Well, the population counts of the 2016 Census of Canada were released by
Statistics Canada today and there is an odd assortment of results for northern Ontario that are both good and bad. Canada's population in 2016 was 35,151,728 - an increase of 5 percent from 2011 - while Ontario's population was 13,448,494 - an increase of 4.6% from 2011. Northern Ontario's population actually grew between 2011 and 2016 from 775,178 to reach 780,140 for an increase of 0.64 percent.
As Figures 1 and 2 illustrate, the results are a bit more mixed when you break the population growth figures across regions and time periods. Overall, population in northern Ontario is down from 2006 but up from 2011. Moreover, while northern Ontario as a whole is up from 2011, the northeast is down by about half of one percent while the northwest is up 3.4 percent. It would appear that the growing First Nation's population in the northwest - primarily the Kenora area- is responsible for the northern Ontario rebound in population since 2011. Kenora District grows from 57,607 in 2011 to 65,533 in 2016 - an increase of 13.8 percent. Kenora District actually grew faster than Ontario! However, the north overall is growing much slower than Ontario.
Also interesting is the population for the major urban centers(Figure 3). The only one to see an increase is the Sudbury CMA*, which saw its population from 2011 to 2016 grow 1 percent - from 163,067 to 164,689. Thunder Bay CMA also "grew" from 121,596 to 121,621 - an increase of 25 people - which really can be interpreted as a flat performance. It is a somewhat amusing result and leads one to wonder who these 25 people are and why I have not yet met them but I am digressing. Hopefully, the City of Thunder Bay and its mayor will host a small welcome party for them and post the video. The other three cities all see a decline in population. The North Bay CA goes from 72,241 to 70,378; Sault Ste Marie CA from 79,800 to 78,159 and Timmins CA from 43,165 to 41,788.
*CMA is Census Metropolitan Area
CA is Census Agglomeration.
