About Thompson

Thompson, Manitoba is a small city of 16,000 in the middle of the wilderness. It is a very young city that only started in 1958. Today, Thompson offers all the urban amenities of shopping malls, hotels, restaurants, regional hospital and medical services, elementary schools, collegiate and university, transportation services such as a very active airport with 35,000 flight movements a year, plus bus and rail service, and TV and internet connections. Thompson is surrounded by dozens of lakes and rivers and dense boreal forest in a pristine setting referred to as northern Manitoba or Manitoba’s “North”. Known as the Hub of the North, Thompson services dozens of small, remote Aboriginal communities whose residents visit here for their shopping, health and education needs. Northern Manitoba is the size of California or France, yet only holds some 81,000 people. Fishing holds enjoyment and thrills for residents and visitors in the many lakes and rivers. There is more wildlife than humans in this region! The forests around and near Thompson hold moose, black bear, woodland caribou, beaver, lynx, red fox, eagles, marten, porcupine, etc. And an unknown and unstudied number of gray wolves!

Since 2004, a local volunteer organization, Spirit Way Inc., created a community pride and tourist attraction called “Spirit Way” that encompasses 16 unique points of interest including a gigantic wolf mural, painted concrete wolf statues, a wolf rockface sculpture, and other features. This project opened the door to a world interested in wolves. Most people living in Thompson and northern Manitoba were oblivious to the wolves in the forest that surround their community. Human/wolf conflicts are non-issues in the North. Aboriginal people have trapped wolves for hundreds of years and respect this intelligent predator. All these factors make Thompson the ideal location to host a Wolf and Carnivore Conference.

Guests to Thompson are always treated with our friendly “Northern Hospitality”. We look forward to your visit at our conference and hope you come back again for wolf and wildlife research, employment, and recreational pleasures such as fishing, touring, canoeing, camping, golf, snowmobiling, ice fishing, and more.

Thompson is linked to Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba 485 miles south, by a paved highway, daily bus service, and an 1 1/2 hour flight several times a day. Thompson is also the gateway by train or air to Churchill, the World’s Beluga Whale and Polar Bear Capital. A special Churchill Polar Bear Expedition is being offered the day before the Conference on October 22, 2012. Space is Limited.