Kapuskasing ( ) is a town on the

Kapuskasing River The Kapuskasing River is a river in the James Bay drainage basin in Cochrane District and Algoma District in Northeastern Ontario, northeastern Ontario, Canada. Shows the river course. The river is a left tributary of the Mattagami River. Course ...

in the

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 2021, the district's population was 77,963, with a l ...

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on p ...

, Canada, approximately east of Hearst and northwest of

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 at the 2021 Canadian census and an estimated population of ...

. The town was known as MacPherson until 1917.

Etymology

The town of Kapuskasing gets its name from the

. The first reported survey of the district in which Kapuskasing lies was carried out in 1875 by Dr. Robert Bell of the

Geological Survey of Canada The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC; , CGC) is a Canadian federal government agency responsible for performing geological surveys of the country developing Canada's natural resources and protecting the environment. A branch of the Earth Science ...

. He referred to the Kapuskasing River as the "Kai-bush-ka-sing". According to Bell's information, the Kapuskasing River derived its name from the lake at its head. In 1900, the Bureau of Colonization of the Ontario Department of Agriculture sent parties to survey the region north of the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

between the

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

border and

Lake Nipigon Lake Nipigon ( ; ; ) is a freshwater lake in Northwestern Ontario. Part of the Great Lakes drainage basin, it drains through the Nipigon River into Lake Superior. It is the largest lake entirely within the Canadian province of Ontario. Ety ...

. Their main interest was to seek out and delimit areas for further agricultural settlements that would give Ontario a new farming frontier to offset the attraction of the western prairies. In 1900, the Department of Crown Lands commissioned a Survey of Exploration of Northern Ontario. Survey parties were sent out to explore, document and report back to the Province on the various resources of water power, timber, etc., that might be available for exploitation. No roads existed, but northern

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

Indians and fur traders had used the local rivers connecting to

James Bay James Bay (, ; ) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. It borders the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, and is politically part of Nunavut. Its largest island is Akimiski Island. Numerous waterways of the ...

for centuries. In the summer of 1900 groups of surveyors traveled the many rivers of this remote area documenting their findings. The results were published by order of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as "Report of the Survey of Exploration of Northern Ontario 1900". The section of the report detailing the exploration of the Kapuskasing River contains references to the local Cree names for Sturgeon Falls, White Spruce Rapids, Kapuskasing River, and Big Beaver Falls, among others. Surveyors who explored the Kapuskasing River and tributaries in 1900 had local Cree guides familiar with the country who provided the local place names and their meanings to them. In this report the word ''Kapuskasing'' is said to mean "Whispering Water". At the location where the CNR crossed the Kapuskasing River in 1910, there was an island in the centre of the river. Power and storage dams were built at that location in 1923. Prior to the dam construction, the rapids at that location was known as "White Spruce Rapids" and later known simply as "Spruce Falls". The first Spruce Falls Company of 1920 took its name from these rapids.

Geography, climate, and wildlife

Kapuskasing lies in the heart of the Great Clay Belt. The topography of the region is very flat, dotted with numerous small lakes and

muskeg Muskeg (; ; , lit. ''moss bog'') is a peat-forming ecosystem found in several northern climates, most commonly in Arctic and boreal ecosystem, boreal areas. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bogland, bog or peatland, and is a standard te ...

bogs. Also in the heart of Canada's

boreal forest Taiga or tayga ( ; , ), also known as boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by pinophyta, coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, and larches. The taiga, or boreal forest, is the world's largest land biome. I ...

, the region is drained by rivers running north to

. The district is heavily forested, mostly by thick stands of

black spruce ''Picea mariana'', the black spruce, is a North American species of spruce tree in the pine family. It is widespread across Canada, found in all 10 provinces and all 3 territories. It is the official tree of Newfoundland and Labrador and is tha ...

that have commercial value as

pulpwood Pulpwood can be defined as timber that is ground and processed into a fibrous pulp. It is a versatile natural resource commonly used for Papermaking, paper-making but also made into low-grade wood and used for chips, energy, pellets, and engineered ...

