Smelting emissions near Sudbury, Ontario have degraded the peat structure and vegetation communities of local peatlands, leading to the absence of the keystone genus Sphagnum. In the years since emission reductions took place, a gradual recovery has been observed in many peatlands, but the most degraded sites still lack Sphagnum cover. Using a recovery gradient of five peatlands in the greater Sudbury area, we identified changes in the peatland, margin, and upland vegetation community structures in relation to soil chemistry along a gradient of peatland recovery. We assessed vegetation community and soil chemistry (pH, nickel, and copper conc.) at six random transects per site. Transects were perpendicular to the peatland-upland boundary and quantified the change in vegetation and soil properties along each transect. The highly degraded sites lacked Sphagnum mosses and possessed lower species diversity than the recovered site, which was less diverse than uncontaminated or minimally contaminated sites. On average, copper and nickel concentrations were greatest at the low recovery sites. Higher water extractable copper and nickel concentrations were observed in the peatland middles than the margins, potentially enhancing peatland recovery. In low recovery sites, the nickel and copper concentrations were greater in the surface soils compared to the deeper soils. This trend was inversed at the recovered sites. As such, lower water extractable copper and nickel concentrations likely drive peatland recovery in this historically smelter damaged landscape.