Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands

File:Little Current ON.JPG

Little Current is the largest community within the town, as well as its administrative centre. Formerly an independent town, Little Current was named variously by different groups for the swift strong currents of water running between the narrow passageway which connects the North Channel and Georgian Bay. Past names for the community included Wewebijiwang/Wyabegwong, Le Petit Courant, and Shaftesbury.{{cite web |author1=Shelley Pearen |title=Manitoulin in 1867 Part II: The town of Little Current in 1867 |url=https://www.manitoulin.com/manitoulin-1867-part-ii-town-little-current-1867/ |website=The Manitoulin Expositor |publisher=Manitoulin Publishing Co. Ltd. |access-date=19 February 2025 |date=15 March 2017}}

The town also includes the smaller communities of Cold Springs, Dinner Point Depot, Eads Bush, Green Bay, Honora, Rockville, and Sheguiandah.

{{Clear left}}

The climate is characterized by warm, humid summers (sometimes rainy/cooler) and snowy, rigorous winters. The cold season does not have many differences with other North American places of the same parallel. However, the obvious differing factor is that all weather is dictated by Lake Huron. As such, the lake generates microclimates similar to coastal cities, thousands of miles away; one example is Asahikawa, on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.{{Cite web|url=http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=717332&cityname=Little-Current-Ontario-Canada|title=Little Current, Ontario Travel Weather Averages (Weatherbase)|website=Weatherbase|access-date=2019-03-10}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=70474&cityname=Asahikawa-Hokkaido-Japan|title=Asahikawa, Japan Travel Weather Averages (Weatherbase)|website=Weatherbase|access-date=2019-03-10}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ieA0AQAAMAAJ&q=lake+huron+moderates+temperatures&pg=PA7|title=Black River Channel Maintenance Operations of the Federal Navigation Channels, Negative Declaration and EA.|date=1979|language=en}}{{Cite web|url=https://pt.weatherspark.com/compare/y/144171~18249/Compara%C3%A7%C3%A3o-das-caracter%C3%ADsticas-meteorol%C3%B3gicas-m%C3%A9dias-em-Asahikawa-e-Little-Current|title=O clima típico de qualquer lugar da Terra - Weather Spark|website=pt.weatherspark.com|access-date=2019-03-10}}{{Weather box

|metric first= yes

|single line= yes

|location= Little Current, 1981-2010 normals

|Jan record high C= 8

|Feb record high C= 10

|Mar record high C= 19

|Apr record high C= 27

|May record high C= 29

|Jun record high C= 33

|Jul record high C= 36

|Aug record high C= 36

|Sep record high C= 31

|Oct record high C= 23

|Nov record high C= 18

|Dec record high C= 13

|Jan high C= -5.9

|Feb high C= -3.8

|Mar high C= 1.5

|Apr high C= 10.3

|May high C= 17.7

|Jun high C= 22.5

|Jul high C= 25.1

|Aug high C= 24.1

|Sep high C= 18.7

|Oct high C= 11.7

|Nov high C= 3.6

|Dec high C= -2.9

|Jan low C= -16.7

|Feb low C= -15.6

|Mar low C= -10.5

|Apr low C= -1.5

|May low C= 4.0

|Jun low C= 8.9

|Jul low C= 11.9

|Aug low C= 11.0

|Sep low C= 7.0

|Oct low C= 1.9

|Nov low C= -4.1

|Dec low C= -11.9

|Jan record low C= -41

|Feb record low C= -41

|Mar record low C= -32

|Apr record low C= -15

|May record low C= -5

|Jun record low C= -1

|Jul record low C= 2

|Aug record low C= 0

|Sep record low C= -7

|Oct record low C= -8

|Nov record low C= -29

|Dec record low C= -38

|source = Environment Canada, The Weather Network }}

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands had a population of {{val|2641|fmt=commas}} living in {{val|1205|fmt=commas}} of its {{val|1903|fmt=commas}} total private dwellings, a change of {{percentage|{{#expr:2641-2712}}|2712|1}} from its 2016 population of {{val|2712|fmt=commas}}. With a land area of {{convert|489.19|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}, it had a population density of {{Pop density|2641|489.19|km2|sqmi|prec=1}} in 2021.

{{Canada census

|location = Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands

|2021_population=2,641 | 2021_pop_delta=-2.6 | 2021_land_area=489.19 | 2021_pop_density=5.4

|2021_median_age=55.6 | 2021_median_age_m=55.6 | 2021_median_age_f=56

|2021_total_pvt_dwell=1,903 |2021_occ_pvt_dwell=1,205 |2021_mean_hh_income=75,500 |2021_geocode=2021A00053551017 | 2021_access_date=2022-04-27

|2016_population=2,712 | 2016_pop_delta=+0.2 | 2016_land_area=496.09 | 2016_pop_density=5.5

|2016_median_age=53.7 | 2016_median_age_m=52.5 | 2016_median_age_f=54.6

|2016_total_pvt_dwell=2,313 |2016_occ_pvt_dwell=1,182 | 2016_mean_hh_income=60,288 | 2016_access_date=2025-02-18

|2011_population=2706 | 2011_pop_delta=-0.2 | 2011_land_area=495.68 | 2011_pop_density=5.5

|2011_median_age= | 2011_median_age_m= | 2011_median_age_f=

|2011_total_pvt_dwell=2029 | 2011_mean_hh_income= | 2011_access_date=2012-02-22

|2006_population=2711 | 2006_pop_delta=7.1 | 2006_land_area=495.04 | 2006_pop_density=5.5

|2006_median_age=47.4 | 2006_median_age_m=46.7 | 2006_median_age_f=48.0

|2006_total_pvt_dwell=2044 | 2006_mean_hh_income=44,097 | 2006_access_date=2012-02-22

|2001_population=2531 | 2001_pop_delta=-1.6 | 2001_land_area=495.51 | 2001_pop_density=5.1

|2001_median_age=44.3 | 2001_median_age_m=42.7 | 2001_median_age_f=45.8

|2001_total_pvt_dwell=1996 | 2001_mean_hh_income=40,182 | 2001_access_date=2012-02-22

