Why So Few Canadians Live In This HUGE Area In The Middle Of Canada
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 พ.ค. 2024
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Canada, much like the United States, is split into two halves. On the east side is Canada's major population centers of Toronto and Montreal. And on the west side are the smaller, but still large cities of Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. But separating thw the two halves is a VAST EXPANSE of almost nothing, comprising what I've termed Canada's Empty Belt. So why don't more Canadians live in this area specifically?
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People have tried. They died from blood loss from the mosquitoes.
sorry eh
And black flies , oh man, the black flies
Yes northern Ontario in the James Bay and Hudson bay have black flies the size of golf balls.
😂😂
@@ZenSpider40A song was written of that.
th-cam.com/video/f389hIxZAOc/w-d-xo.htmlsi=pzo66HRkJyJNbEJ3
Geoff usually doesn’t explain “why” in his videos, but rather repeats the basic premise (e.g., what is the Canadian Shield) throughout his video.
I agree
Yeah, I'm finding it fustrating and has put me off the channel.
it was tough to listen I didn't finish watching, repeat after repeat
With some serious editing, this might be watchable. Until then... Won't recommend wasting time on this amateur.
Padding out the runtime
Northern Ontarian here, I would very much like to clarify that the area surrounding Thunder Bay has MASSIVE tracts of farmland and local agriculture sees significant profits. The soil isn't nearly as bad as it's made out to be here, the real limiting factor tends to be the temperature variance from 36c to -36c which limits the timeframe for certain crops.
Thanks for clarifying. I'm going to translate what you said into
Good Soils, but Short Growing Season.
Hi, I’m from Thunder Bay myself. Love it here!
Also there is the clay belt around Temiskaming Shores in NorthEastern Ontario. A huge farming area.
X Northwest Ontario here, I grew up in Thunder Bay, attended Lakehead U there, and am familar with the local geog,. Your point is well taken. Another limiting factor, the extremely short growing season, frosts into June, poor heat retention as the heat bounces off the igneous Canadian Shield. I'm not an ag guy, but as I remember there was or is faming along the Kam River Basin, as well as Murillo, but production was limited to Hay, dairy, potatoes, everything limited by the short growing season and that infernal ice box called Hudson Bay.
Thunder Bay area is breathtakingly beautiful
I live there… didn’t know it was called the empty belt. Honestly with how Canada is turning out these days I’m happy to live away from all the craziness.
Ditto!
As a fellow Nothern Ontarian, AMEN!
It isn't. It is just what the host calls it.
NWO 4 Life! 🇨🇦
Red lake NWO baby!!
I like how the "densely populated east" includes mostly sparsely populated Atlantic Canada and the vast emptiness of Quebec.
Yeah, could've narrowed it down to just the shore of the st lawrence.
New Brunswick especially. I imagine it's the same problem as Maine: rocky coast that made it mostly terrible for ports and therefore uninhabitable until modern times.
The maritime provinces are the densest provinces in Canada with PEI being the densest in the country
Technically the maritimes may be dense, but that's only cause they don't have the vast expanses of pure emptiness the other provinces have.
The parts of the Maritimes where people live is the same Density as the parts of Northern Ontario and Quebec near the Highways, where the people live.
Except for Halifax, that's denser than the livable Northern Ontario/ Quebec
@@steverempel8584I vacationed in Nova Scotia a few years ago and explored the entire eastern half of the province, starting in Halifax, a long the southern shore out to Yarmouth where we stayed a few days, then looped around back north by the Bay of Fundy and back down to Halifax. It was very interesting to see how much not just the population density and terrain changed, but also the actual climate. This was in July and it was hot and humid in Halifax, just like back home in New York state, but travelling east the climate became more like a maritime climate, cool, foggy, windy. In terms of population there just isn't much outside of Halifax/Dartmouth, it's very sparsely populated. I really enjoyed the scenery and the hospitality in all the little towns. Halifax reminded me of a mini Toronto, or probably more accurately, a mini Hamilton.
Just a note. Sudbury, Ontario is pronounced SUD-bury with a soft U, as in soap suds.
The same as Sudbury in Eastern England.
Yeah, interesting how our Geo Guru Geoff did that ... I think most Americans would read it like "suds". With this tell, we can now guess where he's from...
As someone living in sudbury, it gave me a chuckle but also a surprise that he pronounce sault saint marie properly
caught that too, go wolves go!
The pronunciation of Sault Ste. Marie is almost spot on, which just made Sood-boory stand out. But then it is just Sudbury, there aren't a whole lot of Canadians who will be offended by mispronunciation - most people who live near but outside Sudbury will probably chuckle (my mom lives near North Bay).
My wife's family vacationed in Northern Ontario from Toledo, Ohio every summer for almost 50 years. I remember being blown away by how remote it could get the first time they took me with them when my wife and I were dating. They went to a camp called Poplar Point on Long Point Lake between Elk Lake and Gowganda. The whole area has a unique feel to it and my favorite part of the trip up there was the drive along the top of Lake Huron on route 17 before we would turn north just before Sudbury. We lost our standing reservation at the camp when the borders were closed for Covid, and my wife's parents are now old enough that they can't travel that far anymore without major difficulty. I hope to go back someday, my daughter learned how to walk there the last summer we went, and I'd like her to see it when she gets older.
Canoe tripping in northern Ontario is so isolating that you might as well be sailing on the ocean for the most part. Then also when you get up in the morning you’ll sometimes find your campsite covered in wolf tracks. Never saw a bear outside of a garbage dump though. Moose sightings are fairly common. Our campsite was once invaded by a badger. Then of course the loons are always singing in the evening.
Elk lake! ❤ Gowganda ❤ shot out Shinning Tree, still hanging in there 😊
Visited Elk Lake in early July 1971 on the Northwoods Camp Hudson’s Bay canoe trip and got caught in the middle of a teenage gang war which was going on between the English teenagers and the Francophone teenagers. Quite amusing really. Then last time I was up there I made a point of driving to Shining Tree from New Liskeard now renamed Temiskaming Shores. Was very impressed with the village of Shining Tree. Now I’d like to go tour the giant brutalist abandoned mansion on Lake Temiskaming which originally intended to be the headquarters of Canada’s largest plywood manufacturing company, subsequently abandoned and with multiple TH-cam videos.@@Pawcher
🎃 °
I never have to worry about work trick they fly us from, the east, for 3 weeks • then fly us back east° the west flies east, because We got tattoo's together ° then they get flown out, everything all paid all the time• the people are so friendly there are always pregnant little girls ○ Inflation 🇨🇦
@@marcmeinzer8859 The Mansion your speaking of had nothing to do with plywood, they made a product called Oriented Strand Board (OSB) which is a completely different process. OSB is stronger and more durable then plywood.
I grew up in Northern Ontario, and still camp there every summer. It is the most beautiful place in the world - the lakes cannot be beat, and I miss the rocks so much when I am not there. I plan to retire there. The people are wonderful too. I agree - it is completely different, not just geographically but culturally from Southern Ontario.
