Pembroke, Ontario

History

Etymology

The city takes its name from the George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke, a title associated with his son, Sidney Herbert, a prominent 19th-century British statesman who served as Secretary of State for War and briefly as Secretary of State for the Colonies. While the town was not named directly after Sidney Herbert, the name Pembroke reflects contemporary British naming conventions that often honoured aristocratic titles rather than individuals.

The use of the name Pembroke to describe the local area is documented by at least 1838, when legislation passed by the Legislature of the Province of Upper Canada establishing the County of Renfrew listed the Township of Pembroke among the affected townships assigned to the newly created District of Bathurst.

Campbelltown became Lowertown, while Miramichi was renamed first to Moffatville, then to Sydenham. In 1856, the two settlements—Lowertown and Sydenham—were unified and unincorporated as the police Village of Pembroke.

Early History

The first European settler to the area now known as Pembroke was Daniel Fraser in 1823, who squatted on land that was discovered to have been granted to a man named Abel Ward. Ward later sold the land (on land near the present-day commercial core) to Fraser, and nearby Fraser Street is named after the family.

Peter White, a veteran of the Royal Navy arrived in 1828, squatting beside Fraser on the land where the lower parking lot is located, beneath the Metro grocery store. Other settlers followed, attracted by the growing lumbering operations of the area.

Originally named Miramichi,{{cite web |access-date=2008-10-27}} The hamlet was later renamed Moffat, and then Sydenham. In 1856, it merged with the hamlet of Campbelltown, across the Muskrat River, to form the Police Village of Pembroke. Pembroke became a police village in 1856.

The Renfrew County Courthouse, completed in 1867, later underwent restoration and adaptive reuse between 2005 and 2007. The building includes preserved courtroom spaces and former jail cells. Historical records indicate that three executions occurred at the courthouse gallows between the 1870s and 1952.

Other historic buildings that survive in Pembroke include a historic synagogue, two original hospitals, the Dunlop mansion (Grey Gables Inn), the 'Munroe Block' downtown, and two houses belonging to the White family. A fire in 1918 downtown destroyed many buildings, including the Pembroke Opera House.

In 1898 Pembroke became the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pembroke.

Forest fire prevention

The Pembroke Forest Fire District was founded by Ontario's former Department of Lands and Forests (now the MNR) in 1922 as one of 17 districts to help protect Ontario's forests from fire by early detection from fire towers. The headquarters for the district were housed in the town. It was the central location for 15 fire tower lookouts, including the towers in Algonquin Park. The 15 towers included: Wilberforce, Mt. Edna, Sherwood, Murchison, Preston, Clancy, Fitzgerald, Brent, Big Crow Lake, White Trout Lake, Stonecliffe, Deux Rivières, Osler, Lauder and Skymount. When a fire was spotted in the forest a towerman would get the degree bearings from his respective tower and radio back the information to headquarters. When one or more towermen from other towers in the area would also call in their bearings, the forest rangers at headquarters could get a 'triangulation' read and plot the exact location of the fire on their map. This way a team of forest firefighters could be dispatched as soon as possible to get the fire under control. These towers would all be phased out after aerial fire fighting techniques were employed in the 1970s.

Demographics

|1841|250 |1871|1508 |1881|2820 |1891|4401 |1901|5156 |1911|5626 |1921|7875 |1931|9368 |1941|10999 |1951|12704 |1961|16791 |1971|16544 |1981|14026 |1991|13997 |1996|14177 |2001|13490 |2006|13930 |2011|14360 |2016|13882 |2021|14364

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Pembroke had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of 14.32 km2, it had a population density of in 2021.

Economy

Pembroke functions as a regional commercial and service centre for the Upper Ottawa Valley, situated approximately midway between Ottawa and North Bay.

Historically, forestry and farming formed the backbone of the local economy and remain important today. Local timber products include lumber, plywood, veneer, hydro poles and fibreboard. Other local manufacturing operations produce office furniture.

CFB Petawawa in nearby Petawawa and Chalk River Laboratories of Canadian Nuclear Laboratories in Chalk River are also regional employers. Chalk River Laboratories is being restructured to a GOCO (Government Owned, Contractor Operated) Laboratory.

The economy also benefits from tourism, aided partly by Pembroke's location on the Trans-Canada Highway. Pembroke is a gateway to natural adventures on the Petawawa and Ottawa Rivers, Algonquin Park and to world-class white water rafting a short distance to the southwest.