. Kapuskasing has a humid, continental climate (Koppen Dfb). Kapuskasing has long, cold winters and warm, sometimes humid summers. Spring and autumn are relatively short transitional seasons. Visitors often comment on the deep blue of the sky during clear weather. Wildlife is abundant. Species such as

moose The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...

, black bear,

lynx A lynx ( ; : lynx or lynxes) is any of the four wikt:extant, extant species (the Canada lynx, Iberian lynx, Eurasian lynx and the bobcat) within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. The name originated in Middle Engl ...

and

red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia, plus ...

are commonly seen in the area. Lakes and rivers are well populated with

walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the walleyed pike, yellow pike, yellow pikeperch or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern ...

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (pikes). They are commonly found in brackish water, moderately salty and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). T ...

and

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samuel Latham Mitchill fr ...

. Fishing and hunting are very popular recreational activities locally.

History

Located near the western edge of the

Clay Belt The Clay Belt is a vast tract of fertile soil in Canada, stretching across Cochrane District in Ontario and Abitibi County, Quebec, Abitibi County in Quebec, covering in total with of that in Ontario. It is generally subdivided into the Great ...

of "New Ontario", the town was founded in the early 20th century after the

National Transcontinental Railway The National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) was a historic railway between Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Moncton, New Brunswick, in Canada. Much of the line is now operated by the Canadian National Railway. The Grand Trunk partnership The completion o ...

, forerunner of the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

, was built through the area in 1911.Ontario Heritage Foundation An Ontario Historical Plaque was erected by the province to commemorate the founding of Kapuskasing's role in Ontario's heritage. A post-war scheme to settle

Canadian Corps The Canadian Corps was a World War I corps formed from the Canadian Expeditionary Force in September 1915 after the arrival of the 2nd Canadian Division in France. The corps was expanded by the addition of the 3rd Canadian Division in December 19 ...

combat veterans in the area proved unsuccessful. It was not until the start of pulp and paper milling operations in the 1920s that Kapuskasing began to develop as an organized community. Val Albert Name taken from that of an early settler and assigned by postal authorities on October 7, 1936, "to correspond with the village known as Albert" (CPCGN files). Annexed by Kapuskasing on January 1, 1974.

Spruce Falls

Reel room of the New York Times newspaper

The Kapuskasing River Pulp and Timber limit, that included of timber and hydro leases at

Sturgeon Falls Sturgeon Falls is a community and former town in Nipissing District, Ontario, located on the Sturgeon River. The community had a population of 6,939 at the 2021 census and a density of 1,129/km2 (2,920 sq mi). Following a failed legal challeng ...

, White Spruce Rapids (Spruce Falls) and Big Beaver Falls, was awarded to speculators Saphrenous A. Mundy and Elihu Stewart in 1917, and Spruce Falls Pulp and Paper Ltd. was incorporated, but no development took place. The still unexploited timber limits were sold to

Kimberly-Clark Kimberly-Clark Corporation is an American multinational consumer goods and personal care corporation that produces mostly paper-based consumer products. The company manufactures sanitary paper products and surgical & medical instruments. Kimb ...

in 1920. The new Spruce Falls Company Ltd. began the development of the first pulp mill in Kapuskasing under the direction of F.J. Sensenbrenner, a Vice President of Kimberly Clark Corporation for the next 20 years. The small sulphite mill started up in late 1922 with four 12-ton digesters and a daily output of 75 tons of pulp. Spent liquor was discharged untreated into the Kapuskasing River. Early development was plagued by major setbacks. Fire destroyed the construction camp and power project at Sturgeon Falls. A year's supply of pulpwood that was boomed up in the river was washed away in the spring flood. A fire at the new mill killed two workers and brought production to a halt. In 1923, a water storage and hydro electric dam was built by Morrow and Beatty Ltd. of

