Kenora (/kəˈnɔːrə/), previously named Rat Portage (French: Portage-aux-Rats), is a city situated on the Lake of the Woods in Ontario, Canada, close to the Manitoba boundary, and about 210 km (130 mi) east of Winnipeg by road.

A shortened and somewhat corrupted version, Rat Portage, was adopted by the Hudson's Bay Company in naming their post, then located on Old Fort Island on the Winnipeg River.

When the post was moved to the mainland and a town grew up around it, the name Rat Portage was assumed by the community.

[7] In 2001, the towns of Kenora (including Norman) and Keewatin as well as the Township of Jaffray Melick amalgamated under the Municipal Act.

[11] Pierre de La Vérendrye established a secure French trading post, Fort Saint Charles, to the south of present-day Kenora near the current Canada/U.S.

Although Ottawa had ruled the town part of Manitoba in 1881, the issue was finally taken up with the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council which eventually decided in Ontario's favour.

[14] Boundaries were drawn up for the provinces and the Northwest Angle on Lake of the Woods which definitively drew the borders between Ontario, Manitoba, and the U.S. state of Minnesota.

During the Prohibition era in the United States, the Lake of the Woods served as a smuggler's route for the transport of alcohol.

On November 22, 1965, around 400 Aboriginal protesters, inspired by the Selma to Montgomery marches against white supremacy and racial discrimination in the Southern United States, undertook a quarter-mile march against anti-indigenous racism along Main Street to Legion Hall, where they expressed their grievances to the city's mayor and councillors.

Should the user release the clothespin, two wires attached to both sides of the pin complete an electrical circuit, sending current from the battery, detonating the explosives.

After robbing the bank, the robber exited the CIBC, and was preparing to enter a city vehicle driven by undercover police officer Don Milliard.

In addition to the former towns of Keewatin and Jaffray Melick, the city includes the neighbourhoods of Norman, Rabbit Lake, Rideout, Pinecrest, Minto, and Lakeside.

Compared to Keewatin, Norman, and Rat Portage, Jaffray Melick is the most rural community, with few retail stores and one golf course, Beauty Bay, on Black Sturgeon Lake.

In the summer months visitors come to the area to undertake activities including swimming, biking, fishing, hiking, and boating.

[citation needed] Kenora's tourist industry is also active during the winter months as visitors come not only to observe its natural environment but also to partake in ice fishing, snowboarding, skiing (both downhill and cross country) and snowmachining.

[citation needed] The Lake of the Woods Museum and Douglas Family Art Centre are located at The MUSE.

[25][26] Harbourfront, a park on the shore of Lake of the Woods, hosts the city's annual winter and summer festivals, as well as concerts.

[citation needed] Huskie the Muskie, a 40 feet (12 m) statue of a fighting muskellunge, is located in McLeod Park.

The city's downtown core has a public arts project, with 20 murals depicting the region's history painted on buildings in the business district.

Kenora Airport is located 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) east northeast of the city centre.

[citation needed] Since Kenora is one of two judicial districts in Northwestern Ontario,[33] it has disproportionate housing shortage as people from across the region with little to no social support in Kenora are unable to find places to stay after release from prison or while waiting in the city before their court dates.

[34] The situation worsened in 2013, when the judge in the Rainy River District moved and the position and its responsibilities was transferred to Kenora.

Confederation College has a Kenora campus and serves post-secondary and adult education needs in the city and surrounding area.

[35] One of Earth's earliest supercontinents, a large landmass comprising several of today's continents, predating Pangaea by 2.4 billion years, has been termed Kenorland by geologists, named after the Kenoran orogeny (also called the Algoman orogeny),[36] which in turn was named after the town of Kenora, Ontario.

[37] In Kenora, rocks and geomagnetic evidence have been found which support Kenorland's creation approximately 2.72 billion years ago (2.72 Ga) as a result of a series of accretion events and the formation of new continental crust,[38] demarcating the earliest identifiably known land on Earth.

The Winnipeg outlets of CBC Television (CBWT-DT), Radio-Canada (CBWFT-DT), CTV (CKY-DT), Global (CKND-DT) and Citytv (CHMI-DT) are piped in via cable.