Saint-Boniface, Quebec
Saint-Boniface is a municipality in the Mauricie region of the province of Quebec in Canada. On April 5, 2003, the village municipality of Saint-Boniface-de-Shawinigan changed its legal status and its name and became the municipality of Saint-Boniface. Population trend: Population in 2011: 4511 Population in 2006: 4180 Population in 2001: 3998 Population in 1996: 3998 Population in 1991: 3813Private dwellings occupied by usual residents: 1837 Mother tongue: English as first language: 1% French as first language: 98.8% English and French as first language: 0% Other as first language: 0.2% Media related to Saint-Boniface at Wikimedia Commons Official Website Official Facebook page of the Municipal Library of Saint-Boniface
Westlock
Westlock is a town in central Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1913, the town is an agricultural and government administration centre serving communities and rural areas within surrounding Westlock County. Westlock is located 85 km north of Edmonton, Alberta's provincial capital and Canada's sixth largest census metropolitan area. Westlock sits at the junction of Highway 44 and Highway 18, it is surrounded by Westlock County within Census Division 13. Westlock lies on one of the Great Plains, it lies just to the north of the continental divide between the Athabasca and North Saskatchewan river basins, to the east of the Pembina River, a tributary of the Athabasca. The town is about 670 metres above mean sea level. Westlock sits within the humid continental climate zone, on the northern edge of the aspen parkland belt, a once treed region, cleared for agriculture at the turn of the 20th century, it is a fertile region of dark soils. To the north lies the subarctic climate zone; the mean annual precipitation averaged from one meteorological station within the county measured 468 millimetres, based on data from 1980 to 1990.
The mean annual temperature averaged 1.9 °C, with the mean monthly temperature reaching a high of 16.8 °C in July, dropping to a low of -11.4 °C in January. Prior to European settlement, the area around Westlock was inhabited by First Nations people, notably the Cree. Although the fur trade had been active in Alberta since 1754 when Anthony Henday explored the area, the Westlock district was not mentioned in writing until David Thompson came through in April 1799. White settlement did not begin until 1902 at that time centred on a rural community about 5 km east of present-day Westlock; the founding family was named Edgson. Edson, Alberta existed, so the site was called Edison by its Irish-Canadian founders, after the American inventor Thomas Edison; the community in 1912 consisted of a total of no more than 13 buildings: a harness shop, a blacksmith shop, several homes, two churches, one family living in a tent. There was a post office but this was closed in 1911 when Conservative Party came to power and fired many Liberals from the postal service.
In 1911 the railway reached nearby Clyde to the east, in 1912 the E. D. & B. C. Railway mapped a new townsite. Edison was now caught between the two. In 1914, the Methodist church building was picked up and moved down the road to Westlock, an indication of the new settlement's ascendancy over the older one; the name of the new town is a portmanteau of the names of William Westgate and William Lockhart, who owned the property. Westlock was incorporated as a village on 16 March 1916, with a population of 65 residents; the first reeve was George MacTavish, in that same year, the first grain elevator was built. The first bank branch, the Merchant's Bank opened its doors in 1918. A permanent brick schoolhouse was built in 1925; the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of Halifax operated a hospital out of a former house in 1927, a purpose-built hospital, the Immaculata, was opened in 1928. Westlock became a town on 7 January 1947 with a population of 854; that same year, the Memorial Hall was built.
In 1992 the Memorial Hall burned down to be replaced. In 1995, the hospital was replaced by the Westlock Health Care Centre, a somewhat controversial decision because several other communities in Alberta were facing hospital closures at the time. In 1997, the old hospital was demolished. In the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Town of Westlock recorded a population of 5,101 living in 2,142 of its 2,333 total private dwellings, a 5.8% change from its 2011 population of 4,823. With a land area of 13.37 km2, it had a population density of 381.5/km2 in 2016. The population of the Town of Westlock according to its 2015 municipal census is 5,147, a 64.1% change from its 2008 municipal census population of 4,964. In the 2011 Census, the Town of Westlock had a population of 4,823 living in 2,038 of its 2,212 total dwellings, a −3.7% change from its 2006 population of 5,008. With a land area of 13.57 km2, it had a population density of 355.4/km2 in 2011. NB The following sections present select demographic statistics arising out of the Canada 2006 Census.
