Top 15 Most Interesting Facts About Ontario

1. Province Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet, Latin for "Loyal she began, loyal she remains." It honors the United Empire Loyalists who settled here after the American Revolution and appears on the provincial coat of arms.
2. Province Bird: The Common Loon, adopted in 1994. Its haunting call is one of the signature sounds of Ontario's lakes, and the bird appears on Canada's one-dollar coin, nicknamed the "loonie."
3. Province Mammal: Ontario has no official provincial mammal. Moose, black bears, white-tailed deer, beavers and wolves are the animals most often seen across its forests and the Canadian Shield.
4. Province Flag: Adopted in 1965, it is a red field with the Union Jack in the upper left corner and the shield of the Ontario coat of arms on the right, which carries three golden maple leaves on a green background beneath the cross of St. George. It is a modern version of the old Canadian Red Ensign.
5. Total Area: About 1,076,395 square kilometers (415,598 square miles), making Ontario Canada's second largest province after Quebec. It is larger than France and Spain combined, and over 15 percent of that area is fresh water.
6. Capital and Confederation: The capital is Toronto, and Ontario was one of the four original provinces that formed Canada on July 1, 1867. Ottawa, the national capital, also lies within the province.
7. Canada's Most Populous Province: Roughly 15 to 16 million people live in Ontario, about 38 to 40 percent of all Canadians. Most live in the southern part, within a few hours' drive of the Great Lakes.
8. Four Great Lakes: Ontario touches four of the five Great Lakes (Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario), and more than 250,000 lakes lie within its borders. The province's name is thought to come from an Iroquoian word often translated as "sparkling water" or "beautiful lake."
9. Niagara Falls: The Horseshoe Falls, on the Canadian side, carry more water than any other waterfall in North America and drop about 51 meters (167 feet). Millions of visitors come each year, and the falls also supply hydroelectric power.
10. The CN Tower: Completed in 1976, the 553-meter (1,815-foot) tower in Toronto was the tallest free-standing structure in the world for more than 30 years. Visitors can walk on a glass floor and, for the brave, try the EdgeWalk outside the main pod.
11. The Rideau Canal: This 202-kilometer (125-mile) waterway between Ottawa and Kingston opened in 1832 and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Each winter, part of it becomes the Rideau Canal Skateway, one of the largest naturally frozen skating rinks in the world.
12. A Multicultural Province: Toronto is one of the most diverse cities in the world, with more than half of its residents born outside Canada and hundreds of languages spoken. The province is home to large Indigenous, French-speaking, Italian, Chinese, South Asian, Caribbean and many other communities.
13. Hockey and Culture: The Hockey Hall of Fame is in Toronto, and the city hosts the Toronto International Film Festival each September. The Stratford Festival, begun in 1953, is among the largest classical repertory theatres in North America.
14. Algonquin Provincial Park: Established in 1893, Algonquin is Ontario's oldest provincial park and covers about 7,630 square kilometers (2,946 square miles) of forest, lakes and rivers. It inspired painters of the Group of Seven and is famous for canoeing and moose watching.
15. The Sudbury Basin: One of the largest known impact craters on Earth, created by a huge meteorite about 1.85 billion years ago, lies around Sudbury. The impact helped create rich nickel and copper deposits, and the city's famous Big Nickel sculpture celebrates the mining industry.

Geography of Ontario

Ontario stretches from the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River in the south to the shores of Hudson Bay and James Bay in the north. It borders Quebec to the east, Manitoba to the west, and the United States (Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York) to the south. Nearly 90 percent of the province lies on the ancient rock of the Canadian Shield, a rugged land of forests, rocks and lakes that is rich in minerals. Most people live on the fertile lowlands of southern Ontario, a region of farms, wine country and cities that follows the lower Great Lakes, and the northern part of the province is sparsely populated, with boreal forest giving way to wetlands near Hudson Bay.

• Highest Point: Ishpatina Ridge, at 693 meters (2,274 feet), in the Temagami region of northeastern Ontario.
• Lowest Point: Sea level along the shores of Hudson Bay and James Bay.
• Mountain Ranges: Ontario has no major mountain ranges. Its high ground is formed by the hills of the Canadian Shield, the Algonquin Dome, the Niagara Escarpment (a long limestone ridge running from Niagara Falls to the Bruce Peninsula) and the Cabot Head and Blue Mountain uplands near Georgian Bay.
• Major Regions:
  • Greater Toronto Area and the Golden Horseshoe: The densely populated shoreline of Lake Ontario around Toronto, Hamilton, Mississauga and Oakville, which is the economic heart of Canada.
  • Niagara Region: A narrow peninsula between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, home to Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Canada's largest wine region.
  • Southwestern Ontario: Farmland, Lake Erie beaches, Stratford, London, Windsor and the Lake Huron coast near Grand Bend and Goderich.
  • Eastern Ontario and the Ottawa Valley: Ottawa, Kingston, the Thousand Islands, the Rideau Lakes and Prince Edward County.
  • Central Ontario: The cottage country of Muskoka, the Kawarthas and Haliburton, with lakes, forest and summer resorts, plus Algonquin Provincial Park.
  • Georgian Bay and Bruce Peninsula: Clear blue water, thousands of islands, Wasaga Beach, Collingwood and the cliffs and caves of the Bruce Peninsula.
  • Northeastern Ontario: Sudbury, North Bay, Timmins and the Temagami wilderness, a region of mining, lakes and forest.
  • Northwestern Ontario: Thunder Bay, Kenora, Lake of the Woods and the north shore of Lake Superior, with Sleeping Giant Provincial Park and Pukaskwa National Park.
  • Far North and the Hudson Bay Lowlands: A vast area of wetlands, tundra and rivers, reached by air, rail or winter roads, home to Cree and Oji-Cree communities and to polar bears near Polar Bear Provincial Park.

