Aklavik
Aklavik is a hamlet located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Until 1961, with a population over 1,500, the community served as the regional administrative centre for the territorial government. Building conditions at the time considered to be unsuitable resulted in the development of Inuvik 63 km to the east, meant to replace Aklavik. However, many residents persevered and kept Aklavik as a community, with a 2016 population of nearly 600; the mayor of Aklavik is Andrew Charlie. Aklavik began in the early 1900s with the Hudson's Bay Company opening a trading post in 1912 and the Roman Catholic Church establishing a mission in 1926. Located on the Peel Channel, in a good trapping area, the community became a transportation hub in the Mackenzie. Aklavik became part of the Northwest Territories and Yukon Radio System in October 1925; the NWT&Y system, a true pioneer system, was critical in providing communications in Canada's north. And was operated by the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals.
In Aklavik, besides providing services to the general population, NWT&Y provided communication for any aircraft that overflew the site with or without radio. An aircraft without radio, passing over one of these stations and not destined to land would fly low over the station so that it could be identified and the date and time of its passing would be recorded; the call sign for the NWT&Y station in Aklavik was VEF. In 1931, Albert Johnson known as the "Mad Trapper of Rat River" moved into the area. A complaint was made to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police post in Aklavik and the two members attempted, unsuccessfully, to talk with him concerning trapline tampering. A second attempt was made a few days after a search warrant had been obtained, Johnson shot one of the RCMP; this ended with the death of Johnson. This incident is famous for introducing the airplane and communications radio as tools to help track a person. Museums dedicated to Albert Johnson can be found in Fort Smith. In December 1946, radio station "CHAK" went on the air at Aklavik.
The AK in the call sign was the last letters of the location. Built and operated by WO2 R. A. McLeod of the RC Sigs, the station was a voluntary operation serving the Mackenzie River delta, it had 30 watts of power upgraded to 100 watts, operated on 1490 kHz. It received its license in 1947. In 1949, the Royal Canadian Navy established a signals intelligence station in Aklavik, it remained operational until March 1961 when it closed down and operations were moved to a brand new station in Inuvik. By the 1950s the community had grown to over 1,600 people. However, the Peel Channel was subject to flooding, the river banks were being washed away. Due to the flooding, the Federal Government built a new community at what is now Inuvik, with the intention of closing Aklavik. In the 1960s, the principal of Aklavik's school, A. J. Kerr, started a committee to help save the community; the efforts were successful and the community survived. The local school is named for him; the community has a school with 150 students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 and Aurora College provides adult education at the Community Learning Centre.
There are two general stores, the Aklavik General Store and the Northern Store operated by The North West Company. The community has a two-person RCMP detachment, a health centre with four nurses, a Canada Post outlet, the Aklavik Lodge and the Aklavik Inn for visitor accommodation and two taxi companies. Like most northern communities, Aklavik has a community hall, a gymnasium, attached to the school and, uncommonly, a swimming pool; the community is served only by air, via the Aklavik/Freddie Carmichael Airport, by winter ice road directly from Inuvik across the streams of the Mackenzie Delta. When the river is open June to September, the Aklavik Water Aerodrome is available for float planes. Aklavik is one of the few places in the NWT to be included within two different land claims areas, being part of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region and the Gwich'in Settlement Region; the Inuvialuit, whose claim, the Inuvialuit Final Agreement was settled in 1984, are represented by the Aklavik Community Corporation which in turn forms part of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation.
The Gwich'in of Aklavik are covered under the Gwich'in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement, signed in 1992, are represented by the Ehdiitat Gwich'in Council. The Ehdiitat Gwich'in Council in turn forms part of the Gwich'in Tribal Council; the Inuvialuit of Aklavik, an Inuit people, are Uummarmiut and are descendants of the Nunamiut, Inupiat people who migrated from Alaska in the early 20th century. Although at first antagonistic they intermarried with the local Siglit, whose numbers had dwindled due to disease, they speak Uummarmiutun, identical to Inupiaq language but is grouped with Inuvialuktun. The Gwich'in, a First Nations people are an Arctic-dwelling Dene peoples who inhabit Alaska and the NWT, they speak the Gwichʼin language, part of the Athabaskan language family. Both Inuvialuktun and Gwichʼin are official languages of the NWT, in 2009 19.2% of the Aboriginal population spoke at least one Native language. At the 2016 census, Aklavik had a population of 590, down 6.8% from 2011. Like most other NWT communities the majority of the population, 93.2%, is Indigenous.
