Talk:Northern Ontario/Archive 1

Boundaries
Re "Most of Northern Ontario was transferred to the province from the Northwest Territories in 1882 and 1912, although the area immediately adjacent to the Great Lakes was already part of Ontario in 1867." I would like to change this but need the opinion of others. My understanding of the famous Ontario Boundaries question is that is involved exclusively Northwestern Ontario. The area north and west of the Lake Superior - Hudson Bay watershed was in dispute between the Ontario government and the Dominion government. Sir Oliver Mowat took it to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and won his case in 1884. It was enacted into law by the Imperial Parliament in 1889, although Ontario quickly moved in 1885 to create Rainy River District. Thus, the Dominion government could not "transfer" any land which it never legally owned. The area of Northwestern Ontario draining into Lake Superior was never in dispute (that includes Sault Ste Marie over to the US border at Pigeon River (Minnesota-Ontario)) which was always part of Upper Canada and the Province of Canada. The Hudson's Bay Company recognized the jurisdiction of Canadian authorities in this watershed, and the Province of Canada was granting mining permits around Thunder Bay in the 1840s. The 1912 extension was quite different as this land clearly belonged to the Dominion government as part of the Hudson's Bay Company territories transferred to Canada in 1880 by the Imperial government. I am not aware the boundaries of Northeastern Ontario were in dispute after 1867.--BrentS 18:00, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)


 * The original boundary of Ontario in 1867 ended only very slightly north of where the Ontario-Quebec border now stops following the Ottawa River/Lake Timiskaming waterway. It then followed a very variable line never much more, and mostly much less, than 120 kilometres north of the Great Lakes. The area where Timmins is now, for example, did not belong to Ontario in 1867, and was part of the 1880s dispute. (And Timmins is in the northeast.) I'd support posting a historical map that shows the boundary expansion of Northern Ontario, if somebody can make one or knows where to locate a suitable existing map in the public domain. Bearcat 20:26, 27 January 2006 (UTC)