}}

{{Historical populations

|title = {{Nowrap|Historical census populations –}} Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands

|align = none

|cols =

|width = 22em

|footnote =

|source = Statistics Canada

| 2001 |2531

| 2006 |2711

| 2011 |2706

| 2016 |2712

| 2021 |2641

}}

File:Little Current Manitoulin.JPG

In the late 19th century lake vessels stopped here to take on wood for fuel. A settlement developed, with George Abotossaway, an Anishinaabe man, selling fuel to the steamers. The westbound passengers on board the vessels were usually from Upper Canada. One group included the Turner family which disembarked and, being merchants, set up a general store still in business today.

The lumbering trade was foremost in the region at the time and saw mills were established at nearby Low Island, now a park in the community. Settlers cleared the land for farming.

Today the local economy continues to include farming and lumbering but tourism is a main aspect.

Image:Little Current Swing Bridge Ontario.jpg

Being a safe haven from the ravages of Lake Huron, the community may be found on Canadian Hydrographic Chart #2205. It is well marked from the east by Strawberry Island Lighthouse and from the west by a series of navigational markers.

The only land access to Manitoulin is the Little Current Swing Bridge, located on Highway 6, crossing the North Channel of Lake Huron to the mainland, where the highway continues northward to Espanola. In summer the swing bridge opens to marine traffic on the hour for 15 minutes from sunrise to sunset, delaying road traffic.

Historically, Little Current was the western terminus of the Algoma Eastern Railway before the AER's acquisition by the Canadian Pacific Railway. After acquisition, the portion from McKerrow to Little Current was designated as the Little Current subdivision of the CPR, and became a spur of its Sault Ste. Marie line. Passenger rail ridership through Espanola and Little Current continued for some time due to the relatively difficult road access to the island, but passenger operations along the spur ended in 1963, and the line became an infrequently-used "ghost railway". Over the following decades, the CPR gradually removed sections of the track: in the 1980s, the section connecting Goat Island to Manitoulin Island across the Little Current Swing Bridge (which was converted to service road traffic only), and in the 1990s, the section connecting Espanola to Goat Island. Currently only a small portion of the track still exists, which connects the Domtar pulp and paper mill in Espanola to the CPR line using the junction at McKerrow; this stretch of track is the only surviving remnant of the AER.{{cite book |title=From Meteorite Impact to Constellation City: A Historical Geography of Greater Sudbury |last=Saarinen |first=Oiva W. |isbn=9781554588374 |date=April 2013 |publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press |location=Waterloo, ON}}

In April 2018, Ontario Northland announced that it would begin bus service on Manitoulin Island, with buses stopping at Little Current upon arrival from Sudbury before travelling around the island using a circular route. The new route also includes Sheguiandah. This new route marked the first time the island had seen bus service in decades.{{cite web |url=http://ontarionorthland.ca/en/about-us/news/ontario-northland-introduces-bus-service-manitoulin-island |title=Ontario Northland Introduces Bus Service to Manitoulin Island |access-date=2019-07-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704213618/http://ontarionorthland.ca/en/about-us/news/ontario-northland-introduces-bus-service-manitoulin-island |archive-date=2019-07-04 |url-status=dead }} Manitoulin Island service ended in 2019.{{Cite web|url=https://www.manitoulin.com/ontario-northland-ends-manitoulin-bus-service-friday/|title = Ontario Northland ends Manitoulin bus service Friday|date = 13 November 2019}}

The town has two radio stations, CFRM and CHAW. Some radio stations from Sudbury can also be heard in the area, as can Elliot Lake's CKNR.

The town's primary community newspaper is the weekly Manitoulin Expositor,Jim Moodie, "Looking back fondly on days at the Expositor". Sudbury Star, August 10, 1999. which is the oldest still-extant newspaper in Northern Ontario.Jim Moodie, "The island's two weekly papers become one". Sudbury Star, March 20, 2001.

• List of francophone communities in Ontario
• List of townships in Ontario

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{official|http://www.townofnemi.on.ca}}

{{Geographic location

| Centre = Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands

| North = {{nowrap|Sables-Spanish Rivers}}
{{nowrap|North Channel}}

| Northeast = {{nowrap|Whitefish River 4,}} {{nowrap|Unorg. North Sudbury}}
{{nowrap|North Channel}}

| East = {{nowrap|North Channel}} / Killarney

| Southeast = Wiikwemkoong

| South = Assiginack, {{nowrap|Sheguiandah 24}}

| Southwest = {{nowrap|Central Manitoulin}}

| West = Billings

| Northwest = {{nowrap|Unorg. South East Algoma}}
{{nowrap|North Channel}}
{{nowrap|Sucker Creek 23}}

}}

{{Manitoulin District}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Northeastern Manitoulin And The Islands, Ontario}}

Category:Populated places on Lake Huron in Canada

Category:Single-tier municipalities in Ontario

Category:Towns in Ontario