However, unlike other communities Aklavik has a large number of both First Nations, 33.9%, Inuit, 53.4%, along with a small number of Métis, 4.2%, non-Aboriginal, 8.5%. In
Transport Canada
Not to be confused with Canadian Transportation Agency. Transport Canada is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations and services of transportation in Canada, it is part of the Transportation and Communities portfolio. The current Minister of Transport is Marc Garneau. Transport Canada is headquartered in Ontario; the Department of Transport was created in 1935 by the government of William Lyon Mackenzie King in recognition of the changing transportation environment in Canada at the time. It merged three departments: the former Department of Railways and Canals, the Department of Marine and Fisheries, the Civil Aviation Branch of the Department of National Defence under C. D. Howe, who would use the portfolio to rationalize the governance and provision of all forms of transportation, he created Trans-Canada Air Lines. The Department of Transport Act came into force November 2, 1936. Prior to a 1994 federal government reorganization, Transport Canada had a wide range of operational responsibilities including the Canadian Coast Guard, the Saint Lawrence Seaway and seaports, as well as Via Rail and CN Rail.
Significant cuts to Transport Canada at that time resulted in CN Rail being privatized, the coast guard being transferred to Fisheries and Oceans, the seaway and various ports and airports being transferred to local operating authorities. Transport Canada emerged from this process as a department focused on policy and regulation rather than transportation operations. In 2004, Transport Canada introduced non-passenger screening to enhance both airport and civil aviation security. Transport Canada's headquarters are located in Ottawa at Place de Ville, Tower C. Transport Canada has regional headquarters in: Vancouver – Government of Canada Building on Burrard Street and Robson Street Edmonton – Canada Place, 9700 Jasper Avenue NW Winnipeg – Macdonald Building, 344 Edmonton Street Toronto – Government of Canada Building, 4900 Yonge Street Dorval – Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport, 700 Place Leigh-Capreol Moncton – Heritage Building, 95 Foundry Street Minister of Transport Marc GarneauDeputy Minister, Transport Canada Michael KeenanAssociate Deputy Minister, Thao Pham Assistant Deputy Minister and Security, Kevin Brousseau Associate Assistant Deputy Minister and Security, Aaron McCrombie Assistant Deputy Minister, Pierre-Marc Mongeau Associate Assistant Deputy Minister and Lead, Navigation Protection Act Review, Catherine Higgens Assistant Deputy Minister, Lawrence Hanson Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services, André Lapointe Assistant Deputy Minister, Natasha Rascanin Director General, Corporate Secretariat, Tom Oommen Director General and Marketing, Dan Dugas Regional Director General, Atlantic Region, Ann Mowatt Regional Director General, Quebec Region, Albert Deschamps Regional Director General, Ontario Region, Tamara Rudge Regional Director General and Northern Region, Michele Taylor Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Robert Dick Departmental General Counsel, Henry K. Schultz Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive, Martin Rubenstein Transport Canada is responsible for enforcing several Canadian legislation, including the Aeronautics Act, Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act, Motor Vehicle Safety Act, Canada Transportation Act, Railway Safety Act, Canada Shipping Act, 2001, Marine Transportation Security Act amongst others.
Each inspector with delegated power from the Minister of Transport receives official credentials to exercise their power, as shown on the right. These inspectors are public officers identified within the Criminal Code of Canada; the Motor Vehicle Safety Act was established in 1971 in order to create safety standards for cars in Canada. The department acts as the federal government's funding partner with provincial transport ministries on jointly-funded provincial transportation infrastructure projects for new highways. TC manage a database of traffic collisions in Canada. Transport Canada's role in railways include: railway safety surface and intermodal security strategies for rail travel accessibility safety of federally regulated railway bridges safety and security of international bridges and tunnels Inspecting and testing traffic control signals, grade crossing warning systems rail operating rules regulations and services for safe transport of dangerous goods Canadian Transport Emergency Centre to assist emergency response and handling dangerous goods emergenciesFollowing allegations by shippers of service level deterioration, on April 7, 2008, the federal government of Canada launched a review of railway freight service within the country.
