Thunder Bay

Various Anishinaabe peoples such as the Ojibwa are indigenous to the Thunder Bay Area.[15] European settlement at Thunder Bay began with two French fur trading posts (in 1683 and 1717) which were subsequently abandoned (see Fort William, Ontario). In 1803, the Montreal-based North West Company established Fort William as its mid-continent entrepôt. The fort thrived until 1821 when the North West Company merged with the Hudson's Bay Company, and Fort William was no longer needed.

Fort William in 1865

By the 1850s, the Province of Canada began to take an interest in its western extremity. Discovery of copper in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan had prompted a national demand for mining locations on the Canadian shores of Lake Superior. In 1849, French-speaking Jesuits established the Mission de l'Immaculée-Conception (Mission of the Immaculate Conception) on the Kaministiquia to evangelize the Ojibwe. The Province of Canada negotiated the Robinson Treaty in 1850 with the Ojibwa of Lake Superior. As a result, an Indian reserve was set aside for them south of the Kaministiquia River. In 1859–60, the Department of Crown Lands surveyed two townships (Neebing and Paipoonge) and the Town Plot of Fort William for European-Canadian settlement.

Another settlement developed a few miles to the north of Fort William after construction by the federal Department of Public Works of a road connecting Lake Superior with the Red River Colony. The work was directed by Simon James Dawson (see Port Arthur, Ontario). This public works depot or construction headquarters acquired its first name in May 1870 when Colonel Garnet Wolseley named it Prince Arthur's Landing. It was renamed Port Arthur by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in May 1883.[16]

The arrival of the CPR in 1875 sparked a long rivalry between the towns, which did not end until their amalgamation in 1970. Until the 1880s, Port Arthur was a much larger community. The CPR, in collaboration with the Hudson's Bay Company, preferred east Fort William, located on the lower Kaministiquia River where the fur trade posts were. Provoked by a prolonged tax dispute with Port Arthur and its seizure of a locomotive in 1889, the CPR relocated all its employees and facilities to Fort William. The collapse of silver mining after 1890 undermined the economy of Port Arthur. It had an economic depression, while Fort William thrived.

CN Railway Station

In the era of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Thunder Bay began a period of extraordinary growth, based on improved access to markets via the transcontinental railway and development of the western wheat boom. The CPR double-tracked its Winnipeg–Thunder Bay line. The Canadian Northern Railway established facilities at Port Arthur. The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway began construction of its facilities at the Fort William Mission in 1905, and the federal government began construction of the National Transcontinental Railway. Grain elevator construction boomed as the volume of grain shipped to Europe increased. Both cities incurred debt to grant bonuses to manufacturing industries.

Thunder Bay was the first city in the world to enact daylight saving time, on 1 July 1908.[17][18]

By 1914, the twin cities had modern infrastructures (sewers, potable water supply, street lighting, electric light, etc.) Both Fort William and Port Arthur were proponents of municipal ownership. As early as 1892, Port Arthur built Canada's first municipally-owned electric street railway. Both cities spurned Bell Telephone Company of Canada to establish their own municipally-owned telephone systems in 1902.

The boom came to an end in 1913–1914, aggravated by the outbreak of the First World War. A war-time economy emerged with the making of munitions and shipbuilding. Men from the cities joined the 52nd, 94th, and 141st Battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

Railway employment was hurt when the federal government took over the National Transcontinental Railway and Lake Superior Division from the Grand Trunk in 1915, and the Canadian Northern Railway in 1918. These were amalgamated with other government-owned railways in 1923 to form the Canadian National Railways. The CNR closed many of the Canadian Northern Railway facilities in Port Arthur. It opened the Neebing yards in Neebing Township in 1922. By 1929, the population of the two cities had recovered to pre-war levels.

The forest products industry has played an important role in the Thunder Bay economy from the 1870s. In the 1880s, Herman Finger established the Pigeon River Lumber Company in the area, and also built the Gunflint and Lake Superior Railroad, but he dissolved the lumber company and moved his operations to The Pas by 1919.[19] Logs and lumber were shipped primarily to the United States. In 1917, the first pulp and paper mill was established in Port Arthur. It was followed by a mill at Fort William, in 1920. Eventually, there were four mills operating.

Manufacturing resumed in 1937 when the Canada Car and Foundry Company plant (opened for the manufacture of naval ships and railcars during the late World War I) re-opened to build British aircraft. Now run by Alstom, the plant has remained a mainstay of the post-war economy. It has produced forestry equipment and transportation equipment for urban transit systems, such as the Toronto Transit Commission and GO Transit.