Population and dwelling unit figures presented within are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5 by Statistics Canada. Dwelling characteristicsWestlock had 2,060 private dwellings occupied by usual residents in 2006. 74.8% of the occupied housing in the town was single-detached, while 17.7% were apartments in buildings with fewer than five storeys. Of the total private dwellings, there were 1,410 housing units which were owned, 650 which were rented; the majority of the housing stock was constructed before 1986, while 430 units were built between 1986 and 2006. The average value of owned dwellings was $148,083. Families and householdsThere were 2,060 households, of which 1,355 were considered census families in 2006, with an average of 2.8 persons per family, compared to an Alberta average of 3.0. The median incomes in 2005 were $41,487 per household and $47,853 per census family, compared to the Alberta median incomes of $63,988 and $73,823 respectively. Mother tongueIn 2006, there were 3,945 people who claimed English as their mother tongue, 125 who chose French, 10 who indicated both.
In addition, 600 claimed another language as
Ontario
Ontario is one of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada and is located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province accounting for 38.3 percent of the country's population, is the second-largest province in total area. Ontario is fourth-largest jurisdiction in total area when the territories of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are included, it is home to the nation's capital city and the nation's most populous city, Ontario's provincial capital. Ontario is bordered by the province of Manitoba to the west, Hudson Bay and James Bay to the north, Quebec to the east and northeast, to the south by the U. S. states of Minnesota, Ohio and New York. All of Ontario's 2,700 km border with the United States follows inland waterways: from the west at Lake of the Woods, eastward along the major rivers and lakes of the Great Lakes/Saint Lawrence River drainage system; these are the Rainy River, the Pigeon River, Lake Superior, the St. Marys River, Lake Huron, the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River, Lake Erie, the Niagara River, Lake Ontario and along the St. Lawrence River from Kingston, Ontario, to the Quebec boundary just east of Cornwall, Ontario.
There is only about 1 km of land border made up of portages including Height of Land Portage on the Minnesota border. Ontario is sometimes conceptually divided into Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario; the great majority of Ontario's population and arable land is in the south. In contrast, the larger, northern part of Ontario is sparsely populated with cold winters and heavy forestation; the province is named after Lake Ontario, a term thought to be derived from Ontarí:io, a Huron word meaning "great lake", or skanadario, which means "beautiful water" in the Iroquoian languages. Ontario has about 250,000 freshwater lakes; the province consists of three main geographical regions: The thinly populated Canadian Shield in the northwestern and central portions, which comprises over half the land area of Ontario. Although this area does not support agriculture, it is rich in minerals and in part covered by the Central and Midwestern Canadian Shield forests, studded with lakes and rivers. Northern Ontario is subdivided into two sub-regions: Northeastern Ontario.
The unpopulated Hudson Bay Lowlands in the extreme north and northeast swampy and sparsely forested. Southern Ontario, further sub-divided into four regions. Despite the absence of any mountainous terrain in the province, there are large areas of uplands within the Canadian Shield which traverses the province from northwest to southeast and above the Niagara Escarpment which crosses the south; the highest point is Ishpatina Ridge at 693 metres above sea level in Temagami, Northeastern Ontario. In the south, elevations of over 500 m are surpassed near Collingwood, above the Blue Mountains in the Dundalk Highlands and in hilltops near the Madawaska River in Renfrew County; the Carolinian forest zone covers most of the southwestern region of the province. The temperate and fertile Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence Valley in the south is part of the Eastern Great Lakes lowland forests ecoregion where the forest has now been replaced by agriculture and urban development. A well-known geographic feature is part of the Niagara Escarpment.
The Saint Lawrence Seaway allows navigation to and from the Atlantic Ocean as far inland as Thunder Bay in Northwestern Ontario. Northern Ontario occupies 87 percent of the surface area of the province. Point Pelee is a peninsula of Lake Erie in southwestern Ontario, the southernmost extent of Canada's mainland. Pelee Island and Middle Island in Lake Erie extend farther. All are south of 42°N – farther south than the northern border of California; the climate of Ontario varies by location. It is affected by three air sources: cold, arctic air from the north; the effects of these major air masses on temperature and precipitation depend on latitude, proximity to major bodies of water and to a small extent, terrain relief. In general, most of Ontario's climate is classified as humid continental. Ontario has three main climatic regions; the surrounding Great Lakes influence the climatic region of southern Ontario. During the fall and winter months, heat stored from the lakes is released, moderating the climate near the shores of the lakes.
