Tucked along the eastern shore of Montreal Lake in northern Saskatchewan, Timber Bay sits in a quiet corner of the province that was once far more travelled than it is today. The community used to lie along the primary route heading north from Prince Albert, but when Highway 2 was redirected to the western side of the lake, Timber Bay found itself off the beaten path. Today, the hamlet is reached by a gravel road, though it remains only about 20 minutes by car from the nearby community of Montreal Lake. With a land area of 5.99 square kilometres, Timber Bay had a population of 81 residents recorded in the 2021 Census of Population, spread across 28 of its 35 private dwellings, representing a slight decline of 1.2% from the 82 residents counted in 2016. That works out to a population density of roughly 13.5 people per square kilometre.
The hamlet has a modest but meaningful local history. In September 1951, a school was opened in an old log building situated beside a small store and garage run by a man named Henry Fornier. Bernard McIntyre served as the first teacher, instructing children from families with the surnames Beatty, Fornier, Pruden, and Lee. The following year, in 1952, a new school was established at the location it continues to occupy today.