Wawa, Ontario

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Wawa 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.

| 1956 |3086

| 1961 |4439

| 1966 |4927

| 1971 |4874

|1976 |4940

|1981 |4743

|1986 |4481

|1991 |4154

|1996 |4145

|2001 |3668

|2006 |3204

|2011 |2977

|2016 |2905

|2021 |2705

Tourism and attractions

thumb|right|Goose sculpture in Wawa overlooking Highway 17

The community is known for its 8.5-metre (28-foot) metal statue of a Canada goose, which was built in 1960, and dedicated to the community in 1961. Wawa takes its name from the Ojibwe word for "wild goose", wewe. Wawa was defined as wild goose in The Song of Hiawatha. On July 5, 2010, Canada Post made a commemorative stamp of the Wawa Goose as part of its Roadside Attractions collection. On July 1, 2017, a new Wawa Goose was unveiled to replace the second aging goose.

The town is also known for snowmobiling and sport fishing. The Voyageur Hiking Trail passes through the town. One notable shopping location is Young's General Store, home of the locally famous Pickle Barrel.

Wawa was once home to a small ski hill, with a double chair installed by Timberland-Ellicott in 1966. The lift was used up until the 1990s, but was abandoned eventually. As of 2025 the property is now a hotel, and the haul rope has been removed from the lift.

Politics

The municipal council is composed of one mayor and four councillors. The current mayor is Melanie Pilon. Councillors Cathy Cannon, Micheline Hatfield, Joseph Opato and Jim Hoffmann were elected on October 24, 2022, for a four-year term.

Transportation

thumb|right|Highway 17 at Wawa

Highway 17, the main route of the Trans-Canada Highway, passes through the township, although the primary townsite is located on Highway 101, east of the junction with Highway 17. Sault Ste. Marie is located to the south. Lake Superior Provincial Park is located just south of the town.

In October 2012, the town was forced to declare a state of emergency after severe flooding washed out several roads within the municipality, including sections of both Highway 17 and Highway 101.

Wawa is located west of Canadian National Railway's Hawk Junction station on the rail line from Sault Ste. Marie to Hearst. The line, formerly known as the Algoma Central Railway, provides tourist operations, as well as passenger and freight service to communities in northern Ontario.

A dial-in/demand response transit system has been available since February 2006. The service is provided by a single bus that can accommodate 12 passengers plus up to two wheelchairs.

Wawa has Ontario Northland motor coach service on its Sault Ste. MarieThunder Bay route.

Education

Wawa is home to English and French language schools. The Algoma District School Board is responsible for offering English language instruction and operates Sir James Dunn Public School, offering kindergarten to Grade 8 classes, while Michipicoten High School offers Grades 9 to 12. The Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board provides French immersion language instruction for junior kindergarten to Grade 7 at St. Joseph French Immersion School. In the 2014–2015 school year St. Joseph School will expand its French immersion program to include Grade 8.

Exclusive French-language instruction is offered by two school boards. According to the 2011 Census, 19% of Wawa's population claimed French as their mother tongue. The Conseil scolaire du Grand Nord offers public school instruction at École publique l'Escalade for students in kindergarten to Grade 8. The Conseil scolaire catholique du Nouvel-Ontario offers Catholic instruction at École élémentaire et secondaire catholique St-Joseph.

Media

Radio

{|class="wikitable sortable"

!Frequency

!Call sign

!Branding

!Format

!Owner

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|FM 88.3

|CBLJ-FM

|CBC Radio One

|public news/talk

|Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

|rebroadcasts CBCS-FM Sudbury

|FM 90.7

|CBON-FM-27

|Ici Radio-Canada Première

|public news/talk

|Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

|French, rebroadcasts CBON-FM Sudbury

|FM 107.1

|CJWA-FM

|adult contemporary

|Labbe Media

Television

{|class="wikitable sortable"

!OTA channel

!Call sign

!Network

!Notes

|7 (VHF)

|CHBX-TV-1

|CTV

|Rebroadcaster of CHBX-TV (Sault Ste Marie); de fact rebroadcaster of CICI-TV (Sudbury)

Print

wawa-news.com
Algoma News Review, was a newspaper that printed its final edition, after nearly six decades in 2022.

Notable people

Wawa is home to former NHL hockey players Chris Simon and Denny Lambert as well as comedian Pete Zedlacher.

In popular culture

Most of the 2006 film Snow Cake was filmed in Wawa.
The 2019 film Brotherhood was filmed at Michipicoten First Nation and included cast members and crew from the First Nation and Wawa.