This gives some parts of southern Ontario milder winters than mid-continental areas at lower latitudes. Parts of Southwestern Ontario have a moderate humid continental climate, similar to that of the inland Mid-Atlantic states and the Great Lakes portion of the Midwestern United States; the region has warm to cold winters. Annual precipitation is well distributed throughout the year. Most of this region lies in the lee of the Great Lakes. In December 2010, the snowbelt set a new record when it was h
Lake Muskoka
Lake Muskoka is located between Port Carling and Gravenhurst, Canada. The lake is surrounded by many cottages; the lake is within the boundary of the Township of Muskoka Lakes, the southeast corner is within the boundary of the Town of Gravenhurst and another small portion around the mouth of the Muskoka River is within the boundary of the Town of Bracebridge. The town of Bala is located on the southwest shores of the lake. Lake Muskoka is connected to Lake Rosseau through the Indian lock system at Port Carling; the lake is fed by the Muskoka River, Lake Joseph and Lake Rosseau. First mention of Muskoka in any records is in 1615 and the territory was occupied by indigenous peoples consisting of the Algonquin and Huron tribes. Early explorers to the region like Samuel De Champlain came to the area next followed by Missionaries; the name Muskoka comes from the name of a Ojibwe or Chippewa tribe chief named Musquakie which means "not turned back in the day of battle". Known as Chief Yellowhead, it was Mesqua who signed the treaties made between the indigenous peoples and Province of Canada which sold about 250,000 acres of land in the area to the Province.
He was so revered by the Ontario government that they built a home for him in Orillia where he lived until his death at age 95. Geography drove history in the Muskoka region. Studded with lakes and abundant with rocks the land offered an abundance of fishing and trapping, but was poorly suited to farming; the land of the Ojibwa people, European inhabitants ignored it while settling the more promising area south of the Severn River. The Ojibwa leader associated with the area was Mesqua Ukie for whom the land was named; the tribe lived south of the region, near present day Orillia and used Muskoka as their hunting grounds. Another Ojibwa tribe lived in the area of Port Carling, called Obajewanung; the tribe moved to Parry Sound around 1866. Unsettled until the late 1760s the European presence in the region was limited to seasonal fur trapping, but no significant trading settlements were established. Colonial government interest increased following the American Revolution when, fearing invasion from its new neighbor to the south the government began exploring the region in hopes of finding travel lanes between Lake Ontario and Georgian Bay In 1826 Lieutenant Henry Briscoe became the first white man known to have crossed the middle of Muskoka.
David Thompson drew the first maps of the area in 1837, camped at the present-day Bala during the evening of August 13/14, 1837, possibly camped near present day Beaumaris. Canada experienced heavy European immigration in the mid-19th century from Ireland which experienced famine in the 1840s; as the land south of the Severn was settled, the government planned to open the Muskoka region further north to settlement. Logging licenses were issued in 1866; the lumber industry expanded denuding huge tracts of the area, but prompting the development of road and water transportation. The railroad pushed north to support the industry, reaching Gravenhurst in 1875 and Bracebridge in 1885. Road transportation took the form of the Muskoka Colonization Road, begun in 1858 and reaching Bracebridge in 1861; the road was hewn from the woods and was of corduroy construction, meaning logs were placed perpendicular to the route of travel to keep carriages from sinking in the mud and swamps. Needless to say this made for rugged travel.
The lumbering industry spawned a number of ancillary developments, including as mentioned, but settlements began springing up to supply the workers and Bracebridge, saw some leather tanning businesses develop. Tanners used the bark from lumber to tan hides thereby using what otherwise would be a waste product; the passages of the Free Grants and Homestead Act of 1868 brought opened the era of widespread settlement to Muskoka. Settlers could receive free land if they agreed to clear the land, have at least 15 acres under cultivation, build a 16 by 20-foot house. Settlers under the Homestead Act, found the going hard. Clearing 15 acres of dense forest is a huge task, but once the land was clear they were greeted with Muskoka's ubiquitous rocks, which themselves had to be cleared; the soil in the region turned out to be poorly suited to farming consisting of a dense clay. As news of the difficult conditions spread back to the south it looked as though development in Muskoka might falter but for a fortuitous development.
In a time when the railroads had not yet arrived and road travel was notoriously unreliably and uncomfortable, the transportation king was the steamship. Once a land connection was made to the southern part of the lake in Gravenhurst the logging companies could harvest trees along the entire lakefront with relative ease, so long as they had the means of powering the harvest back to the sawmills in Gravenhurst. Alexander Cockburn, sometimes called the Father of Muskoka, began placing steamers on the lake. Starting with the Wenonah, Ojibwa for first daughter, in 1866 Cockburn pressed the government to open the entire Muskoka lake system to navigation by installing locks in Port Carling and opening a cut between Lake Rosseau and Lake Joseph at Port Sanfield; the government was eager to reinforce development in light of the faltering agricultural plan, built the locks in Port Carling in 1871. Now Cockburn's steamers had access to the entire lake system. Through the years he added more ships and when he died in 1905, his Muskoka Navigation Company was the largest of its kind in Canada.
