Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association Information

The Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA) was organized in 1946, incorporated on September 18th 2001, and is made up of four components: the Kenora District Municipal Association, the Rainy River District Municipal Association, the Thunder Bay District Municipal League and the City of Thunder Bay. Other than the City of Thunder Bay, membership is attained by being a member of the district organization. The area we represent extends from the City of Kenora in the west to the Town of Dubreuilville in the east. The objects of the Association are to consider matters of general interest to the municipalities and to procure enactment of such legislation that may be of advantage to the municipalities in Northwestern Ontario and to take united action on all matters where the rights of the municipalities may be affected to advance the standards of municipal government through education and discussion and generally to promote their interests. The organization is governed by a 19 member Board of Directors: the President, an Executive Vice President, a Vice President form each of the member organizations, the Past President and the Executive Director. The Association holds an Annual General Meeting during the last week in April (unless determined otherwise by the Board) and is held alternatively in the three Districts. In addition to this the Board of Directors generally holds several meetings throughout the year that are open to the general membership. The Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA) and the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) forms the Northern Caucus of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO). Each of the organizations have three elected representatives on the Board and also have a vice president on the Executive of AMO. Although the Executive Directors of both organizations are invited to the Board meetings they do not have any voting privileges. There are also members appointed to various other committees and task forces from among our membership. NOMA has been receiving an operating subsidy from the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines for the past several years. This provides NOMA the financial ability to participate at AMO meetings as well as providing northern input to the Provincial government on issues affecting the north. NOMA also has representation on various other bodies/organizations.