Oakville, Ontario

History

In 1793, Dundas Street was surveyed for a military road. In 1805, the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada bought the lands between Etobicoke and Hamilton from the indigenous Mississaugas people, except for the land at the mouths of Twelve Mile Creek (Bronte Creek), Sixteen Mile Creek, and along the Credit River. In 1807, British immigrants settled the area surrounding Dundas Street as well as on the shore of Lake Ontario.

In 1820, the Crown bought the area surrounding the waterways. The area around the creeks, 960 acres, ceded to the Crown by the Mississaugas, was auctioned off to William Chisholm in 1827. He left the development of the area to his son, Robert Kerr Chisholm, and his brother-in-law, Merrick Thomas. Chisholm also formed shipbuilding business in Oakville Navy Street and Sixteen Mile Creek and lasted until 1842, but shipbuilding in Oakville lasted into the late 20th century.

The population in 1846 was 1,500. The community shipped large quantities of wheat and lumber via schooners and the railway. There were three churches, a grist mill and saw mill, and various small companies making threshing machines, wagons, watches, saddles, and metal goods. There were also tradesmen of various types.

Oakville's industries also included shipbuilding. In the 1850s, there was an economic recession and the foundry, the most important industry in town, was closed. Basket-making became a major industry in the town, and the Grand Trunk Railway was built through it. In 1869, the population was 2,000. The community was served by the Great Western Railway and it was a port on Lake Ontario.

The town eventually became industrialized with the opening of Cities Service Canada (later BP Canada, and now Petro-Canada) and Shell Canada oil refineries (both now closed), the Procor factory (no longer manufacturing), and, most importantly, the Ford Motor Company's Canadian headquarters and plant, all close to the Canadian National Railway and the Queen Elizabeth Way highway between Toronto and Fort Erie (Buffalo).

In 1962, the town of Oakville merged with its neighbouring villages (Bronte, Palermo, Sheridan, and the remainder of Trafalgar Township) to become the new Town of Oakville, reaching northwards to Steeles Avenue in Milton. In 1973, the restructuring of Halton County into Halton Region brought the northern border southwards to just north of the future Highway 407.

Underground Railroad

Oakville has a long and important role in Black Canadian historical narratives. The town is one of the many Underground Railroad Station Stops established along the Canada-U.S.A border. The town served as a location for fugitive enslaved Black people to escape the slavery of America and establish themselves. This population were very influential in establishing the town's prosperous economy.

Geography

Neighbourhoods

Oakville's Planning Department divides the town into communities. These are based on traditional neighbourhoods.

Climate

Like much of Southern Ontario, Oakville has a humid continental climate straddling Dfa/Dfb classifications, with cold winters with frequent snowfall, and warm summers. Like most lakeside municipalities on the Great Lakes, there are varying temperatures within town boundaries, generally warmer days further from the lake, the exception being on the colder days in winter.

Demographics

|1841|550 |1871|1684 |1901|1643 |1911|2372 |1921|3298 |1931|3857 |1941|4115 |1951|6910 |1961|10366 |1971|61483 |1981|75773 |1991|114670 |1996|128405 |2001|144738 |2006|165613 |2011|182520 |2016|193832 |2021|213,759}}

In the 2021 Canadian census conducted by Statistics Canada, Oakville had a population of 213,759 living in 73,558 of its 76,179 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 193,832. With a land area of 138.94 km2, it had a population density of in 2021.

According to the 2021 census, the median age in the town is 41.6 years. 18% of the population is under 15 years of age, 66.3% is between 15 and 64 years, and 15.7% is 65 and over.

In 2021, immigrants made up 41.2% of the population. The top 10 places of birth of the immigrant population were China (15.3%), India (10.2%), United Kingdom (7.4%) Pakistan (5.7%), Philippines (3.4%), Egypt (3.3%), the United States (3.2%), Poland (2.7%), South Korea (2.5%), and Portugal (2.1%).

Language

The most common mother tongues among the population in 2021 were English (57.4%), Mandarin (7.0%), Arabic (3.5%), Spanish (2.3%), and Urdu (2.2%).

Ethnicity

The 2016 census found the most reported ethnocultural background to be White (68.5%), followed by South Asian (8.9%), Chinese (7%), Arab (3.2%), Black (2.9%), Filipino (1.9%), Latin American (1.9%), Korean (1.6%), West Asian (1.1%), and other backgrounds. Aboriginals make up 0.7% the population: 0.4% First Nations and 0.3% Métis.

Religion

According to the 2021 census, 52.7% of the population identify as Christians, with Catholics (28.8%) making up the largest denomination. Others identify as Muslims (10.4%), Hindus (4.5%), Sikhs (1.9%), Buddhists (1.1%), Jewish (0.6%), and with other religions. A total of 28.3% of the population report no religious affiliation.

