Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Encyclopedia : S : SA : SAU : Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
For the federal electoral district of Sault Ste. Marie, see Sault Ste. Marie (electoral district). For the provincial electoral district, see Sault Ste. Marie (provincial electoral district).
Sault Ste. Marie ("Sault" pronounced "soo;" nicknamed "the Sault" or "the Soo"; 2001 population 74,566) is a city on the St. Mary's River in Ontario, Canada. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Greater Sudbury and Thunder Bay.
Sault Ste. Marie is bordered to the east by the Rankin and Garden River First Nation reserves, and to the west by Prince Township. To the north, the city is bordered by an unincorporated portion of the Algoma District, with Heyden as the nearest community. To the south, across the river, is the United States and the city of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
Sault Ste. Marie is the seat of Algoma District.
The city's crest contains the words "Ojibwa Kitche Gumeeng Odena" (from Ojibwe gichi-gamiing oodena) which means "Town by the large body of water of the Ojibwe" (or simply "Town by Lake Superior") in the Ojibwe language.
Similarly to many other Northern Ontario municipalities, Sault Ste. Marie's population has declined in recent years. Since the early 1990s, the city has dropped from 84,000 to 74,000 residents.
Meaning of the name
The city name originates from "Saults de Sainte-Marie," Old French for "Saint Mary's Falls", a reference to the rapids in the Saint Mary's River. Etymologically, the word "sault" comes from an archaic spelling of "saut", the French word for "leap" or "jump" (similar to somersault), although there are citations dating back to 1600 for the use of the "sault" spelling to mean a waterfall or rapids.
In modern French, however, the words "chutes" or "rapides" are more usual, and "sault" survives almost exclusively in geographic names dating from the 17th century. (See also Long Sault, Ontario and Grand Falls/Grand-Sault, New Brunswick, two other place names where "sault" also carries this meaning.)
History
This area was originally called Baawitigong, meaning "place of the rapids," by the Ojibwa, who used the site as a regional meeting place during whitefish season in the St. Mary's Rapids. (The anglicized form of this name, Bawating, continues to be used in institutional and geographic names in the area.)After the visit of Étienne Brûlé in 1623, the French called it "Sault de Gaston" in honour of Gaston, Duke of Orléans , the brother of King Louis XIII of France. In 1668, French Jesuit missionaries renamed it Sault Sainte Marie, and established a settlement that is now Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, on the river's south bank. Sault Ste. Marie was incorporated as a town in 1887 and a city in 1912.
During World War II, and particularly after the US was attacked at Pearl Harbor in 1941, concern turned to the locks and shipping channel at Sault Ste. Marie. A substantial military presence was established to protect the locks from a possible attack by German aircraft from the north. The new development of long-range bombers, created fears of a sudden air raid from the north. Military strategists studied polar projection maps which indicate that the air distance from occupied Norway to the town is about the same as the distance to New York. That direct route of about 3000 miles is over terrain where there were few observers and long winter nights.
A joint Canadian and US committee called the "Permanent Joint Board on Defence" drove the installation of anti-aircraft defence and associated units of the United States Army Air Forces and Royal Canadian Air Force to defend the locks.
An anti-aircraft training facility was established 62 miles north of Sault Ste. Marie on the shores of Lake Superior. Barrage balloons were installed, and early warning radar bases were established at 5 locations in northern Ontario to watch for incoming aircraft. Military personnel were established to guard sensitive parts of the transportation infrastructure.
A little over one year later, in January 1943, most of these facilities and defences were deemed excessive and removed, save a reduced military base at Sault Ste. Marie.
Industry
The city has made a name for itself in steel-making, and Algoma Steel is the largest employer with 3150 employees at the main plant and about 550 at the Tube Mill, which is separate from Algoma Steel. During the 1940s, the steel and chromium operations were of substantial importance to the war effort in Canada and the United States. The Algoma Steel and the Chromium Mining and Smelting Corporation were key producers for transportation and military machines.In the early 1960s and 1970s, Sault Ste. Marie was a booming town. However, as time passed and foreign imports became a vital reality of business success, the demand for their steel industry diminished. Two times within the past eight years Algoma Steel has declared bankruptcy and laid off large numbers of workers. Most recently, Algoma Steel was bailed out by the Ontario government which promised interest-free loans.
