The nation of Canada was created by the British North America Act in 1867 with Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia as the four original provinces. The area of Ontario was part of New France, the former French empire in North America, from tthe founding of Québec city in 1608 until France was forced to cede its Canadian territories to Britain at the end of the Seven Years War in 1763. Today Canada is a federation of ten provinces and three large federal territories in the far north of the country. In 1798 the southern portions of modern Ontario were separated from Québec as Upper Canada, known after 1841 as Canada West and taking the name Ontario in 1867. Its territory was expanded northward several times and the province reached it present boundaries in 1912. Ontario has a tremendous width east to west, including the entire Canadian side of the Great Lakes. Across this vast area there were once about 250 lighthouses. More than 130 remain, a large percentage of them active. This page lists the lighthouses in the southeastern part of the province including the Ottawa River and upper Saint Lawrence River. Lighthouses of Lake Ontario are listed on the Southern Ontario page. Southeastern Ontario was originally divided into counties, but many of the counties have been combined in recent years to form regional governments. Aids to navigation in Canada are maintained by the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG), an agency of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). In 2008 Parliament passed the Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act to designate and protect historic lighthouses. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. CCG numbers are from the Inland Waters volume of the List of Lights, Buoys, and Fog Signals of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. For lights of the St. Lawrence Seaway Admiralty numbers are from Volume H of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals and U.S. NGA numbers are from Publication 110. For lights near the international border USCG numbers are from volume 7 of the U.S. Coast Guard Light List.
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Ottawa River Lighthouses (see also Western Québec)
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St. Lawrence River Lighthouses (see also Central and Northern New York)
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![]() Dickinson Landing Light, Upper Canada Village, July 2008 Flickr photo copyright Krista; used by permission |
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![]() De Watteville Island Range Rear Light, Brockville photo copyright Michael Boucher; used by permission |
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![]() Cole Shoal (Five Mile) Light, Brockville, September 2020 Five Mile Light Rebuild photo by Darlene C. Burns |
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![]() Nine Mile Point Light, Simcoe Island, September 2009 Flickr photo copyright Christopher Howitt; used by permission |
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![]() Pigeon Island Light, Lake Ontario, October 2009 Flickr Creative Commons photo by Charles W., Bash |
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted December 16, 2003. Checked and revised August 7, 2023. Lighthouses: 43. Site copyright 2023 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.