Known as "The Gateway to the North", The Pas is a multi-industry northern Manitoba town serving the surrounding region.

The main components of the region's economy are agriculture, forestry, commercial fishing, tourism, transportation, and services (especially health and education).

During the years of New France, La Vérendrye, the first western military commander, directed the construction of Fort Paskoya near here.

Soon after, the band was forced to surrender their reserve lands south of the river, including the areas around the site of the Hudson's Bay Company trading post and the Anglican Church Mission, to make way for the Hudson Bay Railway and development of the Town of The Pas.

The area today is composed of three distinct communities: the Town of The Pas, the Opaskwayak Cree Nation, and the Rural Municipality of Kelsey.

The visible minority population was 2.1% The religious make up of The Pas is; Christian (67.2%), non-religious (30.2%), and the remaining 2.6% fall into another religion.

The Pas is the main trading centre to which the book's protagonists travel to stock up on provisions and supplies to take back to their homes in the bush.

It has been held every year since 1948 and features winter activities including ice fishing, muskrat skinning, and an annual sled dog race, which is part of the International Federation of Sleddog Sports.

A 1991 CBC movie, Conspiracy of Silence, is based on the 1971 murder of Helen Betty Osborne in The Pas.

The Pas experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) with long cold winters and short warm summers.

The Pas native Murray Anderson was the first known locally born player to make the NHL, with Washington Capitals in the 1970s.

Its current provincial representative is New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of the Legislative Assembly Amanda Lathlin.

Amanda Lathlin has served as an MLA since a by-election on April 22, 2015, for The Pas; she is the first First Nations woman ever elected to the Manitoba legislature.

On March 1, 1969, the province-wide microwave system replaced the kinescope recordings, and The Pas has enjoyed live television since then.