Welcome to Moosonee!
Moosonee is a town of 1,725 people (2011) in Northern Ontario, referred to as the "Gateway to the Arctic" and is Ontario's only saltwater port where goods are transferred from trains to aircraft and barges to more northerly communities. Although it is on the same latitude (51° N) as Calgary, Saskatoon, London (UK), and Berlin, it is still an isolated community as there is no road access.
Moosonee is a town in northern Ontario, Canada, on the Moose River approximately 19 km (12 mi) south of James Bay. It is considered to be "the Gateway to the Arctic" and has Ontario's only saltwater port. Nearby on Moose Factory Island is the community of Moose Factory to which it is connected by water taxi in the summer and ice road in the winter.
There is no road connection to the community but flights are provided by Air Creebec and by Thunder Airlines. Moosonee is also the railhead of the Ontario Northland Railway where goods are transferred to barges and aircraft for transport to more northerly communities. Moosonee is not particularly far north, being located at 51°N—which is roughly the same latitude as Saskatoon, Calgary, London (UK), and Berlin—but is colder due to its proximity to Hudson Bay, and isolated due to its lack of road access to the rest of Ontario. The community was the site of a fur trading post set up in 1903 by Revillon Frères, competitors to the Hudson's Bay Company which later bought out Révillon.
Moosonee formerly held the status of a development area, the only community in the province with that designation, and was governed by a locally elected board subject to formal appointment by the Ontario provincial government. It became incorporated as a town effective January 1, 2001, with an elected mayor and four-person council. The most recent municipal council was elected on October 27, 2014, and three replacement councillors were elected in a by-election held on July 7, 2015. For 2014–2018 the town council consists of mayor Wayne Taipale, and councillors Tony Tourville, John Moore, Carman Tozer and Cathy Turner.