List of census divisions of Ontario

Last updated

First-level administrative divisions of Ontario
Ontario census divisions by type.png
Location Province of Ontario
Number51
Populations13,255 (Manitoulin District) – 2,731,571 (City of Toronto)
Areas630.20 km2 (City of Toronto) – 407,268.65 km2 (Kenora District)

The Province of Ontario has 51 first-level administrative divisions, which collectively cover the whole province. With two exceptions, [lower-alpha 1] their areas match the 49 census divisions Statistics Canada has for Ontario.

Contents

The Province has four types of first-level division: single-tier municipalities, regional municipalities, counties, and districts. The first three are types of municipal government but districts are not—they are defined geographic areas (some quite large) used in many contexts. The last three have within them multiple smaller, lower-tier municipalities but the single-tier municipalities do not. Regional municipalities and counties differ primarily in the services that they provide to their residents. (Lower-tier municipalities are generally treated as census subdivisions by Statistics Canada.)

In some cases, an administrative division may retain its historical name even if it changes government type. For instance, Oxford County, Haldimand County, Norfolk County and Prince Edward County are no longer counties: Oxford is a regional municipality and the others are single-tier municipalities. Several administrative divisions in Ontario have significantly changed their borders or have been discontinued entirely. See: Historic counties of Ontario.

Types of administrative divisions

Single-tier municipalities

Single-tier municipalities of Ontario
Map of Ontario SINGLE TIER MUNICIPALITIES.svg
Location Province of Ontario
Number11 [lower-alpha 1]
Populations24,735 (Prince Edward County) – 2,731,571 (City of Toronto)
Areas630.20 km2 (City of Toronto) – 3,239.02 km2 (City of Greater Sudbury)
Government
Subdivisions
  • None

A single-tier municipality is governed by one municipal administration, with neither a county nor regional government above it, nor further municipal subdivisions below it (cf. independent city). [1] Single-tier municipalities are either former regional municipalities or counties whose municipal governments were amalgamated in the 1990s into a single administration. Some single-tier municipalities of this type (e.g., Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Greater Sudbury) were created where a former regional municipality consisted of a single dominant urban centre and its suburbs or satellite towns or villages, while others (e.g., Brant County, Chatham-Kent, Haldimand-Norfolk, Kawartha Lakes, and Prince Edward County) were created from predominantly rural divisions with a collection of distinct communities.

A single-tier municipality should not be confused with a separated municipality ; such municipalities are considered as part of their surrounding county for census purposes, but are not administratively connected to the county.

With the exception of Greater Sudbury, single-tier municipalities that are not considered to be part of a county, regional municipality, or district are found only in Southern Ontario.

Current single-tier municipalities in Ontario that are also census divisions:

Single-tier municipalityPopulation
(2016) [2]
Area
(km2)
Density
(/km2)
SeatSecondary
region
Primary
region
Municipality of Chatham-Kent [lower-alpha 2] 102,0422,457.9041.4 Chatham Southwestern Southern
City of Greater Sudbury [lower-alpha 3] 161,6473,239.0249.9 Sudbury Northeastern Northern
Haldimand-Norfolk [lower-alpha 1] [lower-alpha 4] 109,7872,894.7637.9 Cayuga, Simcoe SouthwesternSouthern
City of Hamilton [lower-alpha 5] 536,9171,117.29480.6 Hamilton Golden Horseshoe Southern
City of Kawartha Lakes [lower-alpha 6] 75,4233,084.3824.5 Lindsay Central Southern
City of Ottawa [lower-alpha 7] 934,2432,790.30334.8 Ottawa Eastern Southern
Prince Edward County 24,7351,050.4923.5 Picton CentralSouthern
County of Brant [lower-alpha 1] 134,8081,093.22123.3 Burford SouthwesternSouthern
City of Toronto [lower-alpha 8] 2,731,571630.204,334.4 Toronto Golden HorseshoeSouthern

Regional municipalities

Regional municipalities of Ontario
Map of Ontario REGIONAL MUNICIPALITIES.svg
Location Province of Ontario
Number8
Populations60,599 (District Municipality of Muskoka) – 1,381,739 (Peel)
Areas964.05 km2 (Halton) – 3,940.48 km2 (District Municipality of Muskoka)
Government
Subdivisions

Regional municipalities (or regions) are upper-tier municipalities that generally have more servicing responsibilities than the counties. They generally provide the following services: maintenance and construction of arterial roads in both rural and urban areas, transit, policing, sewer and water systems, waste disposal, region-wide land use planning and development, as well as health and social services. Regions are typically more urbanized than counties. Regional municipalities are typically an administrative division where an interconnected cluster of urban centres or suburbs forms the majority of the division's area and population, but no single centre is overwhelmingly dominant over the others. Regional municipalities are found only in Southern Ontario.