As of 2004, Algoma Steel has turned itself around and become profitable once again, posting profits into the hundreds of millions largely due to the rising costs of steel and the high demand for steel in China.
Forestry is also a major local industry, especially at St.Mary's Paper which employs about 390 people. Also related to wood products is Flakeboard, which employs over 100 people in the community along with an adjacent melamine factory which manufactures products with Flakeboard's materials. Such examples of this are furniture and cupboards where a finish is added to the product.
The newest major industry involves business process outsourcing, with five call centres located within city limits employing about 2,700 people. The largest employer of the five call centres is the Sutherland Group which employs about 920 people in the community.
Another very large employer in the community is the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLGC). The OLGC employs 842 people in Sault Ste. Marie and is the third largest employer next only to Algoma Steel and the Sutherland Group.
Transportation
Sault Ste. Marie is served by Highway 17, which is a segment of the Trans-Canada Highway in the region. The highway connects the city to Thunder Bay to the northwest and Sudbury to the east. The International Bridge also directs traffic from downtown to the beginning of the Interstate 75 freeway in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, which runs through Saginaw, Flint and Detroit before the Michigan/Ohio border (and eventually to Miami, Florida).The International Bridge also directs traffic from the American side of the border via Sault Ste. Marie's new transport route that runs from the bridge to Second Line. This new limited-access roadway through the city will make it much easier for transport trucks to gain access to main roads. By 2008, Second Line will connect directly to a new Highway 17 freeway alignment currently under construction east of the city.
The city also plays an inherited role in marine transportation, with the locks in Michigan being an integral component of the St. Lawrence Seaway. However, the city also holds a small-scale lock which is used by small boats and other pleasure craft in the summer. Currently under construction is a multi-modal terminal designed to take advantage of the Sault as a rail, road, and water transportation hub.
Sault Ste. Marie is also served by Sault Ste. Marie Airport and Sault Transit Services [link]. The city is no longer linked to any other major cities by rail, but is part of the Algoma Central Railway network, which runs north from the city.
Tourism
Area tourist attractions include the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre, the Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site, boat tours of the Sault locks (which connect Lake Superior with the lower Great Lakes), Casino Sault Ste. Marie, and the Algoma Central Railway's popular Agawa Canyon Tour Train. Nearby parks include Pancake Bay Provincial Park and Batchawana Bay Provincial Park. Winter activities are also an asset to Sault Ste Marie's tourism industry with Searchmont Resort as a great ski and snowboard destination, and the city is a hub to a large snowmobile trail system that criss-crosses the province of Ontario.Sault Ste Marie is the site of The Borealis Project, a $54 million complex to be completed in 2006 on 14 acres of prime waterfront property. The project includes plans for a 144 room luxury hotel, a performing arts theatre, space for retail outlets, restaurants, a 35 thousand square foot educational biodome featuring exotic tropical plants, an upscale day spa, and an ice hotel to be operated during the winter. City officials argue this project, unique to North America and the result of 9 years of planning, will serve as an asset to the tourism industry of Sault Ste. Marie and attract midwestern Canadians and Americans within a day's drive of the city. The official groundbreaking ceremony occurred March 31, 2006.
Demographics
Sault Ste. Marie is a haven for Italian immigrants. The city has a large concentration of Italians for a community its size. Italians are easily the largest ethnic group present in the city with many of the major streets and public facilities, being named after Italians. In a way, it is almost like a "Little Italy" in itself. However, the city also has a noticeable First Nations population, with three reserves nearby.The population of the city has suffered a steep decline, around 1% annually over the last 5 years. Many people have migrated to larger cities in southern Ontario in search of better work opportunities. The population under 14 still continues to be greater than those over 65 years of age.
