Ignace Explained

Ignace
Official Name:Township of Ignace
Settlement Type:Township (single-tier)
Pushpin Map:Ontario
Pushpin Label Position:top
Pushpin Mapsize:200
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:Canada
Subdivision Type1:Province
Subdivision Name1:Ontario
Subdivision Type2:District
Subdivision Name2:Kenora
Leader Title:Mayor
Leader Name:Kimberly Baigrie[1]
Leader Title1:Federal riding
Leader Name1:Kenora
Leader Title2:Prov. riding
Leader Name2:Kenora—Rainy River
Established Title:Founded
Established Date:1879
Established Title2:Incorporated
Established Date2:1908
Area Land Km2:72.82
Population As Of:2016
Population Footnotes:[2]
Population Total:1202
Population Density Km2:16.5
Timezone:CST
Utc Offset:-6
Timezone Dst:CDT
Utc Offset Dst:-5
Coordinates:49.4167°N -131°W
Postal Code Type:Postal code
Postal Code:P0T 1T0
Area Code:807
Website:town.ignace.on.ca

Ignace is a township in the Kenora District of Northwestern Ontario, Canada, located at Highway 17 (Trans Canada Highway) and Secondary Highway 599, and on the Canadian Pacific Railway between Thunder Bay and Dryden. It is on the shore of Agimak Lake, and as of 2016, the population of Ignace was 1,202.

The town was named after Ignace Mentour by Sir Sandford Fleming in 1879. Ignace Mentour was the key Indigenous guide through this region during Fleming's 1872 railway survey, recorded in George Monro Grant's journal of the survey, Ocean to Ocean. Mentour had also served with Sir George Simpson in Simpson's final years as governor of Rupert's Land.

During Ignace's early days, there was a settlement of railway boxcars used by the English residents there called "Little England".

Although Ignace was incorporated in 1908, it was something of a latecomer to some modern conveniences, such as rotary dial telephone, which did not arrive in the town until 1956.

Forestry and tourism support Ignace's economy, today, and one attraction is the three-storey log White Otter Castle, located on White Otter Lake at Turtle River, and built by James Alexander McOuat between 1903 and 1914.

Ignace is one of two Ontario communities[3] being considered as a potential deep geological repository site for Canada's used nuclear fuel. Initial borehole drilling and core sample testing are taking place in a rock formation known as the Revell Batholith, located south of Highway 17, about 35 kilometres west of Ignace (between Ignace and Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation).

In the 1950s, Ignace's first newspaper, the Village Tattler, started there to serve the town. It was published by the local YMCA. In 1971, Dennis Smyk started the Ignace Driftwood, which was suspended two years later, but was revived in 1979 and ran until 2018. During Driftwoods suspension, the Ignace Courier was published for the town's local news.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Ignace had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of 72.13km2, it had a population density of in 2021.[4]

Historic populations:[2] [5]

Local media

Newspapers

Radio

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Superior Morning with Mary-Jean Cormier . January 18, 2024 . . January 23, 2024.
  2. Web site: Ignace census profile . Statistics Canada . . 2018-04-13 .
  3. Web site: Study Areas The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO). www.nwmo.ca. en. 2017-11-11.
  4. Web site: Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions (municipalities), Ontario . . February 9, 2022 . April 2, 2022.
  5. Statistics Canada: Canada 1996 Census