Transport Canada, managing the review, plans to investigate the relationships between Canadian shippers and the rail industry with regards to the two largest railroad companies in the country, Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway. On June 26, 2013, the Fair Rail Freight Service Act became law, a response to the Rail Freight Service Review’s Final Report. Transport Canada is responsible for the waterways inside and surrounding Canada; these responsibilities include: responding and investigating marine accidents within Canadian waters enforcing marine acts and regulations establishing and enforcing marine personnel standards and pilotage Marine Safety Marine Security regulating the operation of marine vessels in Canadian watersAs of 2003 the Office of Boating Safety and the Navigable Waters Protection Program were transferred back to Transport Canada. As was certain regulatory aspects of Emergen
Canada
Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres, making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Canada's southern border with the United States is the world's longest bi-national land border, its capital is Ottawa, its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto and Vancouver. As a whole, Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its land area being dominated by forest and tundra, its population is urbanized, with over 80 percent of its inhabitants concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, many near the southern border. Canada's climate varies across its vast area, ranging from arctic weather in the north, to hot summers in the southern regions, with four distinct seasons. Various indigenous peoples have inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Beginning in the 16th century and French expeditions explored, settled, along the Atlantic coast.
As a consequence of various armed conflicts, France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces; this began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom. This widening autonomy was highlighted by the Statute of Westminster of 1931 and culminated in the Canada Act of 1982, which severed the vestiges of legal dependence on the British parliament. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy in the Westminster tradition, with Elizabeth II as its queen and a prime minister who serves as the chair of the federal cabinet and head of government; the country is a realm within the Commonwealth of Nations, a member of the Francophonie and bilingual at the federal level. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, education.
It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Canada's long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. A developed country, Canada has the sixteenth-highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the twelfth-highest ranking in the Human Development Index, its advanced economy is the tenth-largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade networks. Canada is part of several major international and intergovernmental institutions or groupings including the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the G7, the Group of Ten, the G20, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the etymological origins of Canada, the name is now accepted as coming from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word kanata, meaning "village" or "settlement".
In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona. Cartier used the word Canada to refer not only to that particular village but to the entire area subject to Donnacona. From the 16th to the early 18th century "Canada" referred to the part of New France that lay along the Saint Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named the Canadas. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the legal name for the new country at the London Conference, the word Dominion was conferred as the country's title. By the 1950s, the term Dominion of Canada was no longer used by the United Kingdom, which considered Canada a "Realm of the Commonwealth"; the government of Louis St. Laurent ended the practice of using'Dominion' in the Statutes of Canada in 1951. In 1982, the passage of the Canada Act, bringing the Constitution of Canada under Canadian control, referred only to Canada, that year the name of the national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day.
The term Dominion was used to distinguish the federal government from the provinces, though after the Second World War the term federal had replaced dominion. Indigenous peoples in present-day Canada include the First Nations, Métis, the last being a mixed-blood people who originated in the mid-17th century when First Nations and Inuit people married European settlers; the term "Aboriginal" as a collective noun is a specific term of art used in some legal documents, including the Constitution Act 1982. The first inhabitants of North America are hypothesized to have migrated from Siberia by way of the Bering land bridge and arrived at least 14,000 years ago; the Paleo-Indian archeological sites at Old Crow Flats and Bluefish Caves are two of the oldest sites of human habitation in Canada. The characteristics of Canadian indigenous societies included permanent settlements, complex societal hierarchies, trading networks; some of these cultures had collapsed by the time European explorers arrived in the late 15th and early 16th centuries and have only been discovered through archeological investigations.
The indigenous population at the time of the first European settlements is estimated to have been between 200,000
Alert, Nunavut
Alert, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Canada, is the northernmost permanently inhabited place in the world, at latitude 82°30'05" north, 817 kilometres from the North Pole. The entire population of the census subdivision Baffin, Unorganized is located here; as of the 2016 census, the population was reported as an increase of 57 over the 2011 census. It takes its name from HMS Alert, which wintered 10 km east of the present station, off what is now Cape Sheridan, in 1875–1876. Alert has many temporary inhabitants, as it hosts a military signals intelligence radio receiving facility at Canadian Forces Station Alert, as well as a co-located Environment Canada weather station, a Global Atmosphere Watch atmosphere monitoring observatory, the Alert Airport. Alert is named after HMS Alert, a British ship that wintered about 10 km away in 1875–76; the ship's captain, George Nares, his crew were the first recorded Europeans to reach the northern end of Ellesmere Island. Over the following decades, several other expeditions passed through the area, most notably Robert Peary during his expedition to reach the north pole in 1909.
