The Nation, Ontario


The Nation is a municipality in Eastern Ontario, located within Canada's National Capital Region, in the United Counties of Prescott and Russell. The municipality consists of the former geographic townships of Caledonia, Cambridge and South Plantagenet.
The municipality is crossed by the South Nation River that connects Larose Forest and Alfred Bog. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry has designated the Alfred Bog as "a provincially significant wetland and an Area of Natural and Scientific Interest." Species of interest include the palm warbler, northern pitcher-plant, pink lady's slipper, cottongrass, bog elfin and bog copper butterflies, and ebony boghaunter dragonfly. It also hosts one of the most southerly herds of moose. The bog is open to the public with a boardwalk for nature walks. The Prescott and Russell Recreational Trail goes through the township.

Communities

The township comprises the communities of Benoit, Bradley Creek, Caledonia Springs, Fenaghvale, Forest Park, Fournier, Franklins Corners, Gagnon, Johnsons Ferry, Lalonde, Limoges, Longtinville, Martels Corners, Mayerville, Parkers Corners, Proulx, Riceville, Routhier, Sandown, Skye, St. Albert, St. Amour, St. Bernardin, Ste-Rose-de-Prescott, St. Isidore and Velfranc. The township administrative offices are located north of Casselman on Route 500, with a satellite office in Fournier.
The ghost town of Lemieux, abandoned in the early 1990s, is also located within the municipality.

Demographics

The Nation experienced significant growth between 2006 and 2011. According to the 2011 Statistics Canada census, The Nation's population is 11,668, a 9.4% increase from 10,643 in 2006. There are more than 4,400 dwellings in 658.03 km2 with the average population density per km2 being 17.7.
The Nation also contains one of the larger concentrations of the French in Ontario. According to the 2016 Canadian Census census, 64.7% of the population have French as their first language, while 31.7% have English as their first language.