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 includes lighthouses in the western part of the province, guiding vessels on the St. Marys River, Lake Superior, the Rainy River, and the Lake of the Woods. Southern Ontario is divided into counties and municipalities but these more sparsely populated areas to the north are divided into districts having mostly unincorporated areas. This page covers the Algoma, Thunder Bay, and Rainy River 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. Fortunately, Canadian Lighthouses of Lake Superior has been organized to support and restore the lighthouses of that region. This page has been 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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Algoma District Lighthouses
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![]() McKay Island Light, Bruce Mines, September 2018 Google Maps photo by Nicole Goczan |
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![]() West Sister Rock Light, St. Joseph Channel, January 2018 Google Maps photo by Nicholas Fraser |
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![]() Pointe aux Pins Range Front Light, Sault Sainte Marie, August 2024 Google Maps s photo by Kelley Neal |
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Thunder Bay District Lighthouses
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![]() Caribou Island Light, Lake Superior, August 2019 ex-Google Maps photo by Howard Bertolo |
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![]() Otter Island Light, Pukaskwa National Park, November 2020 photo by North of Superior Tourism Association |
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Rainy River District Lighthouses
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: Southeast: West Central Ontario | South: Eastern Upper Michigan | Southwest: Minnesota | West: Manitoba
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted December 16, 2003. Checked and revised October 2, 2024. Lighthouses: 51. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.