Moosonee

Moosonee
Town (single-tier)
Town of Moosonee
Official logo of Moosonee
Moosonee is located in Ontario
Moosonee
Moosonee
Moosonee is located in Canada
Moosonee
Moosonee
Coordinates: 51°20′03″N 80°43′16″W / 51.33417°N 80.72111°W / 51.33417; -80.72111[1]
CountryCanada
ProvinceOntario
RegionNortheastern Ontario
DistrictCochrane
Settled1903
Incorporated2001
Government
 • MayorWayne Taipale[2]
 • MPCharlie Angus (NDP)
 • MPPGuy Bourgouin (ONDP)
Area
 (2021)[3]
 • Land547.83 km2 (211.52 sq mi)
 • Population Centre1.64 km2 (0.63 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[3]
 • Total
1,512
 • Density2.8/km2 (7/sq mi)
 • Population Centre
1,471
 • Population Centre density898.8/km2 (2,328/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC−05:00 (EST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−04:00 (EDT)
Postal code
P0L 1Y0
Area code(s)705
Websitewww.moosonee.ca

Moosonee (/ˌmuːsəˈniː/) is a town in northern Ontario, Canada, on the Moose River approximately 19 km (12 mi) south of James Bay. It is considered to be "the Gateway to the Arctic" and has Ontario's only saltwater port.[4] Nearby on Moose Factory Island is the community of Moose Factory to which it is connected by water taxi in the summer and ice road in the winter.

There is no road connection to the community but flights are provided by Air Creebec[5] and by Thunder Airlines,[6] via Moosonee Airport.[7] Moosonee is also the railhead of the Ontario Northland Railway where goods are transferred to barges and aircraft for transport to more northerly communities. Moosonee is not particularly far north, being located at 51°N—which is roughly the same latitude as Saskatoon and Calgary —but is colder due to its proximity to Hudson Bay, and isolated due to its lack of road access to the rest of Ontario. The community was the site of a fur trading post set up in 1903 by Revillon Frères, competitors to the Hudson's Bay Company which later bought out Révillon.

Moosonee formerly held the status of a development area, the only community in the province with that designation; it was governed by a locally elected board subject to formal appointment by the Ontario provincial government. It became incorporated as a town effective January 1, 2001, with an elected mayor and four-person council.

  1. ^ "Moosonee". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference council was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference 2021census was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "About Ontario: Moosonee". Queen's Printer for Ontario. Archived from the original on 2012-10-18. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
  5. ^ "Air Creebec Destinations". Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  6. ^ "Thunder Airlines Flight Schedule". Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  7. ^ "TOWN OF MOOSONEE". Retrieved 15 March 2021.