Our Community

The Municipality of Sioux Lookout is a close-knit community located in northwestern Ontario, nestled within a network of lakes, endless forest and the rugged Canadian Shield. Living here means enjoying an excellent quality of life and the amenities of a larger city paired with the friendly support of a small town. As the Hub of the North, we connect 29 remote Northern communities to healthcare, essential services and more.

Sioux Lookout and Hudson are located in Northwestern Ontario halfway between Thunder Bay, Ontario and Winnipeg, Manitoba. We are connected to destinations across Canada and beyond by air, rail, road and water.

In our community residents get involved. Sioux Lookout is home to many annual festivals and events throughout the year as well as a lively arts and culture scene.

For you and your family, living in a safe, healthy community with ample opportunity is a priority. Sioux Lookout offers exceptional health care, reliable protective services and great schools.

Known as the Hub of the North, we connect 29 remote northern communities to healthcare and essential services. With the 4th busiest airport in Ontario and a major VIA Rail stop, our central location connects over 30,000 northern Ontarians in our surrounding communities to our state-of-the-art hospital, excellent social services as well as the rest of Canada.

Our population of over 5,800 people lives over an area of 536 square kilometres, about a third of which is water.

Hudson lies on the shore of Lost Lake (gateway to Lac Seul), a 20 minute drive from downtown Sioux Lookout. As with the rest of Sioux Lookout, Hudson has a rich history as a former transportation hub that had, for almost a century, formed connections between Ontario's northern communities and the rest of the country. Our abundant natural resources and beautiful surroundings form the basis of our lifestyle.

Hudson offers picturesque trails and beaches, small businesses, and community amenities including an outdoor rink, ball diamond, seniors centre, and post office, all within a few minutes' walk.

We welcome tourists from all over North America to visit us and enjoy the true northern Ontario experience. With Lac Seul and Vermilion Lake surrounding us, the hunting and fishing in Hudson is world class, and our winter snowmobiling trails link all the way to near Dryden.

Hudson was also home to the late Honourable Leo Bernier, a former Conservative cabinet minister who lived in the area throughout his life, making our mark in Canadian political history by serving as Ontario’s first Minister of Northern Affairs.

Here in Sunset Country, we embrace community, diversity and our beautiful outdoors, Ontario's north preserved from an earlier time. Sioux Lookout is special, not only because of what we have, but because our community forms deep connections between places and people, truly making us the Hub of the North.

Our History

The rich history of life here began over 5,000 years ago when this land was Ojibway territory. Our name Sioux Lookout comes from this area's use as a strategic vantage point where guards could see far away canoes approaching on the English River system and is rooted in the legend of a battle between the Ojibway and Sioux First Nations. 

Originally the Sioux lived in the Western Plains while the Ojibway lived near Lake Superior, with what is now Sioux Lookout in between the two. The Legend of Sioux Lookout tells the story of a battle between the Sioux and Ojibway. After enduring years of surprise attacks by the Sioux who were visiting to trade, the Ojibway fought back by ambushing the Sioux at a high peak of land on what is now Pelican Lake. The Legend of Sioux Lookout was written by Nan Shipley in 1987. 

The Town of Sioux Lookout was incorporated in 1912 when it was connected to the rest of Ontario via the railway. It went from being a railway terminal point in the early 1900s to a gold and iron mining town as well as a leading aviation centre. From the 1950s until 1987, our Pinetree Radar Base was a key employer. Since then, Sioux Lookout has become a hub of forestry, health care and social services and tourism in Ontario's north.

Hudson began as a railway town in 1910 when the local railway station opened. Commercial fishing started shortly after with boxcars of pickerel, whitefish, jackfish, sturgeon and lake trout shipped to market every other week through to the 1940s.

During the Red Lake gold rush of the 1920s, people used ferries, canoes and portaging to travel the local water system and access Red Lake. Remnants of the boats and scows of the gold rush can be found in Second Boat Bay.   Our original name "Rolling Portage" comes from the freight portages that crossed this area between Lost Lake and Vermilion Lake. In the 1930s, a busy freighting airport made Hudson an important northern connector. By the 1940s freighting decreased and the economy started to focus on logging and saw mills.

Our People

The people who live here are diverse, vibrant and progressive. We embrace new technologies, our rich natural resources and we provide advanced health and social services to all members of our community. We have close connections with our neighbouring First Nations communities and work together to strengthen our economy and quality of life.

Our Key Industries

Our state-of-the-art Meno Ya Win Health Centre is a staple of our community and a major employer, serving the 29 northern First Nations communities and 3 nearby municipalities. Several Tribal Councils and First Nations agencies are also based in Sioux Lookout.

Our Resources

The Lac Seul Training Centre of Excellence offers training and upgrading courses to the community and neighbouring Lac Seul First Nation.

Welcome to Sioux Lookout, Hub of the North!