Government and public administration

Municipal

Municipal Government

The Corporation of the City of Pembroke is the legal entity representing the municipal government of Pembroke, Ontario. Like all municipal corporations in Ontario, it is established under provincial legislation and is responsible for delivering local services, enforcing bylaws, and managing public assets within its jurisdiction. The purpose of a municipal corporation is to provide governance and administration at the local level, including services such as infrastructure maintenance, land use planning, public safety, recreation, and community development.

Neighbourhoods

According to Schedule "B" of the City of Pembroke’s Official Plan, the city is divided into several neighbourhoods:

• East End
• West End
• Centre Core
• Downtown
• Industrial Park

Municipal Government Structure

Pembroke operates under a strong-mayor-council system, currently in a government form, with one mayor and six councillors elected at large. As of 2022, the mayor of Pembroke is Ron Gervais.

The Corporation of the City of Pembroke day-to-day operations are supervised by the Chief Administration Officer, and department leads (i.e. Director of Operations, Fire Chief, etc.).

Elections

Voters elect a mayor and six councillors using a first-past-the-post system, where candidates receiving the highest number of votes secure the positions; the deputy mayor is designated from among the elected councillors. The City of Pembroke's municipal elections are conducted under the authority of Ontario's Municipal Elections Act, 1996, with council members elected every four years on the fourth Monday of October. The most recent election occurred on October 24, 2022, with the next scheduled for October 26, 2026.

2022 election results

2022 Ontario municipal elections, City of Pembroke

Out of 10,375 eligible electors, 3,633 voted (35.02%).

Mayors of Pembroke

At its conception, Pembroke's first local government was led by a Reeve.

Mayors

Attractions

Local attractions include 30 historic murals in the downtown area depicting the history of the city, from steam engines to logging.

At the Upper Ottawa Valley Heritage Centre (previously Champlain Trail Museum and Pioneer Village), the history of Ottawa Valley settlers comes alive inside the fully furnished schoolhouse, pioneer log home and church, all built in the 1800s. Other outdoor exhibits include a train station, sawmill, blacksmith shop, stonelifter, carriage shed, woodworking shop, bake oven, smokehouse and 1923 Bickle fire engine. The large museum features artifacts which range from fossils and indigenous arrowheads to furniture, clothing and manufactured products of Pembroke from various eras. There is also a replica of Samuel de Champlain's Astrolabe (he brought the original to the Valley in 1613), an original Cockburn pointer boat, Corliss steam engine, doctor's examination room, fancy parlour rooms, general store, hair salon and more.

The Pembroke Hydro Museum commemorates national hydro-electric development in Pembroke, including the first electric streetlights in Pembroke, and the first municipal building with electric lights (Victoria Hall).

The city is home to an annual Old Time Fiddling and Step Dancing Festival, which happens Labour Day weekend at Riverside Park. There are often up to 1,400 RVs parked there for the week preceding the event. Award-winning fiddler/step dancer April Verch is a Pembroke native.

Pembroke has a 600 plus seat community arts facility, Festival Hall Center of the Arts. The facility is operated by a Consortium consisting of The City of Pembroke and the Townships of Petawawa and Laurentian Valley. This facility hosts various local productions and top Canadian artists during the year.

Pembroke also is host to the annual Silver Stick Regional Minor League Hockey Tournament, which brings in several hundred children and youth on weekends in November and early December for regional qualifying games.

Pembroke's Public Library was designed by architect Francis Conroy Sullivan, a contemporary of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Sports

Pembroke has been the home of the Pembroke Lumber Kings Junior A Hockey Club since 1958. They have been members of the Central Canada Hockey League since 1964, with the exception of the 1979–1980 season when the Pembroke Royals replaced them. Pembroke has won the CCHL Championship a record five consecutive years. In 2011, they won their first Canadian Junior A title, the Royal Bank Cup.

The Terry O'Neill Pembroke Regional Silver Stick Tournament is a major youth hockey event held annually in Pembroke, Ontario, serving as a qualifier for the International Silver Stick Finals in Port Huron, Michigan, with teams competing across various age divisions (U11, U13, U18) for regional titles. Named after beloved community figure Terry O'Neill, it draws teams from across Ontario to venues like the Pembroke Memorial Centre (PMC) and PACC, bringing significant economic benefits and fostering local hockey pride, with recent tournaments happening in November.

