Gillam | |
|---|---|
Town | |
 Welcome sign at Gillam | |
  Gillam Gillam in Canada Show map of Canada | |
| Coordinates:56°20′50″N94°42′28″W / 56.34722°N 94.70778°W /56.34722; -94.70778 | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Manitoba |
| Region | Northern |
| Census division | 23 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Town Council |
| • Mayor | Dwayne Forman |
| • MLA | Eric Redhead |
| Area | |
• Total | 1,996.34 km2 (770.79 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 145 m (476 ft) |
| Population (2016)[1] | |
• Total | 1,265 |
| • Density | 0.6/km2 (1.6/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC−6 (CST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−5 (DST) |
| Postal code | R0B |
| Area codes | 204 and 431 |
| Website | www |
| [2] | |
Gillam is atown on theNelson River in northernManitoba, Canada. It is situated betweenThompson andChurchill on theHudson Bay Railway line.
Many residents of Gillam are employed byManitoba Hydro at one of their many facilities or support groups. Located within Gillam's boundaries, Hydro has fourhydro dams—Kettle Generating Station,Long Spruce Generating Station,Limestone Generating Station (the largest in Manitoba) andKeeyask (in construction)—threeHVDC stations—Radisson, Henday, and Keewatinohk—and a few support groups.
The large GillamLocal Government District (56°27′30″N94°12′30″W / 56.45833°N 94.20833°W /56.45833; -94.20833) was established by the Manitoba government in the mid-1960s to facilitate development of hydroelectricity on the lower Nelson River. At 1,996.346 square kilometres (770.793 sq mi), Gillam is considered to be the9th largest city or town in Canada by area, although the majority of the encompassing area of the District is largely uninhabited and undeveloped, but filled with many lakes, rivers and large forests of pine trees. It is the largest town in Manitoba, and one of four extremely large "towns" (the other three areLeaf Rapids,Snow Lake, andLynn Lake) in northern Manitoba that, although technically towns, are mostly rural and are the size of most typicalcounties in the United States or eastern Canada.[3]
Gillam is also the home ofFox Lake Cree Nation, aFirst Nations Band. A majority of the members of Fox Lake Cree Nation live in the Town of Gillam or on Reserve Land in the nearby community ofBird, which is also located within the Gillam Local Government District. The ghost town ofSundance whose purpose was to facilitate the building of theLimestone Generating Station, is also within the District of Gillam. Once a busy, fully functioning town, it has since been abandoned and torn down after the completion of Limestone (named for theLimestone River that empties into the Nelson just downstream of the dam).
In late July and early August 2019, Gillam became an inadvertent subject in worldwide media after a burningToyota RAV4 was found nearFox Lake Cree Nation. TheRCMP confirmed it belonged toLeonard Dyck, a BC man whose body was found near a burning pickup truck south of the Stikine River Bridge inBritish Columbia. The pickup truck's drivers, Bryer Schemegelsky and Kam Mcleod, then just considered missing persons, became suspects in the murder of Dyck and of a tourist couple whose bodies were found nearLiard Hot Springs, BC. The RCMP launched a massive manhunt in the surrounding Gillam area, scouring through more than 11,000 square kilometres of dense brush and forest, and conducting searches of more than 500 houses in Gillam and nearbyYork Landing. After several days of fruitless searching, a breakthrough came through on August 3, when a damaged rowboat and several objects belonging to Schmegelsky and Mcleod were found scattered along the banks of the nearby Nelson River. On August 7, the RCMP confirmed that it had found the bodies of Schemegelsky and Mcleod about 1 kilometre from the rowboat, who died in dense brush of self-inflicted gunshot wounds. They were found approximately 65 kilometres north-east of Gillam.
Gillam is located on the southeastern shore ofStephens Lake, areservoir created by Manitoba Hydro in 1971 by the Kettle Dam on the Nelson River.[4]
Gillam has asubarctic climate (Dfc) with long and extremely cold winters, briefly interrupted by short and mild summers. Its inland position at 56 degrees latitude causes severe freezes in winter, even though its all-time extreme cold temperatures are less extreme than its normals suggest. The lack of warming chinook influences ensures that Gillam is colder thanFairbanks,Alaska, despite the fact the latter is eight degrees latitude farther north and a greater distance from the sea.
