The municipality is crossed by the South Nation River after which the municipality was named.
Communities
The township comprises the communities of Benoit, Bradley Creek, Caledonia Springs, Fenaghvale, Forest Park, Fournier, Franklins Corners, Gagnon, Johnsons Ferry, Lalonde, Limoges, Longtinville, Martels Corners, Mayerville, Parkers Corners, Proulx, Riceville, Routhier, Sandown, Skye, St. Albert, St. Amour, St. Bernardin, Ste-Rose-de-Prescott, St. Isidore and Velfranc. The township administrative offices are located north of Casselman on Route 500, with a satellite office in Fournier.
The ghost town of Lemieux, abandoned in the early 1990s, is also located within the municipality.
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, The Nation had a population of 13,350 living in 5,104 of its 5,259 total private dwellings, a change of 4.2% from its 2016 population of 12,808. With a land area of 658.93 km2 (254.41 sq mi), it had a population density of 20.3/km2 (52.5/sq mi) in 2021.[2]
Canada census – The Nation, Ontario community profile
Historical census populations – The Nation, Ontario
Year
Pop.
±%
1986
8,850
—
1991
9,727
+9.9%
1996
10,478
+7.7%
2001
10,599
+1.2%
Year
Pop.
±%
2006
11,078
+4.5%
2011
11,668
+5.3%
2016
12,808
+9.8%
Population amounts prior to 1998 are total of Caledonia TP, South Plantagenet TP, Cambridge TP, and St. Isidore VL. Source: Statistics Canada
The Nation also contains one of the larger concentrations of Francophones in Ontario. According to the 2016 Canadian Census, 64.7% of the population have French as their first language, while 31.7% have English as their first language.
