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City of Brampton, Ontario, Canada

File:Bramptonlogo.GIF File:Bramptoncoa.jpg
Motto: Welcomes you
Area:	266.53 sq. km.
Population  - City (2001)  - Canadian Municipal Rank  - Density	325,428 Ranked 16th 1221.0/km²
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5
Latitude Longitude	43°41' N 79°46' W
MPs
Navdeep Bains, Colleen Beaumier, Ruby Dhalla, Gurbax S. Malhi
MPPs
Vic Dhillon, Linda Jeffrey, Kuldip Kular
Mayor	Susan Fennell
City councillors
Bob Callahan, Grant Gibson, Sandra Hames, John Hutton, Garnett Manning
Regional councillors
Susan DiMarco, Gael Miles, Elaine Moore, Paul Palleschi, John Sprovieri
Governing body	Brampton City Council
City of Brampton

Brampton, Ontario is a city in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada. It is the seat of the Peel Regional Municipality. As of June 2005, Brampton's population stood at approximately 415,000, and it is estimated that by the year 2031, the city population will have almost doubled to 680,000 people. As one of Canada's fastest growing cities, the municipality has found it difficult to cope with its unprecendented growth, in terms of the provision of adequate infrastructure. It celebrated its sesquicentennial anniversary in 2003, marking 150 years since its incorporation as a village in 1853, taking its name from the rural village near Chesterfield in England.

Major companies include Ford, Nortel, Para Paints, a Coca-Cola Bottling Plant, Nestlé, DaimlerChrysler Canada Ltd., Maple Lodge Farms, Zellers, Frito Lay Canada and Humpty Dumpty.

Brampton was once known as The Flowertown of Canada, a title it earned due to the city's large greenhouse industry, which included Dale's Flowers, a company that won many international rose awards for nearly half a century.

Cultural entities in the city are "umbrellaed" by the Brampton Arts Council. They include Visual Arts Brampton and the Brampton Symphony Orchestra. Also in the city is the Peel Heritage Complex, which is run by the Region of Peel.

The city is home to Canadian Forces Army Reserve unit The Lorne Scots (Peel, Dufferin and Halton Regiment).

The City of Brampton Citizens Award honours Long Term Service in volunteerism, Sports Achievement, and Arts Acclaim, the later two "designed to identify Brampton residents whose achievements have been recognized at the Provincial, National or International level".

Geography

See also: Communities within Brampton, Ontario

Brampton is made up of a number of smaller communities.

Bramalea was built as a "satellite city", Canada's first when built in the 1960s. It was annexed into Brampton in 1974, but still remains essentially autonomous in spirit, with even new residents responding that they live in Bramalea. Chinguacousy and Toronto Gore were two townships incorporated into Brampton mid-way through the twentieth century. From this merger, communities such as Bramalea, Heart Lake and Professor's Lake, Snelgrove, Tullamore, and Mayfield, were formed.

Rural villages, such as Claireville, Ebenezer, Victoria, Springbrook, Churchville, Coleraine, and Huttonville were merged into the larger city. While only Huttonville and Churchville still exist as identifiable communities, other names like Claireville are re-emerging as names of new developments.

The early 1980s brought new development, as the city released large tracts of land to residential developers. The large new suburban community of Springdale was developed in 1995 and is the area where most of the urban sprawl has taken place.This land began in its largest boom in 1999, when development started to appear as far north as the city's border with Caledon. The Region has designated this border as being the line of demarcation for urban development until 2021. However, neighbouring communities not part of Peel have also been massively affected by the city's sudden spurt. The end of Brampton and start of Georgetown, for example, is essentially non-identifiable.

Demographics

The City of Brampton has long been considered one of Canada's fastest growing communities. During the 1970s and early 1980s many English speaking residents of Quebec moved to Brampton as a result of Quebec's French language laws. Since that time, Brampton's primary growth has constituted of immigrants. Recently, population growth has consisted of mainly Asian Canadians

The city of Brampton has an extremely fast growth rate considerably among those who are Asian Canadian as they constitute the largest visible minority population. From 1996 to 2001, the East Indian population jumped from 34,000 to 63,000 in a matter of 5 years, almost 50% growth.

