Population in decline here

By Ken Johnston
Editor

The first census figures have been released and population figures are down just about across the Rainy River area.
Overall the population declined from 22,109 in 2001 to 21,564 in 2006; a decline of 2.5%.
The only communities showing an increase were:
Alberton went from 956 to 958 (+.2%)
Big Grassy went from 176 to 204 (+15.9%)
Couchiching went from 595 to 691 (+16.1%)
Dawson went from 613 to 620 (+1.1%)
Manitou Rapids went from 191 to 228 (+19.4%)
For the most part the balance of major communities declined as follows:
Rainy River went from 981 to 909 (-7.3%)
Atikokan went from 3,632 to 3,293 (-9.3%)
Chapple went from 910 to 856 (-5.9%)
Emo went from 1,331 to 1,305 (-2%)
Fort Frances went from 8,315 to 8,103 (-2.5%)
La Vallee went from 1,073 to 1,067 (-.6%)
Lake of the Woods went from 330 to 323 (-2.1%)
Morley went from 526 to 492 (-6.5%)
RR Unorganized went from 1,526 to 1,431 (-6.2%).
Canada as a whole saw its population grow to 31,612,897 from 30,007,094 (+5.4%).
Ontario as a province grew from 11,410,046 to 12,160,282 (+6.6%).