Sault Ste. Marie is a city on the St. Marys River in Algoma District, Ontario, Canada. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay. The community was founded as a French religious mission: Sault either means “jump” or “rapids” in French, and thus the entire name translates to “Saint Mary’s Rapids” or “Saint Mary’s Falls”. Although the word sault is pronounced like “so” (soʊ) in French, it is pronounced like “soo” (suː) in the English pronunciation of the city name. Residents of the city are called Saultites. With a mission established by French Jesuits in 1668, claiming of the area by Simon-François Daumont de Saint-Lusson, in the name of Louis XIV of France, and fur trading posts soon after, this was one of the oldest European settlements in Canada.
Sault Ste. Marie is bordered to the east by the Rankin and Garden River First Nation reserves, and to the west by Prince Township. To the north, the city is bordered by an unincorporated portion of Algoma District, which includes the local services boards of Aweres, Batchawana Bay, Goulais and District, Peace Tree and Searchmont. To the south, across the river, is the United States and the city of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The two cities are joined by the International Bridge, which connects Interstate 75 on the Michigan side and Huron Street (and former Ontario Secondary Highway 550B) on the Ontario side. Shipping traffic in the Great Lakes system bypasses the Saint Mary’s Rapids via the American Soo Locks, the World’s busiest canal in terms of tonnage that passes through it, while smaller recreational and tour boats use the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie Canal.
The city has made a name for itself in steel-making, and Essar Steel Algoma (formerly Algoma Steel) is the largest single employer with 3500 employees at the main plant and approximately 553 (440 unionized and 113 non-unionized) at an adjacent tube mill operated by Tenaris. During the 1940s, the steel and chromium operations were of substantial importance to the war effort in Canada and the United States. Algoma Steel and the Chromium Mining and Smelting Corporation were key producers for transportation and military machines. The Huron Central Railway is important to the operation of the steel operation, but Genesee and Wyoming, Inc., owner of the railway, has announced its intention to discontinue operations, but continued to operate under an agreement which terminated on August 15, 2010. Sault Ste. Marie prospered during the 1960s and 70s, but as imported steel began to compete with domestic production, the local industry began to contract. Since the late 1980s, Algoma Steel (Currently Essar Steel Algoma), has declared bankruptcy twice and laid off large numbers of workers. Most recently, Algoma (Essar) was bailed out by the Ontario government with interest-free loans. The company experienced a swift turnaround in 2004 from its earlier financial troubles of the 1990s. China’s increased demand for steel of the past decade has increased the price of steel. Denis Turcotte, CEO, was named Canadian CEO of the year in 2006 for his efforts. An offer to purchase ASI by the Essar Group (India) had been recommended by the ASI Board of Directors and was approved. The company was officially sold to the Essar Group in June 2007 for $1.6 billion. Essar Steel Algoma is currently the most profitable steel company per unit on a global scale. Forestry is also a major local industry, especially at St. Mary’s Paper which has been reopened as of June 2007 under new ownership. Also related to wood products is Flakeboard Ltd., which employs over 110 people in the community along with an adjacent melamine factory which manufactures products with Flakeboard’s materials. Such examples of this are furniture and cupboards where a finish is added to the product. Together both of Flakeboard’s factories employ about 150 people. The Huron Central Railway is important to these local industries, too.
Sault Ste. Marie is served by Highway 17, which is a segment of the Trans-Canada Highway in the region. The highway connects the city to Thunder Bay to the northwest and Sudbury to the east. The International Bridge connects downtown Sault Ste. Marie to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, becoming Interstate 75 on the American side. Interstate 75 continues south to Saginaw, Flint, and Detroit before crossing into Ohio, eventually terminating in Hialeah, Florida, near Miami. The International Bridge also directs traffic from the American side of the border via Sault Ste. Marie’s new transport route that runs from the bridge to Second Line. This new limited-access roadway, known as “Carmen’s Way” after the late MP Carmen Provenzano, will make it much easier for transport trucks to gain access to main roads. The route of Carmen’s Way has a wide grassy right-of-way on both sides of the roadway, to facilitate future expansion of its lane capacity. Planning is underway to eventually connect Second Line East to the new four-lane section of Highway 17 that recently opened east of the city. The city also plays an inherited role in marine transportation, with the locks in Michigan being an integral component of the St. Lawrence Seaway. However, the city also holds a small-scale lock which is used by small boats and other pleasure craft in the summer. Also recently opened is a multi-modal terminal designed to take advantage of the Sault as a rail, road, and water transportation hub. Sault Ste. Marie is also served by Sault Ste. Marie Airport and Sault Transit Services. The city is no longer linked to any other major cities by passenger rail, but is part of the Algoma Central Railway network, which runs north from the city to the small town of Hearst. In 2006 the city’s Member of Parliament, Tony Martin, called for passenger rail service to be reinstated between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury.
Area tourist attractions include the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre, the Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site, boat tours of the Sault locks (which connect Lake Superior with the lower Great Lakes), Whitefish Island, the Ermatinger-Clergue National Historic Site, Casino Sault Ste. Marie, the Art Gallery of Algoma and the Algoma Central Railway’s popular Agawa Canyon Tour Train. Nearby parks include Pancake Bay Provincial Park and Batchawana Bay Provincial Park and Lake Superior Provincial Park. Winter activities are also an asset to Sault Ste Marie’s tourism industry with the annual Bon Soo Winter Carnival, Searchmont Resort as a great ski and snowboard destination, Stokely Creek Lodge (cross country ski resort) and Hiawatha a nearby cross country ski trails. The city also hosts a large snowmobile trail system that criss-crosses the province of Ontario. A new non-motorized HUB trail is being created around the city (20 km) so that walkers, rollerbladers and cyclists (snowshoeing and cross country skiing in winter) can enjoy the beautiful and convenient circle tour around town. The Voyageur Hiking Trail, a long-distance trail that will eventually span from Sudbury to Thunder Bay, originated in Sault Ste. Marie in 1973. The Roberta Bondar Pavilion was created to commemorate the first Canadian female astronaut to go into space.
The city is home to Sault College, a college of applied arts and technology, and to Algoma University. While the vast majority of programs at Algoma University and Sault College are delivered on the respective campuses, both institutions also offer joint programs with Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. On June 18, 2008, Algoma University became an independent university, ending their longtime affiliation with Laurentian University in Sudbury. A new school, Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig (University), is poised to launch as a federated school of Algoma University. It will offer courses in Anishinaabe culture and language.
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