Racial Profile

• White - 58.9%
• Asian - 5.1%
• Indian - 19.9%
• Black - 9.9%
• Hispanic - 1.7%
• Arab - 0.6%
• Aboriginal - 0.6%
• Other - 2.6%
• Mixed - 0.7%

Religious Profile

• 67.7% Christian
• 11.0% Sikh
• 6.1% Hindu
• 5.3% Muslim

Age Groups

• 0-14 years: 23.1%
• 15-64 years: 70%
• 65 years and over: 6.9%

Population growth in Brampton

• 1858: 50
• 1922: 8,000 (according to Celebrating 150 Years)
• 1949: 6,000 (according to Brampton: An Illustrated History)
• 1959: 14,500
• 1963: 26,363
• 1967: 37,701
• 1978: 95,000
• 1983: 165,000
• 1985: 180,000
• 2002: 351,646
• 2005: 415,000
• 2031: 680,000 (est.)

Note that this is only the population of Brampton proper, and does not include Bramalea, Chinguacousy, Gore, et al. before they were actually part of Brampton.

Brampton is considered to be one of the safest cities in Canada by city officials. However there is a growing problem with gangs, drugs, and violent crime. Brampton's murder rate has gone from 2 in 2003, 4 in 2004 and up to 5 already in 2005.

Attractions

• Bramalea City Centre
• Pearson Convention Centre, opened in August of 2003.
• Shoppers World, Brampton
• Trinity Common

Historical attractions

• Bovaird House, originally owned by early Brampton settlers
• Peel Heritage Complex, regional museum, gallery, and archives

Cultural attractions

• Artway Gallery, community exhibits within Shoppers World mall
• Brampton Performing Arts Centre, to replace the Heritage Theatre
• Heritage Theatre
• Peel Heritage Complex, regional museum, gallery, and archives

Outdoor and sports attractions

• Claireville Conservation Area, Toronto Region Conservation
• Heart Lake Conservation Area, Toronto Region Conservation
• Powerade Centre, originally the Brampton Centre for Sports and Entertainment
• South Fletchers Sportsplex
• Wild Water Kingdom, Canada's largest water-only theme park

Politics

History of Brampton

See also: List of mayors of Brampton, Ontario, Brampton Fall Fair, Brampton Library.

In the early 1830s, farmers from the 212 farms of Chinguacousy Township came to Martin Salisbury's Tavern in bi-annual fairs. In 1853, a small agricultural fair was set up by the then-new County Agricultural Society of the County of Peel, and was held at the corner of Main and Queen streets. Grains, produce, roots, and dairy products were up for sale, a precursor of today's Brampton Farmers' Market. Horses and cattle, along with other lesser livestock was sold at market. This agricultural fair eventually became the modern Brampton Fall Fair.

A federal grant allowed the village to create its first public library in 1887, which included 360 volumes from the pre-existing Mechanic's Institute (est 1858).

A group of regional farmers in the Brampton had trouble getting insurance from city-based companies. After several meetings in Clairville Hall, it was decided that they should found the County of Peel Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company. In 1955, the company moved to its third and current location, 103 Queen Street West, and renamed itself Peel Mutual Insurance Company. It reigns as the longest running company in modern Brampton. Harmsworth Decorating Centre was established in 1890, as Harmsworth and Son, operated out of the family's house on Queen Street West. The store purchased its current location on September 1, 1904, after a fire destroyed their original store. Purchased for $1400, the 24 Main Street South location is the longest operating retail business in what is now Brampton.

In 1907, the library successfully received a grant from steel magnate Andrew Carnegie to build a new multi-person building, featuring a library. See Brampton Library.

As a town of 8000 in the year 1922, the Capitol Theatre was built in downtown Brampton. Its schedule consisted of primarily of vaudeville and silent movies.

The Brampton Mall was built in 1960 on Main Street, near Peel Village, marking the community's first mall.

Neighbouring Bramalea created

Created as a innovative "new town", Bramalea was developed as a separate community, approximately 40 kilometres northwest of Toronto.

