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For the First Nation, see Mississaugas.
Mississauga (pronounced: [ˌmɪsɪˈsɒgə] listen ) is a city of 668,549 residents,[2] Canada's sixth most populous municipality,[3] located in the Regional Municipality of Peel, Ontario. Mississauga was purchased by the British in 1805 and incorporated as a city in 1974.
Residents of the city are called Mississaugans. With seven major highways passing through the city, Mississauga offers access to major destinations in Canada and the United States. In addition, most of Toronto Pearson International Airport, Canada's busiest, is located in the city. Mississauga has doubled in population in each of the last two decades. It had the largest population growth in Canada (89,500) between the census years of 1986-1991. Another 80,994 were added between 1991-1996; an increase of 17.5%. From the 1996-2001 censuses, Mississauga gained a further 68,543 residents; an increase of 12.6%.[5] From 2001 to 2006 the population increased 9.1%.[2]
The city is debt-free and has not borrowed money since 1978. While being in the top ten Canadian cities by population, Mississauga has few cultural institutions for a community its size due to its proximity to Toronto. It is by far the largest city in Canada without a daily newspaper (The Mississauga News is printed three days a week), and currently doesn't have any commercial radio stations. Mississauga is beginning to break away from its label as a "bedroom community" of Toronto as 25,000 more workers commute to jobs in Mississauga than leave.
Mississauga has been trying to create a distinctive image for itself over the past few years. Plans for over 55 new high-rise residential buildings have been approved recently for the city centre area near the Square One Shopping Centre, and an international architectural design competition was held in 2006 for a 50 storey condominium tower that is intended to be a landmark for the city named Absolute World.
History
At the time of the arrival of the Europeans in the 1600s, both Iroquoian and Algonquian speaking peoples already lived in the Credit River Valley area. One of the First Nations groups the traders found around the Credit River area was called the Mississaugas, a tribe originally from Lake Huron. By 1700 the Mississaugas had driven away the Iroquois. Toronto Township was formed on August 2, 1805 when officials from York (what is now Toronto) purchased 84,000 acres (340 km²) of land from the Mississaugas for 1,000 pounds and in 1806 the area was opened for settlement. Toronto township is not to be confused with the present-day City of Toronto, as no part of the former township boundaries overlap with the Toronto of today. The various communities settled include: Cawthra, Clarkson, Cooksville, Dixie, Erindale (called Springfield until 1890), Lorne Park, Port Credit, Sheridan, and Summerville. This region would become known as Toronto Township. Part of northeast Mississauga, including the Airport lands and Malton were part of Gore Township.[7] After the land was surveyed, much of it was given by the Crown in the form of land grants to United Empire Loyalists who emigrated from the US, some first went to New Brunswick before arriving here. More than a dozen small communities grew in this area, most of which were located near natural resources, waterways for industry and fishing, and routes leading into York. In 1820, a second purchase was made and additional settlements established including: Barbertown, Britannia, Burnhamthorpe, Derry West, Elmbank, Malton, Meadowvale Village, Mount Charles, and Streetsville. This led to the eventual displacement of the Mississaugas and, in 1847, they were relocated to a reserve in the Grand River Valley near present-day Hagersville. In 1873, in light of the continued growth seen in this area much as a result of the many railway lines passing through the township which spurred on industry, the Toronto Township Council was formed to oversee the affairs of the various villages that were unincorporated at that time. The Council's responsibilities included road maintenance, the establishment of a police force, and mail delivery service. Except for small villages, some grist mills and brickworks served by rail lines, most of present-day Mississauga was agricultural land, including fruit growing orchards through much of the 19th and first half of the 20th century. Toronto residents would travel to the township to pick fruits and garden vegetables. Cottages were constructed along Lake Ontario in the 1920s as weekend getaway houses for weary city dwellers. Malton Airport opened in 1937, which would become Canada's busiest, Toronto Pearson International Airport. The Queen Elizabeth Way highway, one of the first controlled access highways in the world opened to Hamilton and later Niagara in 1939. The first prototypical suburban developments occurred around the same time, in the area of the Dixie Road and the QEW. Development in general moved north