Moosonee

Moosonee
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
Region	Northeastern Ontario
District	Cochrane District
Settled	1903
Incorporated	2001
Government
• Mayor	Wayne Taipale
• Councillors	Robert Gravel, Richard Grom, Melody McComb-Uiselt, Clifford Trapper
• MP	Charlie Angus
• MPP	Gilles Bisson
Area
• Total	555.35 km2 (214.42 sq mi)
Population  (2006)
• Total	2,006
• Density	3.6/km2 (9/sq mi)
	Municipal estimate is 3,000
Time zone	UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Area code	705
Website	www.moosonee.ca

Moosonee is a town in Ontario, Canada, on the Moose River approximately 19 kilometres (12 mi) south of James Bay.

Moosonee is the railhead on James Bay 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 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 Revillon.

Moosonee formerly held the status of a Development Area, the only community in the province with that designation, and 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. The most recent council took office on December 1, 2006 after being elected in the 2006 municipal elections on November 13. The mayor of Moosonee is Wayne Taipale and the councillors are Richard Grom, Melody McComb-Uiselt, Clifford Trapper and Bob Gravel.

Demographics

The population is 2,006 according to the Statistics Canada 2006 Census and about 3,000 people by municipal government estimate. Census figures for Moosonee may be inaccurate because of incomplete enumeration, a common problem with remote communities. About 85 per cent of the population are native Cree. The number of private dwellings is 658. Population density per square kilometre is 3.6.

Services

Moosonee has two elementary schools, Moosonee Public School and Bishop Belleau Separate School (Roman Catholic) that offer kindergarten through grade eight. Bishop Belleau School also provides a French Language Instructional Unit for children who are entitled to be educated in French. There is a public high school, Northern Lights Secondary, that provides grades nine through twelve. Northern College's Moosonee campus provides some postsecondary programs.

Health services are provided through the Moosonee Clinic of James Bay General Hospital and the Weeneebayko Health Ahtuskaywin which operates Weeneebayko General Hospital in Moose Factory. Plans exist for the merger of the two hospitals.

Climate

Moosonee generally has long cold winters and short warm summers, with James Bay acting as a thermal reservoir to moderate and skew spring and fall temperatures. Freeze-up on the Moose River normally occurs in late October or early November, with mean daily minimum January temperatures approximately −30 °C (−22 °F). Spring break-up, or known as spring thaw occurs in April. Mean annual precipitation is approximately 660 millimetres (26.0 in), and mean annual snowfall is approximately 2,413 millimetres (95.0 in) (snow depth). Maximum accumulations of snow occur in mid-May. Severe thunderstorms can occur from time to time. For example, on August 1, 2007 Environment Canada issued a tornado watch for Moosonee and the James Bay coast.

Climate data for Moosonee
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Source: Environment Canada

Transportation

Float plane in Moosonee

The main method of access is by Ontario Northland Railway which reached the town in 1932 and which provides passenger and freight train service to Cochrane. There is a passenger train from Cochrane that runs six days per week during the summer months and five days per week during the rest of the year. There are also two freight trains per week. During the summer and early fall shipping season, goods can be transported from Moosonee by barge. In January 2007, responsibility for the Port of Moosonee was transferred from the federal government to the Town of Moosonee.

The town is also served by Moosonee Airport and Moosonee Water Aerodrome.

Moosonee is inaccessible by road. The nearest road outside of Moosonee ends at Otter Rapids which is 92.5 miles (148.9 km) south of Moosonee. During the early months of 2008, a winter road was open between Moosonee and the provincial road system at Otter Rapids. This road was built to support the twinning of the electric transmission lines that run from Otter Rapids to Moosonee. Local residents report it taking five or six hours to get to Timmins from Moosonee via Otter Rapids and Smooth Rock Falls. This road was not in service in 2009. In late 2009, members of the Moose Cree First Nation voted for the construction of a seasonal winter road south to Otter Rapids.

During the winter, ice roads are plowed and maintained on the ice across the Moose River to Moose Factory and winter roads are maintained to the coastal communities of Fort Albany, Kashechewan and Attawapiskat. In recent years, much of the traffic heading up north has been destined for the Victor Diamond Mine operated by De Beers Canada to the west of Attawapiskat.

Communications

Moosonee has a local radio station, CHMO 1450 AM that is generally operated by volunteers, plus a rebroadcasting facility for CBC Radio One Northern Ontario from CBCS-FM Sudbury on 1340 AM. CBLT (on channel 9) and TVOntario (channel 11) have low-powered rebroadcast transmitters in Moosonee. Most homes subscribe to either Creecable cable TV or a satellite TV service to augment the two locally available channels.

Ontera, formerly Ontario Northland Telecommunications, provides telecommunications service, including analog cellular (band B), in Moosonee (NPA-NXX 705-336). Digital cellular service is expected in December 2009.

Downtown Moosonee

See also

• Moose Factory, Ontario
• Polar Bear Express
• Tidewater Provincial Park

External links

• Town of Moosonee official website
• Moosonee photos
• James Bay General Hospital