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

at Spruce Falls. In 1925, the Spruce Falls Company Limited was awarded additional timber limits to the north and south, bringing their total limits up to . In 1926, the Spruce Falls Power and Paper Company was incorporated under joint ownership of Kimberly-Clark and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. The new company negotiated two additional hydro power leases to the north on the

Mattagami River The Mattagami River is a river in Northern Ontario, Canada. The Mattagami flows from its source at Mattagami Lake in Township (Canada)#Ontario, geographic Gouin Township in the Unorganized North Sudbury District, Unorganized North Part of Sudbur ...

at Smoky Falls and Devils Rapids. Work to build a 550 ton/day paper mill at Kapuskasing, a 75,000 HP hydro generating station at Smoky Falls and an railway and power line connecting the two got underway in the spring of 1926. The contractor for the entire project was Morrow and Beatty Ltd. of Peterborough. Since July 13, 1928, ''The New York Times'' has been printed entirely on Spruce Falls paper. The mill has run continuously ever since. The company became known locally as "Uncle Spruce" in affectionate reference to the steady work and benefits provided to this distinct northern community for many decades. The mill was the focus of the Reesor Siding 1963 Strike, which saw three union workers killed. In 1997, Tembec became the sole owner of the mill which is now known as Tembec — Spruce Falls Operations.

Kapuskasing Inn

The Kapuskasing Inn was built in 1927–28 by George Roper Gouinlock, son of George Wallace Gouinlock, together with the Civic Centre (built 1928) and the former Sensenbrenner Hospital (built 1929, now Drury Place, a geared-to-income housing complex). They were commissioned by the Spruce Falls Company Ltd. These buildings were all built in an impressive Neo-Tudor style and would form the nucleus of the town. In 1951, the inn hosted Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh on their first visit to Canada. The landmark inn closed in 2002 and fell in disrepair but was slated for renovation by new investors. On May 22, 2007, youths set fire to the inn. It was damaged beyond repair. The arsonists were not charged as they were below the age of criminal responsibility at the time of the fire. The remains of the inn were demolished in May and June 2008.

Internment camp

During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the town was the site of one of the largest

internment camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...

s in Canada, at Bunk Houses in Kapuskasing from December 1914 to February 1920. The camp held over 1,300 German, Austrian, and Turkish prisoners, though originally the majority were civilian internees of Ukrainian descent who had emigrated from the provinces of

Bukovina Bukovina or ; ; ; ; , ; see also other languages. is a historical region at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe. It is located on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and the adjoining plains, today divided betwe ...

and Galicia, their homeland, which at the time were part of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

, in the first wave of Ukrainian emigration to Canada prior to 1914. Prisoners were employed in the construction of buildings and clearing of land for a government experimental farm on the west side of the Kapuskasing River. Isolation provided ideal security for the

minimum security A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various crim ...

camp, as the railway was the only access to the remote location. Prisoners who attempted to escape into the bush were turned back by endless

and clouds of

mosquito Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...

es or minus-40 degree temperatures in winter. In 1917, most were paroled to help relieve labour shortages. Afterwards, the camp was used for prisoners of war and political radicals until its closure in 1920. While serving as camp paymaster at Kapuskasing during its use for POWs, Captain Watson Kirkconnell, who was later to become a highly important figure in

Canadian poetry Canadian poetry is poetry of or typical of Canada. The term encompasses poetry written in Canada or by Canadian people in the official languages of English and French, and an increasingly prominent body of work in both other European and Indigen ...

, helped prevent a prisoner uprising and, on two occasions, he also discovered and foiled attempts to tunnel out of the camp. Despite years of grief over the combat death of his brother, Captain Kirkconnell later wrote, "Generally speaking, I could feel little animus against our German prisoners. Guarding them was simply a job. It was their duty to try to get away and our duty to prevent it. The ingenuity that they displayed in their attempts to escape was being duplicated by our men in German captivity." A small cemetery is all that remains of the internment camp near the Kapuskasing Airport where victims of the 1918 influenza epidemic were laid to rest. An Ontario Historical Plaque was erected by the province to commemorate the Kapuskasing Internment Camp's role in Ontario's heritage.