and west from there over time and around established towns. Large scale developments such as in Meadowvale and Erin Mills sprung up in the 1960s and 70s. With the exception of Port Credit and Streetsville, the township settlements were amalgamated by a somewhat unpopular provincial decree in 1968 to form the Town of Mississauga. The town name was chosen by plebescite over "Sheridan". Political will, as well as a belief that a larger city would be a hegemony in Peel County, kept Port Credit and Streetsville as independent island towns encircled by the Town of Mississauga. In 1974, both were annexed by Mississauga when it reincorporated as a city. That year, the sprawling Square One shopping centre opened, which has since expanded many times its original size. On November 10, 1979, a 106-car freight train derailed while carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals just north of the intersection of Mavis Road and Dundas in Mississauga. The resulting fire was allowed to burn itself out, but a ruptured chlorine tank was the main cause for concern. With the possibility of a deadly cloud of chlorine gas spreading through suburban Mississauga, 218,000 people were evacuated. Within a few days Mississauga was practically a ghost town. Later when the mess had been cleared and the danger neutralized residents were allowed to return to their homes. At the time, it was the largest peacetime evacuation in North American history. Due to the speed and efficiency in which it was conducted, many cities later studied and modeled their own emergency plans after Mississauga's. For many years afterwards, the name "Mississauga" was to Canadians associated with a major rail disaster. North American telephone customers placing calls to Mississauga (and other post 1970 Ontario cities) may not recognize the charge details on their billings, as Bell Canada continues to use the former community names, rather than "Mississauga", to identify exchanges in the city: Clarkson, Cooksville, Malton, Port Credit, Streetsville. In 2006, an international architectural design competition was held for a 50 storey condominium tower that is intended to be a landmark for the city. The winning design, named Absolute World, by Chinese architect Yansong Ma of the MAD firm, is a bold, curvaceous tower that was dubbed the "Marilyn Monroe" for its supposed sexiness, and has received plaudits from urban architecture critics such as Christopher Hume of the Toronto Star. The building is currently scheduled to be finished by 2010.[8] Law/GovernmentImage:Mississauga.jpg Mississauga City Hall seen from the south-east. Mississauga has had only three mayors in its history. Dr. Martin Dobkin was the city's first mayor in 1974. He was then followed by Ron A. Searle. Searle was defeated by then-city councillor and former mayor of Streetsville, Hazel McCallion. McCallion is regarded as a force in provincial politics and often referred to as Hurricane Hazel, comparing her political force to the devastating 1954 storm that struck the Toronto area. McCallion has won or been acclaimed in every mayoral election since 1978, and in recent years has not even campaigned. She was recently re-elected for her eleventh term in November 2006. McCallion is the nation's longest serving mayor and was runner-up in World Mayor 2005. Mississauga's City Council is comprised of the mayor and 11 city councillors, each representing one of the city's eleven wards. MayorsMartin L. Dobkin | 1974 - 1976 |
| Ron A. Searle | 1976 - 1978 |
| Hazel McCallion | 1978 - Present |
| Federal/Provincial ridings
GeographyMississauga covers 288.42 square kilometres (111.4 sq mi) of land,[2] fronting 13 kilometres (8 mi) of shoreline on Lake Ontario. Mississauga is bound by Oakville and Milton to the west, Brampton to the north, Toronto to the east, and Lake Ontario to the south. Halton Hills borders Mississauga's north-west corner. With the exception of the southeast border with Toronto (Etobicoke Creek), Mississauga shares a land border with all previous mentioned municipalities. Two major river valleys feed into the lake. The Credit River is by far the longest with the heaviest flow, it divides the western side of Mississauga from the central/eastern portions and enters the lake at the Port Credit harbour. The indented, mostly forested valley was inhabited by native peoples long before European exploration of the area. The valley is protected and maintained by the Credit Valley Conservation Authority (CVCA). Etobicoke Creek forms part of the eastern border of Mississauga with the city of Toronto. North of there it passes near Pearson Airport. There have been two aviation accidents in 1978 and 2005 where aircraft overshot the runaway and slid into the Etobicoke creek banks. In 1954, heavy flooding resulted in some homes along the riverbank being swept into the lake after heavy rains from Hurricane Hazel. Since that storm, houses are no longer constructed along the floodplain. This creek and its tributaries are