Economy

The top employers in Oakville include:

Employers

Sagen MI Canada (TSX:MIC), Algonquin Power & Utilities, Canadian Tire Financial Services, Cameron's Brewing Company, Equirex, Pelmorex, and Rockstar Toronto are based in Oakville, while Siemens, The Ford Motor Company, and MADD Canada have their head Canadian offices in the town. Many Oakville residents work in advanced manufacturing at large facilities operated by UTC Aerospace Systems and General Electric.

Many Oakville companies fall under the life science umbrella, with an emphasis on pharmaceuticals and elder care. There are also a number of retirement homes in the city.

As Oakville is considered part of the Greater Toronto Area it is common for residents to commute to jobs in Toronto.

Arts and culture

Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts

The Oakville Children's Choir

The Oakville Children's Choir has been in business since 1994.

Oakville Galleries

Oakville Galleries is a not-for-profit art museum that exhibits contemporary art, cares for a permanent collection and delivers public programming. Its exhibition spaces are located on two sites: Gairloch Gardens and Centennial Square.

Events

Downtown Oakville Jazz Festival

The Downtown Oakville Jazz Festival is an annual summer jazz festival established in 1992. The event includes performances at a number of stages along Lakeshore Road in downtown Oakville. The event is free to the public.

Waterfront Festival

Beginning in 1982, Oakville's Coronation Park played host to the annual Oakville Waterfront Festival. Among a range of events, the festival included small amusement park rides, arts and crafts, food and drinks, free concerts headlined by Canadian bands, and nightly fireworks displays. The Waterfront Festival took place in late June of each year until 2010, when it was cancelled due to financial difficulties, despite having annual attendance of up to 100,000 visitors. It returned in August 2013, which was the most recent festival to date.

Kerrfest

Kerrfest is an annual outdoor music festival that takes place in early September in Oakville. Having begun in 2014, the event includes free performances and is open to the public, located at Westwood Park.

Midnight Madness

Midnight Madness was a street festival that happened one night each summer. It ran for over 40 years, until it was cancelled in 2023. It would attract thousands of visitors to Downtown Oakville.

For the Love of the Arts Festival

The For the Love of the Arts Festival is an annual event taking place in the late spring in Oakville. Inaugurated in 2002, the event is hosted by CommUnity Arts Space (originally known as Music and Art Shared Space who initiated the festival), a local umbrella group advocating for shared physical space for Oakville's arts and cultural groups. Currently the only such multi-disciplinary community festival of its kind in Oakville, the event serves to showcase local talent, skills, crafts, literary art, dance performances, theatre groups and music performances. The event is intended as a symbolic presentation of a "shared space" and is entirely sponsored by local corporate and private donations.

Northeast Oakville Fair

The Northeast Oakville Fair is an annual event that takes place toward the end of spring across from the Iroquois Ridge Community Centre. The fair brings together local businesses, inflatables, food trucks, hot air balloon rides, family activities, and a DJ that's free and open to the public.

Shopping

Oakville Place is an indoor shopping mall in Oakville that opened in 1981. The mall is approximately 42000 m2.

Sports

Athletics

The Oakville Half Marathon is an annual half marathon event held in Shell Park, with sub-events in 10K, 5K, and 2K Fun Run/Walk.

Golf

Glen Abbey Golf Course is located in Oakville. Designed by Jack Nicklaus, the course has hosted 30 Canadian Open championships since it opened in 1977, and both Golf Canada and the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame are located there. In 2018, the owner, Clublink, planned to demolish the golf course in order to build residential and commercial properties. In 2021, following objections from the community and municipal government, Clublink withdrew its development plan and stated it would continue operating Glen Abbey as a golf course.

Soccer

Oakville SC is semi-professional and youth soccer club that competes in League1 Ontario. Oakville boasts over 60 soccer fields and a Soccer Club Facility with a two-star, full-size, FIFA-Certified indoor soccer pitch.

Lacrosse

Oakville is home to the headquarters and practice facilities of the Toronto Rock professional box lacrosse team competing in the National Lacrosse League. Oakville is also home to the 3rd largest minor lacrosse association in Ontario: The Oakville Minor Lacrosse Association has more than 1,500 players and competes in multiple classes and multiple divisions. The town also has the Oakville Buzz, a Junior "A" lacrosse team who won the Founders Cup in 2006. The current rep lacrosse team is the Oakville Hawks.

Hockey

The Oakville Blades is a Tier II Junior "A" franchise since 1966, and a "AAA" hockey system. The current rep hockey team for boys in Oakville is the Oakville Rangers. For girls, there is the Oakville Hornets.

Skating

Skate Oakville, which is headquartered at Oakville's Sixteen Mile Creek Sports Complex, was recently the largest skating club in Canada, providing learn to skate lessons, recreational figure skating programs, competitive training, and 10 synchronised skating teams.

Swimming

Competitive swimming in Oakville is represented by two organizations: Oakville Aquatic Club (OAK) and Dolphins Swim Club.