Those who are of European origin constitute 91.6% of the population, including those who are of Italian, Franco-Ontarian, English, and Nordic, and southern European descent. Aboriginals or Native Canadians constitute 7.8%, and those who are Chinese, Asian, Black, and Filipino make the remainder of the population.
Christianity is overwhelmingly the religion of choice in the city at 85.9%, with Roman Catholicism as the strongest denomination, which can be attributed to the large number of citizens with a traditional Catholic-Italian heritage. The largest non-Christian religion is Buddhism numbering only 125 members. Judaism, Islam, and Hindu members barely represent a fraction.
Education
The city is home to Sault College, a college of applied arts and technology, and to Algoma University College, a federated school of Laurentian University in Sudbury. Both institutions also offer joint programs with Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.It is also home to the following High Schools: Sir James Dunn C & V.S., St. Mary's C., St. Basils, Korah C& V.S. (offers the International Baccalaureate Programme and an advanced learning programme to prepare those who wises to enter the IB programme), Bawating C& V.S., White Pines C.& V.S., Mount St. Joseph (All girls school), and Alexander Henry (trade and adult education school).
Sports
Sault Ste. Marie is the home of the 1993 Memorial Cup champion Sault Greyhounds. Famous NHLers who have played for the Greyhounds include Joe Thornton, Adam Foote and Wayne Gretzky. Starting in the fall of 2006, the Greyhounds will play in the new Steelback Centre, a state-of-the-art downtown arena that will replace Sault Memorial Gardens, which opened in 1949.
In 2004 the city of Sault Ste. Marie constructed a temporary skatepark on the John Rhodes Centre grounds with the help of the Superior Community Skatepark Association (SCSA). The Superior Community Skatepark Association [www.skateparksupport.com] a non-profit community group was developed to aid the city in building both the temporary skateboard park and a world-class permanent concrete skateboard park. Currently the SCSA is fundraising to help the city complete it's concrete skatepark project. In 2005 the DC Nationals quailifier skateboard contest was held at the city's temporary skatepark where Matt Lajoie and Kyle Eaton earned the opportunity to advance to the provincial and then on the national level contests where they gave Sault Ste Marie distinction for producing quality skateboarders.
Notable residents
- Brigitte Acton, Olympic skier
- Roberta Bondar, first Canadian woman in space
- Carla Collins, comedian and television personality
- Phil Esposito, hockey legend
- Tony Esposito, hockey legend
- Ron Francis, hockey legend
- Jennifer Fratesi, Olympic swimmer
- Craig Hartsburg, hockey player/coach
- Paul Maurice, coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs (May 2006 - present)
- Treble Charger, rock band
- Marty Turco, hockey player
- Rocky DiPietro, CFL hall of famer
Culture and media
Sault Ste. Marie hosts the annual Algoma Fall Festival which draws local and international performing artists. Prominent venues in the city, including The Kiwanis Community Theatre and the landmark Central United Church are used for the performances. Both venues hold approximately 1,000 people.
Radio stations
For stations licensed to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, see that city's article.
- 530 AM - CIRS (tourist information)
- 88.1 FM - CBON-18 (La Première Chaîne)
- 89.5 FM - CBSM (CBC Radio One)
- 97.3 FM - CHIM-6 (Christian)
- 100.5 FM - CHAS - (EZRock, adult contemporary)
- 104.3 FM - CJQM - (country music)
Television stations
For stations licensed to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, see that city's article.
