Orillia () is a city in Ontario, Canada, about 30 km (18 mi) north-east of Barrie in Simcoe County. It is located at the confluence of Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe. Although it is geographically located within Simcoe County, the city is a single-tier municipality. It is part of the Huronia region of Central Ontario. The population in 2021 was 33,411.
It was incorporated as a village in 1867, but the history of what is today the City of Orillia dates back at least several thousand years. Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of fishing by the Huron and Iroquois peoples in the area over 4,000 years ago, and of sites used by Aboriginal peoples for hundreds of years for trading, hunting, and fishing.
Known as the "Sunshine City", the city's large waterfront attracts many tourists to the area every year, as do a number of annual festivals and other cultural attractions. While the area's largest employer is Casino Rama, overall economic activity in Orillia is a mixture of many different industries including manufacturing, government services, customer service and tourism.
Orillia is located on the shores of two connected lakes: Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching. Both lakes are part of the Trent-Severn Waterway. Travel north on Lake Couchiching, then through three locks and the only marine railway (Big Chute Marine Railway) still in use in North America leads to Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. Travel south-east across Lake Simcoe, through many locks (including two of the highest hydraulic lift locks in the world, Peterborough Lift Lock and Kirkfield Lift Lock) eventually leads to Lake Ontario. From either of these Great Lakes one can connect to the St. Lawrence and thence to the Atlantic Ocean.
History
The human history of the area extends back several thousand years: in the "Narrows", a small waterway that connects Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe, there is marine archaeological evidence of ancient fishing weirs used by Huron and Iroquois people to trap fish over 4,000 years ago. Also, there are several archaeological sites in the surrounding area that provide evidence of trading, fishing, and hunting camps that were visited for hundreds of years by Indigenous people. The Mnjikaning Fish Weirs are believed to be the original source of the Name of Toronto; the weirs were known as ouentaronk by the Huron people and tkaronto by the Mohawk, and due to the site's importance as a site of trade between the indigenous peoples and the colonial French settlers, the name came to be transferred first to the Toronto Carrying-Place Trail river and portage route from the weirs to Lake Ontario, then to Fort Toronto near the route's end at Lake Ontario, and finally to the civilian settlement that grew around the fort.
Although the site of what is now Orillia was originally a settlement of the Huron-Wendat people, it was later inhabited by the Ojibwe people, who settled the land under the leadership of Chief William Yellowhead. The Ojibwe people remained on the land until the arrival of European settlers.
Also of historical note, the French explorer Samuel de Champlain visited the area that would later become Orillia in the summer of 1615, travelling over what would become the Coldwater Road centuries later; it was used by the Hurons, Ojibways, French, and British as a fur-trading route. Champlain spent the winter with the Hurons in their chief village of Cahiague (near the current Warminster). Ecole Samuel de Champlain, a local francophone elementary school, is named in his honour.
In 1909, a monument to Samuel de Champlain with several other figures was installed in Couchiching Beach Park as a National Historic Site of Canada. In 2017 it was removed by Parks Canada for refurbishment. The vacant plinth then began to raise public debate about whether the eventual reinstallation of the monument ought to continue in light of a general growing public awareness that it may no longer be appropriate to have Champlain’s figure towering over four Indigenous figures prostrated at the ground below him. The plaque was significant too. “ERECTED TO COMMEMORATE THE ADVENT TO ONTARIO OF THE WHITE RACE….” Discussions through municipal council led to working groups suggesting a different placement of the figures and modernised descriptions on signage. Causing great controversy in the community and indeed national newspapers, as of July 2026, the seven statues of the monument are in ‘neutral’ storage indefinitely until a decision or compromise can be reached.
The government signed treaties with the Hurons in 1798, 1815, and 1818 to gain land to the north and west of Lake Simcoe and then made grants to military veterans. In 1840, the government bought additional land from the First Nations and laid out the settlement of Orillia. The population in 1846 was about 200. The settlement had a church, a post office, four stores, three taverns, a tannery, two blacksmiths, four shoemakers, a tailor, and two furniture makers. A grist mill could be found about a mile away.
In 1869, the population was 1200. Construction of the Monck Road began in 1866 and was completed in 1873. A 100-mile stretch allowed for travel to Bancroft, Ontario where other roads could be found for travel to Ottawa.
Transportation links with Toronto and Georgian Bay stimulated Orillia's development as a commercial centre and summer resort. The village of Orillia was incorporated in 1867 (sharing the same birth year as Canada). By 1875, the population was 2,000 and Orillia became a town with a mayor, reeve, deputy reeve, and nine councillors. Orillia was designated a city in 1969.