Northern Ontario is like a chiller version of southern Ontario. Of course excluding Toronto and that chaos cluster.
It also has a large fraction of the world's black bears.
@@Joey-be8eh Yes but it is a dry cold in Northern Ontario. To me 60 below up north feels like 30 below in Southern Ontario. As long as you dress for it , it feels the same. But up North you don't want to get wet or you will freeze fast. I miss Dryden Ontario. The fishing is good and the people are nice. In Northern Ontario the summers are hot but not as long as Southern Ontario. I still like North Ontario better. If you go North of Dryden you can go to Redlake. It's a mining town. Good fishing good food 👌 people are nice. There is alot of nice towns in Northern Ontario.
You can describe northern Manitoba and Quebec in the same way, too. Northern Quebec is best known for forestry, mineral extraction and the massive dams of Hydro Quebec. It's only in southern Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta that you get the type of farmland commonly seen in the northern states of the continental USA.
Indeed, I was thinking of the same thing. Both have similar characteristics.
Yup. The interior of Canada having a northern, continental climate, you like to be as far south as possible in that region because it's warmer, things grow better, and winters suck less.
Yeah, I was looking up Supercharger locations across Canada the other day. Manitoba surprised me, about 80% of the province is empty, infrastructure wise.
@@VoIcanoman It's all about soil quality, not climate. Most of Northern Canada is composed of the "Canadian shield", meaning exposed rock with a very thin soil. Good luck farming in such conditions
A tiny part of Quebec at the same latitude is favourable to farming due to a sizable lake that creates a micro climate.
Originally from California, Retired in 2012. I moved to Northwestern Ontario, to the City of Kenora (Lake of the Woods). I remarried, became a permanent resident in 2016, and a Canadian Citizen in 2020. I am PROUD to call this area HOME!
That's quite the contrast of weather to California. Beautiful area though!
Quite the change for you I’m sure.
Welcome to Canada!!
I hope you picked up fishing because Lake of The Woods is insane
Welcome
I actually have a unique experience here. I have gone on two canoe trips that exceed 900 miles over 5.5 weeks in 2008 and 2009. In 2008 we were dropped off at Pickle lake and went on a trip all the way up the winisk river to peawanuck. The land is absolutely untouched. How untouched? The guy who lead us did the same trip multiple times going back to the 80’s. One night we stayed in an area where his firewood was untouched from 25 years prior. In 2009 we were dropped off at windigo lake and went all the way up the Severn river to fort Severn. I believe fort Severn is the most northern community in Ontario.
The mosquitoes up there are worse than you can imagine. I remember one time it was so bad I was inhaling them.
The terrain is ridiculously thick forest with Canadian Shield. As you go up further, it’s swamp. We traveled 5.5 weeks and the only other people we saw were at wunnimin lake during the winisk trip. I believe it was webeque. It was a reservation that had one northern store.
Ontario’s motto is “yours to discover.” Boy is that well said. The province is massive and 95% of it is forest that many people will never see.
I remember being out in the woods one night and thinking it’s likely I’m standing in a spot where nobody will ever stand again.
cool description. born and raised Canadian here. will be exploring the country in a 4x4 suv soon enough.
and all the pulp mills are now closed. that jackpine treeline is going to go back..to first growth!! and moose and bear and walleye.
Canada is so much divided into two halves that there is only one road connecting them. The Nipigon Bridge is the only road link between Eastern and Western Canada. If anything ever happened to that bridge, it would be literally impossible to drive a truck between Toronto and Winnipeg without going through the United States.
When my grandfather came to Canada from England in the first decade of the 20th century, he remarked as he was travelling to western Canada by train that northern Ontario was an endless expanse of "bloody rocks and Christmas trees".
So true - then comes the endless of expanse of absolutely nothing - especially in the winter- until you finally reach the mountains after thousands of miles!
Not to forget the hundreds of square miles of muskeg.
Yeah, it's huge, wild and impressive but not exactly pretty. My family (from Saskatchewan) went on a long camping holiday to Ontario when I was a kid in the 1970s. We had gone to the Rockies and BC the summer before so we kids were a bit disappointed in the monotonous scenery and lack of mountains. Seeing the Great Lakes was pretty amazing, though.
I wouldn’t live anywhere else. I can walk 15 minutes from my home and hit a lake in any direction where I can catch a Pickerel on almost every cast. There’s no smog nothing but fresh clean air and water. I like going to the GTA for shopping and concerts but am always glad to get back to my little chunk of paradise.
@@KathyPrendergast-cu5ci ANYTHING is impressive when you're from Saskatchewan!
I grew up in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, a major copper-gold-lead-zinc mining centre in NW Quebec near the Ontario border. It grew from a copper mining town founded in 1927 to present day population 70,000 regional centre for commerce, education, and governmental services. My grandfather was a blacksmith's son from Nova Scotia. He immigrated to Cobalt, Ontario around 1910 when silver was discovered there, and later moved to other mining settlements as one mine petered out and other mines were discovered. Many more mineral discoveries were made after Cobalt --gold in Porcupine (Timmins), gold in Kirkland Lake, etc. Railroads and roads were built to enable the building of mines and transport of milled minerals to the south, and they became towns. This mineral wealth is what built Toronto as a leading world center for mining. I remember my first trip to the south IE Hamilton, Ontario when I was 16. I couldn't believe I was in the same country. I guess Siberians feel the same way when they visit Moscow!
Raoul Duguay "La bitt a Tibi".
lyrics: Pis des bras durs comme la roche
Pis des cuisses comme des troncs d'arbre
Pis du front tout le tour de la tête
Isabelle Pierre "Le tems est bon". Richard Desjardins "Tu m'aimes Tu". SERIOUS talent from that area. Wow!!! i was a teen in the late1970s .
I was born in Rouyn. My fàther was an insurance adjuster & took us back on a fishing road trip from Manitoba to Lac Temiskaming then on to Rouyn in'68. I was 13 at the time & had no memory of Rouyn as I was 1 1/2 when we moved on to Newfoundland. We got a room in a new hotel & I went down to check the place out. As I was walking past the bar, someone shouted "Robbie!!!" , my dad's nickname, right in my face. Turned out a handfull of his old work buddies were still there, looked at my handsome face🤪 & instantly knew he was back in town, after 12 years. I took them up to see him, & before they dragged him down to the bar, phoned down to room service & said no limit for the kids & put it on their tab. We watched tv & ate until we couldn't, & had a great time. Apparently not as great as dad did. His bed was untouched. We found him passed out in the full bathtub, still dressed, dead drunk & snoring away with a smile on his face. It's good when old friends with a wicked sense of humour watch out for you. Rouyn boys put him in a great mood for the rest of our trip. Best road trip ever as a kid, everyone we met were salt of the earth.
