Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada

🇨🇦 Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in North-western Ontario and the second most populous municipality in Northern Ontario. The metropolitan area of Thunder Bay consists of the city of Thunder Bay, the municipalities of Oliver Paipoonge and Neebing, the townships of Shuniah, Conmee, O'Connor, and Gillies, and the Fort William First Nation.

European settlement in the region began in the late 17th century with a French fur trading outpost on the banks of the Kaministiquia River. It grew into an important transportation hub with its port forming an important link in the shipping of grain and other products from western Canada, through the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence Seaway, to the east coast. Forestry and manufacturing played important roles in the city's economy. They have declined in recent years, but have been replaced by a "knowledge economy" based on medical research and education. Thunder Bay is the site of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute.

The city takes its name from the immense Thunder Bay at the head of Lake Superior, known on 18th-century French maps as Baie du Tonnerre (Bay of Thunder). The city is often referred to as the "Lakehead", or "Canadian Lakehead", because of its location at the end of Great Lakes navigation on the Canadian side of the border.

Economy As the largest city in North-western Ontario, Thunder Bay is the region's commercial, administrative and medical centre. Many of the city's largest single employers are in the public sector. The City of Thunder Bay, the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, the Lakehead District School Board and the Government of Ontario each employ over 1,500 people. Resolute Forest Products is the largest private employer, employing over 1,500 people.

Bombardier Transportation operates a 553,000 square feet plant in Thunder Bay which manufactures mass transit vehicles and equipment. The plant was built by Canadian Car and Foundry to build railway box cars in 1912, and began building passenger railcar and transit cars from 1963 onwards.

Among the main sectors are: Management; Business, Finance and Administration; Natural and Applied Sciences; Health; Education, Law, and Government; Art, Culture, Recreation, and Sport; Sales and Services; Trades, Transport and Equipment Operators; Natural Resources and Agriculture; Manufacturing and Utilities.

Thunder Bay remains an important part of the Saint Lawrence Seaway. In an effort to rejuvenate its economy, the city has been actively working to attract quaternary or "knowledge-based" industries, primarily in the fields of molecular medicine and genomics. The city is home to the western campus of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, the first medical school to open in Canada in a generation. The city also has a law school.

Culture The city of Thunder Bay was declared a "Cultural Capital of Canada" in 2003. Throughout the city are cultural centres representing the diverse population, such as the Finnish Labour Temple, Scandinavia House, the Italian Cultural Centre, the Polish Legion, and a wide variety of others.

The shag, a combination shower and stag held to celebrate the engagement of a couple, and the Persian, a cinnamon bun pastry with pink icing, both originated in the city.

Thunder Bay is served by the Thunder Bay Public Library, which has four branches.

Events in the city include Thunder Pride, an LGBTQ pride parade held since 2010, and the annual Canadian Lakehead Exhibition.

Arts Thunder Bay is home to a variety of music and performance arts venues. The Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1960, is the only professional orchestra between Winnipeg and Toronto and has 31 full-time and up to 30 extra musicians presenting a full range of classical music. New Music North is vital to the contemporary classical music scene in the city by offering novel contemporary chamber music concerts. The largest professional theatre is Magnus Theatre. Founded in 1971, it offers six stage plays each season and is located in the renovated Port Arthur Public School on Red River Road. The Thunder Bay Community Auditorium, which seats 1500, is the primary venue for various types of entertainment.

The Vox Popular Media Arts Festival, established in 2005, is an independent film festival that features local, national, and international films with the theme of "Films for the People". The festival is held in early October at 314 Bay Street in the historic Finnish Labour Temple. Thunder Bay is also home to the North of Superior Film Association (NOSFA). Established in 1992, the NOSFA features monthly screenings of international and Canadian films at the Cumberland Cinema Centre, and organized the annual Northwest Film Fest film festival that attracts several thousand patrons. Two of Thunder Bay's festivals were included in the 2018 list of the 100 best festival compiled by Festivals and Events Ontario: Teddy Bears Picnic and Live on the Waterfront, the former also being recognised as best promotional campaign and sponsor of the year.