In 1860 two young men, John Campbell and James Bain Jr made a jo
Centre Wellington
Centre Wellington is a township in south-central Ontario, located in Wellington County. The primary communities are Fergus; the area is agricultural but includes industries such as manufacturing. In the Canada 2016 Census, the population was stated as 28,191; the township was established on January 1, 1999 by amalgamating Fergus, the Townships of Nichol, West Garafraxa and a part of Eramosa. Fergus and Elora have interesting histories that started in the 1830s. In addition to Fergus and Elora, the township includes some small communities, hamlets or villages such as Aboyne, Creek Bank, Dracon, Ennotville, Living Springs, Pentland Corners, Salem, Simpson Corners and Spier. According to the 2011 Canadian Census, the population of Centre Wellington was 26,693, a 2.5% increase from 2006. The population density was 65.5 people per square km. The median age was a bit higher than the national median at 40.6 years old. There were 10,729 private dwellings with an occupancy rate of 92.7%. According to the 2011 National Household Survey, the median value of a dwelling in Centre Wellington was $300,625, a bit higher than the national average at $280,552.
The median household income in Centre Wellington was $66,764, higher than the national average at $54,089. Most of Centre Wellington's population in 2011 was of European descent; the local economy benefits from tourism. At the time of the 2011 Census, 6.4% of the workforce of Centre Wellington was involved in agriculture and other resource-based industries/utilities, 24.8% in manufacturing and construction, 19.8% in health and education and 13.2% in wholesale and retail trade. The top three categories for employment were in Manufacturing and Agriculture; the major employers in the township include Jefferson Elora Corp. Nexans Canada, Polycorp Ltd. Groves Memorial Hospital, Wellington Terrace and PR Donnelly; the average real estate value, for a single detached home in 2014 was $342,817 in Centre Wellington. Many tourists visit Centre Wellington Elora, on daytrips, attracted by the historic nature of the towns or the Grand River Raceway with horse racing and slot machines. At the edge of town, the Elora Gorge Conservation Area fills to capacity on summer weekends.
The park offers paddleboat rentals, camp-grounds and picnicking. Operated by the Grand River Conservation Authority, the nearby Elora Quarry is a popular swimming area; the annual Elora Festival is popular. The Elora mill, built in the 1830s, was a hotel until 2010and was being restored to luxury level which reopened as the Elora Mill Inn and Spa on July 6,2018; the township encourages the filming of movies and TV shows. For example, in 2016, parts of the 10-part mini-series, Canada: The Story of Us, were filmed in Elora which stood in for scenes of WW II skirmishes in Holland and France. Township council includes six councilors. Three of the latter live in Fergus; the Township is represented on the County of Wellington Council, made up of seven mayors and nine councilors. The head of this council is the Warden; the township of Centre Wellington has an active historical society and operates the Wellington County Museum and Archives in a historic stone building in Aboyne, halfway between Elora and Fergus, Ontario.
This two-storey Italianate stone building was the earliest known state-supported poorhouse or almshouse in Canada, called the House of Industry and Refuge when it opened in 1877. Subsequently, the home switched to caring for the elderly and chronically ill closing in 1971; the building was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1995. This township has a humid continental climate under the Köppen climate classification with cold winters and warm summers. Centre Wellington expanded the community centre in Fergus which now has two ice pads, a pool, a hall and a gym; the complex plays host to the Centre Wellington Fusion & Mustangs minor hockey associations, the Centre Wellington Thistles jr C minor lacrosse team, the Center Wellington Mohawks minor Lacrosse association, the Fergus Flippers aquatic club. The Elora arena plays host to the Elora Rocks Sr. A hockey team, the Elora Mohawks Jr. B lacrosse team, The Edge Ringette association; the Inverhaugh Cricket Club is the only owned turf wicket in Canada used for cricket.