Shortly after the end of World War II, Charles J. Hubbard of the United States Weather Bureau began to rouse interest in the United States and Canada for the establishment of a network of Arctic stations, his plan, in broad perspective, envisaged the establishment of two main stations, one in Greenland and the other within the Archipelago, which could be reached by sea supply. These main stations would serve as advance bases from which a number of smaller stations would be established by air; the immediate plans contemplated the establishment of weather stations only, but it was felt that a system of weather stations would provide a nucleus of transportation and settlements, which would aid programs of research in many other fields of science. It was recognized that ultimate action would depend on international co-operation, since the land masses involved were under Canadian and Danish control. Following negotiations between the American and Canadian governments, a group of five weather stations were established, known as the Joint Arctic Weather Stations.
On the Canadian side, the stations were to be operated by the Department of Transport. The locations for each station were surveyed in 1946, a cache of supplies was dropped in Alert in 1948 by USS Edisto. Alert was the last of the five to be settled when the first twelve personnel arrived on April 9, 1950. Construction began with the first priority being the creation of an ice runway on Alert Inlet before work began on the permanent all-season runway located on Cape Belknap; until its completion, supplies were parachuted in. On July 30, 1950, nine crew members of a Royal Canadian Air Force Lancaster died in a crash while making an airdrop of supplies to the station; the last American personnel were withdrawn on October 31, 1970, the following year operation of the weather station was transferred to the newly created Department of the Environment, with the Department of Transport retaining control of airfield operations for several more years. In April 1971, a party of federal and Northwest Territories government officials arrived in Alert in an attempt to reach the North Pole.
Alert had been the embarkation point for many North Pole expeditions that relied on weather information supplied by the weather station there. The 1971 expedition was led by NWT Commissioner, Stuart Hodgson, included in his party were representatives of the Prime Minister's office, the Canadian Armed Forces, the federal Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, as well as a large media group including Pat Carney of Gemini Productions, Ed Ogle of Time magazine, Val Wake of CBC News and a television crew from California. While waiting in Alert for a weather window to fly into the Pole, the party's television crew spent a lot of time filming at the weather station; the military was unhappy about the film crew working on the station, but the weather station was seen as being a sort of no-man's land. The Commissioner's party failed; some of the incidents surrounding this event are recounted in Val Wake's memoir My Voyage around Spray with Apologies to Captain Joshua Slocum. In August 1975, Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau and his 3-year-old son Justin Trudeau visited the station and nearby Ward Hunt Island.
In August 1986, the Government of Canada opened Alert Background Air Pollution Monitoring Network in Alert. By the 1990s, the remaining buildings for the original weather station had fallen into a state of disrepair and were burned in the summer of 1996, leaving only the hydrogen shed and a wooden outhouse; the weather station and observatory offices were moved to Polaris Hall. In early April 2006, the Roly McLenahan Torch, used to light the flame at Whitehorse, for the Canada Winter Games passed through Alert. While the Canada Games torch was supposed to pass over the North Pole, bad weather prevented a Canadian military Twin Otter from making the trip; the torch did not travel outside Alert that weekend. In August 2006, then-Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, made a visit to Alert as part of his campaign to promote Canadian sovereignty in the north. On November 8, 2009, the 2010 Winter Olympics torch relay arrived at Alert via airplane from Churchill, reaching its most northerly point on land.
The next day it travelled to Iqaluit. On January 19 and 20, 2015, Governor General David Johnston flew into Alert on a C-17 Globemaster transport from CFB Trenton, he toured Alert, received an overview of its ope
Airdrie Aerodrome
Airdrie Aerodrome is a registered aerodrome located 2.6 nautical miles southeast of Airdrie, Canada. The aerodrome was used as the primary relief landing field for No. 3 Service Flying Training School during World War II. No. 3 SFTS was based out of RCAF Station Lincoln Park in Calgary. In 1942 the aerodrome was listed at 51°16′N 113°56′W with a Var. 24 degrees E and elevation of 3650'. The aerodrome was listed with three runways as follows: The Airdrie Regional Airshow was held here every two years. Displays such as the Snowbirds, Viper West and CF-18 Demonstration Team were shown. Due to the opening of runway 17L/35R at Calgary International Airport in 2014, the airshow was relocated to the Calgary/Springbank Airport becoming Wings over Springbank. List of airports in the Calgary area Airdrie Airport - A Brief History Airdrie Flying Club Page about this airport on COPA's Places to Fly airport directory
Alberta
Alberta is a western province of Canada. With an estimated population of 4,067,175 as of 2016 census, it is Canada's fourth most populous province and the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces, its area is about 660,000 square kilometres. Alberta and its neighbour Saskatchewan were districts of the Northwest Territories until they were established as provinces on September 1, 1905; the premier has been Rachel Notley since May 2015. Alberta is bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, the U. S. state of Montana to the south. Alberta is one of three Canadian provinces and territories to border only a single U. S. state and one of only two landlocked provinces. It has a predominantly humid continental climate, with stark contrasts over a year. Alberta's capital, Edmonton, is near the geographic centre of the province and is the primary supply and service hub for Canada's crude oil, the Athabasca oil sands and other northern resource industries.
