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Northern Ontario: An authentic heritage

Near Thunder Bay, on the Kaministiquia River, the North West Company is immortalized by the Fort William Historical Park (Photo © Ontario Tourism 2008)

Photo: Near Thunder Bay, on the Kaministiquia River, the North West Company is immortalized by the Fort William Historical Park (Photo © Ontario Tourism 2008)

By

Nicole Guertin and Andréanne Joly

Community

Published Date: Jun 12, 2008

Heritage is often associated with the distant past and, for many, a dusty museum.

Northern Ontario, however, is proposing a rejuvenation of its heritage by pairing it with industrialization and the great outdoors: northern Ontario heritage is not limited to the colonization that occurred at the end of the 19th century and start of the 20th century.

Some treasures remain well hidden, lost in the vastness of Ontario’s north. For example, the petroglyphs of the Missinaibi Lake, Agawa Rock and Eagle-Dogtooth Provincial Park east of Kenora are witness to thousands of years of presence of the people who shaped our culture. Many of us remember that this vast territory – which accounts for 89 per cent of our province – was populated by more than the European pioneers that settled along the developing transcontinental railway. A quick look at a map is proof. While many Aboriginal communities are no longer here, the names of the rivers have kept their memories alive – Abitibi, Missinaibi, Attawapiskat and Winisk.

French explorers also left their mark. As early as 1611, Étienne Brûlé became the first European to admire the freshwater seas, while crossing the Mattawa River, Lake Nippising, the La Vase Portage and the French River, searching for the great North Sea. Champlain followed in 1615, and discovered a land of infinite beauty.

It was only the beginning of a long saga. In fact, the travels of these intrepid explorers have been commemorated in sites such as the Sturgeon River House Museum, a former trading post for the Hudson’s Bay Company. On Lake Temiskaming, a fort reminds us of the long history of the fur trade. Near Thunder Bay, on the Kaministiquia River, the North West Company is immortalized by the Fort William Historical Park. And along the lakes, notably Missinaibi, we fi nd remnants of the distant past. Early sites where the voyageurs and merchants slept under the stars remain exposed, and we still see evidence of their stay.

The heritage that is held with the most esteem in northern Ontario, however, is a more recent one – that of industrialization. Moose Factory shows its most historic form, with the remains of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Also, the railroads that travel from north to south – from Sudbury to Manitoba and Sault Ste. Marie to Hearst – journey through landscapes that not only attest to a heritage of industrialization in the form of pulp and paper mills and mines, but also inspired the Group of Seven. Still, along the routes where agriculture and forestry meet we see abandoned barns, treasures that are left vacant by a lack of regard to our heritage.

In short, northern Ontario’s heritage is the image of its land: rugged and diverse. Nevertheless, the heritage is still alive and waiting to fill you with wonder. There is still much to discover on our northern frontier.

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