My great grandfather was from clericy Rouyn Noranda. He was a police officer with one functioning arm. I guess he was hard to miss.
Right, if it's not agriculture or trade, you need other resources, mainly mining, to establish a city somewhere. Otherwise Alaska would live from fishing only, so does Greenland.
Rouyn c'est une belle place en vrai
Having just moved into Northern Ontario due to aligning opportunity and a fear of the ever encroaching reach of Toronto, I'm never going back south, I love every bit of it.
Shhhhh! Best kept secret!
This vid quacks me up
Does not reflect what it’s like here at all
May I ask where did you go to?
@@nabihah2674 Tbay
@@genevievemichele7 what’s it like?
It was 1975 with first baby just born and sent by company to North Bay.
Apartments were very well constructed for the cold that I saw 40 below Fahrenheit for first-time with that haze that settles in air when extremely cold.
Less than 6 months we were back to southern Ontario spouse was so depressed she was ready for breakdown.
I enjoy camping and outdoorsy stuff in that region during the summer. I'd not want to live there.
I was born in 1975 in North Bay. I've lived most of my life here with about 10 years in the middle living in Kitchener-Waterloo 2 separate times. Each time I lived away from the bay, I was empty inside. I need to be able to walk out my door and be just steps from the forests and beaches. It's an inner peace that soothes the soul
Politically, southern Ontario has also been treating northern Ontario like a resource colony for decades
As most provinces do to their northern regions.
Lived in this area for almost 25 years. The correct actual term for this area is the Mid-Canada Corridor which stretches from northern Quebec to the Yukon territory. It denotes an area north of the main population centres, but south of the tree line where there is immense wealth of timber and minerals.
Another city in Northern Ontario that deserves mention is Timmins, pop 45,000 and where Shania Twain grew up.
just did some work in Dryden Ontario what a little shithole town.
Would you support moving the capital from Ottawa to Winnipeg or Thunder Bay, much more central Canadian cities?
Timmins is also the location of the most successful and longest running of the North American gold rushes, and nearby Cobalt for the silver rush. Those two rushes are the cause of the majority of the settlement in this region and would have been a good thing to mention in a video about it.
No offense but nobody calls it the Mid Canada Corridor....that was an idea of author Richard Rohmer's in the 1960s that never really gained any traction....
@@mikeaylward4521 Heard it referred to many times in my career in natural resources management. Often used in company names from the area ie MCTV.... Mid-Canada Television and there are many others.
The best fishing in Canada is in Northern Ontario. Lakes in abundance with few people are great.
Just a couple of comments, the Canadian Pacific railroad you showed was actually the Canadian National Railway. The bottom right corner of your Northern Ontario map, showing Lake Nipissing and North Bay are actually in Northern Ontario. North Bay is called the “Gateway to the North “. Pretty good presentation though.
Had to scroll all the way down to you, to find the correction,
Amazing so many Canadians missed the obvious error.
Thanks for Posting !
If he made the same points about the damn Canadian Shield one more time I was going to throw my phone against the wall.
Canadian Shield: Forest, lakes, minerals; no farming. Got it the first 7 times.
just south of Lake-of-the-Woods is lots of farming. all my relatives, and lots of cows. great soil. right along the border. and now gold underneath (New Gold mines). walking distance from where me and my relatives were born and raised. Go Vermillion Bay!!
Rockies aside, northern Ontario was definitely my favorite part of my recent cross-Canada drive. The road winds through infinite lakes and trees
What about the cascades?
👍Agreed. Way back in the ice age (70's) we stopped at a pullover site overlooking a bay on the north shore of Superior due to heavy rain. Within minutes of it stopping, a hole in the clouds opened up, circling & highlighting the sand/gravel beaches & water perfectly, in contrast to the dark green treelines.
There were 6 rainbows in the bay. Indescribeable, & no camera...only memories
@@DEADMANRIDING1that’s an incredible memory though! You’re luckier than most
I hated going through northern Ontario by train. 1,000 miles of craggy rocks and scrubby trees that took forever to get through. Once I got to Manitoba and saw some flat land and grain elevators, I felt a lot better.
And when I was moving from Regina to Toronto, I hit a full-grown moose with my car near Thunder Bay. She took out the windshield.
@@dogvom stop driving wrecklessly
I learned a lot from the comments on this video.
The actual video, though, had a lot of repetition and padding (even repetition of the same stock footage). I know that a longer runtime can mean more ad revenue, but I think you would get more subscribers if you cut a video like this down to about 6-7 minutes. I don't think you would need to leave much out.
Also, you didn't give as many reasons as some of the commenters. I get that the Canadian Shield's composition is a major reason, but there are others they mentioned that you did not.
Finally, as others have said, I don't think that northern Quebec should be included in the "densely populated east". It's just as unpopulated as this region, I believe.
I hope you can take this as constructive criticism. I think the premise of this video, and this channel, is a good one, and I would like to see more videos in the future that are more concise.
Hundreds of undisturbed lakes....that's a vast understatement. More like a hundred thousand
I am a proud resident of northern Ontario. And it's 27 degrees on October 2 here. It's not cold any more. In fact, it's ridiculously warm!
Note to our American friends. He means 27 degrees CELSIUS, which is about 80 degrees F
@@MonctonRadat first I thought he was making a joke about how cold it is in Canada but then I realized it was just Celsius lol
I'm going to look forward to your weather update in January. Good luck🍻
@@DEADMANRIDING1 It's honestly been getting milder, which sucks because the amount of snow that is getting dumped on us lately (at least in Sudbury) has been ROUGH
yeah, it'll be -30 soon enough. don't forget to plug in the Ford Taurus.
I did work North of Nipigon a couple weeks ago. If you ever want to see a proper night sky, northern Ontario is the place to go. I saw the both the milky way and aurora borealis for the first time, in one day.
Technically you can't help but see the milky way as that is our home galaxy. But yeah nothing beats a natural night sky with no noise or light pollution.
I was born and grew up in Nipigon. It was absolutely booming back in the 80’s. Very different now though.
The Aurora is one of those winter experiences no photo can do justice, no explanation can give the experience.
The stars are amazing along that highway around the lakes. I remember that.
I've travelled to many different countries, and met thousands and thousands of people. The people from this region of Canada are the nicest people I've ever met anywhere. I don't just have 1 or 2 good experiences with people who live in this area but every experience I had with everyone in this area was amazing. I'm not talking just being nice to be nice, I mean genuinely nice. But the closer you get to Montreal, if you don't speak French, forget it. I had to give up and head back to the US.
Like woke, it's an entitlement that has grown with idiots that completely miss the wider world picture. In 1960 I never heard French in Ottawa, now it's all I here. My son in BC won the French Speaking HS competition, twice! So there. (there's also one for Engrish: you can't use that language in your home).
I grew up in Northen Ontario. I actually love it there but life was different. For example, I’ve Trick-or-treated in snow more than once. My village is so remote that my Mom would warm me to watch out for bears every time I went out. The bugs are insane in june. All the kids would go to school with bug spray to survive recess! Lol good times!