On 1 January 1970, the City of Thunder Bay was formed through the merger of the cities of Fort William, Port Arthur, and the geographic townships of Neebing and McIntyre.[13] Its name was the result of a referendum held previously on 23 June 1969, to determine the new name of the amalgamated Fort William and Port Arthur. Officials debated over the names to be put on the ballot, taking suggestions from residents including "Lakehead" and "The Lakehead". Because the vote split between the two similar names, "Thunder Bay" prevailed with a narrow plurality. The final tally was "Thunder Bay" with 15,870, "Lakehead" with 15,302, and "The Lakehead" with 8,377.[20]

There was more controversy over the selection of a name for the amalgamated city than over whether to amalgamate. A vocal minority of the population preferred "The Lakehead".[21] There was much discussion about other cities in the world that use a definite article in their names. The area was often referred to as "The Lakehead" before and after amalgamation based on its geographic location. It was seen as the "head" of shipping on the Great Lakes and the "rail head".

The expansion of highways, beginning with the Trans-Canada Highway and culminating with the opening of Highway 17 (linking Sault Ste Marie to Thunder Bay in 1960), has significantly diminished railway and shipping activity since the 1970s and 80s. Shipping on the Saint Lawrence Seaway was superseded by trucking on highways. Grain shipping on the Great Lakes to the East has declined substantially in favour of transport to Pacific Coast ports. As a result, many grain elevators have been closed and demolished. The Kaministiquia River was abandoned by industry and shipping.[22]

Thunder Bay has become the regional services centre for Northwestern Ontario with most provincial departments represented. Lakehead University, established through the lobbying of local businesspeople and professionals, has proven to be a major asset. Another upper level institution is Confederation College.

The Port of Thunder Bay, as seen from Hillcrest Park in June 2006

Thunder Bay is composed of two formerly separate cities: Port Arthur and Fort William. Both still retain much of their distinct civic identities, reinforced by the buffering effect of the Intercity area between them. Port Arthur and Fort William each have their own central business districts and suburban areas. Some of the more well-known neighbourhoods include the Bay and Algoma area, which has a large northern European population centred around the Finnish Labour Temple and the Italian Cultural Centre; Simpson-Ogden and the East End, two of the oldest neighbourhoods in Fort William located north of Downtown Fort William; Intercity, a large business district located between Fort William and Port Arthur; Current River, the northernmost neighbourhood of Port Arthur; and Westfort, the oldest settlement in Thunder Bay. Within city limits are some small rural communities, such as Vickers Heights and North McIntyre, which were located in the former townships of Neebing and McIntyre, respectively.

The Thunder Bay area experiences a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb) and a continental subarctic (Dfc) influence in northeastern areas of the city (including that affected by Lake Superior), but not necessarily falling in this zone.[23][24] This results in cooler summer temperatures and warmer winter temperatures for an area extending inland as far as 16 km. The average daily temperatures range from 17.7 °C (63.9 °F) in July to −14.3 °C (6.3 °F) in January. The average daily high in July is 24.3 °C (75.7 °F) and the average daily high in January is −8.0 °C (17.6 °F).[25] On 10 January 1982, the local temperature in Thunder Bay dropped to −36.3 °C (−33.3 °F), with a wind speed of 54 km (34 mi) per hour for a wind chill temperature that dipped to −58 °C (−72.4 °F).[26][27] As a result, it holds Ontario's record for coldest day with wind chill.[27] The highest temperature ever recorded in Thunder Bay was 40.3 °C (104.5 °F) on 7 August 1983.[28] The coldest temperature ever recorded was −43.2 °C (−45.8 °F) on 31 January 1996.[29] Relatively recently, however, all-time records for both the latest first freeze and the longest growing season were set on October 17, 2021; the previous record of October 8, 2016 was beaten by 9 days, and the previous record for the longest growing season of 139 days (also set in 2016) was beaten by a day.[30]

The city is quite sunny, with an average of 2,121 hours of bright sunshine each year, ranging from 268.1 hours in July to 86.2 hours in November.[25] Winters are comparatively dry with the snowfall being somewhat limited and temperatures much colder than in Houghton, Michigan, on the U.S. side of the lake, where the climate is marked by heavy lake-effect snow. Thunder Bay has more of a continental climate in comparison.

