falls had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . There has been a steady population decline in Smooth Rock Falls with every five-year census since 1986; the town's population decreased by 45.7% between 1986 and 2021. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Politics

Smooth Rock Falls is part of the provincial electoral district of

Mushkegowuk—James Bay Mushkegowuk—James Bay (french: Mushkegowuk—Baie James) is a provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada. It elects one member to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. This riding was created from the northern portion of Timmins—James Ba ...

and the federal electoral district of

Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2004. The area was represented by the riding of Algoma from 1867 to 1904 and from 1968 to 19 ...

. Its Member of Provincial Parliament is

Guy Bourgouin Guy Bourgouin is a Canadians, Canadian politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 2018 Ontario general election, 2018 provincial election. He represents the riding of Mushkegowuk—James Bay as a member of the Ontar ...

, a

New Democrat New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as culturall ...

, and its

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

is Carol Hughes. Bisson's constituency office serves Smooth Rock Falls locally with weekly hours at Town Hall.

Health care

The Smooth Rock Falls Hospital includes 14

acute care Acute care is a branch of secondary health care where a patient receives active but short-term treatment for a severe injury or episode of illness, an urgent medical condition, or during recovery from surgery.Alberta Health ServicesAcute care.Acces ...

and 23

long-term care Long-term care (LTC) is a variety of services which help meet both the medical and non-medical needs of people with a chronic illness or disability who cannot care for themselves for long periods. Long-term care is focused on individualized and ...

beds, and its Cochrane District

Detoxification Detoxification or detoxication (detox for short) is the physiological or medicinal removal of toxic substances from a living organism, including the human body, which is mainly carried out by the liver. Additionally, it can refer to the period of ...

Centre serves the larger region.

Education

District School Board Ontario North East District School Board Ontario North East (DSB1; DSB Ontario North East; known as English-language Public District School Board No. 1 prior to 1999) is an Ontario English public school board serving Northeastern Ontario from Hearst to Temagami. It ...

operates *Smooth Rock Falls Public School (JK-6) *Smooth Rock Falls Secondary School Conseil scolaire catholique de district des Grandes-Rivières operates *L'École catholique Georges-Vanier. For postsecondary education, a Contact North

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

access centre serves the town. The Smooth Rock Falls Resource Centre offers Adult Education for those who want to upgrade or finish their grade 12 secondary school diploma.

Media

CKGN-1, a repeater of

CKGN-FM CKGN-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 89.7 FM in Kapuskasing, Ontario and 94.7 FM in Smooth Rock Falls. Owned and operated by Radio communautaire KapNord cooperative, it is a non-profit community radio station for the region's ...

Kapuskasing, provides

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popular ...

service for the

Franco-Ontarian Franco-Ontarians (french: Franco-Ontariens or if female, sometimes known as ''Ontarois'' and ''Ontaroises'') are Francophone Canadians that reside in the province of Ontario. Most are French Canadians from Ontario. In 2016, the Government of On ...

population.

Attractions

Town attractions include the Reg Lamy Cultural Centre, which includes a hockey arena and Smooth Rock Falls

Curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding ...

Club; the Smooth Rock Falls Golf Course (9 holes), a public library, and a public swimming pool. Each year the town hosts the Smooth Truck Fest, a popular festival that features truck pulls and other motorized pull contests alongside children's activities, concerts, canoe races and much more.

Notable people

Notable people from Smooth Rock Falls include: *

Jeffrey Buttle Jeffrey "Jeff" Buttle (born September 1, 1982) is a Canadian figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, ...

, figure skater *

Louise Pitre Louise Pitre (born January 1, 1957) is a Canadian actress in musical theatre. She performs on Broadway and in Canada. She is best known for her role as Donna Sheridan in the ABBA-themed musical '' Mamma Mia!'', which earned her a 2002 Tony Award ...

, singer and actress *

J. P. Parisé Jean-Paul Joseph-Louis Parisé (December 11, 1941 – January 7, 2015) was a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and player. Parisé played in the National Hockey League (NHL), most notably for the Minnesota North Stars and the New York Islande ...

, NHL/ Team Canada 1972 hockey left winger, and father of NHL hockey forward

Zach Parise Zachary Justin Parise (born July 28, 1984) is an American professional ice hockey left winger for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has previously played for the New Jersey Devils and Minnesota Wild. Parise captained ...

Charlotte L'Écuyer Charlotte L'Écuyer (16 August 1943 – 1 February 2021) was a politician in Quebec, Canada. She was a Member of the National Assembly of Quebec (MNA) for the riding of Pontiac in Western Quebec, and a member of the Quebec Liberal Party caucus, ...

, Quebec politician and current Member of National Assembly of

Pontiac Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada *Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...

* Dick Mattiussi, NHL and AHL hockey player.

References

External links

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