THOMPSON, MANITOBA

'The City of Thompson', "Hub of the North" is the regional trade and service centre of Northern Manitoba. The city is located 830 kilometers north of the international border, and 739 kilometers north of the provincial capital of Winnipeg, and is 396 kilometers Northeast of Flin Flon.

Contents

History

Industry

Education

Shopping

Cold Weather Testing

Sports

Circuit Court

Bylaws

Population

Media

Newspaper

Radio

Television

External links

References

History

The modern history of Thompson began in 1956 when on February 4, a major ore body was discovered by use of an airborne electromagnetometer following ten years of mining exploration in the region. Inco Limited signed an agreement with the Manitoba government covering the construction of the mine, mill, smelter, and refinery, as well as town services. The agreement also required that the company provide financial assistance towards the Kelsey Generating System, and a spur line to connect with C.N's Bay Line near Thicket Portage. Thompson is a planned community named after Inco's chairman, John F. Thompson, and was incorporated as a town in 1967 on Canada's Centennial Anniversary. In 1970 Thompson was incorporated as a city in the royal presence of Queen Elizabeth II, having reached a population of 20,000. A decline in population occurred during the following decades, levelling off around 14,000 people. Thompson came to be known as "The Hub of the North", as it functions as a centre for politics and commerce in the region.

Industry

Its most prominent local industry is the mining, milling, smelting and refining of nickel, with additional nickel concentrates coming from Voisey's Bay, Newfoundland.
Aside from CVRDInco Ltd; Manitoba Hydro, Calm Air, MTS and the provincial government employ the majority of the people in Thompson. A large portion are teachers and Entrepreneurs as well.
Many federal and provincial government agencies have offices in Thompson. Thompson has a large retail sector, providing such things as clothing for all ages, a pet store, jewelry stores, travel agencies, vehicle dealerships, and grocery stores. Calm Air Airlines provides direct service between Winnipeg and Thompson.

Education

The local School District of Mystery Lake encompasses six elementary grade schools (Deerwood, Burntwood, Westwood, Riverside, Juniper, Eastwood, and one high school, R.D. Parker Collegiate.
Thompson also offers a K-12 French immersion program. Parents must enroll their children in the program and send them to École Riverside School and then afterwards they can continue it in high school. Students do not have the option of switching to French immersion in secondary school if they did not take the course at some point while in elementary school.
Although there is some demand for a private school, Thompson is not home to any at this time.
Thompson contains one of the two main campuses of the University College of the North, as well as the University of Manitoba's Faculty of Social Work branch in the region.

Shopping

Thompson is home to western Canada's first fully enclosed shopping center, the Thompson Plaza. The surrounding communities also rely on many of the shopping ammenities it has to offer.

Cold Weather Testing

Due to Thompson's unique location and weather conditions it has gained a good reputation for its cold weather testing. Automobile manufacturers such as Chrysler, Ford, and Hummer have tested their vehicles in winter months in Thompson. The National Research Council of Canada has indicated it's intentions to seek a partner in the private industry to develop an aircraft engine testing facility.

Sports

Thompson is home to the Norman Northstars hockey team.
Thompson's minor hockey teams are known as the King Miners.
The high school teams are called the RD Parker Collegiate Trojans. The main rivals of the Trojans are the Hapnot Kopper Kings from Flin Flon and the MBCI Spartans from The Pas.
Every year students from the six elementary schools in grades 4-8 compete in the Knights of Columbus Track Meet. The most successful school to date in the competition has been Westwood School.
Thompson also has a large 6-sheet curling rink known as the Burntwood Curling Club which has hosted several zone and provincial competitions.

Circuit Court

Thompson is unique in that it is the judicial center for an enormous geographic area ranging from Norway House in the South to Churchill in the North. Judges and lawyers based in Thompson regularly travel by small plane on circuit court to various remote communities and reserves to hold court.

Bylaws

The City Council of Thompson has bylaws. One of which is a curfew (varying depending on age) for people under 18. [1]

Population

Year	Population	Five Year % change	Ten Year % change
1971	n/a	n/a	n/a
1976	17,291	n/a	n/a
1981	14,288	-17.4	n/a
1986	n/a	n/a	n/a
1991	14,977	n/a	4.8
1996	14,385	-3.9	n/a
2001	13,256	-7.8	-11.5
2006	13,446	1.4	-6.5

Media

Newspaper

The local newspaper, the Thompson Citizen, is published on Wednesdays. A free newspaper produced by the same company, The Nickel Belt News, is distributed to a wider area than the Citizen, encompassing other communities such as Churchill, Snow Lake, Norway House, Nelson House, Cross Lake, Lynn Lake, Split Lake and many others.

Radio

★ AM 610: CHTM (Adult Contemporary)

★ FM 96.3: CINC (NCI)

★ FM 99.9: CKSB-5 (La Première Chaîne)

★ FM 100.9: CBWK (CBC Radio One)

Television

CBWTT went on the air for the first time on April 1, 1969.^[1]

★ Channel 5: CBWFT-5, SRC

★ Channel 7: CBWTT, CBC

★ Channel 9: CKYT, CTV

External links

★ City of Thompson tourism site

★ Thompson's Restaurants (Food Inc)

★ Thompson's Classified Ads

★ Official website of R.D.Parker Collegiate

★ Information about law firms in Thompson

★ Thompson Livejournal Community

References

1. Microwave Hook-Up Gives North Live TV