Nakina is a community in the Town of Greenstone in the Thunder Bay District in Northern Ontario, Canada. It is approximately north of Geraldton, located along the Canadian National Railway. The origins of the town were initially support of the railway, but its economy has evolved through lumber, pulp and paper, mining and tourism. It has a population of about 500 people.
It was a separate municipality from 1978 until 2001, when it was amalgamated with the former Township of Beardmore, and the Towns of Geraldton and Longlac. Its name is an indigenous word meaning "meeting place".
History
Nakina was first established in 1913 as flag stop on the National Transcontinental Railway (NTR),
From the 1920s on, Nakina prospered as an important railway service stop.
Demographics
Economy
In March 2018, The North West Company shuttered the town's Northern Store branch, deeming it no longer financially sustainable. This closure represented the loss of the last major retail outlet in Nakina.
, the town remains focused on tourism, diminished pulp and paper operations, and support of other more northern communities (food, fuel and transportation). Mining and minerals industries are seen as a possible source of further growth, including via a potential all-season road link to the Ring of Fire mining project.
Transportation
Access to the remote northern community is via Highway 584 from Highway 11 at Geraldton.
Nakina is served by Via Rail's The Canadian train. and by charter flights at the Nakina Airport. Nakina Water Aerodrome is just north of the community on Cordingley Lake, where a float plane service provides transport to a variety of different lakes.