From the 2016 census[2] Languages (mother tongue): 90.8% English, 6.5% French, 1.2% Mi'kmaq, 0.4% German, 0.2% Dutch, 0.1%Mandarin, 0.1% Arabic, 0.1% Scottish Gaelic, 0.1% Tagalog[3] Average age: 46.4 Average household size: 2.3 The district includes eastern Guysborough County, and the western, southern and eastern coasts of Cape Breton Island.

Communities include Glace Bay, Louisbourg, Inverness, Chéticamp, St. Peters, Port Hawkesbury, Mulgrave, Guysborough, Dominion and Canso.

Most of its territory (except for the community of Sydney River) was incorporated into a new riding called "Cape Breton—Canso", and it also added a portion of Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough on the mainland.

Following the 2022 Canadian federal electoral redistribution, this riding will largely be replaced by Cape Breton—Canso—Antigonish.

It will gain the remainder of Antigonish County from Central Nova, and exchange territory with Sydney—Victoria, gaining Victoria, the remainder of Inverness and the rural western part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, and losing the urban part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality from Sydney Forks to Morien, including the Glace Bay area.