Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario is the part of the province of Ontario, Canada, which lies north of Lake Huron, Georgian Bay, the French River and Lake Nipissing.

Related Topics:
Ontario - Canada - Lake Huron - Georgian Bay - French River - Lake Nipissing

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Northern Ontario covers 1 million square kilometres and constitutes 90 per cent of the surface area of Ontario, although it contains only 10 per cent of the population.

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In the early 20th century, Northern Ontario was often called "New Ontario", although this name fell into disuse because of its colonial connotations. (In French, however, the region is still referred to as Nouvel Ontario.)

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Most of Northern Ontario is situated on the Canadian Shield, a vast rocky plateau. The climate is characterized by extremes of temperature, extremely cold in winter and hot in summer. The principal industries are mining, forestry, and hydroelectricity.

Related Topics:
Canadian Shield - Mining - Forestry - Hydroelectricity

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For some purposes, Northern Ontario is further subdivided into Northeastern and Northwestern Ontario. When the region is divided in this way, the three westernmost districts (Rainy River, Kenora and Thunder Bay) constitute "Northwestern Ontario" and the other districts constitute "Northeastern Ontario". Northeastern Ontario contains most of Northern Ontario's population.

Related Topics:
Northeastern - Northwestern

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Northern Ontario has a strong sense of identity separate from the rest of Ontario. There have been movements in the past for the region to separate from the rest of Ontario, all of which have failed (see below). It is economically, politically, geographically, and socially vastly different than the rest of the province. Some organizations treat it as a province - it sends its own team to the Brier, Canada's men's curling championship, separately from Ontario and the other provinces of Canada.

Related Topics:
The Brier - Curling

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