In Stephen Leacock's 1912 book Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, Orillia was used as the basis for the fictional town known as "Mariposa", although Leacock stated that the fictional town could really be any town. The book was based on Leacock's experiences in the town and since the book's release, the city has attempted to mimic the fictional location in as many ways as possible. The Leacock Museum and National Historic Site, located in Orillia, is one of the National Historic Sites of Canada.
William E. Bell's 1989 novel Five Days of the Ghost was also set in Orillia, with many readers recognizing popular local spots, including the Guardian Angels Catholic Church, the Samuel de Champlain statue in Couchiching Beach Park as well as Chiefs Island in the middle of Lake Couchiching.
Orillia was the first municipality in North America to introduce daylight saving time and had the first municipal hydroelectric transmission plant in North America.
Toponymy The first recorded use of the name to describe the region, which until then had no officially sanctioned designation, was in 1820 when the name was given in York, Upper Canada by then Lieutenant-Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland. Maitland was a veteran of the British campaign against the French in Spain, called the Peninsular War, during the Napoleonic Wars where he served under the command of the Duke of Wellington.
While there are no records clearly indicating the reason for the name Orillia, the most common explanation holds that the name originates in the Spanish, "orilla," which can mean the shore of either a lake or river. The Spanish pronunciation sounds much like, "oreeya," and since the word itself is spelled almost identically to Orillia, without the second, "i," it has come to be commonly accepted as the source word for the city's name. Further backing the theory of a Spanish origin are the names of surrounding communities and landmarks, which include Oro for gold, Mariposa for butterfly, and Mono for monkey. Historical documents contain a second spelling of the name which was never officially recognised, Aurelia, which when pronounced sounds similar to the name and is considered a clerical error.Why Call it That? by Ross McDonald, published by the Orillia Historical Society. Page 2
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Orillia had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
The median household income in 2015 for Orillia was $55,802, which is below the Ontario provincial average of $74,287.
+ Panethnic groups in the City of Orillia (2001–2021)Panethnicgroup20212016201120062001 European 27,920 26,595 26,675 26,620 26,270 Indigenous 1,975 1,835 1,415 1,325 860 South Asian 590 305 390 260 150 Southeast Asian 515 385 380 315 245 East Asian 465 460 375 375 205 African 405 200 135 70 220 Middle Eastern 105 45 40 135 20 Latin American 105 35 115 30 10 Other 185 90 55 15 75 Total responses 32,275 29,955 29,505 29,170 28,125 Total population 33,411 31,166 30,586 30,259 29,121
Government Orillia is governed by the Orillia City Council, which consists of eight city councillors and a mayor.
There are four wards in the city.
From 1875 to 1969, the council was led by a reeve or mayor. Since 1969 the head of the council is the mayor.
Grape Island Grape Island is a lake island located off Victoria Point in the north end of Lake Simcoe.
Today the island is occupied by about 40 private homes or cottages and residences are part of the Grape Island Property Owners Association (c. 1952). Access is restricted to residents of the island with access by boat from Forest Avenue South dock to private docks on the island. The heavy traffic at the mainland docks have resulted in tensions between island residents and residents of Victoria Point. The city of Orillia is working on finding a solution for access to the island without inconveniencing residents in Victoria Point.
There are no vehicular roads on the island. Only Ivy Lane, a road allowance, serves as path to homes on the island. Water taxi is the main means of transportation to the island (unless residents have their own private vessels) from the GIPOA-owned mainland dock to the island dock (on a vacant lot).
Economy
Initial interest in Orillia came from fur traders who used the gathering place at the Narrows to do business with the many tribes that came there each spring and fall. Subsequently, Orillia's economics has ranged from farming (even downtown) to machinery, to automobiles and even one of the first "campers" (a pop-up tent in a car).
Economic activity in Orillia is a mix of manufacturing, government services, customer service, and tourism. The largest employer in the area is Casino Rama, located in the nearby reserve land of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation. Manufacturing operations in the city include CCI Thermal Technologies (industrial heaters and heating components), Dorr-Oliver Eimco (industrial equipment), Kubota Metal Corporation (petrochemical industry components), Parker Hannifin (moulded rubber products), Pliant Corporation (components for the packaging industry), Smiths Aerospace Components (aerospace industry machining), and TI Group Automotive Systems (automotive components). Call centre Tele Tech Canada also employs approximately 850 people. The Central Operations Headquarters for Ontario Provincial Police is located in Orillia on Memorial Drive along with the regional headquarters.
Heywood-Wakefield seating, which operated from the early 20th century, announced it was closing its doors in September 2007. In late July 2009, Parker Hannifin announced that they were shutting down their operations in Orillia at the end of the year.