Kenora

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Kenora had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

! colspan=2 | Canada 2016 Census!! Population !! % of Total Population

| rowspan=7 | Visible minority group || Filipino || 140 || 0.9

| South Asian || 45 || 0.3

| Black || 45 || 0.3

| Chinese || 40 || 0.3

| Latin American || 20 || 0.1

| Japanese || 20 || 0.1

| Other or mixed visible minority || 50 || 0.3

| colspan=2 | Total visible minority population|| 355 || 2.4

| rowspan=3 | Aboriginal group<br /><small>Source:</small> || First Nations || 1,610 || 10.9

| Métis || 1,495 || 10.1

| Inuit || 10 || 0.1

| colspan=2 | Total Aboriginal population || 3,150 || 21.3

| colspan=2 | European || 11,285 || 76.3

| colspan=2 | Total population || 14,790 || 100

Economy

Forestry, tourism and mining are the three largest sectors of the Kenora economy. The population balloons in the spring and summer to almost double the normal population when summer residents move in. The Lake of the Woods and numerous smaller lakes situated all around Kenora are the major draw for cottagers who summer here. Many are from the neighbouring province of Manitoba and the state of Minnesota.

Tourism

Kenora, a site of natural attractions, has visitors from all over the world year round. In the summer months visitors come to the area to undertake activities including swimming, biking, fishing, hiking, and boating. Kenora's tourist industry is also active during the winter months as visitors come not only to observe its natural environment but also to partake in ice fishing, snowboarding, skiing (both downhill and cross country) and snowmachining.

Kenora has two travel information centres. One is the newly renovated (2011) pavilion, located on the Harbourfront. The second information centre, called the Discovery Centre, opened July 22, 2011, and serves visitors year-round from its location at 931 Lake View Drive (just off of Highway 17 West, also known as the Trans Canada highway).

Arts and culture

The Lake of the Woods Museum and Douglas Family Art Centre are located at The MUSE.

Harbourfront, a park on the shore of Lake of the Woods, hosts the city's annual winter and summer festivals, as well as concerts.

Husky the Muskie, a statue of a fighting muskellunge, is located in McLeod Park.

The city's downtown core has a public arts project, with 20 murals depicting the region's history painted on buildings in the business district.

The city is home to a major international freshwater bass fishing tournament.

Kenora is sometimes stereotyped as an archetypal "hoser" community, evidenced by the phrase "Kenora dinner jacket" as a nickname for a hoser's flannel shirt.

St. Alban's Anglican Cathedral is in Kenora.

The now-defunct Kenora Thistles ice hockey won the Stanley Cup in 1907, making Kenora the smallest city to have ever won the trophy. Many local contemporary ice hockey clubs pay homage to the team by using its name, including the town's amateur, junior, and senior-level men's team.

Government

thumbnail|right|Kenora City Hall

The City of Kenora is governed by a city council that consists of six councillors and a mayor. The full council is responsible for setting municipal by-laws and policies and overseeing planning in the city. Under the Ontario Municipal Act, the full council is elected to a four year term.

Dave Canfield served as mayor from 2000 until 2006, when he was defeated by Len Compton in that year's municipal election. Compton declined to run in the 2010 municipal election and Canfield was re-elected as his successor. The current mayor is Andrew Poirier.

Kenora is represented in the House of Commons by Conservative MP Eric Melillo, and in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by MPP Greg Rickford of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario.

Some residents of Kenora, citing dissatisfaction with the level of government service provided to the region by the provincial government, have proposed that the region secede from Ontario to join the province of Manitoba.

Infrastructure

Transportation

thumb|Main Street/Highway 17 in Kenora

Via Rail offers passenger service to Redditt on the CN transcontinental rail line, approximately 30 minutes and north of Kenora. The CP transcontinental rail line passes directly through town.

Kenora Airport is located east northeast of the city centre.

M.S. Kenora is a cruise located at the waterfront.

Highway 17 passes through Kenora's urban core, and the Highway 17A Kenora By-Pass goes around the city. Both routes are designated as part of the Trans-Canada Highway. Highway 658 extends northerly from Kenora to Redditt.

Kenora Transit operates three routes, from Monday to Saturday, 7:00am to 6:30pm.

Health care

Kenora's hospital, Lake of the Woods District Hospital, has three facilities in the city: the hospital itself, Morningstar Rehabilitation Centre, and Mental Health and Addictions services, located in St. Joseph's Health Centre.

Housing

Since Kenora is one of two judicial districts in Northwestern Ontario, it has disproportionate housing shortage as people from across the region with little to no social support in Kenora are unable to find places to stay after release from prison or while waiting in the city before their court dates. The situation worsened in 2013, when the judge in the Rainy River District moved and the position and its responsibilities was transferred to Kenora.

Geological significance

One of Earth's earliest supercontinents, a large landmass comprising several of today's continents, predating Pangaea by 2.4 billion years, has been termed Kenorland by geologists, named after the Kenoran orogeny (also called the Algoman orogeny), which in turn was named after the town of Kenora, Ontario. In Kenora, rocks and geomagnetic evidence have been found which support Kenorland's creation approximately 2.72 billion years ago (2.72 Ga) as a result of a series of accretion events and the formation of new continental crust, demarcating the earliest identifiably known land on Earth.

Media

The major news source in Kenora is the Kenora Miner and News.

Radio

FM 89.5 - CJRL-FM ("89.5 The Lake"), adult contemporary
FM 93.5 - CKSB-7-FM, Ici Radio-Canada Première (relays CKSB-10-FM, Winnipeg)
FM 98.7 - CBQX-FM, CBC Radio One (relays CBQT-FM, Thunder Bay)
FM 101.3 - CKWO-FM, ("101.3 The Gap"), Wauzhushk Onigum Nation (also serves the Kenora area), First Nations community radio
FM 104.5 - CKQV-FM-2 ("Q104"), classic hits (relays CKQV-FM, Vermilion Bay)

Television

Kenora was Canada's smallest (and North America's second smallest) television market, served by only one television station, CJBN-TV channel 13, a Global affiliate that ceased broadcasting in January 2017. The Kenora region is not designated as a mandatory market for digital television conversion. The Winnipeg outlets of CBC Television (CBWT-DT), Radio-Canada (CBWFT-DT), CTV (CKY-DT), Global (CKND-DT) and Citytv (CHMI-DT) are piped in via cable.

Notable people

Gary Bergman, former NHL and Team Canada 1972 player
Glory Annen Clibbery, actress
Ralph Connor, writer
Tim Coulis, former NHL player
Abigail Dent, silver medalist in women's rowing at the 2024 Olympic Games
Phil Eyler, politician
Silas Griffis, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame
Peter Heenan, municipal/provincial/federal politician
Robert Hilles, poet
Tom Hooper, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame
Wab Kinew, 25th premier of Manitoba since October 18, 2023
Kyle Koch, former CFL offensive guard (Toronto Argonauts)
Victor Lindquist, Olympic hockey gold medal winner (1932)
Shane Lunny, designer and producer, business founder
Eric Melillo, MP
Bob Nault, former MP and Indian Affairs Minister
Dennis Olson, ice hockey player
Tom Phillips, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame
Mike Richards, ice hockey player
Greg Rickford, MPP and Ontario Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines
Rick St. Croix, former NHL goaltender and assistant coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs
John Edward Schwitzer, former town engineer, later Canadian Pacific Railway assistant chief engineer, known for Big Hill project
Jacques Schyrgens, painter
Mike Smith, silver medalist in the decathlon at the 1991 World Championships
J. Leonard Walker, president of the Bank of Montreal (1968-1973)