About 290 km south of the capital is the largest city in Alberta. Calgary and Edmonton centre Alberta's two census metropolitan areas, both of which have populations exceeding one million, while the province has 16 census agglomerations. Tourist destinations in the province include Banff, Drumheller, Sylvan Lake and Lake Louise. Alberta is named after the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. Princess Louise was the wife of Marquess of Lorne, Governor General of Canada. Lake Louise and Mount Alberta were named in her honour. Alberta, with an area of 661,848 km2, is the fourth-largest province after Quebec and British Columbia. To the south, the province borders on the 49th parallel north, separating it from the U. S. state of Montana, while to the north the 60th parallel north divides it from the Northwest Territories. To the east, the 110th meridian west separates it from the province of Saskatchewan, while on the west its boundary with British Columbia follows the 120th meridian west south from the Northwest Territories at 60°N until it reaches the Continental Divide at the Rocky Mountains, from that point follows the line of peaks marking the Continental Divide in a southeasterly direction until it reaches the Montana border at 49°N.
The province extends 660 km east to west at its maximum width. Its highest point is 3,747 m at the summit of Mount Columbia in the Rocky Mountains along the southwest border while its lowest point is 152 m on the Slave River in Wood Buffalo National Park in the northeast. With the exception of the semi-arid steppe of the south-eastern section, the province has adequate water resources. There are numerous lakes used for swimming, fishing and a range of water sports. There are three large lakes, Lake Claire in Wood Buffalo National Park, Lesser Slave Lake, Lake Athabasca which lies in both Alberta and Saskatchewan; the longest river in the province is the Athabasca River which travels 1,538 km from the Columbia Icefield in the Rocky Mountains to Lake Athabasca. The largest river is the Peace River with an average flow of 2161 m3/s; the Peace River originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows through northern Alberta and into the Slave River, a tributary of the Mackenzie River.
Alberta's capital city, Edmonton, is located at about the geographic centre of the province. It is the most northerly major city in Canada, serves as a gateway and hub for resource development in northern Canada; the region, with its proximity to Canada's largest oil fields, has most of western Canada's oil refinery capacity. Calgary is about 280 km south of Edmonton and 240 km north of Montana, surrounded by extensive ranching country. 75% of the province's population lives in the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. The land grant policy to the railroads served as a means to populate the province in its early years. Most of the northern half of the province is boreal forest, while the Rocky Mountains along the southwestern boundary are forested; the southern quarter of the province is prairie, ranging from shortgrass prairie in the southeastern corner to mixed grass prairie in an arc to the west and north of it. The central aspen parkland region extending in a broad arc between the prairies and the forests, from Calgary, north to Edmonton, east to Lloydminster, contains the most fertile soil in the province and most of the population.
Much of the unforested part of Alberta is given over either to grain or to dairy farming, with mixed farming more common in the north and centre, while ranching and irrigated agriculture predominate in the south. The Alberta badlands are located in southeastern Alberta, where the Red Deer River crosses the flat prairie and farmland, features deep canyons and striking landforms. Dinosaur Provincial Park, near Brooks, showcases the badlands terrain, desert flora, remnants from Alberta's past when dinosaurs roamed the lush landscape. Alberta has a humid continental climate with cold winters; the province is open to cold arctic weather systems from the north, which produce cold conditions in winter. As the fronts between the air masses shift north and south across Alberta, the temperature can change rapidly. Arctic
Airdrie, Alberta
Airdrie is a city in Alberta, Canada within the Calgary Region. It is located north of Calgary within the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor at the intersection of Queen Elizabeth II Highway and Highway 567; the City of Airdrie is part of the Calgary census metropolitan area and a member community of the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board. The city is surrounded by Rocky View County. Airdrie was first established as a railway siding in 1889 during the construction of the Calgary and Edmonton Railway, named for Airdrie, Scotland. Only railway buildings existed until 1901 when the first farmhouse and barn was built, followed by a post office and store in that same year. Today, Airdrie is a industrial centre. Recent annexation of land by Airdrie to the south, coupled with recent expansion of Calgary's city limits in July 2007, have placed the two cities' boundaries within only a few kilometres of each other. Airdrie is divided into four civic addressing quadrants; as of the 2012 census, the City of Airdrie recognized the following neighbourhoods, not including rural and annexation land.