Oakville Aquatic Club is affiliated with Swimming Canada and Swim Ontario. OAK offers four levels of swimming based on age and skill: Acorns, Mini Oaks, Development, and Performance.

Lake Ontario Swim Team (L.O.S.T.) is an open-water swim team founded in 2006 by Rob Kent while he was training for his English Channel attempt. The team meets every Saturday morning from June to mid-September at Oakville Harbour. As of 2019, it had over 200 swimmers. The LOST Race, organized by L.O.S.T. members since 2008, is an annual 3.8 km race (Ironman distance) from Edgemere Promenade to Oakville Harbour.

Canoeing

Burloak Canoe Club is located in Oakville. Three Olympians, Adam van Koeverden, Mark Oldershaw and Larry Cain, trained at the club.

Government

Municipal and regional

At the municipal level, the governing body is the Oakville Town Council consisting of a mayor (currently Rob Burton) and fourteen councillors. The town is divided into seven wards, with two councillors elected by residents of each ward.

In each ward, one councillor represents the ward solely on the Oakville Town Council, and the other is a member of the 21-member governing council of the Regional Municipality of Halton, in addition to being a member of the 14-member Town Council.

Provincial

Two provincial ridings are situated in Oakville, which use the same boundaries as the federal ridings and are currently represented provincially by:

• Oakville: Stephen Crawford (Conservative)
• Oakville North-Burlington: Effie Triantafilopoulos (Conservative)

Federal

Two federal ridings are situated in Oakville, which are currently represented by:

• Oakville East: Anita Anand (Liberal)
• Oakville West: Sima Acan (Liberal)

Infrastructure

Transportation

Public transit

Local bus service is provided by Oakville Transit with some bus lines extending as far as Highway 407 & Dundas Carpool Lot in Burlington and South Common Centre in Mississauga. Its bus services are focused on servicing passengers using the Lakeshore West line from four different GO stations within or near Oakville. GO Transit commuter rail and bus service operate from Bronte GO and Oakville GO stations. Via Rail operates services along the line as part of the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor, and operates from Oakville station.

Roads and highways

Several major roads and highways go through Oakville:

• • The Queen Elizabeth Way and Ontario Highway 403 run concurrently throughout most of Oakville.
• (Bronte Road)
• Dundas Street
• Lakeshore Road (West/East)
• Trafalgar Road
• Dorval Drive
• Neyagawa Boulevard
• Winston Churchill Boulevard (Boundary with the City of Mississauga & Peel Region)
• Burloak Drive (Boundary with the City of Burlington)
• William Halton Parkway
• Section of new road between Third Line and Neyagawa Boulevard is currently under construction.

Emergency services

Law enforcement in Oakville is performed by the Halton Regional Police Service.

Fire service is provided by the Oakville Fire Department with its nine fire stations.

The Town of Oakville's Waters Air Rescue Force is a volunteer organization that provides marine search and rescue service in Western Lake Ontario. It was founded in 1954 and was a charter member of the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary.

Education

Elementary schools and high schools in Oakville are a mix of private and public schools, with one of the highest ratios of private schools to student population in the country. Oakville is covered by the Halton District School Board, Halton Catholic District School Board, Conseil scolaire Viamonde, and Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir. St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School (Oakville) and White Oaks Secondary School both offer the International Baccalaureate Program.

The town is home to Appleby College, a private school for grades seven to twelve, established in 1911 as well as St. Mildred's-Lightbourn School, an independent all-girls school. Oakville is also home to the Trafalgar Campus of Sheridan College, primarily an arts and business studies institute, and Oakville's only higher education facility.

Media

Oakville is primarily served by media based in Toronto with markets in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) that cover most of the news in the GTA. One regional newspaper, the Oakville Beaver, is published once weekly. The monthly magazines Neighbours of Joshua Creek, Neighbours of Glen Abbey and Neighbours of Olde Oakville serve three key neighbourhoods. The town is also served by Oakvillenews.org, a locally owned online daily newsletter and website.

The town also has two specialty radio stations: AM 1250 CJYE, a Christian music station and AM 1320 CJMR, a Multicultural station.

The following national cable television station also broadcast from Oakville:

• The Weather Network has broadcast nationally from Oakville since 2005.
• The Hamilton-based television station CHCH-DT serves Hamilton, the regional municipalities of Halton and Niagara, thus including Oakville. CHCH recently closed its Halton Bureau (due to budget considerations) which was located in downtown Oakville.
• YourTV from the studio in the Cogeco headquarters at Harvester Road & Burloak Drive, just inside of Burlington.

Sister cities

Oakville is twinned with the following cities:

• Dorval, Quebec, Canada (1957)
  • Dorval Drive in Oakville named after this city.
• Neyagawa, Osaka, Japan (April 6, 1984)
  • Neyagawa Boulevard in Oakville named after this city.
  • Apartment complex in Neyagawa named after Oakville.
• Huai'an, Jiangsu, China (June, 2015)

Notes

References

References

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