Although Oxford County and the District Municipality of Muskoka are not called regions, they are defined as regional municipalities under Part 1, Section 1 of the Ontario Municipal Act, 2001. [3]

Between 1998 and 2001, four regional municipalities that formed their own central city-dominated metropolitan areas were amalgamated and are now single-tier municipalities.

Current regional municipalities in Ontario:

Regional municipalityPopulation
(2016) [2]
Area
(km2)
Density
(/km2)
Regional
seat
Secondary
region
Primary
region
Regional Municipality of Durham 645,8622,523.80255.9 Whitby Golden HorseshoeSouthern
Regional Municipality of Halton 548,435964.05568.9 Oakville Golden HorseshoeSouthern
District Municipality of Muskoka 60,5993,940.4815.4 Bracebridge NortheasternNorthern
Regional Municipality of Niagara 447,8881,854.23241.5 Thorold Golden HorseshoeSouthern
Oxford County 110,8622,039.6154.4 Woodstock SouthwesternSouthern
Regional Municipality of Peel 1,381,7391,246.951,108.1 Brampton Golden HorseshoeSouthern
Regional Municipality of Waterloo 535,1541,368.92390.9 Kitchener SouthwesternSouthern
Regional Municipality of York 1,109,9091,762.13629.9 Newmarket Golden HorseshoeSouthern

Counties

Counties of Ontario
Map of Ontario COUNTIES.svg
Location Province of Ontario
Number22
Populations18,062 (Haliburton) – 479,650 (Simcoe)
Areas1,486.44 km2 (Dufferin) – 7,448.57 km2 (Renfrew)
Government
Subdivisions

Counties have fewer responsibilities than regions, as the lower-tier municipalities (cities, towns, villages, townships) within the counties typically provide the majority of municipal services to their residents. The responsibilities of county governments are generally limited to the following: maintenance and construction of rural arterial roads, health and social services, and county land use planning. Counties are only found in Southern Ontario and are also mostly census divisions.

Counties may be as large as regional municipalities in population, but their population density is generally lower (although not as low as in a district.) Counties may include major cities, such as London, Kingston and Windsor, geographically located within them, but these communities are usually separated municipalities that are only considered part of the county for census purposes, but are not administratively connected to the county. Municipalities are separated when regional or single-tier status is not appropriate for the municipality's population patterns, but their population is still large enough that it may adversely affect the county's ability to provide services to its smaller communities. Also, these cities have not evolved into large urban agglomerations with other communities, as in regions and single-tier cities, but may have small suburbs such as Point Edward.

Current counties in Ontario:

CountyPopulation
(2016) [2]
Area
(km2)
Density
(/km2)
County
seat
Secondary
region
Primary
region
Bruce County 68,1474,090.2016.7 Walkerton SouthwesternSouthern
Dufferin County 61,7351,486.4441.5 Orangeville CentralSouthern
Elgin County 88,9781,881.0347.3 St. Thomas SouthwesternSouthern
Essex County 398,9531,850.90215.5 Essex SouthwesternSouthern
Frontenac County 150,4753,787.7639.7 Kingston EasternSouthern
Grey County 93,8304,513.5020.8 Owen Sound SouthwesternSouthern
Haliburton County 18,0624,076.084.4 Minden CentralSouthern
Hastings County 136,4456,103.9222.4 Belleville CentralSouthern
Huron County 59,2973,399.2717.4 Goderich SouthwesternSouthern
Lambton County 126,6383,002.2542.2 Wyoming SouthwesternSouthern
Lanark County 68,6983,035.6422.6 Perth EasternSouthern
United Counties of Leeds and Grenville 100,5463,382.8929.7 Brockville EasternSouthern
Lennox and Addington County 42,8882,839.6815.1 Napanee EasternSouthern
Middlesex County 455,5263,317.27137.3 London SouthwesternSouthern
Northumberland County 85,5981,905.1544.9 Cobourg CentralSouthern
Perth County 76,7962,218.5234.6 Stratford SouthwesternSouthern
Peterborough County 138,2363,848.2035.9 Peterborough CentralSouthern
United Counties of Prescott and Russell 89,3332,004.4744.6 L'Orignal EasternSouthern
Renfrew County 102,3947,448.5713.7 Pembroke EasternSouthern
Simcoe County 479,6504,859.6498.7 Midhurst CentralSouthern
United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry 113,4293,309.8734.3 Cornwall EasternSouthern
Wellington County 222,7262,660.5783.7 Guelph SouthwesternSouthern

