Kenora, town, Kenora district, northwestern Ontario, Canada. It lies along the northern shore of Lake of the Woods, 300 miles (480 km) northwest of Thunder Bay. The Hudson’s Bay Company built a trading post on Old Fort Island (1790), and lumbering in the locality was followed by a gold-mining boom (1890–91). The settlement was incorporated as a Manitoba town in 1882 when it became a divisional railroad point, but it was awarded to Ontario following a territorial dispute. It became an Ontario township in 1883 and a town in 1892. Kenora derived its name from the first two letters of Keewatin (its sister town), nearby Norman, and Rat Portage, an early name given to the town because of the migration of muskrats between the lake and the Winnipeg River.
The town’s economic activities are based primarily on pulp and paper milling, flour milling, fish processing, and boatbuilding, augmented by tourism. There is an airport 8 miles (13 km) northeast, and a seaplane base is located in a downtown lake area. The colourful Lake of the Woods International Pow-Wow is an annual (August) event. Pop. (2006) 15,177; (2011) 15,348.