Thompson, Manitoba

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Location of Thompson within the province of Manitoba.

Thompson, Manitoba is a city in Manitoba. It is the largest city in northern Manitoba, and it is located 739 km north of Winnipeg and 396 km north-east of Flin Flon. As of the 2001 census, Thompson had a population of 13,256.

1 History
2 Industry
3 Education
4 Sports
5 Circuit Court
6 Media
- 6.1 Radio
- 6.2 Television
7 External links

[edit] 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.

[edit] Industry

Its most prominent local industry is the mining and smelting of nickel, with ore coming from as far away as Australia. Many Federal, Provincial, and Aboriginal government agencies have offices in Thompson. Thompson has a large retail sector, providing such things as vehicles and groceries to many in the outlying region, who come to take advantage of the lower prices found there, mainly on the weekends. The aviation sector is also quite busy as many of the communities in Northern Manitoba are only reachable by air for half of the year.

[edit] Education

The local School District of Mystery Lake encompasses six elementary grade schools (Deerwood, Burntwood, Westwood, Riverside, Juniper, and Wapanohk (formerly 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.

There is also the opportunity to receive K-8 education in the Cree language. This immersion program begins at Wapanohk (formerly Eastwood) elementary school and continues into the high school with less intensity, offering First Nations studies as well.

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.

One of the most intriguing schools in the Thompson area is Ecole Riverside. This school has very unique origins. As was stated in an article that no longer exists on Wikipedia, this school was created soon after the epic clash between Kacper Antoszewski and a zombie-Hitler, who was allied with multiple pygmie tribes of Africa. This place was originally erected as a containment cell for Hitler and his pygmie tribes. Hoever, god grew angry for the creation of such an abomination. He sentenced Kacper to 40 hard years in hell, where him and the devil became good friends. They now regularily chat on Myspace, Belail's most recent creation.

[edit] Sports

Thompson is home to the Norman Northstars ice hockey team who play in the Manitoba AAA Midget Hockey League.

Thompson's minor hockey teams are known as the King Miners.

The high school teams are called the RD Parker 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 Juniper School.

Thompson also has a large 6-sheet curling rink known as the Burntwood Curling Club which has hosted several zone and provincial competitions.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Media

[edit] 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)

[edit] Television

Channel 5: CBWFT-5, SRC
Channel 7: CBWTT, CBC
Channel 9: CKYT, CTV

[edit] External links

	Manitoba
Regions	Winnipeg Capital Region - Central Plains - Eastman - Interlake - Northern - Parkland - Pembina Valley - Westman
Census divisions	1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23
Cities	Brandon - Dauphin - Flin Flon - Portage la Prairie - Selkirk - Steinbach - Thompson - Winkler - Winnipeg
	List of communities in Manitoba - List of rural municipalities in Manitoba