Kenora District

Kenora District
—  District  —
Location of Kenora District in Ontario
Coordinates: 49°46′N 94°29′W
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
Region	Northwestern Ontario
Created	1907
Government
• MPs	Greg Rickford (CPC), Charlie Angus (NDP)
• MPPs	Howard Hampton (NDP), Gilles Bisson (NDP)
Area
• Land	407,213.01 km2 (157,225.82 sq mi)
Highest elevation	505 m (1,657 ft)
Lowest elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Population (2011)
• Total	57,607
• Density	0.1/km2 (0.3/sq mi)
Time zones	Central (CST) (UTC-6)
	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	Central Daylight (CDT) (UTC-5)
	Eastern Daylight (EDT) (UTC-4)
Postal Code FSA	P0V, P0X, P0Y, P8N, P8T, P9N
Area code(s)	807
Largest communities	Kenora (15,177) Dryden (8,195) Sioux Lookout (5,183)
Website	Kenora District Services Board

Kenora District is a district and census division in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. It was created in 1907 from parts of Rainy River District. It is geographically the largest division in that province; at 407,213.01 square kilometres (157,225.82 sq mi), it comprises almost 38 percent of the province's land area, making it larger than Newfoundland and Labrador, and slightly smaller than Sweden.

Kenora District also has the lowest population density of any of Ontario's census divisions, although it ranks 38th out of 50 by population.

The district seat is the City of Kenora.

The northern part, north of the Albany River and known sometimes as the Patricia Portion, became part of Ontario in 1912. It was originally designated as the separate Patricia District, but was added to the Kenora District in 1927.

Politics

As with the other districts of Northern Ontario, Kenora District has no equivalent to the county or regional municipality level of government that exists in Southern Ontario. All government services in the district are instead provided by the local municipalities, by local services boards in some unincorporated communities, or directly by the provincial government.

Geography

The climate is very harsh because of the influence of the cold waters of Hudson and James Bays: most of the region is taiga characterized by discontinuous permafrost, but on the extreme northern coast there are – remarkably for a latitude of only 54°N – patches of true Arctic tundra and continuous permafrost. This is the southernmost point reached by the circumpolar line of continuous permafrost on any continent.

The Kenora District contains the Sturgeon Lake Caldera, which is one of the world's best preserved Neoarchean caldera complexes and is some 2.7 billion years old.

Subdivisions

Cities

• Dryden
• Kenora

Towns

• Red Lake
• Sioux Lookout

Townships

• Ear Falls
• Ignace
• Machin
• Pickle Lake
• Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls

First Nations reserves

• Attawapiskat
• Bearskin Lake
• Cat Lake
• Deer Lake
• Eabametoong
• Eagle Lake 27
• English River 21
• Fort Albany 67 (part)
• Fort Severn 89
• Islington 29
• Kasabonika
• Keewaywin
• Kenora 38B
• Kingfisher Lake
• Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug
• Lac Seul
• Lake of the Woods 31G
• Lake of the Woods 37
• Marten Falls
• Mishkeegogamang
• Muskrat Dam Lake
• Neskantaga

• Northwest Angle 33
• North Spirit Lake
• Pikangikum
• Poplar Hill
• Rat Portage 38A
• Sabaskong Bay 35D
• Sachigo Lake
• Sandy Lake
• Shoal Lake 39A (part)
• Shoal Lake 40 (part)
• Shoal Lake 34B2
• The Dalles 38C
• Wabauskang 21
• Wabigoon Lake
• Wapekeka
• Wawakapewin
• Weagamow Lake 87
• Whitefish Bay 32A
• Whitefish Bay 33A
• Whitefish Bay 34A
• Wunnumin Lake

First Nations settlements

• Frenchman's Head
• Kejick Bay
• Lansdowne House
• MacDowell Lake
• Muskrat Dam
• Peawanuck
• Slate Falls
• Summer Beaver
• Webequie
• Whitefish Bay

Unorganized areas

• Kenora, Unorganized

Demographics

Historic populations:

• Population in 2006: 64,419
• Population in 2001: 61,802
• Population in 1996: 63,360

Economy

Most of the population of the district is concentrated in the extreme south where some agriculture is possible: the main crop is barley. In the north, mining is extremely extensive: northern Kenora district contains among the largest and highest-grade reserves of uranium in the world, and is also one of the world's major producers of nickel. Traditional native activities such as hunting and fishing dominate the northern half of the district outside of the few mining settlements.

A major mining exploration project is currently underway in the Ring of Fire region, centred on the district's isolated McFaulds Lake.

Transportation

Permanent roads (Highway 599) only reach about halfway to the northernmost point of Kenora district, with the provincial highway network ending at Pickle Lake, although some more northerly communities have access to a seasonal ice/winter road network, via the Northern Ontario Resource Trail. Year-round air and summertime river transport are the only means of reaching the most remote parts of the district. The major railroad lines between Toronto and British Columbia passes through the south of the district.

Patricia Portion

Provincial boundaries of Canada prior to 1912. The portion of Ontario's modern boundaries which is not represented as part of Ontario in this map constitutes the "Patricia Portion" of Kenora District.

The Patricia Portion is an informal name for the part of the Kenora District lying north of the Albany River, which was transferred from the Northwest Territories to Ontario on May 15, 1912 in the Ontario Boundaries Extension Act, 1912. This area was originally a separate division named Patricia District, but became part of Kenora District in 1927.

With the exception of a few communities along the northernmost ends of Highway 599 and the Highway 105/Highway 125 corridor, the Patricia Portion consists almost entirely of remote First Nations communities which are only accessible by float plane or winter road. Accordingly, the name "Patricia Portion" is still sometimes used to distinguish the area from the more populated southern portion of the district.

See also

• List of Ontario Census Divisions