Kapuskasing Soldier Colony

Governments of the day were mistakenly impressed with the agricultural potential of the Great Clay Belt. A federal government experimental farm had been established on the west side of the river to explore and develop crops and systems for farming the area. Under the Returned Soldiers and Sailors Act of 1917, the Kapuskasing Soldier Colony was established to settle veterans returned from the Great War. Settlers received homesteads, grants, and guaranteed loans and were paid for clearing their own land. However, by 1920 only nine of more than 100 original settlers remained, and the project was discontinued. A 1920 Commission of Enquiry into the failed settlement scheme found that the settlers had not been up to the task at hand. The inhospitable climate and geography had won out. One bitter settler testified, "There are 7 months snow, two months rain and the remainder mosquitoes and black flies." Settlers had also counted on the development of a pulp mill at Kapuskasing that would provide a local market for pulp wood.

Radar site

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Kapuskasing was one of five Northern Ontario

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

bases that were set up to watch for potential attacks on the

Soo Locks The Soo Locks (sometimes spelled Sault Locks but pronounced "soo") are a set of parallel Lock (water navigation), locks, operated and maintained by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, that enable ships to travel between ...

Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan Sault Ste. Marie ( ') is a city in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Chippewa County, Michigan, Chippewa County and is the only city within the county. With a population of ...

. Kapuskasing was the headquarters for the radar bases, which were manned by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

. The town may have ceased its importance as a location for a traditional military radar base, but has become a site for the

Super Dual Auroral Radar Network The Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) is an international scientific radar network consisting of 35 high frequency (HF) radars located in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. SuperDARN radars are primarily used to map high- ...

that is involved with tracking and measuring ionospheric turbulence.

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; ), 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 culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Kapuskasing 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. In 2006, 68% of the population identified French as its first language, 36% identified English as its first language, and 0.02% identified a non-official language as its first language (Cree etc.); 0.02% identified both French and English. The median age of the population was 44.2 years in 2016.

Transportation

Travellers reach Kapuskasing by car, Ontario Northland bus, or plane. The town's pulp and paper mill is served by the

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

, which took over the trackage serving the mill in 1994. The mill is located near the original National Transcontinental Railway mainline (NTR) that was later nationalized as part of the Canadian National Railway. The railway line crossed the Kapuskasing River in 1913 and was the main means of transportation accessing the town until the late 1950s and the early 1960s, when Highway 11 became the main route to the city. Kapuskasing Airport was once a refuelling stop for

Trans-Canada Air Lines Trans-Canada Air Lines (also known as TCA in English, and Trans-Canada in French) was a Canadian airline that operated as the country's flag carrier, with corporate headquarters in Montreal, Quebec. Its first president was Gordon Roy McGregor. ...

flights in the days before jet airliners. It no longer has scheduled flights.

Economy

The former Spruce Falls, now GreenFirst Forest Products, had purchased the site from Rayonier Advanced Materials (RYAM) in 2021. The

pulp and paper The pulp and paper industry comprises companies that use wood, specifically pulpwood, as raw material and produce pulp, paper, paperboard, and other cellulose-based products. Manufacturing process In the manufacturing process, pulp is introd ...

mill is the town's major employer, soon to be replaced by the

Ontario Power Generation Ontario Power Generation Inc. (OPG) is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation and "government business enterprise" that is responsible for approximately half of the electricity generation in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is w ...

's Smoky Falls Dam reconstruction site. A former employer was also the

Agrium Agrium Inc. was a major retail supplier of agricultural products and services in North America, South America and Australia and a wholesale producer and marketer of all three major agricultural nutrients and a supplier of specialty fertilizers ...

phosphate mine which shut down in 2013.

