North Bay

North Bay is a city in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is the seat of Nipissing District and takes its name from its position on the shore of Lake Nipissing. North Bay is located on the traditional territory of the Nipissing First Nation peoples.

North Bay is more economically diverse than many other Northern Ontario communities. Although a large percentage of the city's jobs are the public sector in nature with health, education, and government dominating the list of the city's top employers.

North Bay is the home of Nipissing University, founded in 1992 (previous names were North Bay Normal School 1909-1953, North Bay Teachers College 1953-1973, Nipissing University affiliated to Laurentian University 1973-1992, independent public university separated from Laurentian University in 1992 and of Canadore College, founded in 1967). Approximately 10,000 full-time students (and thousands of more part-time students) are enrolled at the two post-secondary institutions, which share a campus in the west end of the city.

Between the early 1950s and 1990s, 22 Wing/Canadian Forces Base North Bay was the community's leading industry. There was cuts to the base by the federal government, plus dramatic reductions in the number of its personnel—at one time 2,200 military members and civilian employees; in 2013 about 750—has resulted in a loss of tens of millions of dollars to the community, an impact felt by all North Bay's business sectors.

North Bay is also home to The Algonquin Regiment, A Coy, a Canadian Force Army Reserve unit. B Coy of The Algonquin Regiment is located in Timmins.

The service industry, tourism, and transportation also play a significant role in the city's economy, as well as primary industry companies. It is estimated that North Bay has more than 65 companies that offer mining supplies and services, employing almost 3,000 residents.

In recent years the city has gained prominence as a hub of arts and culture in Ontario, due to its vibrant community of artists, musicians, actors and writers. In 2004, the TVOntarioprogram Studio 2 selected North Bay as being one of the top three most artistically talented communities in the province.

The climate in North Bay is common to most places in Northern Ontario. North Bay tends to be a less humid climate than found in Southern Ontario due somewhat to the distance from the Great Lakes and less warm than some other locations in Northern Ontario due to cooling from Lake Nipissing. On May 31, 2002, a tornado caused minor damage near the city. Two more tornadoes touched down on Lake Nipissing on August 20, 2009. This storm was a part of a chain of tornadoes that caused large amounts of damage in other parts of Ontario.