I grew up in Northwestern Ontario.. We'd have bear traps in the downtown area... A few years ago a bear got into the kitchen of a restaurant in my hometown.. While it was open..
I was born in Northern Ontario, in a town far to the north of the three main population centres. I'm well travelled in, and very familiar with most of this region. Yes, Northern and Southern Ontario are experienced as different provinces. For me, the culture-shock in moving from the North to my present home in Toronto was probably just as great as for someone immigrating to Toronto from another country. Even language is different ---- Northern Ontario has a very large number of French-speakers, and a few towns are majority francophone. One fairly large town (by Northern standards) is 95% francophone. I grew up going to French-language schools. As well as that, First Nations are a significant portion of the population, and the Cree and Ojibway languages are spoken. Virtually nothing that you see in your daily life looks like it does in Southern Ontario --- and the forests and lakes, as well as the very cold climate, dominate every aspect of life. On the other hand, life and people in neighbouring north-western Quebec and northern Manitoba are very similar, and generally thought of as being in the same "us". When discussing the wildlife, this video failed to mention polar bears, of which the region has the greatest concentration.
I was wondering about the polar bears too. I was sure that I read somewhere that they were present in these area.
@@adityashankarnarayananPolar bear provincial park is in Ontario right on Hudson Bay. Churchill, Manitoba has maybe the highest density of polar bears anywhere and it's close to Ontario's most northern point.
@@adityashankarnarayanan They are present all along the coast of Hudson's Bay. While the largest concentration is probably around Churchill, Manitoba, the area where Hudson's Bay meets up with James Bay in Ontario has the largest breeding grounds where the females come onto land to nurse their cubs. This area is set aside as a restricted area of 23,552 square kms (9,093 square miles) --- an area larger than Wales or about the size of Cyprus --- called, misleadingly, "Polar Bear Provincial Park." It can only be reached by bush plane, has no facilities, and only a handful of people are permitted to visit this "park", and then only with heavily armed professional guides. There is a small First Nations community of about 200 people, Peawanuck, which is the only nearby human presence, and that is also only reachable by air. The bears in Churchill, Manitoba are much more accessible. You can take a 1,700 km (1,100 mi) train journey there from Winnipeg. It takes about 40 hours. Once there, you can see the bears in special "tundra buggies" which are large and tall enough to withstand attacks. The locals, however, have to deal with bears coming into town, and have numerous rules and customs to protect themselves.
You must be referring to Timmins, Kapuskasing, and Hearst?
Is Timmons where the polar bear Xpress takes off from?
I'm surprised that you didn't mention that Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie are larger because of the lakes. Thunder Bay is one of the largest inland ports for ocean going ships, if not the largest, Sault Ste. Marie sits on the Soo Canal linking Superior to Huron.
Now. But before the Welland Canal, ships couldn't get past Lake Ontario: hence the larger historical development around the Golden Horseshoe. I feel TBay would be 2-3x as large at least if the first ships could make it to Superior.
Canada is in many ways a handful of different countries. The Windsor-Quebec corridor is one country, the Atlantic is another, the prairies is another, BC is another (extension of US west coast), and everywhere else is another with prominent but isolated Indigenous populations. It’s so big that there’s really no connection between these regions
Canada is the way it is, basically because a whole bunch of areas that had still been British colonies long after the United States was formed banded together just after the US Civil War to protect themselves from US annexation.
I've driven 8.5 hours north to Moonbean to camp, it wasn't even halfway up Ontario. What a beautiful place and would recommend people try to explore it, I think it'd take a life time to see it all. The Polar Bear Sanctuary in Cochrane is neat too, one of the big boys pushed over a big tree, roots snapped like dry spaghetti noodles.
You went to Moonbeam!! Nice, I grew up in Moonbeam. I actually love it there and go back every summer. I feel far away from the world’s troubles when I’m there. 😌
Hello from Kapuskasing!! I was born and raised in Moonbeam and now live in Kap. The provincial park just north of Moonbeam is still beautiful. We managed to save it when the government was trying to close all the small parks up this way a few years ago.
Honestly the question shouldn’t be why nobody lives in northern Ontario, but instead why anybody does live in Edmonton or Winnipeg. The winters are brutal AF. Not worth it.
"Winnipeg: we were born here, what's your excuse" is sooo accurate 😂
I moved south to northern ontario from living in edmonton (and working in NWT at the time). Absolutely love it! Shorter winters, longer summers, and not nearly as many people as southern ontario or edmonton. A little slice of heaven up here.
Also, Soodbury gave me a chuckle.
May I ask where you went?
My father's favorite vacation spot was up north of the Sault...where we could camp all alone.
The night sky on a clear night was spectacular.
Northern Ontario is beautiful.
I'm one of the few people who genuinely is considering moving up there, I've been up there before and love it.
Because it's so sparsely populated nature up there is incredibly untouched, most of the waters are clean and rich in fish, the air is pure, and the land is cheap (you just have to be willing to actually make something of that land).
Agreed, love it too. Not for the faint hearted, though!
It’s absolutely beautiful along the North Shore of Lake Huron. Be sure to travel north to Elliot Lake or up Hwy 129 to see an ancient mountain range that is part of the Penokean Hills. Most Ontarians don’t even know that it’s there. Stunning!!
All four of my US based Scandanavian grandparents homesteaded in the Rainy River District. I worked with all four as a kid. I couldn't do it today; I'm not that tough, and I dont know any women that tough any more.
When I was younger, in 1986, my parents and I drove from NY state across Canada, including Northern Ontario, via the Trans Canada highway to EXPO 86 in Vancouver, BC, and back down to US in Seattle and east for a 3 week trip of 7,000 miles. 😊
It was very empty up in Northern Ontario, as stated. I remember the Algoma region, and the small town of Wawa, with Canadian Geese statues on the roof of some buildings. Winnipeg was very flat, and so it was until the Canadian Rockies, west
of Calgary near Banff. There are many more highlights from this exciting trip across Canada and back through the US, such as Devil's Tower, Custers Battlefield, Yellowstone, Mt Rushmore and the US Air Force Academy. 😀
Yes, my coworkers and I loved stopping in Wawa on our trip out west and joking about the geese statues. We almost drove by before noticing it would be another hour and a half before another town. The views make up for the feelings of isolation.
You went all the way to Colorado too? The air force academy is in southern Colorado. You basically made a big U across North America lol
I made a similar trip with my parents in 1974, when I was 9. We crossed Canada from Southern Ontario to Victoria, then returned through the USA.
Yikes! Did you really go to Mt.Rushmore without seeing nearby:
Jewell Cave and Wind Cave (two of the five longest explored caves in the world, but with very different formations), Custer State Park (with a major bison herd, and other wildlife), and The Badlands?
Canada geese, not Canadian geese. It's a species, not a nationality.
