Sturgeon Falls is a community and former town in

Nipissing District Nipissing District is a district in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was created in 1858. The district seat is North Bay. In 2021, the population was 84,716. The land area is ; the population density was , making it o ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, 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 challenge in 1997, the community was merged into the municipality of

West Nipissing West Nipissing is a municipality in Northeastern Ontario, Canada, on Lake Nipissing in the Nipissing District. It was formed on January 1, 1999, with the amalgamation of seventeen and a half former towns, villages, townships and unorganized commun ...

in 1999.

History

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

and

Algonquin Algonquin or Algonquian—and the variation Algonki(a)n—may refer to: Languages and peoples *Algonquian languages, a large subfamily of Native American languages in a wide swath of eastern North America from Canada to Virginia **Algonquin la ...

tribes first settled in the Sturgeon Falls area thousands of years ago. Discovered by European

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...

rs in the 17th century, the development of Sturgeon Falls began with the construction 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 ...

in 1881.

French Canadians French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French colonists first arriving in France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of French Canadians live in the provi ...

immigrated to the community from Simcoe and Muskoka following the establishment of

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

and pulp and paper industries. Sturgeon Falls was officially incorporated as a town in 1895, with a population of 850.

Demographics

At the 2021 census, the community had a population of 6,939 with a density of 1,129/km² (2,920 sq mi). The population increases by approximately 0.070% annually. In

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, the community consisted of 53.8% women and 46.3% men. The vast majority of residents were born in Canada, with immigrants making up only 2.5% of the population. 61.8% reported French as their first language, and 34.2% reported English. The people of Sturgeon Falls have advocated for French-speaking rights since its beginning. In 1930, 75-80% of residents were French speaking.

References

Communities in Nipissing District {{NorthernOntario-geo-stub