General Motors Canada General Motors of Canada Company (), commonly known as GM Canada, is the Canadian subsidiary of US-based company General Motors. It is headquartered in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. After the 2008 financial crisis, GM Canada received a combined loan ...

operates the GM Cold Weather Development Centre in Kapuskasing.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC; sometimes Ag-Canada; )''Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food (). is the Structure of the Can ...

operated an

agricultural experiment station An agricultural experiment station (AES) or agricultural research station (ARS) is a scientific research center that investigates difficulties and potential improvements to food production and agribusiness. Experiment station scientists work with ...

, or Experimental Farm, close to the town; the Experimental Farm closed in 2014.

Politics

Kapuskasing has a federal representative known as a Member of Parliament, or MP, and a provincial representative known as a Member of Provincial Parliament, or MPP. Carol Hughes of the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

is the area's MP and represents the federal riding of Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing.

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

, member of Ontario's New Democratic Party, is the town's MPP and represents the provincial Mushkegowuk—James Bay riding. Locally the town is led by Mayor David Plourde. The mayor works with six councillors to complete Kapuskasing's municipal government. Local officials are all elected through universal elections, meaning the town is not divided into wards.

Media

Kapuskasing's locally originated media include English-language commercial radio station CKAP (branded as Moose FM), French-language community radio station CKGN, and the English-language ''Kapuskasing Northern Times'' and bilingual ''Le/The Weekender'' community newspapers and the French newspaper ''L'Horizon''. ''Le Nord'', a French newspaper from Hearst, is also available in Kapuskasing. English-language daily newspaper the ''

Timmins Daily Press The ''Timmins Daily Press'' is a newspaper in Timmins, Ontario, which publishes six days a week. It is notable as the first paper founded by press baron Roy Thomson in the 1930s, who would eventually own more than 200 newspapers including ''The ...

'' offers minimal coverage through its regional reporting of the

. The community receives its only aerial television coverage from CITO-TV-1 channel 10, a repeater of CTV outlet CITO-TV

Radio

Television

Education

;Public * District School Board Ontario North East (DSBONE): **Diamond Jubilee Public School (JK-8) **Kapuskasing District High School (9-12) **Eastview Public School (Closed) *

Conseil scolaire de district du Nord-Est de l'Ontario The Conseil scolaire public du Nord-Est de l'Ontario (CSPNE, formerly the Conseil scolaire de district du Nord-Est de l'Ontario or CSDNE), also known as Ontario District School Board #56, manages the Canadian French, French-language schools in th ...

(CSDNE): **École publique Coeur du Nord (M-8) **École secondaire publique l'Écho du Nord (9-12) **Centre d’apprentissage du Nord-Est de l’Ontario (9-12) ;Separate *

Northeastern Catholic District School Board The Northeastern Catholic District School Board (NCDSB, known as English-language Separate District School Board No. 30A prior to 1999) is a separate (Catholic) school board in the Canadian province of Ontario, with jurisdiction for the operation ...

(NCDSB): **St Patrick School (JK-8, JK-8 French Immersion), established in 1960. * Conseil scolaire catholique de district des Grandes-Rivières (CSCDGR): **École élémentaire Jacques-Cartier (M-6) **École élémentaire Jeanne-Mance (Closed) **École élémentaire André Cary (M-6) **École Sacré-Coeur (Closed) **École secondaire catholique Cité des Jeunes (7-12) ;Other *Centre d'éducation Alternative High School (Adult Education) *

Collège Boréal Collège Boréal d’arts appliqués et de technologie is a French-language college of applied arts and technology serving the Northern and Central Southwestern Ontario area. It is the youngest of the 24 Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology ...

