Description
Kenora, originally named Rat Portage, is a small city situated on the Lake of the Woods in Northwestern Ontario, Canada, close to the Manitoba boundary, and about 200km east of Winnipeg. It is the seat of Kenora District.The town of Rat Portage was amalgamated with the towns of Keewatin and Norman in 1905 to form the present-day City of Kenora. In 2001 the towns of Kenora and Keewatin as well as the unincorporated communities of Norman and Jaffray-Mellick amalgamated under the Municipal Act, 2001.Kenora is the administrative headquarters of the Anishinabe of Wauzhushk Onigum, Obashkaandagaang Bay, and Washagamis Bay First Nation band governments.EtymologyThe name "Kenora" was coined by combining the first two letters of Keewatin, Norman and Rat Portage.The name "Rat Portage" comes from Portage-aux-Rats, one folk etymology claiming "rat" being a shortening of "muskrat", an animal common in the region.The name "Keewatin" comes from Algonquian roots—either in Cree or in Ojibwe, meaning either "north wind" or "blizzard of the north". This name was shared with the District of Keewatin until 1912, when the former district of the Northwest Territories was incorporated into Manitoba and Ontario.
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