History

About Greater Sudbury

The City of Greater Sudbury was formed on January 1, 2001, as recommended by the Report to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing on Local Government Reform for Sudbury (November 1999). The new City represents the amalgamation of the towns and cities which comprised the former Regional Municipality of Sudbury (Sudbury, Capreol, Nickel Centre, Onaping Falls, Rayside-Balfour, Valley East and Walden), as well as several unincorporated townships (Fraleck, Parkin, Aylmer, Mackelcan, Rathbun, Scadding, Dryden, Cleland and Dill). Municipal amalgamation is another transformation through which the City has evolved. It is a history which began as a small railroad outpost in the late nineteenth century and continued through several decades of rapid growth made possible by the region's vast mineral resources. The City of Greater Sudbury has matured into a diversified regional urban centre, which has become the focus of technology, education, government and health services.

Our Beginnings

Prior to the settlement of Europeans in this area, the lands were lived on and cared for by the Anishnaabe people. The communities of the Greater Sudbury area are situated on the Traditional Territory of Atikameksheng Anishnawbek who have their own oral history and stories related to the land and environment that existed long before the arrival of settlers to the area. They had their own systems of governance and education,  ways of knowing and being and of relating to the land around them.

In 1850, Chief Shawenekezhik, on behalf of his people, signed the Robinson Huron Treaty, granting the British Crown and their people a right to occupy and share the lands of the Anishnaabe. Research and oral history have informed that portions of the Greater Sudbury area are also the Traditional Lands of Wahnapitae First Nation and Sagamok Anishnawbek, as well as being a traditional harvesting area for the Metis.

We honour, recognize, and respect these Indigenous people as the traditional stewards of the lands which we share today, and we gratefully acknowledge their historic and contemporary contributions to the guardianship of this land and recognize the contributions that the Metis, Inuit and other Indigenous people have made in shaping and strengthening our community.

From Mining Town to Regional Capital

Since those early pioneer days, Sudbury has evolved into a dynamic and diverse regional capital that functions as the service hub for all of northeastern Ontario - a market estimated at 550,000 people. While mining remains a major influence on the local economy, the City has diversified significantly in recent years to establish itself as a major centre of financial and business services, tourism, health care and research, education and government. The City boasts three post-secondary institutions - Laurentian University, Cambrian College, and Collège Boréal. Hôpital régional de Sudbury Regional Hospital is currently undergoing a multi-million dollar expansion. Combined with the Northeastern Ontario Regional Cancer Centre, both institutions support Sudbury's role as the main provider of health services in northeastern Ontario. Science North, our popular interactive science centre and IMAX theatre, successfully anchors a vibrant tourism trade that continues to expand. Dynamic Earth, a new attraction focussed on earth sciences, officially opened in April 2003.

Perhaps the most emblematic of Sudbury's various transformations is the concentrated effort at land reclamation that has been ongoing since the late seventies. The region's success in regreening surrounding lands and rehabilitating local lakes has earned Sudbury worldwide recognition for its environmental efforts.