administered by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA). Most land in Mississauga drains to either of the two main river systems, with the exception of the smaller Mary Fix and Cooksville Creeks which run roughly through the center of Mississauga entering the lake near Port Credit. Some small streams and reservoirs are part of the Sixteen Mile Creek system in the far north-west corner of the city, but these drain into the lake in neighbouring Oakville. The post-glacial Iroquois Shoreline roughly follows the Dundas Street alignment, although it is not noticeable in some places but is in others, such as the old brickyard (Shoreline Dr. in Cooksville), the ancient shoreline drops below affording a clear view of downtown Toronto and Lake Ontario from above. The land in Mississauga in general slopes gradually downward from almost 190 metres (623 ft) ASL in some northern spots to lake level (76 m/249 ft ASL), a 110 metre (361 ft) difference over an averaged 15 kilometres (9 mi) distance. ClimateThe climate of Mississauga is represented by an adjacent northwest Toronto weather station; Pearson International Airport. Localized conditions can vary; fog tends to be more common along the lakeshore and in the Credit River Valley at certain times of year, particularly the fall. The southwestern side of the city (Clarkson) can be much milder in winter than northern areas including the airport, while lakeshore areas particularly from Port Credit east through Lakeview are sometimes cooler on hot summer days. Severe weather can occur on occasion usually in the form of winter storms that come from the US Midwest bringing snow often mixed with sleet and sometimes freezing rain. Summer thunderstorms are common, most are not severe but can occasionally bring violent winds. The last known Tornado to touchdown in Mississauga was on July 7, 1985 when an F1 rated tornado struck an industrial park in the Meadowvale area heavily damaging some buildings and parked tractor trailers. EconomyMississauga is home to more than 18,000 companies ranging from corporate head offices and industrial branch operations to corner store retail businesses, and including 50 of Canada's Fortune 500. Approximately half or 9,000 of these businesses are in the manufacturing, product distribution or corporate sectors due to Mississauga's desirable location in southern Ontario, the Golden Horseshoe and Greater Toronto Area. Mississauga has provided an ideal environment for small businesses. Many developers have built small multiple units which provide efficient and affordable accommodations for small companies. The economic stability of Mississauga is enhanced by thousands of small and medium-sized businesses. A large percentage of these employers have fewer than 50 employees. An employment survey conducted in 1994 indicated that the greatest number of firms and of employees were active in the manufacturing/warehouse sectors followed by retail and wholesale sectors. There will be a shift in the employment base away from traditional manufacturing and towards: light assembly, warehouse distribution, and general services. The strong industries in Mississauga are: pharmaceuticals, electronics, computer, chemical and transportation parts and equipment industries. Heavy industry includes the Petro-Canada refinery and St. Lawrence Cement. Mississauga demographics indicate that the labour market is experiencing some fairly dramatic changes. It is predicted that in the next ten years, 70% of the new Canadian work force will consist of women, racial minorities, and people with disabilities. It is also evident that the Mississauga labour force is aging as fewer young people are available to take entry level jobs and many present employees are struggling to adapt to the changing economic climate. Primary employers
DemographicsMississauga is a quickly growing and multicultural city. Statistics Canada estimates that Mississauga now has 678,000 people, an increase of 150,000 from the previous decade and the population has roughly doubled in past twenty years. Slightly more than 45% of the population speaks a language other than English, reflecting a major large immigrant population. 46.61% of the population was not born in Canada. 40.20% of the population are members of a visible minority (non-white). 21.29% of the population is under 14 years of age, compared to those of retirement age; 8.51%. The median (average) age in Mississauga is 35.0.[9] Despite the plethora of cultures, Mississauga retains a Christian majority. The 2001 census indicates that 69.78% of the population adhere to Christianity, Catholics constituting 42.00%, while the remaining 27.78% adhere to various Protestant, and Orthodox Christian groups. The 2001 census indicates that there are Muslim: 6.83%, Hindu: 4.73%, Sikh: 3.82%, Buddhism, Judaism and others. Those non-professing a faith number 11.92%.[9] First LanguageFrom Statistics Canada 2001 Census Data:
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