Districts

Districts of Ontario
Map of Ontario DISTRICTS.svg
Location Province of Ontario
Number10
Populations13,255 (Manitoulin) – 146,048 (Thunder Bay)
Areas3,107.23 km2 (Manitoulin) – 407,268.65 km2 (Kenora)
Government
  • None

Districts are regional areas in Northern Ontario that do not serve any municipal government purpose. Although districts do still contain incorporated cities, towns and townships, they do not have an upper-tier county or regional municipality level of government, and are largely composed of unorganized areas. Some districts may have District Social Service Administration Boards, which are designed to provide certain social services, but they do not serve a governmental function.

In a district, all services are provided either by the municipalities themselves, by local services boards in some communities within the unorganized areas, or directly by the provincial government. Much of Northern Ontario is sparsely populated, so a county government structure would not be an efficient or cost-effective method of administration.

The former Regional Municipality of Sudbury, created in 1973, was the only division in Northern Ontario ever incorporated with a structure like those of counties, regional municipalities, and single-tier municipalities in the southern part of the province. That division was dissolved in 2000, and now constitutes the single-tier municipality of Greater Sudbury.

Current districts in Ontario:

DistrictPopulation
(2016) [2]
Area
(km2)
Density
(/km2)
District
seat
Secondary
region
Primary
region
Algoma District 114,09448,814.882.3 Sault Ste. Marie NortheasternNorthern
Cochrane District 79,682141,268.510.6 Cochrane NortheasternNorthern
Kenora District 65,533407,268.650.2 Kenora Northwestern Northern
Manitoulin District 13,2553,107.234.3 Gore Bay NortheasternNorthern
Nipissing District 83,15017,103.784.9 North Bay NortheasternNorthern
Parry Sound District 42,8249,326.484.6 Parry Sound NortheasternNorthern
Rainy River District 20,11015,486.751.3 Fort Frances NorthwesternNorthern
Sudbury District 21,54640,204.770.5 Espanola NortheasternNorthern
Thunder Bay District 146,048103,722.821.4 Thunder Bay NorthwesternNorthern
Timiskaming District 32,25113,303.302.4 Haileybury NortheasternNorthern

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Statistics Canada treats Norfolk County and Haldimand County as one single census division; the County of Brant and City of Brantford are also treated as one single census division. There would otherwise be 51 census divisions instead of the 49 official ones used by Statistics Canada.
  2. Formerly Kent County
  3. Formerly Regional Municipality of Sudbury
  4. Formerly the Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk
  5. Formerly the Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Municipality
  6. Formerly Victoria County
  7. Formerly the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton
  8. Formerly Metropolitan Toronto

Related Research Articles

A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French comté denoting a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count (earl) or a viscount. Literal equivalents in other languages, derived from the equivalent of "count", are now seldom used officially, including comté, contea, contado, comtat, condado, Grafschaft, graafschap, and zhupa in Slavic languages; terms equivalent to 'commune' or 'community' are now often instead used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Ontario</span> Primary Region in Ontario, Canada

Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Province of the Canadian Shield, a vast rocky plateau located mainly north of Lake Huron, the French River, Lake Nipissing, and the Mattawa River. The statistical region extends south of the Mattawa River to include all of the District of Nipissing. The southern section of this district lies on part of the Grenville Geological Province of the Shield which occupies the transitional area between Northern and Southern Ontario. The extended federal and provincial quasi-administrative regions of Northern Ontario have their own boundaries even further south in the transitional area that vary according to their respective government policies and requirements. Ontario government departments and agencies such as the Growth Plan for Northern Ontario and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation define Northern Ontario as all areas north of, and including, the districts of Parry Sound and Nipissing for political purposes, and the federal but not the provincial government also includes the district of Muskoka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regional Municipality of Sudbury</span> Dissolved Region in Ontario, Canada