According to the census, Thunder Bay was home to 13,565 people of Finnish descent,[47] the highest concentration of people of Finnish origin in Canada. Thunder Bay has a large Indigenous population representing 14.1% of the population, while visible minorities represent 7.5% of the population.[48]

• Note: Totals greater than 100% due to multiple origin responses.

Mother-tongue language (2016)[53]

In the 2021 Census 56.0%[54] of Thunder Bay residents belonged to a Christian denomination, down from 72.0% in 2011:[55] 30.4% of the total population affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, 17.6% were Protestant, 4.9% were Christians of unspecified denomination and 3.2% followed other Christian denominations, largely Eastern Orthodox. People of no religion were 39.9% of the population, up from 26.2% in 2011. Of non-Christian religions, the largest were Hinduism, (1.1%) and Islam (0.9%). 0.6% of residents adhered to Traditional (North American Indigenous) spirituality. All other religions and/or spiritual beliefs made up 1.4% of the population.

From 2012 to 2014, and again from 2016 to 2019, Thunder Bay had the highest per-capita rate of homicide among Canadian cities.[56] Winnipeg had previously held this distinction between 2007 and 2011.[57][58] In 2014, the per-capita rate of homicides in Thunder Bay was more than double the 2012 rate, and was over 2.5 times higher than the city with the next highest rate, with the city having a homicide rate of 10.1 per 100,00 people.[59][60] However, between 2014 and 2015, the crime rate decreased by 6%. This was the second highest decrease in any major Canadian city, behind only Moncton, New Brunswick.[61] In 2022, Thunder Bay set a new homicide record with 15, giving the city a homicide rate of 13.7 homicides per 100,000 people, a rate which was comparable to cities like Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, and Portland in the same year.[62]

Sleeping Giant

A large formation of mesas on the Sibley Peninsula in Lake Superior which resembles a reclining giant has become a symbol of the city. Sibley peninsula partially encloses the waters of Thunder Bay, and dominates the view of the lake from the northern section of the city (formerly Port Arthur). The Sleeping Giant also figures on the city's coat of arms and the city flag.

Coat of arms

The Coat of Arms of the City of Thunder Bay, which incorporates features from the coats of arms of Port Arthur and Fort William

The coat of arms of Thunder Bay, Ontario, is a combination of the coats of arms of both Port Arthur and Fort William, with a unifying symbol—the Sleeping Giant—at the base of the arms.[76]

Corporate logo

The city logo depicts a stylized thunderbird, called Animikii, a statue of which is located at the city's Kaministiquia River Heritage Park.[77] The slogan, Superior by Nature, is a double play on words reflecting the city's natural setting on Lake Superior.[76]

City flag

Thunder Bay's flag was created in 1972, when mayor Saul Laskin wanted to promote the city by having a distinctive flag. The city held a contest, which Cliff Redden won. The flag has a 1:2 ratio and depicts a golden sky from the rising sun behind the Sleeping Giant, which sits in the blue waters of Lake Superior. The sun is represented by a red maple leaf, a symbol of Canada. Green and gold are Thunder Bay's city colours.[76]

Thunder Bay Historical Museum

Thunder Bay is home to a variety of music and performance arts venues. The Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1960, is the only professional orchestra between Winnipeg and Toronto and has 31 full-time and up to 30 extra musicians presenting a full range of classical music.[82] New Music North is vital to the contemporary classical music scene in the city by offering novel contemporary chamber music concerts.[83] The largest professional theatre is Magnus Theatre. Founded in 1971, it offers six stage plays each season and is located in the renovated Port Arthur Public School on Red River Road. The Thunder Bay Community Auditorium, which seats 1500, is the primary venue for various types of entertainment.

The Vox Popular Media Arts Festival, established in 2005, is an independent film festival that features local, national, and international films with the theme of "Films for the People." The festival is held in early October at 314 Bay Street in the historic Finnish Labour Temple.[84] Thunder Bay is also home to the North of Superior Film Association (NOSFA). Established in 1992, the NOSFA features monthly screenings of international and Canadian films at the Cumberland Cinema Centre, and organized the annual Northwest Film Fest film festival that attracts several thousand patrons.[85] Two of Thunder Bay's festivals were included in the 2018 list of the 100 best festival compiled by Festivals and Events Ontario: Teddy Bears Picnic and Live on the Waterfront, the former also being recognized as best promotional campaign and sponsor of the year.[86]

The Northwestern Ontario Writers Workshop (NOWW), founded in 1997, is the largest of several writing groups based in Thunder Bay. Its mission is "to encourage and promote the development of the writers and literature of Northwestern Ontario".[87] NOWW does this through a number of activities including regular workshops, monthly readings (summer excepted), an eWriter in Residence program, and other events designed to help and inspire writers in the region. NOWW also hosts an annual LitFest in May which includes an awards presentation to the winners of its international annual writing contest.[88] Past contest judges include a Who's Who of Canadian writers such as Heather O'Neill, Michael Christie, Jane Urquhart, and Liz Howard.

