Census shows thousands in northern Ontario stopped commuting during pandemic

The latest numbers from the 2021 census show the daily commute in northeastern Ontario was disrupted in the region's larger cities, but in the small towns, more people are facing longer drives to work. 

Statistics Canada found that millions of Canadians stopped commuting altogether between the 2016 census and 2021, when many were living through lockdowns and work-from-home arrangements.

In Greater Sudbury, some 13,000 fewer people said they commuted in 2021, compared with five years earlier. It was down 7,000 people in Sault Ste. Marie and 3,000 in North Bay. 

Pre-pandemic, Stuart Gilray rode a bus two and a half hours from his home in Cochrane to the Detour gold mine.

Then he spent two years working from his home and for the past few months has been driving an hour to Timmins each way to a new job at Tisdale Buslines.

"Certainly wish I was doing something more productive with the time yes," the 61-year-old said with a laugh. 

"But it also gives me a chance to prepare for the day and sort of clear my head at the end of the day."

Alyssa Lavoie was answering the COVID hotline at the health unit in Timmins during the pandemic, a 45-minute drive from her home in the small hamlet of Val Gagne, which could easily become an hour in winter weather or summer construction. 

The 24-year-old eventually convinced her bosses to let her work closer to home in Iroquois Falls.

"I was nervous about asking because I didn't want to risk my employment," said Lavoie.

"I was really grateful once they did support it, but it was really frustrating that I had to fight hard for it."

One commuting trend not infected by COVID is that more small northern Ontario towns are becoming bedroom communities, with more and more people facing long drives to work.

In West Nipissing, 13 per cent of the working population in 2021 drove over an hour to their job, up from 10 per cent in 2016 and 20 per cent in French River, about the same as five years ago. 

In Smooth Rock Falls, where 18 per cent drive over an hour to work every day, newly elected mayor Patrick Roberts says the commute has a big impact on the social life of the former mill town, with moms and dads spending extra time behind the wheel.