à Kapuskasing (Post Secondary) * Université de Hearst à Kapuskasing (Post Secondary) *D'Youville Academy (Religious, Closed)

Public services

Health

Sensenbrenner Hospital was built in 1927-1929 by the Spruce Falls Pulp & Paper Company for its workers. At the time the hospital was one of northern Ontario's finest. In 1988, the need for a more modern facility arose and the ultra-modern 53 bed complex was built in a different part of the town. Sensenbrenner serves a regional population of 14,000 residents. The hospital provides both in-patient and out-patient care. Clinical services include; emergency services, chronic cardiorespiratory, acute neurology, specialty clinics, general medicine, surgery, anaesthesia, obstetrics, pediatrics, chronic and long-term care, rehabilitation, and other related diagnostic and treatment services. The health care services are assessment, evaluation, screening, treatment programs and direct therapy. In 1995, the hospital built a private clinic wing near the Emergency Room. EMS services are provided by Sensenbrenner Hospital, which is managed by the Northeastern Ontario Medical Education Corporation (NOMEC). The Porcupine Health unit serves the town with preventive education, psychiatric services, social services and child social service.

Safety

The town operates a fire department which is a member of the Fire Marshalls of Ontario, Public Fire Safety Council. A local branch of the Ontario Provincial Police is located at the site of the old Kapuskasing Inn. Kapuskasing has

Enhanced 911 Enhanced 911 (E-911 or E911) is a system used in North America to automatically provide the caller's location to 911 dispatchers. 911 is the universal emergency telephone number in the region. In the European Union, a similar system exists known ...

(E911) service for Fire, Ambulance and Police.

Notable people

* Shera Bechard, model and

Playboy Playmate A Playmate is a female Model (person), model featured in the centerfold/gatefold of ''Playboy'' magazine as Playmate of the Month (PMOTM). The PMOTM's pictorial includes nude photographs and a centerfold poster, along with a pictorial biograph ...

* Maxime Boudreault,

World's Strongest Man The World's Strongest Man is an international strongman competition held every year. Organized by American event management company IMG, a subsidiary of Endeavor, it is broadcast in the US during summers and in the UK around the end of Decemb ...

competitor *

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker, who resides in New Zealand. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era and often uses novel technologies with a Classical Hollywood cinema, classical filmmaking styl ...

, motion picture director *

Roy Dupuis Roy Michael Joseph Dupuis (; born April 21, 1963) is a Canadian actor best known in America for his role as counterterrorism operative Michael Samuelle in the television series '' La Femme Nikita''. In Canada, specifically Quebec, he's known for ...

, actor * Paul Lefebvre, politician * Heather Mallick, author and columnist for the

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

Kirk McCaskill Kirk Edward McCaskill (born April 9, 1961) is a Canadian-American former Major League Baseball pitcher and former professional ice hockey player. He played in Major League Baseball for the California Angels and Chicago White Sox between 1985 and ...

, retired pitcher,

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

* Shane Peacock, writer * Kelly Vanderbeek, alpine ski racer

In popular culture

Kapuskasing is mentioned in the 1994 children’s book ''Where is Gah-Ning'', by Robert Munsch. In the story, a young Chinese-Canadian girl wants to visit Kapuskasing, but her father says no. She tries to go by bicycle and later on roller blades; she finally succeeds in getting there by floating on 300 helium balloons. It is also featured in Tomson Highway's award-winning play '' Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing''. In Season 12 of '' Degrassi'', junior pro hockey player Campbell Saunders comes from Kapuskasing. The protagonist of

Alice Munro Alice Ann Munro ( ; ; 10 July 1931 – 13 May 2024) was a Canadian short story writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013. Her work tends to move forward and backward in time, with integrated short story cycles. Munro's ...

's story "Train" (2012), set in the early 1960s, is hopeful when he heads for Kapuskasing: "Work there, sure to be work in a lumbering town". Canadian singer-songwriter

Justin Rutledge Justin John Rutledge (born January 3, 1979) is a Toronto-based Canadian alternative country singer-songwriter signed to Outside Music. Rutledge's musical style is often compared to that of American alt-country singer Ryan Adams. In 2006, Justi ...

has a song called "Kapuskasing Coffee" on his album '' Valleyheart''. The album won the Juno Award for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year - Solo in 2014.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Single-tier municipalities in Ontario Populated places established in 1911 Towns in Ontario 1911 establishments in Ontario Internment camps in Canada World War I internment camps