I live on the cadillac fault on the quebec side. I like the fact that everyone thinks it's an inhospitable area..everytime I go back to mtl to visit friends and family I'm amaze how people are able to live in traffic jams and have to wait in line everywhere. City center is a 5 min bike ride, mtb trails are 1km away, it never rains in winter and there are plenty of lakes to go swimming in the summer!
Definitely an amazing region if you can tolerate or better still, embrace the climate and natural splendor!
Thank you for your videos. You repeat information so much it becomes difficult to continue to hang in there with you
Your map of the trans-Canada railline is the C.N.R., not the C.P.R. as you claim. The C.P. runs south of the C.N. and clings to the shore of Lake Superior for the most part.
Outside of Winnipeg, all of Manitoba has only 500,000. That must be similarly empty to N. Ontario with 800,000.
Less than 100,000 live north of Manitoba's two largest lakes in the middle of the province (Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba). When you exclude the five towns of the region with more than a population of 5000, that numbers about 50-60 thousand. Most are indigenous reserves with a few hundred people each, many inaccessible by road and many more only accessible by road in the winter.
One of the problems is that the governments of Ontario and Canada have spent very little money on infrastructure in Northern Ontario. The fact that you can't drive across Canada without crossing a single bridge in Northern Ontario or crossing into the US is weird.
Curious: what’s the challenge or issue of crossing a bridge? I’ve done the drive a few times and didn’t have to cross into the US.
(Or do you just mean that there’s one bridge that everyone has to cross to get to Western Canada? In that regard, I understand.)
@@understories the only way to drive from east to west and stay in Canada is to cross the Nipigon River Bridge. Which is normally okay, except when the bridge failed in 2016 and trucks headed from Southern Ontario and points east to Manitoba and points west had to cross into the US.
By US standards the TC-1 is a joke. It's hard to believe that it was intended to be the road that united all of Canada
Thats pretty pathetic is there not even a little dirt road that goes through
a note on the railway map; the CPR went east to west south through Calgary; your map makes it look like it passes through Edmonton, which is the (later and more northerly) CN line.
Thank you so much for your vids - a real person providing real content- becoming increasingly rare up here
Northern Quebec is also very sparsely populated
Yes, because it is also part of the canadian belt
@@moai6017yeah and because the climate
I was born in this area 59 years ago and spent my first 10 years there. It was a wonderful childhood playing in the woods and natural areas, but spent the summer time covered with pink dots of calmine lotion all over my body. The winter time I spent wrapped in swaths of clothing, snowsuits and scarfs. A challenging environment to be sure.
I wonder why there aren't any dragonflies & bats in that area since their diet seems abundant there
There are plenty of bats and dragonflies, they enjoy nearly unlimited food!
@@douglasedwards6830 ah since many in the comments mentioned too many mosquitoes & flies, I thought there weren't any
I was in a historical monument a few years back, an old military base from the 1700s. It was January and the snow was blowing hard. I was just imagining at the time what on God's green earth would induce someone to travel from Enlightenment Europe to come live in this place where you can play checkers with death as he waits for you to freeze to death.
@@SJ-co6nk -- Why leave Europe for Canada? Beautiful, unspoiled natural environment -- without
the suffocating rules and taxes of Europe.
Of course, Canada has "progressed" to now having suffocating rules and taxes.
Been there, enjoyed my travels as a kid back in the 60’s and 70’s. That area starts at Huntsville Ont and goes north from there. You also get into the permafrost areas and the Canadian Rail Road is always working on their tracks to keep them straight and level. Roads up there are just as iffy. The fire danger is at times horrendous with the pines going up like matches!!! Their sap is turpentine and very flammable. The changes in weather caused by global temperatures warming and lower rain fall has not helped. I live on the shores of Lake Erie in NY so I understand.
I will say that Montreal is not in Ontario and Sudbury is pronounced with a very short U like in suds!!!! Even as an American who lives along the border knows are Canadian friends want to hear their cities name right.
I guess we must of had global warming as far back as the 1870's with all the fires that raged across illinois, wisconsin and Michigan , killing thousands in about a 2 day period...
My dad sold his cabin near Kenora a couple years ago. I didnt go often, but it's an amazing area, especially since the cabin is only accessible by train, boat or float plane!
People from Winnipeg used to ride the "camper's special" train every weekend, but I believe that ended in '91. It's about 2 hours by car, then 20 min by boat across the big lake.
I envy those who have been going out all their lives. Winnipeg isn't a "big" city, but getting away nearly every weekend has always been my dream... 😥
One major thing missed about Northern Ontario in this video (which I can’t blame you for since most Canadians don’t even know about it) is that Northern Ontario does actually have a section of arable land despite the presence of the Shield - it is called the Clay Belt. It is a massive tract of fertile land that runs from Val-d’Or in Quebec to approximately Hearst in Ontario. While it was never determined to be as feasible for farming as the land in SW Ontario or the Prairies, it was still determined to be adequate for basic grains and cattle ranching. The reason it never truly developed is due to multiple reasons - the growing season was significantly shorter than that of SW Ontario, Southern Quebec, or the Prairies (between harsh, early winters and unpredictable rain patterns) and the mining and logging industries were significantly more financially lucrative compared to farming here. There was a big push to settle immigrants in this area around WWI, but most immigration stopped here in the 1930s.
Climate change, however, is likely to improve the suitability of this land for farming over the next 50 years. In combination with modern technology (greenhouses, automation, and availability of fertilizer) and modern infrastructure investments in the Northern Ontario highway system as a result of the EV minerals push, it is likely that this area will eventually see new development in the future.
There's also a large section of arable land in the valley of the meteor basin that is Sudbury. We even colloquially call the area of relatively flat and fertile agricultural land by it's geology, "the Valley".
Also some areas Huron North (highway 17) west of Thessalon to Sault Ste Marie.
I grew up in Timmins, Ontario in the 1970s. Here, you're surrounded by millions of square kilometers of spruce and moose.
I've lived in northern Ontario for a decade. It's beautiful. You cannot beat a northern Ontario summer. Winter's are real winters. The people are great and the communities are fun places. You need to like small town life. Yet in a small town or city you are someone.
TVO has a great video, Borealis, that is worth watching
The rail route shown is actually for the CNR not the CPR. the CPR line went South along Lake Superior to Thunder Bay, nee Fort William.
Then turned West to Winnipeg.
its not called empty belt, its called The Great Canadian Shield and is the real reason the Russians will never even tried to invade us. If it didn't exist, the Soviets would definitely have tried invading us to attack the US from the north. To give you an idea, Finland lasted so long because of its thousands of lakes, well the Great Canadian Shield has over a million lakes, even more solid rock hills and the whole thing is covered with trees.
Finland also had a guy named Simo Häyhä, who sniped Ruskies for fun lol. The term "Molitov cocktail" came from the Ruso-Finnish winter war, as Finns used makeshift gasoline bombs to repel General Molitov's forces.