- 2 - CHBX, CTV
- 5 - CBLT-5, CBC (formerly CJIC)
- 12 - CIII-12, Global
- 20 - CICO-20, TVOntario
- 26 - CBLFT-20, SRC
- 38 - CHCH-5, CH
Print and web media
Other media include the daily Sault Star and weekly Sault This Week. Online news sites such as SooToday.com and SooNews.ca have emerged in recent years, due in large part to news cutbacks at MCTV.Bilingualism controversy
On January 29, 1990, the city of Sault Ste. Marie became a flashpoint in the Meech Lake Accord debate when its mayor, Joe Fratesi, shepherded a resolution through city council declaring the city English-only. Although Sault Ste. Marie was not the first Ontario municipality to pass such a resolution, it was the largest and the most controversial.Responding to a French-language education controversy which began in 1987, the Sault Alliance for the Preservation of English Language Rights (SAPELR) began circulating petitions to have this resolution passed by council. The group worked in concert with the Alliance for the Preservation of English in Canada (APEC), a lobby group which was concurrently campaigning against the provincial government's French Language Services Act. (See also Franco-ontarian.)
Although that law dealt only with provincial government services, APEC's strategy was to convince municipalities that they would be required to provide services in French, regardless of cost or benefit, in an attempt to convince the municipalities to pass this type of resolution. As a result of the schooling controversy, Sault Ste. Marie was fertile ground for APEC's campaign, and the SAPELR petition quickly garnered 25,000 signatures.
On January 27, 1990, the city's daily newspaper, the Sault Star, reported that council would debate the language resolution two days later. This triggered the attention of the national media, and with reporters from all across Canada in town to cover the debate, the resolution passed council 11-2.
Many political figures, including Brian Mulroney, Jean Chrétien and Ontario premier David Peterson, expressed their opposition to the city's move. Both Peterson and his successor as premier, Bob Rae, refused to meet with Fratesi on several subsequent occasions, even to discuss unrelated matters.
In particular, the resolution was seen as a slap in the face to Quebec, where it was widely viewed as racist. (One Environment Canada meteorologist sent out a weather report for Sault Ste. Marie in which the forecast called for "a chance of flurries and Nazis", although she was suspended.) Council was also widely criticized for seemingly turning its back on the city's own history; although in modern times francophones are only a small percentage of the city's population, the city's history is intimately connected to early French Canadian missionary and voyageur exploration of the Great Lakes area. Some commentators also jokingly suggested that the city would be forced to change its name.
Even entertainers weighed in on the controversy; on their 1991 album Road Apples, The Tragically Hip criticized the resolution in the song "Born in the Water":
- Smart as trees in Sault Ste. Marie
- I can speak my mother tongue
- Passing laws, just because
- And singing songs of the English unsung
- How could you do it?
- How could you even try?
- When you were born in the water
- And you were raised up in the sky?
On June 30, 1994, a court ruling struck down the English-only resolution as ultra vires the council's authority. On August 9, 1999, a resolution was brought forward under a new city council to strike down the resolution. The city's solicitor advised that the resolution was out of order given that a court had already struck down the resolution. Attempting to do what it could, the council then unanimously passed the following resolution:
- Moved by Councillor Derik Brandt
- Seconded by Councillor Sam Lepore
- Whereas the "language resolution" was struck down by the courts because it was beyond the City’s authority; and
- Whereas it is not legally possible to rescind a resolution that has already been struck down by the courts;
- Be It Resolved that a notation be added to the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of City Council of January 29, 1990 to include the following beside item 5(e); N.B. "This resolution was struck down by the courts on June 30, 1994 and therefore has no effect."
The controversy significantly tarnished the city's image across Canada, and as of 2005, some political figures in Sault Ste. Marie still attribute the city's economic situation in part to the public relations fallout from the resolution.
External links
- [City of Sault Ste. Marie]
- [Maps and aerial photos]
- * Satellite image from [WikiMapia] or [Google Maps]
- * Street map from [Yahoo! Maps] or [GlobalGuide]
- * Aerial image from [TerraServer]
| North-West: | North: Heyden, Aweres Township | North-East: Searchmont |
| West: Whitefish Bay, Lake Superior, Prince Township | Sault Ste. Marie | East: Garden River First Nations, Rankin First Nations |
| South-West: St. Marys River | South: St. Marys River, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan | South-East: Sugar Island, Chippewa Co., Michigan |
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