Located in the former Chinguacousy Township, it was Canada's first satellite community developed by one of the country's largest real estate developers, Bramalea Limited, formerly known as Brampton Leasing. The community had an extensive Master Plan, which included provisions for a parkland trail system and a "downtown," which would include essential services and a shopping centre. The downtown area's centrepiece was the Civic Centre, which included the city hall and library. Directly across Team Canada Drive from the Civic Centre, Bramalea Limited built a shopping centre named Bramalea City Centre. The two centrepieces were connected by a long underground tunnel, which has long since been closed due to safety issues. Other features included a police station, fire hall, bus terminal, and a collection of seniors' retirement homes.

Each phase of the new city was built with progressing first letters of street names. Development started with the "A" section, with street names like Argyle, Avondale, and Aloma. Developer then created a "B" section, "C" section, and so forth. Children on the boundaries of these divisions would regularly compete in street hockey games, pitting, for example, the "D" section versus the "E" section.

The community was also initially developed with a large number of recreational facilities, including tennis courts, playgrounds, hockey/lacrosse rinks, swimming pools, and indoor hockey rinks. An extensive parkland trail and sidewalk system that connects the entire city, amplifying what Brampton already had in a smaller scale. It is said that one can get anywhere in the city without having to use a road. All of these facilities have since become under the jurisdiction of Brampton Parks and Recreation.

The Region of Peel founded

The Ontario Government decided to update the County of Peel's structure in 1974, one of many areas affected by Bill 138. Along with amalgamating a series of villages into the City of Mississauga, Bramalea, the Township of Chinguacousy and Gore, and some smaller villages became part of new City of Brampton. To further restructure the municipal government and services, the Province coverted the County into the Regional Municipality of Peel, now referred to as simply the Region of Peel. Brampton retained its Peel County Seat, retaining its role as the administrative centre of Peel Region. Most of the Region's department offices (including the Regional Council Chamber), the Peel Regional Police force, the public health department, and the region's only major museum, the Peel Heritage Complex, are all currently housed in Brampton.

This move was not met with open arms. Bramptonians feared urban sprawl would "dissolve their town's personality", and Bramalea residents took pride in the built "from scratch" and organized structure that came with a "new city". Both Brampton's size and Bramalea's infrastructure have since been degraded in many minds, but perhaps would have suffered the same fate if apart. Many residents of the former community of Bramalea, many even new to the community since 1974, do not classify themselves as Brampton residents. This even causes havoc with Ontario government records, as their tourism website still list Bramalea as a separate entity.

In 1972, Bramalea Corporation created their Civic Centre facility. Along with corporations, this facility was to move the town library to. Two years after it was built, and Brampton and Bramalea merged, the new City's council chambers and other facilities were created in the building, moving from the town of Brampton's modest Downtown locale. The library systems of Brampton and Bramalea became one, creating a system of four locations.

Development of Brampton as a City

In the 1980s, the Capitol Theatre, then owned by Odeon, closed its doors in the Downtown. The City bought the facility in 1981, under the spearhead of then-councillor Diane Sutter, turning the former movie house and vaudevillian stage into a theatre for the musical and performing arts. In 1983, Toronto consultants Woods Gordon reported back to the City that a new 750-seat facility should be built, instead of "pouring money" into the Heritage.

The early 1990s brought a new city hall to Brampton's downtown. The facility was designed by local architects and constructed by Inzola Contstruction.

The Brampton Fair Grounds were sold in 1992 to the City of Brampton, leading the Agricultural Society to move up to Heart Lake Road and Old School Road in 1997.

The Health Services Restructuring Commission (HSRC) decided in 1997 that Georgetown and District Memorial Hospital, Etobicoke General Hospital and Peel Memorial Hospital amalgamate into the William Osler Health Centre, becoming what now is the province's 6th largest hospital corporation.

Future of Peel in question

In the early years of the 21st century, the young Region's future has been called under question. Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion expressed feelings that her city was being dragged down by Brampton, as the seating in the Peel council does not reflect the population imbalance between the cities. McCallion stated that she felt too much of municipal taxes were going to fund Brampton, instead of staying in Mississauga. Brampton countered, as for the past few decades, it helped to fund Mississauga's rapid growth, thus contributing more to regional funds than it got back.

