Greater Sudbury (2006 census population 157,857) is a city in Northern Ontario, Canada. Greater Sudbury was created in 2001 by amalgamating the cities and towns of the former Regional Municipality of Sudbury, along with several previously unincorporated geographic townships.
It is the largest city in Northern Ontario in population, and the 24th largest metropolitan area in Canada. In land area, it is now the largest city in Ontario, the seventh largest municipality in Canada, and the largest municipality in English Canada legally designated as a city.
Greater Sudbury is one of only five cities in Ontario — the others are Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton and Kawartha Lakes — which constitute their own independent census divisions, and are not part of any district, county or regional municipality.
History
Originally named Sainte-Anne-des-Pins ("St. Anne of the Pines"), the community started as a small lumber camp in McKim township. During construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1883, blasting and excavation revealed high concentrations of nickel-copper ore at Murray Mine on the edge of the Sudbury Basin. The community, renamed Sudbury in honour of the CPR commissioner's wife's hometown in England, grew rapidly as a mining town. Sudbury was incorporated as a town in 1893, and as a city in 1930. The town's first mayor was Stephen Fournier.
Transportation
Highway 17 is the main branch of the Trans-Canada Highway, connecting the city to points east and west. An approximately 25-kilometre (15 mile) segment of Highway 17, from Mikkola to Whitefish, is freeway. As of 2006, this segment is one of only two full freeway segments (the other being Highway 11 southeast of North Bay) in all of Northern Ontario.
Highway 69, also a branch of the Trans-Canada Highway, leads south to Parry Sound, where it connects to the Highway 400 freeway to Toronto. Highway 400 will eventually be extended to reach Greater Sudbury; although the timetable may be subject to change, this construction is currently scheduled for completion in 2017.
Highway 144 leads north to Timmins.
The provincial Ministry of Transportation has announced tentative plans to extend the Highway 17 freeway east to Coniston in the mid-2010s, near the completion date of the Highway 400 construction. Studies have also been completed on the freeway segment's westerly extension as far as Espanola, although no construction timetable has been set. In the longer term, the whole highway may eventually be subsumed into Highway 417, although to date no formal project planning has taken place and that is likely decades away.
The Greater Sudbury Airport is served by regional carrier lines such as Bearskin and Air Canada Jazz. SunWing Vacations also offers direct flights out of the Greater Sudbury Airport to Orlando (Florida, USA), Varadero (Cuba), and to Cancun/Mayan Riviera (Mexico). Sudbury is also served by rail (Via Rail) and inter-city bus service (Greyhound Canada and Ontario Northland). The city also maintains a public transit system, Greater Sudbury Transit.
Sports
The Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League play in the city, at the Sudbury Arena. The city is also home to a harness racing track located in Azilda called Sudbury Downs. That facility, although not a full casino, also has slot machines.
Laurentian University is represented in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport league by the Laurentian Voyageurs and the Laurentian Lady Vees. Cambrian College is represented in the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association by the Cambrian Golden Shield, and Collège Boréal is represented by the Boréal Vipères. High school students compete in the Sudbury District Secondary School Athletic Association (SDSSAA), which is a division of Northern Ontario Secondary School Athletics (NOSSA).
The city hosted the IAAF World Junior Championships in Athletics in 1988. Sudbury also played host to the Brier, Canada's annual men's curling championships, in 1953 and 1983, and to the 2001 Scott Tournament of Hearts, the women's curling championship.
The Sudbury Spartans football club have been tearing up the gridiron for over half a century with the team's inaugural season in 1954. However, back then they were known as the Hardrocks, the name honouring the city's miners. The team changed the name in 1967 to the Spartans due to then coach Sid Forster believing that Hardrocks sounded too much like the name of a street gang.
Sudbury in art and literature
Notable works of fiction set primarily or partially in Sudbury or its former suburbs include Bruce McDonald's film Roadkill, Paul Quarrington's novel Logan in Overtime, Robert J. Sawyer's Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, Alistair MacLeod's novel No Great Mischief, and Jean-Marc Dalpé's play 1932, la ville du nickel and his short story collection Contes sudburois. The city is also fictionalized as "Chinookville" in several books by American comedy writer Jack Douglas.
One of Stompin' Tom Connors' most famous songs, "Sudbury Saturday Night", is inspired by the city and its hard rock mining image. Quebec musician Mononc' Serge also wrote a song about the city, titled "Sudbury", on his 2001 album Mon voyage au Canada.
In the television show Heroes, character Eden McCain was dumped into Lake Ramsey after committing suicide.
Health care
Greater Sudbury serves as the health care centre for much of northeastern Ontario through the Sudbury Regional Hospital. The hospital currently has three sites: St. Joseph's Health Centre (the old Sudbury General Hospital), Sudbury Memorial, and Laurentian. Formerly three separate hospitals, the government of Ontario amalgamate the hospitals in the late 1990s under its health care restructuring agenda. The one-site care facility is still under construction at the site of Laurentian Hospital. Laurentian is also the site of the Regional Cancer Program, which treats cancer patients from across the north. In 1968, the first successful coronary artery bypass surgery in Canada was performed at Sudbury Memorial Hospital.
Mental health services are also provided to the area through the Northeast Mental Health Centre.
Emergency services
Greater Sudbury is served by the Greater Sudbury Police Service, [6] headquarted in downtown Sudbury. There is also a detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police located in the McFarlane Lake area of the city's south end. The city also provides ambulance / EMS and fire services. Greater Sudbury Fire Services operates from 25 fire stations located throughout the city, with a combination of full-time and paid part-time firefighters. Prior to the municipal amalgamation of 2001, most of the suburban towns were served by separate volunteer fire departments, which were amalgamated into the current citywide service as part of the municipal restructuring. Police and EMS services, however, were provided by a single region-wide system prior to amalgamation. |
