Fewer children has big impact on district populations

While creating jobs and improving infrastructure are being touted as solutions to combat a plummeting population in Fort Frances, people simply having fewer babies may be the biggest factor.
The latest enumeration released by the Ontario Property Assessment Corporation indicated an overall population decrease here. But while population levels in many other district municipalities remain steady, the numbers point to a definite decline in the number of young children.
“I’m going to Calgary. I won’t come back if I can find a job there,” said Jill Foran, a grade 12 student at Fort Frances High School. “Well, I might come back when I get married and have kids and stuff.”
While many teens do leave town to pursue post-secondary education elsewhere, a mass exodus does not appear to be the most significant factor in the population’s decline.
The youth population in Fort Frances has dwindled by 31 percent since 1988 but the biggest drop appears to be in children under the age of 10. Between July, 2000 and the last enumeration in July, 1997, the number of children under 10 has dropped from 785 to 532 (32 percent).
Since 1988, it has dropped from 995 (47 percent).
In Emo, the population has gone up slightly since 1988 when enumerators counted 1,127 residents. This year the total was 1,173 but, as in Fort Frances, there has been a remarkable decline in the number of young children over the last eight years.
In 1988, there were 174 children under 10, which has dropped to 92 (47 percent) this year. And since 1997, the number of infants aged four and under has fallen from 46 to 17.
There has been little change among other age groups. In 1988, there were 151 people between the ages of 46 and 59 compared to 160 this year, and 332 between the ages and 20 and 40 compared to 335 in 2000.
Since the last enumeration in 1997, there actually has been an increase in those aged 16-20 (from 80 to 94).
In La Vallee, enumeration results show the same trend, with the number of children nine and under there dropping 26 percent from 117 to 86 since 1997 although the total population actually rose one percent.
In Chapple, the population dropped by 40 people overall but went up among those aged 19-30. The reason? A drop of 32 percent (34 children) nine and under since ’97.
The district just can’t accommodate some youth’s aspirations.
“I’m going to Toronto or New York to be an actor,” said Fort High OAC student R.J. Comeau. “I probably won’t come back.”
“It needs a mall,” added grade 12 student Melissa Lampi.
But for other high school students, Fort Frances is home and they may return here to have children–although if the current numbers are any indication, they may not have that many.
“I’ll come [back]. All my friends and family are here,” said grade 12 student Tammy Horton, who added most of her friends also plan to spend most of their lives in Fort Frances.