Collection JLN - Collection Journal Le Nord

In November 1975, Paul Tanguay and Raymond Tremblay decided to examine the possibility of establishing a weekly newspaper that would serve the francophone population of Hearst and the surrounding area. A company called Les Presses du Nord-Est de l’Ontario was founded and a provisional executive committee was put into place. Most of the work was done by a team of volunteers that included Paul Tanguay, Raymond Tremblay, Gilles Camiré, Omer Cantin, Joseph Dubé, Laurent Guindon, Henri Leclerc and Marcel Leclerc. The general public was invited to invest in the newspaper by purchasing shares in the new publishing company. That money was used to buy the necessary equipment and to pay the workers’ salaries.

When Le Nord’s first edition was published on Wednesday March 24 1976, the employees were: Omer Cantin, journalist, Paul Tanguay, editor and publicist, Louise Tanguay, layout, and Gilles Camiré, administrator. About 1600 copies of the 24 pages edition was printed and offered, free of charge, to the local population.

A year later, a printing company called La Bonne Impression was added. It was operational for almost ten years and then sold; it became known as Les Ateliers du Nord-Est Printing, a company still operating in Hearst.

In the early eighties, the weekly’s circulation was around 5000 copies. It was of about 3000 copies in 2013, and it presently is around 2200 including the digital publication. The newspaper is distributed weekly from Longlac to Smooth Rock Falls.

In order to better serve the francophone population from Opasatika to Smooth Rock Falls, a second weekly, Le Nord de Kapuskasing, was established in December 1986. That newspaper was published until 1995. From 800 to 1000 copies of that newspaper were published weekly.

In 1988, the shareholders redistributed their shares to Raymond Alary, Omer Cantin and Louis Corbeil who invested new funds into the business. From 1993 to 2016, Omer Cantin was the sole owner of the newspaper. It was sold to CINN, the community radio station of Hearst, in May 2016, and is now part of the group Les médias de l’épinette noire inc.

Le Nord is a member of the Association de la Presse francophone (APF), a French-language association of newspapers published outside of Québec.