@@digitalfootballer9032Yes yes i know, he killed a few hundreds. Sorry to burst your bubble, but Germany had a plane pilot that killed thousands, destroyed hundreds of tanks, planes and even sunk a few battle ships all by himself. And yet Germany LOST! Because no matter how good a war hero is, its still just one guy. He can't change the tide of war all by himself.
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No that finn sniper did not contribute much to the massive Soviet deaths. Its the frozen lakes that did all the killing! The Soviets would not see what is and isnt a frozen lake with all that snow over it, few scouts would walk on it and be just fine giving a false sense of security. But the moment any significant number of troops is on the frozen lake, or the moment tanks gets on it: CRACK!!! And everyone falls into freezing water and die or either drowning or hypothermia minutes later.
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That is what killed millions of Soviets and in Canada there are millions of such natural frozen death traps.
I'm more concerned of the Americans than the Russians. One day the US is going to run out of fresh water.
@@billfarley9167Lol they ran out of fresh water ages ago with all that polution, now they filter and purify their water.
I am from Prince Edward Island. With 180K residents, it's by far the most densely populated province at approx. 31 people per square kilometer. If you want to wrap your head around how much bigger the USA is in terms of population, if PEI was an American state, it would only be the 35th most densely populated, in between Missouri and West Virginia.
After spending time in Florida, it made me realize how much I enjoy living in a place that is "sparsely populated".
I lived in Northern Ontario as a child and teen... despite the sparsity of the population, Northern Ontario in its entirety is rich in history, especially the early mining days of Timmins (and Porcupine), Kirkland Lake/Larder Lake, Cobalt, Sudbury, Kapuskasing and so many other smaller towns that dotted the North Eastern Ontario region in the early 1910's. While there is very little agriculture, there does exist in some areas former lakebed farming in the great clay belt (around Timmins and towards Lake Abitibi) and the little clay belt (South of Kirkland Lake, centered mostly around New Liskeard, Earlton and around Lake Temiskaming).... So, in reality, there actually is some agriculture in Northern Ontario (at least in the North Eastern Ontario region that I know of).
Imagine not being a muskokan
The Canadian Shield, also called the Laurentian Plateau, is a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks forming the North American Craton (or Laurentia), the ancient geologic core of the North American continent.
Glaciation has left the area with only a thin layer of soil, which stretches north from the Great Lakes to the Arctic Ocean and it is sitting there being useful photosynthesizing.
That last glacier dumped all the topsoil into Indiana, Wisconsin, and Illinois. We should sue th eUSA and we want that SOIL BACK.
Its actually Northwestern Ontario, the part of Ontario that's included in eastern Canada is divided into northern Ontario and southern Ontario. For reference, Thunder bay is Northwestern Ontario while Sudbury is in Northern Ontario while Kitchener is Southern Ontario
I always called it northwest and northeast with Northern Ontario being a general term for the whole thing
@@NorthOntarian Seeing as i have a job that i interact with people across the country i've always had to make the distinction since if i say northern Ontario they immediately assume Sudbury/Barrie area even though i'm from the other side of the province which is over 1000 l'm away.
@@kaiserotto8715 poor Barrie.. the south calls them northern and the north calls them southern nobody wants to claim them hahahaha
Agreed. I grew up north of Thunder Bay and always said I was from NW Ontario. Northern Ontario is places like Timmins and Sudbury.
@@brucemckinlay9739 I'm glad you actualy call Timmins northern Ontario.. Ive lived in thunder Bay for about decade and so many people say oh Timmins you're from southern Ontario... Timmins is just as far north as Thunder bay (and actually a little further. ) just bothers me a little haha.
James Bay is the polar bears southern range, that's all you need to know about the climate. The pioneers thought northern Wisconsin would be a good place to farm also, but the rocks pushing up constantly wrecked their plows, so back to forest it went.
I grew up on the north shore of Lake superior, stunningly, beautiful, and in the middle of nowhere. short cool summers, long cold winters, 3 Hour drive to Thunder Bay. In the summer, the blackflies and mosquitoes are so bad you literally can’t go outside without being bitten hundreds of times. One single highway on the North Shore of Lake superior is mostly white knuckle driving, hitting moose is a common occurrence. Everything is overpriced , $1.80 for a litre of gas. On the other hand, you can buy a nice house for $150,000 and work in the mill and get paid 40 bucks an hour with all benefits and pension.
The drive from Thunder Bay to Rainy River is beautiful
The mills are all gone: Dryden, Fort Frances, et al. my cousins got in when the money FINALLY got good (thank you, Jimmy Hoffa) and retired as the wood went to China. End of an era.
Hahahahha lol 40 an hour eh
3 hour drive to Thunder Bay in Northwestern Ontario.... Schreiber/Terrace Bay area??
Canada's population just hit 40 million this summer. There's record breaking growth right now.
Over 80% of Canada's population lives in a relatively small number of cities. Just to give you an idea, British Columbia, the westernmost province, is roughly the same physical size as France and Germany together. British Columbia has a population of 5 million, while the combined populatoin of France and Germany is roughly 155 million. Nearly 3/5 of British Columbia's population lives in Metro Vancouver, which covers about 1/300 of the province's area. Almost all the rest of the province is uninhabited. The same is true for most provines in Canada. 2 or 3 cities where the bulk of the population lives, and a whole lot of empty space. On top of that, almost all of Canada's populatoin lives within 50 kms of the USA border. Huddled there for warmth, apparently.
“Warmth” In America we still call that area cold. 😂
@@usernamesrlamo Well, yes, and in fact it is cold. I live on the West coast of Canada, which is considerably warmer than any area in south central canada, or north central USA. However, when compared to much of Canada, it is warmer in the south than the north.
he neglects to mention, 90%of all canadian live within 100km of the usa border. 60% of the population live in the windsor to montreal corridor. northern ontario is not much different than other provinces.
20 million in Mexico City alone, half of Canada's pop. !!
And let's keep it that way.
I like these videos about the more desolate places in North America. I was always curious about some of these places but they are often times difficult to visit due to lack of tourist support elements like major airports, highways with frequent areas to stop for services, etc.
When I was young, I used to travel Northern Ontario and Quebec every year and still get back there from time to time. I love the wild and beautiful geography. It's more developed to tourism now and easier to find motels than it used to be. But still an adventure for people from the U.S. who are accustomed to the highways being carpeted with chain motels and restaurants. One time my wife and I invited our neighbor in Northern Michigan to go with us to visit Aubrey Falls about two hours into Ontario. The neighbor said she couldn't go because she'd packed away her winter coat. She thought it was going to start snowing as soon as we crossed the border at Sault Ste. Marie. That was in August.
Maybe it will get worse with the electric car thing. People get stranded in big cities now.