The Thunder Bay Art Gallery, which was founded in 1976, specializes in the works of First Nations artists, having a collection of national significance. The Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society, founded in 1908, presents local and travelling exhibitions and houses an impressive collection of artifacts, photographs, paintings, documents and maps in its archives. The City of Thunder bay also houses the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, and the Thunder Bay Military Museum (housed within the O'Kelley Armoury on Park Street).

Thunder Bay has two recognized Federal Heritage buildings on the Register of the Government of Canada Heritage Buildings:

• Ordnance Store (recognized 1997)[89]
• Park Street Armoury (recognized 1994)[90]

Both are part of HMCS Griffin.

The Northwestern Ontario Aviation Heritage Centre was founded in 2007 with a mandate to collect, preserve and celebrate the aviation history of the region. It houses a large collection of artifacts and photographs, particularly related to the Canadian Car and Foundry factory (Can-Car) which manufactured Hawker Hurricane fighters and Curtiss SB2C Helldivers during WW II.

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church

Thunder Bay has many places of worship supported by people of a variety of faiths, reflecting the cultural diversity of the population.[91] A sample:

• Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church – Ukrainian Orthodox. The original wooden church, built by Ukrainian Orthodox families in 1911/1912, was almost destroyed by fire in 1936. The current church was built on the same site and opened in 1937. It has decorative gold domes that are characteristic of Ukrainian churches of the Bukovina area, with Orthodox crosses atop the domes.[92]
• Calvary Lutheran Church was established in 1958 as a mission congregation of the Minnesota North District (USA).
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The church has a family history library open to anyone to research their genealogy.
• Elim Community Christian Centre. Pentecostal Church located in Current River area of the city which is now named Refreshing Waters Community Church.
• Evangel Church. Contemporary Pentecostal church with a strong emphasis on children, youth and (with their convenient location next to Lakehead University) young adults.
• First-Wesley United Church. The current Wesley United Church was preceded by a much smaller structure, Grace Methodist Church, which was built in 1891 and had a capacity of 100 people. The current Gothic 1,025 seat sanctuary was constructed in 1910.
• Hilldale Lutheran Church. Offers services in both English and Finnish. The church has an intimate atmosphere and wonderful acoustics, and is frequently used for musical performances.[93]
• Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church. Founded in 1918, the church moved to its present building in 1991. The church is active in providing non-profit housing for needy families.
• Hope Christian Reformed Church. Services are recorded so that anyone with an internet connection may listen.
• Kitchitwa Kateri Anamewgamik. Roman Catholic communal church geared to Native culture and teachings. A drop-in centre provides coffee and serves soup & bannock.
• Lakehead Unitarian Fellowship. This Unitarian Universalist community includes Christians, Buddhists, Pagans, Theists, non-theists, Humanist-agnostics, and Atheists. They welcome and celebrate the presence and participation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons.
• Redwood Park Church Contemporary member of the Christian Missionary Alliance. Runs an outreach at the old building on Edward street with a food bank and a clothing store.
• Saalem Church. Pentecostal church with services in both English and Finnish.
• Shaarey Shomayim Congregation – Jewish Synagogue. This egalitarian community has the only mikvah between Winnipeg and Toronto.
• Shepherd of Israel Congregation – Messianic Jewish. Affiliated with Evangelical movement.
• St. Agnes Church. Roman Catholic Church. Founded in 1885, the new St. Agnes Church and Hall was dedicated on 6 June 1982. St. Vincent de Paul Society operates a food bank out of this church.
• St Stephen the Martyr Anglican Church. Provides a food cupboard for the Current River area.
• St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church. Founded in 1872, the current building was erected in 1884.
• St. Patrick's Cathedral – Roman Catholic. The old St. Patrick's Church was built in 1893. In 1963 it was replaced by the current cathedral on the same site.
• St Paul's Anglican Church. Historic, stately parish built in the English Gothic style.
• St. Anthony's Parish – Roman Catholic. Located in the John-Jumbo area of Port Arthur.
• Thunder Bay Masjid – Muslim mosque
• Vedic Cultural Centre (ISKON) Thunder Bay – Hindu temple

Thunder Bay enjoys many recreational facilities. The city operates fifteen neighbourhood community centres, which offer various sporting and fitness facilities as well as seasonal activities such as dances. The city also operates six indoor ice rinks and 84 seasonal outdoor rinks,[97] two indoor community pools and three seasonal outdoor pools as well as a portable pool and two maintained public beaches, several curling sheets, and three golf courses, among others.[98] Listed below are some of the city's major facilities.