| Climate data for Gillam A, Manitoba (1981–2010): 145m | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 2.9 (37.2) | 4.6 (40.3) | 12.4 (54.3) | 28.7 (83.7) | 32.4 (90.3) | 36.8 (98.2) | 35.2 (95.4) | 35.1 (95.2) | 31.0 (87.8) | 22.4 (72.3) | 9.5 (49.1) | 2.6 (36.7) | 36.8 (98.2) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | −19.7 (−3.5) | −16.0 (3.2) | −7.9 (17.8) | 1.9 (35.4) | 9.9 (49.8) | 18.0 (64.4) | 21.8 (71.2) | 20.0 (68.0) | 12.4 (54.3) | 3.6 (38.5) | −7.6 (18.3) | −16.9 (1.6) | 1.6 (34.9) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −24.4 (−11.9) | −21.7 (−7.1) | −14.6 (5.7) | −4.4 (24.1) | 3.9 (39.0) | 11.6 (52.9) | 15.8 (60.4) | 14.4 (57.9) | 7.9 (46.2) | 0.0 (32.0) | −11.6 (11.1) | −21.4 (−6.5) | −3.7 (25.3) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −29.0 (−20.2) | −27.3 (−17.1) | −21.2 (−6.2) | −10.6 (12.9) | −2.2 (28.0) | 5.1 (41.2) | 9.7 (49.5) | 8.7 (47.7) | 3.3 (37.9) | −3.5 (25.7) | −15.5 (4.1) | −25.9 (−14.6) | −9.0 (15.7) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −46.1 (−51.0) | −45.0 (−49.0) | −42.6 (−44.7) | −33.0 (−27.4) | −22.8 (−9.0) | −6.1 (21.0) | −1.7 (28.9) | −1.7 (28.9) | −9.1 (15.6) | −26.9 (−16.4) | −39.4 (−38.9) | −45.1 (−49.2) | −46.1 (−51.0) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 19.6 (0.77) | 19.0 (0.75) | 22.7 (0.89) | 21.7 (0.85) | 42.6 (1.68) | 55.8 (2.20) | 78.6 (3.09) | 76.1 (3.00) | 56.8 (2.24) | 42.2 (1.66) | 38.0 (1.50) | 23.3 (0.92) | 496.4 (19.55) |
| Average snowfall cm (inches) | 25.2 (9.9) | 24.6 (9.7) | 27.6 (10.9) | 22.1 (8.7) | 15.7 (6.2) | 2.1 (0.8) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 4.6 (1.8) | 26.2 (10.3) | 44.2 (17.4) | 28.9 (11.4) | 221.2 (87.1) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 0.2 mm) | 13.2 | 11.5 | 10.9 | 8.4 | 10.6 | 11.4 | 14.1 | 14.1 | 14.6 | 13.6 | 15.1 | 13.3 | 150.7 |
| Average snowy days(≥ 0.2 cm) | 14.5 | 12.6 | 11.6 | 7.5 | 4.7 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.6 | 9.1 | 15.3 | 14.5 | 92.3 |
| Source:Environment and Climate Change Canada[5] | |||||||||||||
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 1,427 | — |
| 1986 | 1,909 | +33.8% |
| 1996 | 1,534 | −19.6% |
| 2001 | 1,178 | −23.2% |
| 2006 | 1,209 | +2.6% |
| 2011 | 1,317 | +8.9% |
| 2016 | 1,265 | −3.9% |
| 2021 | 1,007 | −20.4% |
| [citation needed][2][6][1][7] | ||
In the2021 Census of Population conducted byStatistics Canada, Gillam had a population of 1,007 living in 352 of its 588 total private dwellings, a change of-16.2% from its 2016 population of 1,201. With a land area of 1,994.44 km2 (770.06 sq mi), it had a population density of0.5/km2 (1.3/sq mi) in 2021.[7]
As adesignated place, Gillam had a population of 836 living in 295 of its 471 total private dwellings in 2021, a change of-19.3% from its 2016 population of 1,036. With a land area of 1.01 km2 (0.39 sq mi), it had a population density of827.7/km2 (2,143.8/sq mi) in 2021.[8]
Gillam Recreation Centre offers a movie theatre, ice skating, hockey,curling, a gymnasium, a weight room, meeting rooms, a youth activity room and a library. There are also many small businesses, a small mall, a locally owned pharmacy, grocery store, school (K-12), Canada Post office, Co-op card lock/gas station, Co-op convenience store, Royal Canadian Legion, a train station and a localRoyal Canadian Mounted Police detachment.
The Town of Gillam often has activities and events planned throughout the year. The Winter Carnival is an annual, week long series of events held in March. The Welcome Back Weekend is full of fun activities including the annual firework show which brings out a large portion of the town's population. This is held the weekend immediately after the Labour Day holiday.
Popular summer activities in the Gillam area are fishing and boating on the many lakes and rivers, while hunters search for game animals such as bear, caribou, moose, wolf, ptarmigan and grouse. The town has community parks and playgrounds, and Pumphouse Beach is just 2 km (1.2 mi) away from town. The three hydroelectric dams near town may be toured with a guide. In colder months,snowmobilers have access to hundreds of kilometres of groomed trails.[9]
Gillam is situated on theHudson Bay Railway line toChurchill and receives limited VIA rail passenger service at theGillam railway station. Severe flooding in May 2017 caused several washouts, closing the line at Amery and suspending service beyond Gillam. Repairs were delayed due to a dispute with track ownersOmniTRAX and full service did not resume until December 2018.
Manitoba Provincial Road 280 links Gillam to the rest of Manitoba, making it one of the northernmost communities in the province accessible by year-round road. Scheduled flights to Winnipeg and Thompson are available viaCalm Air atGillam Airport.
Places adjacent to Gillam, Manitoba | |
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