You sound like a spoiled city slicker.
its good for people who like isolated areas and dont mind transverses through the wilderness😅 id probably visit once,that enviroment depresses me 😅
I agree. I would like to see more about these out of the way places in North America.
I often go to google maps and look at satellite images. The islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence are fascinating to me (Anticosti
Island, and les îles de la Madeleine).
So many North American’s don’t pay attention to this massive part of North America. Strange when you think about it, because people from Western North America (California) fly over these places on the way to Europe. Yet none ever think of going there.
Remember 9/11 when all those American planes had to land in these places and found them delightful. A musical was written about it (Far and Away).
11:23 was neat to see as at first glance I bet that it was Timmins ON, and after finding the logging mill next to the bridge on the right hand of frame I was able to confirm it is. I had droned over said mill for an upcoming documentary about the forestry industry in that specific region and others across Canada. 🌲🇨🇦
Thanks for an instructive and interesting YT clip, will return to the channel.
As a Canadian and Ontario resident, this has really frustrated me. We're officially one country but in all intents and purposes, we are at least two countries. Having driven around Lake Superior, is such a beautiful drive but it's long, and largely empty. It's 7.5 hours from Sault St Marie to Thunder Bay, the only cities on the route. It's another 4 hours to Dryden, the next city. It's a growling drive. I used to think we needed highway 17 made into 4 lanes, but that would be ridiculously costly. It'd be better to make 11, a more straight route, the main 4 lane highway.
Once you get to the prairies, it feels like a different world.
You don’t want to turn into the US. Everything is turned into strip malls and suburbs 😢
@@GarbagePlateROCNot all the United States are strip malls. What a stupid comment
It blows my mind that if the Nipigon River Bridge becomes inoperable, there is literally no way to navigate by road from eastern to western Canada without diverting through the US.
Heck, Canada is like 5 different countries, Eastern Canada, Western Canada, the northern territories, the maritimes, and predominantly French speaking Quebec. You could even further divide the West into the Pacific Northwest and the prairies. Not all that different than us here in the United States though. Every region is so different not just the landscape but the people and culture.
@@Default78334 I was doing work north of Nipigon for a couple days, a few weeks ago and I had this exact thought. When I landed in Thunder Bay, there were also talks of a moose accident to the northwest on the Trans Canada, and people literally could not get across that portion of the province without a passport (which no one brought) for at least a day until the accident was cleared.
Took a trip across the northern shore of Lake Superior about 10 years ago. Such an amazing place. Having no people doesn't hurt it's cause.
But hardly any hotels and poor roads hurt travel so people bypass this region and drive across the US instead.
I did that in 75. You could tell you were near a town from 10 miles away. The smell of a pulp factory. 2 lane road and towns 50 miles apart.
@@bobsmith962 I grew up South of Lake Superior. We used to see lots of people do that as it was a shorter route too.
North shore of Superior is a beautiful drive in summer but can be scary in winter. All those turns and elevation changes on Canada's only highway makes for a white knuckle drive when it's snowing/slushy and transport trucks are riding your bumper.
@@differentfins Are there that many trucks in Winter? I would think one could simply pull off a bit and let them pass. To be honest with you, I would think most Canadian truckers would go South on I-90 / 94.
The empty belt is where it gets real cold during winter.
A railway between the Dominion of Canada (then just eastern provinces) and a pacific port was a qualifying term for the colony of British Columbia to agree to join in 1871. The CPR was built in both directions, eastward from Port Moody and westward from Bonfield, Ontario. Manitoba was but a smallish patch around Winnipeg, the rest of the prairies were all the Northwest Territories. The prairies were indeed opened up by the CPR, but Saskatchewan and Alberta were not provinces until 1905. For nearly two decades the CPR went through the NWT.
Well, you know, 1905 sounds to me to be early for becoming provinces.
In the U.S., Oklahoma became a state in 1907,
and New Mexico & Arizona became states in 1912.
😅Just a note, your map of the Canadian Pacific Railway was actually the route of the Canadian National Railway built decades later.
I lived in Duluth, MN for 5 years and have always wanted to explore this part of Canada
No mention of Kenora? It's a great place! I live in Winnipeg but drive out to places like Kenora, Thunder Bay, Ear Falls, regularly. I love the area, it's vastness forests and rocks. It's so nice to be near someplace that still seems so wild and hasn't been ruined by humans yet. :-) Not sure i agree with his characterization that "nobody lives here". Everyone from Toronto thinks that anything west of that city is a vast wasteland where nothing happens.
Toronto, Centre of the Universe. Yeah right.
I grew up in Thunder Bay. I worked at one of the lumber mills in 2004-2007. But I got in with a short line railway in northern Manitoba, and call that home now. I still go back to visit, as a bit of my family still live there.
Fun fact, there are some stretches of road in that region between Nipigon and Thunder Bay that if for some reason any are closed, road traffic going from one side of Canada to the other side needs to go through at least Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan as there are no other way to get around. Last time I know it happened was in 2016.
You're right.., Lake Superior acts as a pinch point for transportation between East and West, there is only one road connecting Eastern with Western Canada, thru Northern Ontario. If you want to follow an all Canadian route. Its insanely difficult to build and maintain roads there, especially North of Lake Superior due to the Precanbrian Shield, short construction season, rivers emptying into Superior.
It happened a couple weeks ago when I visited Nipigon for work. A moose accident northwest of Thunder Bay caused this
There's a stretch of Highway 17 towards Sudbury by Nairn Centre that connects to an intersection called Sand Bay Road and if an accident happens before that intersection, it's a 9 hour detour all the way North to Timmins and then down.
I know this from being suck on the highway for 7 hours last summer lol.
Partially True. Look on google maps At Armstrong(hwy 527), there is a series of roads that can get you to hwy 11(North of Lake Nipigon). Now I never drove them but I was basically told you don't want to bring any new vehicles on the road and probably want to use trucks(they dirt roads)
Sad thing is if you look on a map South of Lake Nipigon there is a stretch of like 10-15Km that if they build a road there could join the west and east together
Same with an area west of Kenora. There's a push to have the highway twinned through Dryden.
You can't really call it "Canada's empty belt". If you look at the northern part of any province (quebec and westward), it will be very sparsely populated
I’ve been here many times before. Fantastic Walleye fishing. I’m going again next summer, can’t wait.
Interesting that you didn't include Manitoulin Island in the "empty belt", but included St. Joseph Island.
There are over 40 million people in Canada now Geoff. Also, Sudbury is pronounced "SUD"bury like "MUD" not "SOOD"bury. Great video otherwise. Writing from Hamilton Ontario. Cheers!
I think he's trying to pronounce the SUD part like in french, meaning south.
I've also never heard it be pronounced that way , even though I am francophone.
@@ForkTheSpoonWreckerI believe there’s a Sudbury in the UK that it’s named after, so, a francophone pronunciation is pretty misguided
@@ForkTheSpoonWrecker I don’t know about that theory but he got Sault Ste. Marie correct! 👍
While it might be, the SUD part does actually mean south.
