Greater Sudbury, North Bay post strong population growth in latest census

Greater Sudbury posted significant population growth in the last five years, joining North Bay as two cities in northeastern Ontario that added more residents since 2016.

Statistics Canada reported this week that 165,958 people live in Sudbury, compared to 161,531 in 2016, an increase of 2.8 per cent.

When the city’s full metropolitan area is included – taking in Markstay-Warren and the First Nations communities of Wahnapitei 11 and Whitefish Lake 6 – the population number rises to 170,605, up from 165,958 in the last five years. 

Sudbury MPP Jaime West said northern communities have done a good job attracting new Canadians to the area.

"I think another thing, as well, is with the pandemic people started working from home," West said.

"They realized that you don’t need to be, you know, in a large urban centre. You can come to the north, you can enjoy the nature and the trails and have a little bit more space between your neighbours.”

Kris Longston, Greater Sudbury's director of planning services, said the population increase is "exciting news" for the city.

“It represents a significant increase over what we saw between the 2011 and 2016 census, where our growth was just under one per cent so now we’re almost triple that and we’re just under three per cent,” Longston said.

“We do use the projections to determine what the demographic makeup of the city is going to look like in the near, medium and long term, and then we adjust our policy framework and use that information to form our capital programs."

Population trends are important for planning sewer and road construction, among other priorities, he said.

"We do have a plan in place to accommodate additional growth and we revisit that plan every so often with new information like the 2021 census,” Longston said. 

North Bay saw its population rise to 71,736, up from 70,378 five years ago, an increase of 1.9 per cent.

Sault Ste. Marie, meanwhile, saw a modest decrease (1.8 per cent), dipping to 76,731 residents in 2021 from 78,159 five years ago. Timmins went from 41,788 residents to 41,145 in the same time period, a drop of 1.5 per cent.

Here's a look at how other northeastern Ontario communities fared in the latest census:

- Elliot Lake posted strong population growth, with a population of 11,372, an increase of 5.9 per cent.

- Cobalt posted a significant drop in population, losing 12.3 per cent and dropping below 1,000 residents to sit at 989.

- Other communities that grew include Espanola (2.7 per cent), West Nipissing (1.5 per cent) and Cochrane (1.3 per cent).

- Hearst (-5.4 per cent), New Liskeard (-4.8 per cent), Kirkland Lake (-2.9 per cent), Kapuskasing (-2.8 per cent) and Chapleau (-2.2 per cent) all shrunk since 2016.

Here's a link to Statistic Canada's census list where residents can search for results for their community. 

-With files from Lindsay Aelick