The Regional Municipality of Sudbury was a regional municipality that existed in Ontario, Canada, from 1973 to 2000, and was primarily centred on the city of Sudbury. It served as an upper-tier level of municipal government, aggregating municipal services on a region-wide basis like the counties and regional municipalities of Southern Ontario, and was the only upper-tier municipal government ever created in Northern Ontario. The regional municipality was dissolved with the creation of the amalgamated city of Greater Sudbury on January 1, 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haldimand County</span> City in Ontario, Canada

Haldimand County is a rural city-status single-tier municipality on the Niagara Peninsula in Southern Ontario, Canada, on the north shore of Lake Erie, and on the Grand River. Despite its name, it is no longer a county by definition, as all municipal services are handled by a single level of government. Municipal offices are located in Cayuga.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norfolk County, Ontario</span> City in Ontario, Canada

Norfolk County is a rural single-tier municipality on the north shore of Lake Erie in Southwestern Ontario, Canada with a 2016 population of 67,490. Despite its name, it is no longer a county by definition, as all municipal services are handled by a single level of government. The largest community in Norfolk County is Simcoe, whose 2016 population was 13,922. The other population centres are Port Dover, Delhi, Waterford and Port Rowan, and there are many smaller communities. For several years in the late 20th century, the county was merged with Haldimand County but the merged entity was dissolved in 2000.

A regional municipality is a type of Canadian municipal government similar to and at the same municipal government level as a county, although the specific structure and servicing responsibilities may vary from place to place. Regional municipalities were formed in highly populated areas where it was considered more efficient to provide certain services, such as water, emergency services, and waste management over an area encompassing more than one local municipality. For this reason, regions may be involved in providing services to residents and businesses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sudbury District</span> District in Ontario, Canada

The Sudbury District is a district in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was created in 1894 from townships of eastern Algoma District and west Nipissing District.

The Canadian province of Ontario has several historic counties, which are past census divisions that no longer exist today. Most historic counties either merged with other counties, or became regional municipalities or single-tier municipalities. Although counties had existed prior to 1849, after 1849 they replaced the district systems in administering local government and courts in Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Census geographic units of Canada</span> Term used in Canada

The census geographic units of Canada are the census subdivisions defined and used by Canada's federal government statistics bureau Statistics Canada to conduct the country's quinquennial census. These areas exist solely for the purposes of statistical analysis and presentation; they have no government of their own. They exist on four levels: the top-level (first-level) divisions are Canada's provinces and territories; these are divided into second-level census divisions, which in turn are divided into third-level census subdivisions and fourth-level dissemination areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parry Sound District</span> District in Ontario, Canada

Parry Sound District is a census division of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its boundaries are District of Muskoka to the south, the Sudbury District to the north-northwest, the French River and Lake Nipissing in the north, Nipissing District and North Bay in the north and east and parts of Algonquin Park in the northeast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dunnville</span> Unincorporated community in Ontario, Canada

Dunnville is an unincorporated community located near the mouth of the Grand River in Haldimand County, Ontario, Canada, near the historic Talbot Trail. It was formerly an incorporated town encompassing the surrounding area with a total population of 12,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regional Municipality of Ottawa–Carleton</span> Dissolved Region in Ontario, Canada

The Regional Municipality of Ottawa–Carleton was a Regional Municipality and Census Division in Ontario, Canada, that existed between January 1, 1969, and January 1, 2001, and was primarily centred on the City of Ottawa. It was created in 1969 by restructuring Carleton County and annexing Cumberland Township from the United Counties of Prescott and Russell into the newly created Region of Ottawa–Carleton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regional Municipality of Haldimand–Norfolk</span> Dissolved Region in Ontario, Canada

The Regional Municipality of Haldimand–Norfolk was a Regional Municipality that was proclaimed on January 1, 1974 in the province of Ontario, Canada, on the advice of a report by Milt Farrow, a "special advisor" appointed by the Government of Ontario. In 2001, the Region was dissolved and split into two single-tier municipalities, the Town of Haldimand and the Town of Norfolk. Immediately after their formation, they changed their names to Haldimand County and Norfolk County.

References

  1. "List of Ontario municipalities". Government of Ontario. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Population and dwelling counts, for Canada, provinces and territories, and census divisions, 2016 and 2011 censuses". Statistics Canada. Retrieved 2017-02-08.
  3. Ontario Municipal Act, 2001.