Education

The City of Pembroke has eight English-Language school institutions:

Renfrew County District School Board

• Highview Public School
• Rockwood Public School
• Champlain Discovery Public School
• Fellowes High School

Renfrew County Catholic District School Board

• Cathedral Catholic School
• Holy Name Catholic School
• Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School
• Bishop Smith Catholic High School

There are two French-language school institutions serving the city:

• École élémentaire et secondaire publique l’Équinoxe is a smaller French-language public school offering both elementary and secondary education.
• École élémentaire et secondaire catholique Jeanne-Lajoie is the French-language Catholic school, operating as a single institution with elementary and secondary campuses.

All secondary schools in Pembroke participate in the Upper Ottawa Valley High School Athletic Association (UOVHSAA). The association includes 11 high schools in Renfrew County and operates as part of the Eastern Ontario Secondary Schools Athletic Association (EOSSAA), which in turn is affiliated with the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA).

Through UOVHSAA competition, Pembroke students are eligible to participate in a range of interscholastic sports, including rugby, volleyball, cross-country running, football, basketball, alpine and Nordic skiing, hockey, snowboarding, curling, wrestling, badminton, golf, soccer, tennis, and track and field, with opportunities to advance to regional and provincial levels of competition.

Algonquin College operates a campus in downtown Pembroke near the Ottawa River. While offering a selection of programs also available at its Ottawa campus, the Pembroke campus specializes in applied and outdoor-focused programs, including Outdoor Adventure, Outdoor Adventure Naturalist, Forestry Technician, and Environmental Technician. These programs reflect the campus’s location in the Upper Ottawa Valley and its proximity to Algonquin Provincial Park.

Healthcare services

Pembroke Regional Hospital is the city’s sole hospital and provides acute-care services to Pembroke and the surrounding region. The hospital offers inpatient and outpatient care, including medical and surgical services, maternal and child care, mental health services, regional rehabilitation, emergency care, and intensive care. It is affiliated with the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine and functions as a teaching hospital. In addition to hospital-based care, a number of physicians practise independently within the community.

Community-based health services are also available through organizations such as the Integrated Health Centre, which provides multidisciplinary and preventive health services.

Mental health care in Pembroke is delivered through hospital-based and community-based providers. Mental Health Services of Renfrew County operates inpatient and outpatient mental health programs at Pembroke Regional Hospital.

Youth mental health services are provided by the Phoenix Centre for Children and Families, a provincially funded organization governed by a volunteer board. Additional counselling and support services are offered by the Robbie Dean Family Counselling Centre, which provides programs for crisis intervention, trauma-related support, youth and family counselling, and peer-support initiatives.

Media

Most broadcast media available in Pembroke consist of rebroadcasters of stations originating from Ottawa, Arnprior, Toronto, or neighbouring communities in Quebec. CHVR-FM is the only radio station directly based in Pembroke. The city is also the official city of license for CHRO-TV, although the station operates from studios in Ottawa.

Radio

Television

Television services in Pembroke are primarily provided through rebroadcast transmitters and cable distribution, including Cogeco Cable.

• YourTV (Cogeco) Ottawa Valley. Community programming channel operated by Cogeco, available on local channel 12 in Pembroke.

Defunct stations

Former over-the-air television stations:

Print

The city’s primary local newspaper is The Pembroke Observer, which is published in print and online. While historically printed in Pembroke, production is no longer based in the city.

