About the Far North

The Far North covers 42% of Ontario’s land mass. About three times the size of Lake Superior, it stretches from Manitoba in the west to James Bay and Quebec in the east (see Figure 1).

It is home to:

  • 24,000 people (90% of them First Nations)
  • 31 First Nations communities
  • two municipalities (Pickle Lake and Moosonee)
  • one community with a Local Service Board (Moose Factory)

The Far North has two distinct ecological regions, which play a key role in helping reduce global warming:

  • bogs and fens of the Hudson Bay Lowlands
  • boreal forest of the Canadian Shield

They also provide essential habitat for:

  • more than 200 sensitive species, including species at risk like woodland caribou and wolverine
  • Ontario’s only populations of polar bears, beluga whales and snow geese

Economic development

The natural resource potential in the Far North is great and demand is growing. This means there is opportunity for responsible resource development which will benefit Far North First Nation communities and Ontario. To help ensure sustainable development, the Ontario government and First Nations are working together on community based land use planning.

Learn more about community based planning

Far North of Ontario map

map of Far North region relative to the rest of Ontario. To represent the remote nature of the Far North of Ontario, the Northern Ontario cities of Timmins and Thunder Bay are marked on the map, as well as the more southern city of Peterborough.
Figure 1: Far North of Ontario Map