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Moosonee, Ontario

Moosonee
Town (single-tier)
Town of Moosonee
Moosonee downtown aerial.jpg
Official logo of Moosonee
Logo
Moosonee is located in Ontario
Moosonee
Moosonee
Moosonee is located in Canada
Moosonee
Moosonee
Coordinates: 51°16′20″N 80°38′35″W / 51.27222°N 80.64306°W / 51.27222; -80.64306Coordinates: 51°16′20″N 80°38′35″W / 51.27222°N 80.64306°W / 51.27222; -80.64306
Country  Canada
Province  Ontario
Region Northeastern Ontario
District Cochrane
Settled 1903
Incorporated 2001
Government
 • Mayor Wayne Taipale
 • Councillors
 • MP Charlie Angus
 • MPP Gilles Bisson
Area
 • Land 550.12 km2 (212.40 sq mi)
Population (2011)
 • Total 1,725
 • Density 3.1/km2 (8/sq mi)
Time zone EST (UTC−5)
 • Summer (DST) EDT (UTC−4)
Postal code P0L 1Y0
Area code(s) 705
Website www.moosonee.ca

Moosonee is a town in northern Ontario, Canada, on the Moose River approximately 19 kilometres (12 mi) south of James Bay. It is considered to be "the Gateway to the Arctic" and has Ontario's only saltwater port. 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.

Moosonee is 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, Calgary, London (UK), and Berlin—but is colder due to its proximity to the 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 Révillon 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, 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 Municipal Council was elected on October 27, 2014 and three replacement councillors were elected in a by-election held 2015 July 7. For 2014–2018 the Town Council consists of Mayor Wayne Taipale, and Councillors Tony Tourville, John Moore, Carman Tozer and Cathy Turner.

In 1900, Annie Hardisty and her two daughters were the first settlers on the site. But the place really developed when on June 6, 1903, four canoes and a crew of 21 persons of the Révillon Frères company arrived on the banks of the Moose River near the much older Moose Factory to establish the Moose River Post. This Parisian furrier had ambitious plans to set up a chain of fur trading posts in direct competition with the Hudson's Bay Company, including five on James Bay. But it suffered a setback when their supply ship that carried all the provisions shipwrecked near Fort George.


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