"Old English sūth 'south, southern' + burg 'fortified place' or 'manor'"
I lived in Canada in 1967... The population at that time was 20 million. Wow!🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
Michigan could probably be classified in the same way in which the Upper Peninsula just south of Northern Ontario has a population of only 300k, but the state has a population of 10 million. Also a large portion of the population of Michigan lives in the South Eastern part of the state as well.
Yea, Michigan is a great comparison for all those and more obvious reasons. But I was Google mapping Michigan recently and noticed the Upper Peninsula has a decent amount of farmland, in contrast with North Ontario. But both regions are incredibly beautiful and rich in minerals
It's also on the Canadian shield and has the copper, nickel and iron mining. Gold and lead have also been mined there.
As nice as the UP can be, it's a tough nut to crack until the communication and medical infrastructure gets beefed up , there's vast areas up there with zero cell coverage, medical resources are basic in most towns except Marquette and air service is almost non existent if you need to get out of dodge and warm up... unlike N Ontario at least the UP has some alternative EW NS roads to get you around a US2/US41/ I75 blockage. You get a road issue on the N side of L Superior and you've better brought, some emergency food , water, a roll of TP and a gatorade bottle. @@ryanprosper88
The rail route shown is the ‘Grand Trunk and Western Railway’ which was completed in 1912 (or so). The CP hugged the shore of Lake Superior and was completed in the 1880’s.
And it’s pronounced ‘SUD berry’
As an aside, the President of the Grand Trunk Railway opposed the route of the CPR and fought Prime Minister MacDonald tooth and nail to get the contract, which he wanted to take to the northwest making Prince Rupert the huge international seaport on Canada's west coast. He went down with the Titanic and the controversy ceased.
Thanks for doing a video on Northern Ontario.
My company has an office in Sault Ste. Marie Ontario. My mum asked me where that was (we're from near Boston, MA) and I said that if the great lakes were like a bunch of bananas, SSM was where all the bananas came together.
Clever. That might actually help me remember which lake is where.
WOW! I would never have thought to ask any of these questions about that part of Canada. GREAT video. THX
The railway shown in the graphics is the CN, not the CP.
The Nipissing district should be added to your Northern Ontario map. North Bay is known as the "gateway to the north" .
The CPR line you have is the current VIA Rail passenger route. The original rail line constructed in the 1880's goes far further south out west.
Exactly! A very poor and inaccurate representation. Do better, Geoff.
An early fall roadtrip between Toronto and Thunder-Bay on the 17 is one of the best empty drives in North America.
The 800 Miles drive from Toronto to Kapuskasing was a shocker to me. A drive I took with my spouse soon after I emigrated to Canada.
That long drive is equivalent to the length of my home country of New Zealand. It BLEW my mind that we were STILL in the PROVINCE of Ontario!!
I lived in thunder Bay for most of my life, and have done this 17 hour drive multiple times, a beautiful experience every time
@@ZuttoKiller especially between Sault Ste Marie and Thunder Bay.
You must be younger than 54 since before 1970 Thunder Bay did not exist! 😀 @@ZuttoKiller
@@johnbanka2623 I am much younger than 54, so I was not around at the time when port Arthur and fort William were separated yes
Correction : Northern Ontario has hundreds of thousands of freshwater bodies of water** In fact Canada has more fresh water than the rest of the world combined. Great video thanks !!
That Empty Belt Extends all the Way North in Quebec, and halfway up that belt all the way to the West and North.
I hope Canada keeps these areas undeveloped!
Damn right.
it should be used for resources. it's wasteful to not use resources that earth lays out for humans to use. it just depends on HOW it's done. pour cement everywhere to prevent more trees grow would be bad, but like using the resources with minimal damage to the land scape would be very good. just an opinion.
it may come down to humans don't have the basic things they need, and preserving a random land scape has far great costs than to use it instead.
@@henlohenlo689yeah but I’m sure a lot of the province can just become a nature reserve, most Canadians can live in other areas outside of here.
@@Azurethewolf168 too many irresponsble mothers in the globe whoe recklessly breed and expect everyone else to foot the bill. and as such there comes times where populatiom doesnr have resources it needs to sustain itself.
@@henlohenlo689 well I don’t think there should be a limit on the amount of kids people should have
Before I even finish this video I want to say, I'm glad very few people live there, it's beautiful country and I'd like it to stay that way! I live an hour and a half west of the Ontario border, it's a great place to escape, for even a day.
Yeah we don't want all these Toronto Schmoes to come rotten the rest of Ontario.
Well the colored hoards are coming my friend
yup. gotta get rid of this Liberal government allowing all the smelly people in.
grreat video, thank you
Born there. Lovely place. Mostly sunny all winter, cold, yes, but it's rare you don't see the sun shining and it's not windy or humid. Mosquitoes? You get immune to them very quickly. Timmins has extremely hot summers. I lived on the border between Québec and Ontario. Bears, wolves, ducks, beavers, maple syrup...the landscape is superb.
I live in Sault Ste Marie Michigan. There are lot of loud Canadians that come over to shop our retail stores and haggle with you because prices are insane in Canada right now, and there are a lot of shortages. Sault Ste Marie Canada feels like a massive metro to me. I have lived in NYC before and other big areas, so I know that it's not that big. I hear the trains and boats every night. The trains, I guess, bring up coal and other goods Canadians need. Ships bring coal from West Virginia too, because Algoma Steel is in Sault Ste Marie Canada. Then Duluth Minnesota exports a ton of iron ore along Lake Superior. It stops at the seaport in Sault Ste Marie and unloads some iron ore, which then gets combined with the coal and made into steel, which then usually gets shipped southward. The train that crosses into Canada goes north to Hearst, a timber town and the northernmost reach of roads, but still within the Canadian shield.
We're loud because we can't hear ourselves over the bragging of Americans.
Interesting how there is just a single road and bridge separating Western Canada and Eastern Canada near Thunder Bay, ON.
Even more surprising, the northern 1/3 of Ontario is so sparsely populated that it makes the southern half of northern Ontario (the middle 1/3 of the province) seem like Tokyo by comparison. If you draw an imaginary line from Pickle Lake to Moosonee, the area north of that is about the size of Montana but has a population less than half that of the Faroe Islands.
Winters are cold...I live in Saguenay and it's can go down to -40, -50 degrees, if you can endure that, good luck. A lot of mosquitoes during the summer.
I love this empty region series. More like this please!
Most Canadians live within 200 miles of the U.S. - Canadian border. North of that is mostly uninhabited or only lightly inhabitated.
More like within 50 miles.
@@bkdarknessyeah, mostly in Vancouver, Alberta, Ottawa, Toronto & Montreal.
Additionally, with your assertion that the CPR unified Canada, the proper flag for Canada at the time was the red ensign. When the CPR was completed, the proper flag for the USA has 38 stars.
would love to see more about CANADA!