Ignace, Ontario

{{More references needed|section|date=December 2024}}

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.

The town expanded during the life of several zinc-copper mines in the Sturgeon Lake area, 80 km north of the town. Today, forestry and tourism support Ignace's economy. 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.

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.

In 2021, as part of a search for a site for a deep geological repository for Canada's used nuclear fuel, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) drilled boreholes 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).{{cite web |title=The NWMO reaches key milestone by completing borehole drilling in Ignace area |url=https://www.nwmo.ca/News/The-NWMO-reaches-key-milestone-by-completing-borehole-drilling-in-Ignace-area |date=November 29, 2021 |publisher=Nuclear Waste Management Organization |access-date=November 30, 2024}}

On November 28, 2024, the NWMO selected Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation and the township of Ignace as the site of a nuclear waste repository. Construction is expected to begin in the mid 2030s and become operational in the early 2040s.{{cite news |title=Northwestern Ontario communities chosen for Canada's nuclear waste storage site |first=Sarah |last=Law |date=November 30, 2024 |publisher=CBC News |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/nuclear-waste-storage-site-chosen-1.7395660 |access-date=November 30, 2024}}

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Ignace had a population of {{val|1206|fmt=commas}} living in {{val|551|fmt=commas}} of its {{val|664|fmt=commas}} total private dwellings, a change of {{percentage|{{#expr:1206-1202}}|1202|1}} from its 2016 population of {{val|1202|fmt=commas}}. With a land area of {{convert|72.13|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}, it had a population density of {{Pop density|1206|72.13|km2|sqmi|prec=1}} in 2021.

{{Canada census

|location = Ignace

|2021_population=1,206 | 2021_pop_delta=+0.3 | 2021_land_area=72.13 | 2021_pop_density=16.7

|2021_median_age=53.6 | 2021_median_age_m=55.6 | 2021_median_age_f=52.4

|2021_total_pvt_dwell=664 |2021_occ_pvt_dwell=551 |2021_mean_hh_income=69,000

|2021_geocode=2021A00053560001 | 2021_access_date=2023-10-19

|2016_population=1,202 | 2016_pop_delta= 0 | 2016_land_area=72.82 | 2016_pop_density=16.5

|2016_median_age=52.5 | 2016_median_age_m=52.4 | 2016_median_age_f=52.8

|2016_total_pvt_dwell=711 | 2016_mean_hh_income=60,928 | 2016_access_date=2019-06-06

|2011_population=1,202 | 2011_pop_delta=-16.0 | 2011_land_area=72.66 | 2011_pop_density=16.5

|2011_median_age=48.1 | 2011_median_age_m=48.6 | 2011_median_age_f=47.7

|2011_total_pvt_dwell=680 | 2011_mean_hh_income= | 2011_access_date=2012-04-03

|2006_population=1,431 | 2006_pop_delta=−16.3 | 2006_land_area=72.66 | 2006_pop_density=19.7

|2006_median_age=42.5 | 2006_median_age_m=42.7 | 2006_median_age_f=42.2

|2006_total_pvt_dwell=741 | 2006_mean_hh_income=57,250 | 2006_access_date=2011-06-27

|2001_population=1,709 | 2001_pop_delta=−4.1 | 2001_land_area=72.67 | 2001_pop_density=23.5

|2001_median_age=37.0 | 2001_median_age_m=37.2 | 2001_median_age_f=36.8

|2001_total_pvt_dwell=801 | 2001_mean_hh_income=45,973 | 2001_access_date=2011-06-27

}}

{{Historical populations

|title = {{Nowrap|Historical census populations –}} Ignace, Ontario

|align = none

|cols = 3

|percentages =

|footnote = Population counts are not adjusted for boundary changes.

|source = Statistics Canada{{cite journal |title=1971 Census of Canada - Population Census Subdivisions (Historical) |journal=Catalogue 92-702 Vol I, part 1 (Bulletin 1.1-2) |date=July 1973 |pages=76, 139 |publisher=Statistics Canada}}

| 1921 |268

| 1931 |388

| 1941 |420

| 1951 |458

| 1956 |611

| 1961 |735

| 1966 |795

| 1971 |817

| 1976 |1983

| 1981 |2499

| 1986 |2314

| 1991 |1935

| 1996 |1782

| 2001 |1709

| 2006 |1431

| 2011 |1202

| 2016 |1202

| 2021 |1206

}}

• Ignace Driftwood – In 1971, Dennis Smyk started the Ignace Driftwood, which was suspended two years later, but was revived in 1979 and ceased operations in 2018. During Driftwood's suspension, the Mattabi Memo and the Ignace Courier were published for the town's local news.

• CBES AM 690 (CBC Radio One) – rebroadcast transmitter of station based in Thunder Bay
• CKDR AM 1340 – rebroadcast transmitter of station based in Dryden

{{Portal|Ontario}}

• List of townships in Ontario
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{{Commons category}}

• {{official website|https://www.ignace.ca/}}

{{Geographic location

| Center = Ignace

| North = Unorganized Kenora

| East = Unorganized Kenora

| South = Unorganized Kenora

| West = Unorganized Kenora

}}

{{Kenora District}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Municipalities in Kenora District

Category:Single-tier municipalities in Ontario

Category:Township municipalities in Ontario

Category:1879 establishments in Ontario

Category:Populated places established in 1879