Thunder Bay is also home to the National Development Centre – Thunder Bay, an elite cross-country ski team that attracts many of Canada's best Junior and U-23 skiers.

• Thunder Bay 10 mile road race
• 2010 World Junior Baseball Championship
• 2017 U-18 Baseball World Cup
• 2024 Women's Baseball World Cup

Thunder Bay receives air, rail and shipping traffic due to its prime location along major continental transport routes. The municipally owned Thunder Bay Transit operates 17 routes across the city's urban area. The city is served by the Thunder Bay International Airport, the fourth busiest airport in Ontario by aircraft movements.[100] The main highway through the city is Highway 11/17, a four-lane highway designated as the Thunder Bay Expressway.

The city is an important railway hub, served by both the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railway. Passenger rail service to Thunder Bay ended on 15 January 1990, when Via Rail rerouted the Canadian to the north.[101]

Thunder Bay has been a port since the days of the North West Company, which maintained a schooner on Lake Superior. The Port of Thunder Bay is the largest outbound port on the St. Lawrence Seaway System,[102] and the sixth-largest port in Canada.[71] The Thunder Bay Port Authority manages Keefer Terminal, built on a 320,000 square metre site on Lake Superior.

Thunder Bay has one major hospital, the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. Other health care services include the St. Joseph's Care Group, which operates long-term care centres such as the Lakehead Psychiatric Hospital, St. Joseph's Hospital, and Hogarth Riverview Manor. The Northern Ontario School of Medicine has a campus at Lakehead University. The city is also home to a variety of smaller medical and dental clinics.

Thunder Bay has one daily newspaper, The Chronicle-Journal, which has a circulation of approximately 28,000 and has coverage of all of Northwestern Ontario.[103] The Chronicle Journal publishes a free weekly called Spot every Thursday, focusing on entertainment. There are two weekly newspapers: Thunder Bay's Source, a weekly newspaper operated by Dougall Media, and Canadan Sanomat, a Finnish-language weekly newspaper. Lakehead University has a student newspaper called The Argus, which is published weekly during the school year.[104] The city publishes a bi-monthly newsletter to citizens titled yourCity, which is also available online in a PDF format, by electronic subscription and RSS feed.[105]

Three English-language stations supply Thunder Bay with free digital over-the-air television. Programming from the Global and CTV networks is provided by a locally owned twinstick operation branded as Thunder Bay Television, and the city receives TVOntario on channel 9. CBC Television and Ici Radio-Canada Télé are available only on cable and satellite in the area.

The cable provider in Thunder Bay is Shaw; although locally owned TBayTel has been granted a licence by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to compete in the cable TV market.[106] The community channel on Shaw Cable is branded as Shaw TV, and airs on cable channel 10.

WBKP TV channel 5, the CW affiliate in Calumet, Michigan, can be received in Thunder Bay with an outdoor roof antenna and a digital-capable television or receiver.

Thunder Bay is home to 12 radio stations, all of which broadcast on the FM band.

There are four commercial radio stations based in the city – CJSD-FM and CKPR-FM, owned by Dougall Media, the parent company of Thunder Bay Television and Thunder Bay's Source, and CJUK-FM and CKTG-FM, owned by Acadia Broadcasting. One additional station, CFQK-FM, targets the Thunder Bay market from transmitters in Kaministiquia and Shuniah. The city receives CBC Radio One as CBQT-FM and CBC Radio 2 as CBQ-FM, at 88.3 FM and 101.7 FM respectively. The French Première Chaîne is available as a repeater of Sudbury-based CBON-FM on 89.3 FM. Lakehead University operates a campus radio station, CILU-FM, at 102.7 FM, and CJOA-FM 95.1 broadcasts Christian-oriented programming and is run by a local non-profit group. Thunder Bay Information Radio CKSI-FM is broadcast 24/7 on 90.5 and is also the city's emergency radio station.