Notable people

• Ken Babstock, Award‑winning poet (Trillium Book Award, Griffin finalist). Born in Newfoundland, he grew up in Pembroke, where he first began writing poetry
• Joshua Bartholomew, Singer‑songwriter and producer who co‑wrote and performed the hit song “Everything Is Awesome” from The Lego Movie. He was born in Pembroke and later raised on military bases.
• Jason Blaine, country music artist. Although based in Nashville, Tennessee, he notes that he grew up in Pembroke and began performing locally before his career took off.
• Sarah Boudens, Sprint canoe and kayak athlete who represented Canada internationally.
• Harry Cameron, Hockey Hall of Fame defenceman for early NHL clubs.
• Hec Clouthier, Retired federal politician who represented Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke. In office 2 June 1997 – 27 November 2000. He is known for wearing a fedora and his election slogan, "Give 'em Hec".
• Bruce Cockburn, Folk‑rock singer‑songwriter and activist. He spent part of his childhood on a farm near Pembroke before moving back to Ottawa.
• Sean Conway, Long‑time Liberal MPP for Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke; born in Pembroke.
• Dee Brasseur – One of Canada’s first female CF‑18 pilots and a retired lieutenant‑colonel. Born in Pembroke in 1953.
• William Arthur Deacon, Literary critic and editor for The Globe and Mail.
• Edward Arunah Dunlop – Soldier, public servant and politician; lost his right hand in a training accident and was awarded the George Medal. Born and educated in Pembroke
• Tom Green, comedian and actor
• Randy Holt, NHL defenceman (Chicago Blackhawks, Washington Capitals) born in Pembroke on Jan. 15 1953
• Wendy Jocko, former chief of the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation
• Hugh Lehman, hockey player
• Robert James Manion, Canadian politician who led the Conservative Party of Canada from 1938 to 1940.
• Paul Martin Sr., Canadian lawyer, politician and diplomat. He was the father of Paul Martin, who served as 21st prime minister of Canada from 2003 to 2006.
• Carol Anne Meehan, former Ottawa City Councillor and former news anchor at CJOH-DT.
• Richard John Neuhaus, writer and Christian cleric (first in the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, then the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and later the Catholic Church)
• Frank Nighbor, hockey player (forward) who played primarily for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey Association (NHA) and National Hockey League (NHL)
• Dan O'Connor, politician and prospector
• Wayne Rostad, singer-songwriter
• Patrick Thomas Stone, lawyer, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin
• Bob Stutt, puppeteer The Big Comfy Couch
• Peter Togni, composer
• Peter White, Jr., lumber merchant and politician; born in Pembroke on 30 August 1838 and later served as Speaker of the House of Commons (Canada).
• Peter White, Sr., lumber merchant and former Royal Navy officer who serving under Commodore James Lucas Yeo; an early settler in the area who has traditionally been regarded as a founder of Pembroke, though this characterization has been debated by some historians.
• Jolan Wong, sitting volleyball player
• Jordon Zadorozny, singer-songwriter

References

References

1. {{SCref. (2021)
2. Patterson, Jackie Ryan. (June 2008). "Pembroke – A Glimpse Into the Past". Custom Printers of Renfrew Ltd..
3. "An Act to erect certain Townships now forming parts of the Districts of Bathurst, Johnstown and Ottawa, into a separate District, to he called the District of Dalhousie, and for other purchases therein-mentioned. Passed 6th March, 1838. {{!}} British North American Legislative Database, 1758-1867".
4. de la VERGNE, John N.. (2018). "Pembroke Past - an illustrated History". Self published.
5. de la VERGNE, John N.. (2018). "Pembroke Past - an illustrated History". Self published.
6. (August 5, 1928). "Official Program and Pictorial Souvenir of Pembroke Centenary and Old Home Week Historical Souvenir". The Centenary Committee.
7. Editorial. Opinion. Pembroke Daily Observer] {{Webarchive. link. (2011-07-06 . Thedailyobserver.ca. Retrieved on 2013-07-12.)
8. (2019-08-29). "List of Ontario municipalities {{!}} ontario.ca".
9. "Municipal 101 {{!}} AMO".
10. "Official Plan and Amendments".
11. (2019-08-29). "List of Ontario municipalities {{!}} ontario.ca".
12. "Elections".
13. "Elections".
14. (2012-08-05). "Biography of William Moffat {{!}} Access Genealogy".
15. "The Pembroke Observer - 'A Diary of the Times'".
16. "Mural Map of Canada - Mural Routes".
17. (2022-08-16). "The Pembroke Observer".
18. "Festival Hall Centre for the Arts".
19. "Sports and Recreation".
20. "Algonquin College Pembroke Campus Programs".
21. Studios, Blue North. "- The City of Pembroke".
22. "The Phoenix Centre - For Children and Families".
23. (October 2025). "About the Centre - Integrated Health Centre".
24. "Welcome to the Phoenix Centre". Phoenix Centre for Children and Families.
25. "Robbie Dean Family Counselling Centre". Robbie Dean Centre.
26. [https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2025/2025-19.htm Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2025-19], CBOF-FM Ottawa and its transmitter CBOF-FM-9 L’Isle-aux-Allumettes – Technical amendments, CRTC, January 27, 2025