The nation of Canada was created by the British North America Act in 1867 with Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia as the four original provinces. The area of Ontario was part of New France, the former French empire in North America, from tthe founding of Québec city in 1608 until France was forced to cede its Canadian territories to Britain at the end of the Seven Years War in 1763. Today Canada is a federation of ten provinces and three large federal territories in the far north of the country. In 1798 the southern portions of modern Ontario were separated from Québec as Upper Canada, known after 1841 as Canada West and taking the name Ontario in 1867. Its territory was expanded northward several times and the province reached it present boundaries in 1912. The province of Ontario has a tremendous width east to west, including the entire Canadian side of the Great Lakes. Across this vast area there were once about 250 lighthouses. More than 130 remain, a large percentage of them active. This page covers lighthouses of Georgian Bay (except for those of the Bruce Peninsula) and lighthouses of several inland lakes to the north and west of Georgian Bay. Georgian Bay is an eastern basin of Lake Huron, roughly 190 km (120 mi) long from northwest to southeast and 80 km (50 mi) wide. The southern shores of the bay are well populated and feature many popular resorts but the northern shores are remote and rarely visited. Southern Ontario is divided into counties and municipalities, but the more sparsely populated areas to the north are divided into unincorporated districts. Aids to navigation in Canada are maintained by the Canadian Coast Guard. In 2008 Parliament passed the Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act to designate and protect historic lighthouses. This page was greatly improved by the comments and corrections of Michel Forand. I'd also like to thank Ron Walker of the Canadian Coast Guard for answering a number of questions. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. CCG numbers are from the Inland Waters volume of the List of Lights, Buoys, and Fog Signals of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. For lights near the international border, USCG numbers are from volume 7 of the U.S. Coast Guard Light List.
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Grey County Lighthouses
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![]() Griffith Island Light, Georgian Bay, July 2023 Google Maps photo by Mark Culp |
Simcoe County Lighthouses
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![]() Christian Island Light, Georgian Bay, October 2022 Google Maps photo by Naeem Khan |
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![]() Hope Island Light (now lost), Georgian Bay, September 2015 Wikipedia Creative Commons photo by Trista Madsen |
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![]() Midland Point Range Front Light, Midland, September 2018 Lightphotos.net photo; non-commercial usage with attribution allowed |
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Barrie City Lighthouses
District Municipality of Muskoka Lighthouses
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![]() Gravenhurst Narrows Light, Gravenhurst, July 2023 ex-Google Maps photo by Mark Culp |
Parry Sound District Lighthouses
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![]() Cecebe Lake Light, Magnetawan Municipality of Magnetawan photo |
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Sudbury District: Killarney Municipality Lighthouses
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![]() Coast Guard maintenance team at Bustard Rocks Light, Georgian Bay, July 2011 ex-Panoramio Creative Commons photo by ger_999 |
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
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Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining page: West: West Central Ontario (Lake Huron)
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted December 16, 2003. Checked and revised September 24, 2024. Lighthouses: 46. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.