the latest census figures from statistics canada show temagami posting its first population gain in a generation. in 2006, 934 people called temagami home, compared to 893 in 2001, a rise of 4.6%. that's not far from the national rate of 5.4% or the provincial rate of 6.6%. the 2001 census, by comparison, showed a drop of over 13% in the previous 5 years.
latchford recorded impressive gains, posting a 21.2% increase, up to 446 from 368. however, the rest of the temiskaming district is still a story of depopulation, losing 3.1% overall.
why was temagami able to buck the depopulation trend? this census was conducted in early may, 2006, 6 months after temagami forest products laid off 40 workers and shut its doors for good. some of temagami's rise no doubt reflects these mill workers, some of whom have since moved away. however, many of these former workers still live in temagami. many others never moved to temagami in the first place. so one cannot point to the mill as having temporarily boosted temagami's population. rather, retirees, some of them former cottagers and some completely new to the area, have driven this growth. many have moved into new houses in the cassels lake subdivision, while others have moved permanently into cottages on lake temagami, along the highway corridor, or in town. i predict that the net lake subdivision (temagami bays estates) will give a similar boost to temagami's population over the next 5 years. all of this retirement growth has been without the active encouragement of the municipality.
people move to temagami for the clean air, the open spaces, the fishing, the hiking. they do not move here for hardscrabble industrial jobs. if we can post these kinds of numbers while all the effort is going toward boosting industry, imagine what the municipality of temagami could do if it actually promoted retirement living here?
statistics canada community index
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