About The Sault Star

The Sault Star

The Sault Star is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, serving the city and the Algoma District at the eastern end of Lake Superior. Founded on August 1, 1901, as The Sault Weekly Star by James W. Curran and John Edward Gardiner Curran — and daily as The Sault Daily Star from March 16, 1912 — the paper has chronicled more than 120 years of the twin Saults' history: the steel industry, the locks, the Great Lakes shipping, the labour movement and the modern life of the border cities. Owned by Postmedia Network, it publishes in print on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, with daily news coverage online. In late 2026 Postmedia announced it would end the Star's print publication at the end of October, continuing with a digital edition under the local brand.

Overview

Sault Ste. Marie — a city of about 72,000 at the rapids where Lake Superior meets Lake Huron, twinned with Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, across the St. Marys River — is one of Ontario's great industrial cities: the steel plant (Algoma Steel), the locks, the Great Lakes shipping, the forestry and the tourism of the Agawa Canyon. The Sault Star is its daily newspaper: the newsroom covers Sault Ste. Marie city council, the surrounding Algoma communities, the courts, health care (including Sault Area Hospital), education (Algoma University, Sault College), the steel industry, the locks and shipping, the border and the region's Indigenous communities — Garden River, Batchewana and the urban Indigenous population.

The paper's distinction is its market: the paper of record for the twin Saults and the Algoma District — a border community where Ontario meets Michigan, and where the newspaper covers two countries' news. Its steel-industry and Great Lakes coverage carries national significance.

History

The Sault Star was founded on August 1, 1901, as The Sault Weekly Star by James W. Curran and John Edward Gardiner Curran — in the great age of the Soo's industrialization, when the steel plant was rising, the locks were being built and the city was booming. On March 16, 1912, it became The Sault Daily Star. The paper chronicled the twentieth century at the rapids: the steel industry's rise — the Algoma Steel plant employing generations — the locks and the shipping, the two world wars, the labour battles, and the modern era of the border cities.

One of the paper's beloved institutions dates to 1923: the "I Remember When" nostalgia column, which began on April 6, 1923, with Mayor James Dawson's recollections of the nineteenth-century Sault — the trout streams before the International Bridge, the red-coated volunteers firing royal salutes, the school principal's rubber strap. The column has run in various forms ever since, making the Star a keeper of the community's memory.

Ownership passed through the twentieth-century chains into Sun Media/Quebecor and Postmedia Network in 2015. The paper's sister publication, Sault This Week — the free weekly tabloid founded in 1967 — published its final edition on June 25, 2026, after Postmedia exited the flyer-distribution business; its website now redirects to the Sault Star. In September 2026 Postmedia announced it would end print publication of the Sault Star and five other northern Ontario papers at the end of October, replacing them with digital editions and a centralized weekly print edition. The paper's editor is Jeffery Ougler, District Editor.

Content and Sections

The modern Sault Star is built around the twin Saults. Sault Ste. Marie city council anchors the news pages — the paper covers the mayor and council with a dedicated city-hall bureau — extending to the Algoma District's municipalities and townships. The courts beat covers the region's legal community; health reporting follows Sault Area Hospital; education coverage spans the school boards, Algoma University and Sault College.

The steel industry receives sustained attention reflecting the region's economic base: Algoma Steel, the union, the modernization investments, labour relations and the green-steel transition — the Star's steel coverage is read across the industry. The locks and Great Lakes shipping — the Soo Locks are among the busiest in the world — are covered with a depth that reflects the region's maritime identity. The border — the International Bridge, the Michigan twin, the cross-border life — is a constant thread. Indigenous affairs reporting covers Garden River First Nation, Batchewana First Nation and the urban Indigenous community. The forestry, the tourism of the Agawa Canyon, the hunt camps and the outdoor life are covered in depth. Sports coverage centres on the OHL's Soo Greyhounds — among junior hockey's most storied franchises — the region's deep hockey culture and the cross-border sports life. The "I Remember When" tradition continues the paper's role as the community's memory. Opinion pages carry editorials, columns and letters from across Algoma, and feature sections cover arts, food, homes, health and community life.

Coverage and Audience

The Star serves Sault Ste. Marie and the Algoma District — a market of roughly 115,000 people across the city, the district's municipalities and the Lake Superior shore. Its audience is the region's steelworkers, health-care professionals, educators, shipping and tourism workers, Indigenous families and the cross-border community.

Print circulation was reported at 7,850 on weekdays and 8,469 on Saturdays as of 2015, with weekly circulation of 88,227 in 2013; the print edition published Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, with daily digital coverage. The paper's political coverage carries weight at Queen's Park — the region's ridings are closely watched, and the Star's reporting on the steel industry, the locks, the hospital and the border is routinely cited provincially and nationally. Its archives — 792,252 searchable pages from 1901–2014 — document the steel century, the locks, the shipping and the making of the twin Saults.

Ownership

The Sault Star is owned by Postmedia Network Inc., Canada's largest newspaper chain, which acquired it in 2015 as part of its purchase of Sun Media from Quebecor. Within Postmedia, the paper shares national content, digital platforms and corporate services with the chain's other papers while maintaining its Sault Ste. Marie newsroom and editorial identity under District Editor Jeffery Ougler.

Postmedia itself is publicly traded and majority-owned by the U.S. investment firm Chatham Asset Management. The paper's lineage — from the Curran brothers' 1901 Weekly Star through the 1912 daily and the twentieth-century chains to Postmedia — connects the industrial-boom press to the digital age.

Digital Presence

The Star's digital edition carries its daily journalism online: breaking news, e-edition access, newsletters, photo galleries and community features, serving readers across Algoma and the region's diaspora — including the Michigan Soo across the river. Wikipedia lists saultstar.com as the paper's website. The site operates on Postmedia's shared digital infrastructure, offering digital subscriptions and e-editions.

On social media the Star distributes breaking news and community stories to a large Algoma following. As of 2026 — with print ending in October and the digital edition continuing under the Star's brand — The Sault Star remains the daily paper of record for the twin Saults, more than 120 years after the Curran brothers' first Weekly Star — still the paper of the steel city, still the keeper of the Soo's memory.

James and John Curran's 1901 weekly — daily from March 16, 1912 — chronicled the twin Saults: the steel, the locks, the Great Lakes shipping, the labour movement. As announced in September 2026, the Star's print edition ends with October 2026 — but the paper continues digitally under its local brand, with the new weekly Northern News This Week carrying the region's print tradition forward.

Note: website left empty in frontmatter per project rule for url-unverified rows; Wikipedia lists saultstar.com as the paper's website.