The Northwestern Ontario Writers Workshop (NOWW), founded in 1997, is the largest of several writing groups based in Thunder Bay. Its mission is "to encourage and promote the development of the writers and literature of Northwestern Ontario". NOWW does this through a number of activities including regular workshops, monthly readings (summer excepted), an eWriter in Residence program, and other events designed to help and inspire writers in the region. NOWW also hosts an annual LitFest in May which includes an awards presentation to the winners of its international annual writing contest. Past contest judges include a Who's Who of Canadian writers such as Heather O'Neill, Michael Christie, Jane Urquhart, and Liz Howard.

Museums and galleries The Thunder Bay Art Gallery, which was founded in 1976, specializes in the works of First Nations artists, having a collection of national significance. The Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society, founded in 1908, presents local and travelling exhibitions and houses an impressive collection of artifacts, photographs, paintings, documents and maps in its archives. The City of Thunder bay also houses the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, and the Thunder Bay Military Museum (housed within the O'Kelley Armoury on Park Street).

Thunder Bay has two recognised Federal Heritage buildings on the Register of the Government of Canada Heritage Buildings: • Ordnance Store (recognized 1997); • Park Street Armoury (recognized 1994); Both are part of HMCS Griffin.

Visitor attractions Thunder Bay's main tourist attraction is Fort William Historical Park, a reconstruction of the North West Company's Fort William fur trade post as it was in 1815, which attracts 100,000 visitors annually. The marina in downtown Port Arthur, an area known as The Waterfront District, draws visitors for its panoramic view of the Sleeping Giant and the presence of various water craft. The marina, known as Prince Arthur's landing also includes recreational trails along the lake, playground, harbour cruises, helicopter tours, the Alexander Henry (a retired Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker), splash pad (summer), skating rink (winter), and art gallery, gift shop, numerous restaurants, and a newly opened Delta Hotel and conference centre. There are several small surface amethyst mines in the area, some of which allow visitors to search for their own crystals. A 2.74 m (9 ft) statue of Terry Fox is situated at the Terry Fox Memorial and Lookout on the outskirts of the city near the place where he was forced to abandon his run. Other tourists attractions are listed below: • Bluffs Scenic Lookout • Boulevard Lake Park • Canada Games Complex • Canadian Lakehead Exhibition • Cascades Conservation Area • Centennial Conservatory • Centennial Park • Chapples Park • Chippewa Park • Connaught Square • Finnish Labour Temple • Fort William Gardens • Fort William Stadium • Hillcrest Park • The Hoito • Intercity Shopping Centre • Kakabeka Falls • Magnus Theatre • Mission Island Marsh • Mount McKay Lookout • MV Miseford • Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame • Ouimet Canyon • Prince Arthur's Landing waterfront district • Port Arthur Stadium • Silver Falls • Thunder Bay Art Gallery • Thunder Bay Community Auditorium • Thunder Bay Historical Museum • Thunder Bay Marina • International Friendship Gardens • Trowbridge Falls • Waverley Park.

Sports and recreation Thunder Bay's proximity to the wilderness of the Taiga and the rolling hills and mountains of the Canadian Shield allow its residents to enjoy very active lifestyles. The city has hosted several large sporting events including the Summer Canada Games in 1981, the Nordic World Ski Championships in 1995, the Continental Cup of Curling in 2003, and the U-18 Baseball World Cup in 2010 & 2017. Thunder Bay is the host for the 2024 Women's Baseball World Cup.

Recreational facilities Thunder Bay enjoys many recreational facilities. The city operates fifteen neighbourhood community centres, which offer various sporting and fitness facilities as well as seasonal activities such as dances. The city also operates six indoor ice rinks and 84 seasonal outdoor rinks, two indoor community pools and three seasonal outdoor pools as well as a portable pool and two maintained public beaches, several curling sheets, and three golf courses, among others. Listed below are some of the city's major facilities.

