America/Atikokan

Time zone identifier: America/Atikokan

Current civil offset: -05:00 (EST)

Current DST state: Observing Standard Time

First standard time adoption: Adopted on 1895-01-01

Local Mean Time (LMT): -06:06:28 based on geographic meridian

Total recorded transitions: 7 transitions across 3 distinct offsets

Associated countries: CA

Advertisement Space

Historical Offset Step Chart (1880 to Present)

-8:00 -7:00 -6:00 -5:00 -4:00 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Text summary: America/Atikokan shifted between 3 distinct offsets from 1895-01-01 through the modern era.

Complete Transition History (7 Transitions)

UTC Instant Local Wall Time Shift Abbreviation DST Effect
1895-01-01T06:06:28Z 1895-01-01 00:06:28 -06:06:28 → -06:00 CST No gap
1918-04-14T08:00:00Z 1918-04-14 03:00:00 -06:00 → -05:00 CDT Yes gap
1918-10-27T07:00:00Z 1918-10-27 01:00:00 -05:00 → -06:00 CST No overlap
1940-09-29T06:00:00Z 1940-09-29 01:00:00 -06:00 → -05:00 CDT Yes gap
1942-02-09T08:00:00Z 1942-02-09 03:00:00 -05:00 → -05:00 CWT Yes offset-only
1945-08-14T23:00:00Z 1945-08-14 18:00:00 -05:00 → -05:00 CPT Yes offset-only
1945-09-30T07:00:00Z 1945-09-30 02:00:00 -05:00 → -05:00 EST No offset-only

Notes from the Maintainers

Source: backzone (Lines 453 to 503)
Atikokan, Ontario

From Paul Eggert (1997-10-17):
Mark Brader writes that an article in the 1997-10-14 Toronto Star
says that Atikokan, Ontario currently does not observe DST,
but will vote on 11-10 whether to use EST/EDT.
He also writes that the Ontario Time Act (1990, Chapter T.9)
http://www.gov.on.ca/MBS/english/publications/statregs/conttext.html
says that Ontario east of 90W uses EST/EDT, and west of 90W uses CST/CDT.
Officially Atikokan is therefore on CST/CDT, and most likely this report
concerns a non-official time observed as a matter of local practice.

From Paul Eggert (2000-10-02):
Matthews and Vincent (1998) write that Atikokan, Pickle Lake, and
New Osnaburgh observe CST all year, that Big Trout Lake observes
CST/CDT, and that Upsala and Shebandowan observe EST/EDT, all in
violation of the official Ontario rules.

From Paul Eggert (2006-07-09):
Chris Walton (2006-07-06) mentioned an article by Stephanie MacLellan in the
2005-07-21 Chronicle-Journal, which said:

The clocks in Atikokan stay set on standard time year-round.
This means they spend about half the time on central time and
the other half on eastern time.

For the most part, the system works, Mayor Dennis Brown said.

"The majority of businesses in Atikokan deal more with Eastern
Canada, but there are some that deal with Western Canada," he
said.  "I don't see any changes happening here."

Walton also writes "Supposedly Pickle Lake and Mishkeegogamang
[New Osnaburgh] follow the same practice."

From Garry McKinnon (2006-07-14) via Chris Walton:
I chatted with a member of my board who has an outstanding memory
and a long history in Atikokan (and in the telecom industry) and he
can say for certain that Atikokan has been practicing the current
time keeping since 1952, at least.

From Paul Eggert (2006-07-17):
Shanks & Pottenger say that Atikokan has agreed with Rainy River
ever since standard time was introduced, but the information from
McKinnon sounds more authoritative.  For now, assume that Atikokan
switched to EST immediately after WWII era daylight saving time
ended.  This matches the old (less populous) America/Coral_Harbour
entry since our cutoff date of 1970, so we can move
America/Coral_Harbour to the 'backward' file.

Attributed Statements:

Paul Eggert (1997-10-17):

Mark Brader writes that an article in the 1997-10-14 Toronto Star says that Atikokan, Ontario currently does not observe DST, but will vote on 11-10 whether to use EST/EDT. He also writes that the Ontario Time Act (1990, Chapter T.9) http://www.gov.on.ca/MBS/english/publications/statregs/conttext.html says that Ontario east of 90W uses EST/EDT, and west of 90W uses CST/CDT. Officially Atikokan is therefore on CST/CDT, and most likely this report concerns a non-official time observed as a matter of local practice.

Paul Eggert (2000-10-02):

Matthews and Vincent (1998) write that Atikokan, Pickle Lake, and New Osnaburgh observe CST all year, that Big Trout Lake observes CST/CDT, and that Upsala and Shebandowan observe EST/EDT, all in violation of the official Ontario rules.

Paul Eggert (2006-07-09):

Chris Walton (2006-07-06) mentioned an article by Stephanie MacLellan in the 2005-07-21 Chronicle-Journal, which said: The clocks in Atikokan stay set on standard time year-round. This means they spend about half the time on central time and the other half on eastern time. For the most part, the system works, Mayor Dennis Brown said. "The majority of businesses in Atikokan deal more with Eastern Canada, but there are some that deal with Western Canada," he said. "I don't see any changes happening here." Walton also writes "Supposedly Pickle Lake and Mishkeegogamang [New Osnaburgh] follow the same practice." From Garry McKinnon (2006-07-14) via Chris Walton: I chatted with a member of my board who has an outstanding memory and a long history in Atikokan (and in the telecom industry) and he can say for certain that Atikokan has been practicing the current time keeping since 1952, at least.

Paul Eggert (2006-07-17):

Shanks & Pottenger say that Atikokan has agreed with Rainy River ever since standard time was introduced, but the information from McKinnon sounds more authoritative. For now, assume that Atikokan switched to EST immediately after WWII era daylight saving time ended. This matches the old (less populous) America/Coral_Harbour entry since our cutoff date of 1970, so we can move America/Coral_Harbour to the 'backward' file.

Years on Record

Methodology Note: The 1970 Rule

tzdb guarantees accuracy for timestamps from 1970 onwards. Transitions prior to 1970 represent best-effort historical reconstructions.