Swastika, Ontario
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Lucky Cross Mill in Swastika, Ontario (1918) |
Swastika is a small community founded around a mining site in
northern Ontario,
Canada, and today within the municipal boundaries of
Kirkland Lake, Ontario.
Swastika is a junction on the
Ontario Northland Railway [
1], where a branch to
Rouyn-Noranda,
Quebec leaves the ONR's main line from
North Bay, Ontario to
Moosonee. The Northlander passenger railway service between
Toronto and
Cochrane serves a station at Swastika, with connecting bus service along
Highway 66 into downtown Kirkland Lake.
The town's other claim to fame is its association with the
Mitford family, who owned the Swastika Mine for which the town was named. In particular,
Nazi sympathizer
Unity Mitford's association with the town – she was conceived there – impressed the
superstitious Nazis, to whom the
swastika was an important symbol.
During
World War II, the provincial government sought to change the town's name to Winston, in honour of
Winston Churchill, but the town refused, insisting that the town had held the name long before the Nazis co-opted the symbol.
An important figure was
Christopher Macaulay, direct descendant of
Thomas Babbington Macaulay, who fought to keep the name as Swastika.
Swastika Public School serves local students from grades 1 through 6.
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Pictures of Swastika by a local
Flickr user. One of the pictures is the logo of its Winter Carvinal in the past which uses the swastika symbol.
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Ontario Plaques - Swastika