Multi-use facilities • The Canada Games Complex • The Fort William Gardens • Port Arthur Stadium • Royal Canadian Legion Sports Complex

Municipal ice rinks and indoor pools • Current River Arena • Delaney Arena • Grandview Arena • Neebing Arena • Port Arthur Arena • Thunder Bay Tournament Centre (2 ice surfaces) • Sir Winston Churchill Community Pool • Volunteer Community Pool Golf courses • Centennial Golf Course (9 holes) • Chapples Memorial Golf Course (18 holes) (municipal) • Dragon Hills Golf Course (9 holes) • Emerald Greens Golf Course (9 holes) • Fort William Country Club (18 holes) • Municipal Golf Course (9 holes) (municipal) (closed) • Northern Lights Golf Complex (9 holes par 3/9 holes regulation) • Strathcona Golf Course (18 holes) (municipal) • Thunder Bay Country Club (9 holes) • Whitewater Golf Club (18 holes)

Ski hills • Loch Lomond Ski Resort • Mount Baldy Ski Resort.

Cross-country skiing facilities • Lappe Nordic Ski Centre • Kamview Nordic Centre.

Transport Thunder Bay receives air, rail and shipping traffic due to its prime location along major continental transport routes. The municipally owned Thunder Bay Transit operates 17 routes across the city's urban area. The city is served by the Thunder Bay International Airport, the fourth busiest airport in Ontario by aircraft movements. The main highway through the city is Highway 11/17, a four-lane highway designated as the Thunder Bay Expressway.

The city is an important railway hub, served by both the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railway. Passenger rail service to Thunder Bay ended on 15 January 1990, when Via Rail rerouted the Canadian to the north.

Harbour Thunder Bay has been a port since the days of the North West Company, which maintained a schooner on Lake Superior. The Port of Thunder Bay is the largest outbound port on the St. Lawrence Seaway System, and the sixth-largest port in Canada. The Thunder Bay Port Authority manages Keefer Terminal, built on a 320,000 square metre site on Lake Superior.

Medical centres and hospitals Thunder Bay has one major hospital, the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. Other health care services include the St. Joseph's Care Group, which operates long-term care centres such as the Lakehead Psychiatric Hospital, St. Joseph's Hospital, and Hogarth Riverview Manor. The Northern Ontario School of Medicine has a campus at Lakehead University. The city is also home to a variety of smaller medical and dental clinics.

Media: Print Thunder Bay has one daily newspaper, The Chronicle-Journal, which has a circulation of approximately 28,000 and has coverage of all of Northwestern Ontario. The Chronicle Journal publishes a free weekly called Spot every Thursday, focusing on entertainment. There are two weekly newspapers: Thunder Bay's Source, a weekly newspaper operated by Dougall Media, and Canadan Sanomat, a Finnish-language weekly newspaper. Lakehead University has a student newspaper called The Argus, which is published weekly during the school year. The city publishes a bi-monthly newsletter to citizens titled yourCity, which is also available online in a PDF format, by electronic subscription and RSS feed.

Media: Television Three English-language stations supply Thunder Bay with free digital over-the-air television. Programming from the Global and CTV networks is provided by a locally owned twinstick operation branded as Thunder Bay Television, and the city receives TVOntario on channel 9. CBC Television and Ici Radio-Canada Télé are available only on cable and satellite in the area.

The cable provider in Thunder Bay is Shaw; although locally owned TBayTel has been granted a licence by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to compete in the cable TV market. The community channel on Shaw Cable is branded as Shaw TV, and airs on cable channel 10.

WBKP TV channel 5, the CW affiliate in Calumet, Michigan, can be received in Thunder Bay with an outdoor roof antenna and a digital-capable television or receiver.

Media: Radio Thunder Bay is home to 12 radio stations, all of which broadcast on the FM band.

There are four commercial radio stations based in the city – CJSD-FM and CKPR-FM, owned by Dougall Media, the parent company of Thunder Bay Television and Thunder Bay's Source, and CJUK-FM and CKTG-FM, owned by Acadia Broadcasting. One additional station, CFQK-FM, targets the Thunder Bay market from transmitters in Kaministiquia and Shuniah. The city receives CBC Radio One as CBQT-FM and CBC Radio 2 as CBQ-FM, at 88.3 FM and 101.7 FM respectively. The French Première Chaîne is available as a repeater of Sudbury-based CBON-FM on 89.3 FM. Lakehead University operates a campus radio station, CILU-FM, at 102.7 FM, and CJOA-FM 95.1 broadcasts Christian-oriented programming and is run by a local non-profit group. Thunder Bay Information Radio CKSI-FM is broadcast 24/7 on 90.5 and is also the city's emergency radio station.