Halfway between North Bay and Sudbury on Highway 17, West Nipissing occupies a prime position in Northern Ontario’s economic corridor. With 14,500 residents, the municipality ranks as the region’s seventh largest, a fact that surprises many southern Ontarians accustomed to denser populations.The community’s strategic location provides access to two major markets while maintaining the character of a close-knit northern town. “Fifteen thousand doesn’t seem like a lot in terms of southern Ontario municipalities, but it does put us as one of the larger centers in the north,” says Mayor Kathleen Thorne Rochon, who has led the municipality since 2022. The amalgamated community, formed in 1999 from seventeen and a half former townships and villages, has emerged as the most bilingual municipality in Ontario, with 73.4% of residents fluent in both official languages. 2 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 06, ISSUE 07
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