96th District of Algoma Battalion of Rifles
The 96th District of Algoma Battalion of Rifles was a short-lived rifle regiment of the Non-Permanent Active Militia of the Canadian Militia (now the Canadian Army). First formed in 1886 with its Headquarters in Port Arthur, Ontario (now the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario), the battalion had companies across Northern Ontario. In 1896, the 96th Battalion was disbanded. The battalion is considered a predecessor unit to The Lake Superior Scottish Regiment. History The Port Arthur Rifle Company Before 1885, there were efforts in the Thunder Bay District region of Northern Ontario to form a volunteer unit of the Canadian Militia for some years. Things would change however with the outbreak of the North-West Rebellion in the Spring of 1885, troops from Eastern Canada were rushed through the small town of Port Arthur (now part of Thunder Bay) along the head of Lake Superior over the near-completed CPR line on their way out west to suppress the uprising. This created a patriotic stir in the small port community and as a result local banker, Samuel Wellington Ray, proposed the formation of a local militia company of riflemen. On 24 April 1885, Ray received a telegram from the Minister of Militia and