A Brief History of Ontario

First Nations peoples have lived in this land for at least 11,000 years, including the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe, Odawa and Algonquin), Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), Huron-Wendat, Cree and Oji-Cree, and they traded and traveled along its waterways long before Europeans arrived. French explorers, including Étienne Brûlé, who arrived around 1610, and Samuel de Champlain, who reached Lake Huron in 1615, were the first Europeans to visit, and fur traders and Jesuit missionaries followed. After the American Revolution, thousands of Loyalists moved north, and in 1791 Britain created the province of Upper Canada, with John Graves Simcoe as its first lieutenant governor. York, later renamed Toronto, became the capital in 1793, and the province was the site of key battles in the War of 1812. After the rebellions of 1837 and 1838, Upper Canada and Lower Canada were united in 1841, and in 1867 Ontario became a province in its own right at Confederation. Railways, canals, farming, mining, forestry and manufacturing then built a powerful economy, and waves of immigrants from Britain, Europe and eventually every part of the world shaped modern Ontario. Places to explore this story:

• Visit Sainte-Marie among the Hurons in Midland, a reconstruction of a 17th-century Jesuit mission and the first European settlement in Ontario.
• Visit Fort York National Historic Site in Toronto, where the 1813 Battle of York took place, and the nearby Fort George in Niagara-on-the-Lake, a key site of the War of 1812.
• Visit Fort Henry National Historic Site in Kingston, a large 19th-century fortress where costumed soldiers carry out drills and musket firings.
• Visit Upper Canada Village near Morrisburg, a living history village that shows daily life in the 1860s.
• Visit Parliament Hill in Ottawa, the seat of Canada's federal government, and take a tour of the Centre Block and the Peace Tower area.
• Visit the Rideau Canal locks at Ottawa and Kingston Mills to see a historic engineering feat built in the 1830s.
• Visit the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford and Six Nations of the Grand River to learn about Haudenosaunee history and culture.
• Visit the Buxton National Historic Site and Museum near Chatham, a settlement of formerly enslaved people who found freedom in Canada via the Underground Railroad.

Top 10 Things to Do in Ontario

1. Visit Niagara Falls and ride the Hornblower boat tour into the mist of the Horseshoe Falls, then see the falls lit up at night from Clifton Hill and the Skylon Tower area.
2. Visit the CN Tower in Toronto for panoramic views of the city and Lake Ontario, then explore the nearby Ripley's Aquarium of Canada and the Toronto Islands by ferry.
3. Visit Algonquin Provincial Park to canoe among the lakes that inspired the Group of Seven, listen for wolves on a public wolf howl in August, and look for moose along Highway 60.
4. Visit the Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa in winter and skate past Parliament Hill, or visit in spring for the Canadian Tulip Festival.
5. Visit the Stratford Festival in Stratford for Shakespeare and musical theatre in a charming riverside town, running from spring to fall.
6. Visit the Niagara wine region and sample Riesling and Icewine in Niagara-on-the-Lake, one of the best places in the world for Icewine.
7. Visit the Thousand Islands on a boat cruise from Gananoque or Kingston, passing island castles and forested islets in the St. Lawrence River.
8. Visit Georgian Bay and the Bruce Peninsula, hiking the Bruce Trail to the Grotto and kayaking around the Flowerpot Islands near Tobermory in Fathom Five National Marine Park.
9. Visit Muskoka for a classic cottage country weekend, with lake cruises on a historic steamship, swimming, canoeing and lakeside dining.
10. Visit Thunder Bay and the north shore of Lake Superior to see Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, Kakabeka Falls and some of the most dramatic scenery in the province.

Top 10 Destinations in Ontario

1. Visit Toronto, Canada's largest city, with the CN Tower, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Distillery District, Kensington Market and some of the most varied food in the country.
2. Visit Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake, one of the world's great natural wonders alongside a beautifully preserved Georgian town with theatre and wineries.
3. Visit Ottawa, the national capital, with Parliament Hill, the Rideau Canal, the ByWard Market and the National Gallery, Museum of Nature and Canadian War Museum.
4. Visit Algonquin Provincial Park, the best known wilderness park in the province, with lakes, canoe routes and moose.
5. Visit Muskoka, the classic Ontario cottage country, with lakes, resorts and towns like Gravenhurst, Bracebridge and Huntsville.
6. Visit Kingston and the Thousand Islands, a historic limestone city with Fort Henry, Queen's University and a lively waterfront.
7. Visit Prince Edward County, a peninsula in Lake Ontario known for vineyards, sandy beaches at Sandbanks Provincial Park, farm-to-table food and small galleries.
8. Visit Stratford, a theatre town on the Avon River with the Stratford Festival, excellent restaurants and a pretty downtown.
9. Visit Georgian Bay and the Bruce Peninsula, a region of clear water, limestone cliffs and the Bruce Peninsula National Park.
10. Visit Thunder Bay and the Lake Superior shore, with the Sleeping Giant, Kakabeka Falls, Terry Fox Lookout and northern wilderness.

Plan Your Visit

For more information about Ontario, visit the province's official tourism site: Travel Ontario