Global InformationIgnace information
Ignace | |
|---|---|
Township (single-tier) | |
| Township of Ignace | |
 | |
  Ignace | |
| Coordinates: 49°25′N 91°40′W / 49.417°N 91.667°W | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Ontario |
| District | Kenora |
| Founded | 1879 |
| Incorporated | 1908 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Kimberly Baigrie[1] |
| • Federal riding | Kenora |
| • Prov. riding | Kenora—Rainy River |
| Area [2] | |
| • Land | 72.82 km2 (28.12 sq mi) |
| Population (2016)[2] | |
| • Total | 1,202 |
| • Density | 16.5/km2 (43/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (CST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| Postal code | P0T 1T0 |
| Area code | 807 |
| Website | town.ignace.on.ca |
Ignace /ˈɪɡneɪs/ 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 Driftwood's suspension, the Ignace Courier was published for the town's local news.
- ^ "Superior Morning with Mary-Jean Cormier". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. January 18, 2024. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
- ^ a b "Ignace census profile". 2016 Census of Population. Statistics Canada. Retrieved 2018-04-13.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Study Areas | The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO)". www.nwmo.ca. Retrieved 2017-11-11.