Age is just a number: the stories of four northeastern Ontario communities that go deeper than the census data

The latest numbers from the census show that northeastern Ontario continues to get older and continues to be older than the rest of Canada, but a closer look at the data tells a more complicated story.

Chief Alana Endanawas is 38 years old. That is also the average age of her community of Sheshegwaning on the western end of Manitoulin Island.

The First Nation got a bit older in the last five years, with the average age rising from 34, but it is still crawling with children, like most Indigenous communities in the northeast that recently came through a baby boom.

Endanawas is a mother of two herself and says she would have more children if her community had a daycare centre.

That is now the focus of her lobbying with the federal government, after funding for a new school was secured last fall.

Unlike when she was growing up, Endanawas says the small school, which Sheshegwaning shares with the neighbouring Zhiibaahaasing First Nation, is crowded now,  with the older kids attending class in portables.

She is happy to see her community of 127 people "growing the next generation," but wonders what else they will need, especially in a time of rising youth anxiety and mental health troubles. 

"We just got to figure out how to accommodate them too, right? What kind of programs do they need to help them succeed in life?" said Endanawas. 

Meghan Brazil doesn't see a lot of customers under 40 at the car dealership where she works in Sault Ste. Marie.

The city's average age rose to 45.4 in the last five years, while the population shrank by about 1,300 people to around 72,000.

The 34-year-old says while she decided to stay in the Sault, most of the kids she knew growing up moved away.

"I think a lot of people want to explore something bigger and different and something new," said Brazil.

"I discovered who I wanted to be by staying here, but I think a lot of people discover who they are and what they want to be by leaving."

But she says in recent years she knows an increasing number of childhood friends who, after establishing their careers and starting families elsewhere, moved back to the Sault and are closer to that average age of 45.