The population of the City of according to its 2017 municipal census is 64,922, a change of 5.4% from its 2016 municipal census population of 61,581. In the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the City of Airdrie recorded a population of 61,581 living in 21,661 of its 22,398 total private dwellings, a change of 42.3% from its 2011 population of 43,271. With a land area of 84.57 km2, it had a population density of 728.2/km2 in 2016. In the 2011 Census, the City of Airdrie had a population of 42,564 living in 15,024 of its 15,638 total dwellings, a change of 47.1% from its 2006 population of 28,927. With a land area of 33.1 km2, it had a population density of 1,285.9/km2 in 2011. The 2011 census indicated that Airdrie was ranked as the municipality with the eighth-highest population growth between 2006 and 2011. Following its 2011 annexation, Statistics Canada adjusted Airdrie's 2011 population by an additional 707 people to 43,271. According to 2001 Statistics Canada Census, the religious breakdown of Airdrie's residents was as follows: Protestant: 46.3% Catholic: 22.7% Other Christian: 3.9% Other Non-Christian: 1.58% Muslim:.018% No religion: 24.2% Nose Creek Park hosts the annual Airdrie Festival of Lights in the Christmas season.
Other annual festivals include the Airdrie Pro Rodeo. Airdrie's primary cultural venues include the Nose Creek Valley Museum and the Bert Church Live Theatre. Nose Creek Park Nose Creek Valley Museum Bert Church Live Theatre Iron Horse Park Airdrie Festival of Lights Airdrie Pro Rodeo Airdrie Family Fall Fair Airdrie is the home of several sporting franchises. Major teams include the Knights of Airdrie, a senior men's lacrosse team that plays in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League; as well they have a Jr. B level hockey Team, the Airdrie Thunder, that competes in the Heritage Junior B Hockey League, Team Airdrie, a Jr. C level hockey team. C Hockey League, they are home to the CFR Chemical Bisons, a AAA Midget hockey team, playing out of the AMHL. Airdrie is the home of the Airdrie Irish a SR MENS Semi Pro Alberta Football League; the Irish were play all home games at Airdrie's Genesis Place in summer months. There is a number of competitive junior and amateur sports with the largest being soccer, that call Airdrie home.
Airdrie District Soccer Association has over 2000 children between the ages of 3 and 18 registered to its ever-growing program. With Airdrie being one of the fastest-growing cities in Canada, it is home to eight competitive adult soccer teams playing within the Calgary Soccer Associations competition. Airdrie is situated on the Queen Elizabeth II Highway, which links Edmonton. Highway 567 provides access to Cochrane to Irricana to the east. Airdrie is served by the Airdrie Airport, with the closest major airport being the Calgary International Airport. Airdrie launched the InterCity Express in the fall of 2010, connecting Airdrie and Calgary transit hubs by a two-way express bus service. Local bus service is provided by Airdrie Transit. Rocky View Schools provides public education in Airdrie, operates four high schools in the city: Bert Church High School W. H. Croxford High School George McDougall High School Rocky View Learning ConnectionsCalgary Catholic School District operates three schools in Airdrie: St. Martin de Porres High School Good Shepherd School Our Lady Queen of Peace Private schools in the city include Airdrie Koinonia Christian School.
Due to its proximity to Calgary, Airdrie receives television broadcasts from the city. It at present has no local television broadcasters but has a radio station, Air 106.1 FM. The city has the Airdrie City View and the Airdrie Echo. A community newsletter, Here's the Scoop, is published weekly and delivered door to door as part of a larger flyer package throughout the city. A quarterly magazine, AirdrieLIFE, is available, community internet portals, DiscoverAirdrie.com, TotallyAirdrie.com and Airdrie360.ca. There is a new website for the city's economic development agency at AirdrieNow. Airdrie is in the local delivery area of the Calgary Herald and Calgary Sun. Airdrie offers a full slate of resident services, with any services not available in the city being obtained nearby Calgary; the city is served by a number of strip-mall developments, including Tower Lane Mall and Yankee Valley Crossing. On the city's s
