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 ...
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, with a population of 1,330 at the 2016 census.
Geography and transportation
The town lies on the Mattagami River and on Highway 11. The next full-service towns in each direction are Cochrane, about 59 km (37 mi) to the east and slightly south by road, and Kapuskasing, about 65 km (40 mi) to the west and slightly north. Highway 634 connects Smooth Rock Falls northward with the community of Fraserdale, and Highway 655, starting in Driftwood 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 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, 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,
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
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, 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 ...
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 o ...
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 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 ...
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 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 popula ...
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 slidi ...
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 and choreographer. He is the 2006 Winter Olympics bronze medalist, the 2008 World champion, the 2002 and 2004 Four Continents champion and the 2005–2007 Canadian cha ...
, figure skater
* Louise Pitre, singer and actress
* J. P. Parisé, 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 ...
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 ...
List of francophone communities in Ontario
This is a list of francophone communities in the Canadian province of Ontario. Municipalities with a high percentage of French-speakers in Ontario are listed.
The provincial average of Ontarians whose mother tongue is French is 4.1%, with a ...