Highland Park is the home to Centre Wellington Minor Softball Association, providing safe and fun softball to families in CW for decades. They now offer Softball to both kids AND Adults to better serve the entire family and keep the people of Centre Wellington active. Fergus is home to the
Oliver Paipoonge
Oliver Paipoonge is a township in the Canadian province of Ontario, located directly west of the city of Thunder Bay. The municipality was formed on January 1, 1998, with the amalgamation of the former Township of Oliver and Township of Paipoonge, it contains several communities within its boundaries, including Baird, Carters Corners, Kakabeka Falls, Lee, McCluskeys Corners, Murillo, Slate River Valley and Twin City. The remainder of the municipality is rural; the municipality is part of Thunder Bay's Census Metropolitan Area. The geography of Oliver Paipoonge transitions from river valleys in the south, through flat open farmland and rolling hills in the central areas, to the rough Canadian Shield in the north; the most notable geographic feature is Kakabeka Falls, located on the western edge of the municipality in Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park. Murillo contains a post office, a store, a municipal hall, a Public Library. New commercial enterprises, located in the Rubin Industrial Park, include a well driller, self-storage facility, a forest products manufacturer, the Rural Roots child care facility.
Each year the village hosts the Murillo Fall Fair. The village is the location of the government offices for the Municipality of Oliver Paipoonge as well as the Oliver Paipoonge Police and the Lakehead Rural Planning Board. Murillo was a water stop on the Canadian Pacific Railway; the stop was named after the Spanish painter Bartolomé Estéban Murillo, as the CPR was at that time using the names of painters to name the many new communities springing up along its trans-Canadian line. Rosslyn contains numerous commercial enterprises and is home to 1,200 people and the Paipoonge Museum. A golf course and housing subdivision, named King George's Park, are being developed in a former gravel pit. There is a skating rink here, a community centre and Public Library beside it. Kakabeka Falls takes its name from the nearby Kakabeka Falls waterfall; the Lauber Arboretum is located in the community. As Kakabeka Falls' economy is based on tourism, its main street is lined with tourist oriented businesses such as hotels and camping sites.
A three-day street fair is hosted in the village every August. Kakabeka Falls has a public school, called Kakabeka Falls Elementary School, located on the community's main street. According to the 2001 census, there were 5,862 people residing in Oliver Paipoonge, of whom 51.2% were male and 48.8% were female. Children under five accounted for 4.9% of the resident population of Oliver Paipoonge. This compares with 5.8% in Ontario as a whole, 5.6% for Canada overall. In mid-2001, 9.7% of the resident population in Oliver Paipoonge were of retirement age compared with 13.2% in Canada. The average age is 37.9 years of age comparing to 37.6 years of age for all of Canada. In the five years between 1996 and 2001, the population of Oliver Paipoonge declined by 0.8% compared with an increase of 6.1% for Ontario province as a whole. Population density of Oliver Paipoonge averaged 16.7 people per square kilometre, compared with an average of 12.6 for Ontario altogether. Population trend: Population in 2011: 5732 Population in 2006: 5757 Population in 2001: 5862 Population total in 1996: 5907 Oliver: 2711 Paipoonge: 3196 Population in 1991: Oliver: 2462 Paipoonge: 2972 The 2001 census states that 81.2 per cent of Oliver Paipoonge residents belong to a Christian denomination.
Those who follow religions like Buddhism, Islam, Baha'i, others make up 1.5% of the population combined, while the remaining 17.3% are non-religious. The municipality is served by three major highways. Highways 61 and 130 are located in the southeast corner of the municipality and serves as the backbone of the Slate River Valley, an agricultural community. Highway 130 connects to the Trans-Canada Highway at the largest settlement, it serves as the main street for Kakabeka Falls. Half of the population of Oliver Paipoonge lives within five kilometres of Highway 11/17. Highway 102 runs through the northeast corner of the municipality. A small grass airstrip is located northeast of Kakabeka Falls, two rail lines run through the municipality. Oliver Paipoonge's primary industry is agriculture, followed with tourism focused around Kakabeka Falls and forest products manufacturing in Murillo and Rosslyn. Many residents commute to work either to the surrounding woodlands; the municipal office of Oliver Paipoonge is located in the village of Murillo.
The current mayor of Oliver Paipoonge is Lucia Kloosterhuis. The first female elected as mayor in Oliver Township was Iris Calvert, in 1991; the Municipality of Paipoonge had not elected a female as mayor. Each year Kakabeka Falls hosts a street fair, Murillo hosts the Murillo Fall Fair, the Slate River area hosts the Slate River Ploughing Match, the Agriplex hosts an annual summer fair. There are two museums in the municipality: the Paipoonge Museum in Rosslyn and the Pioneer Museum in the Slate River Valley. Oliver Paipoonge is served by the Lakehead District School Board. There are four schools located in Oliver Paipoonge, Crestview Public School in Murillo, Kakabeka Falls Public School in Kakabeka Falls, Valley Central Public School and Thunder Bay Christian School. High schools students are bused to Thunder Bay. A daycare centre is located in Murillo. List of townships in Ontario Municipality of