Current events

The Brampton Performing Arts Centre is also being developed in the downtown, as "a cultural and tourist destination that will attract significant new business to surrounding restaurants, shops and services". The City says that the facilities are expected to generate $2.7 million in economic activity the first year and grow to $19.8 million by the fifth year. This is predicted to attract more than 55,000 visitors annually who will spend about $275,000 on before and after-show entertainment, creating close to 300 permanent jobs. Despite the great promises, this project is the source of much cynicism among the community. Many have questioned the need for a larger facility, as the current Heritage Theatre rarely reaches capacity, and a great deal of residents don't meet the prime theatre going audience profile.

The Performing Arts Centre was built over a parking lot built by Inzola Construction, originally meant for a small indoor shopping mall and movie theatre. The same year as this originally building was set to begin construction, newly built theatres at Orion Gate and Trinty Common "big box" malls trumped the need.

A new hospital is being built in North Brampton, to supplement the William Osler Health Centre, Brampton Memorial Hospital Campus (formerly Peel Memorial Hospital).

Brampton's 2003 Sesquicentennial celebrations were a booster to community spirit, restarting the tradition of a summer parade (with 100 floats), and creating other initiatives. To commemorate the Flowertown history, the City under Mayor Fennell reintroduced floral projects to the community, including more plantings around town, the restart of the Flowercity Parade in 2005, and participation for the last few years in the Canada Communities in Bloom project.

Multiculturalism embraced

With a growing multicultural population, the Peel Board of Education introduced evening English as a Second Language (ESL) classes at high schools. Originally taught by volunteers, the classes eventually became daytime courses taught by paid instructors. In the 1980s, the public and Catholic board expanded its languages programs, offering night classes in 23 languages. These were introduced by the urging of parents who wanted their children to learn their ancestral heritage and language.

Carabram was founded in 1982, after volunteers from different ethnic communities wanted to organize a festival celebrating diversity and cross-cultural friendship. With a name based on Toronto like-event, Caravan Festival of Cultures, Carabram's first event included Italian, Scottish, Ukrainian, and West Indian pavilions. By 2003, forty-five-thousand visitors visited 18 pavilions. Canada itself had an anchor pavilion in the late-1980s, early-1990s, but ceased when it failed to get sponsorship.

Countries, continents, states and geographic or cultural regions that have been represented at Carabram through the years include Africa, Arab (dubbed "Arabian"), Canada, Caribbean*, China, Croatia*, Chile, England, Germany*, Greece, Hawaiian*, Hispanic, Holland*, India*, Ireland*, Israel, Italy, Macedonia*, Mexico, Philippines*, Poland*, Portugal, Romania, and Ukraine*. Those pavilions marked with asterisks were part of the 2005 festivities.

Sports teams

The city is host to the Brampton Battalion, an Ontario Hockey League (OHL) league team. Many Battalion players have been drafted to the NHL, or their AHL farm teams.

The Brampton Excelsiors are a highly successful lacrosse team, seven-time winners of the Mann Cup. They had victories in 1930, 1931, 1942, 1980, 1992, 1993, 1998, and 2002. The Junior Excelsiors won the Minto Cup in 1952, 1957, 1958, 1959, and have made four other appearances as a finalist. Twenty-one Excelsiors players and thirteen "builders" have been inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

There are many sporting venues and activities including the outdoor ice path for skating through Gage Park and the ski lift at Chinguacousy Park. In the summer amateur softball leagues abound and crowds line the beaches at Professor's Lake.

Mike Danton, born in Brampton as Mike Jefferson, is the city's most recent NHL entry. Danton however soon became charged by the FBI, for plotting to hire a hitman.

The National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) is the highest level of women's ice hockey in the world. The league was established in 1999, and currently only consists of teams in Canada. Its commissioner is Brampton, Ontario mayor Susan Fennell; she has held the position since at least 2000. Expansion is planned into the USA.

Every year, since 1967, the Brampton Canadettes host the Brampton Canadettes Easter Tournament women's and girls' hockey teams invade Brampton for 3 1/2 days of head-to-head competition. Teams of all ages and categories from across Canada and the United States compete in this annual tournament. Teams from England, Switzerland, Japan, Kazakhstan and Russia attend this international tournament.

Accessiblity and transportation

Brampton is optimally placed in the GTA, with access to most of the area's major roads; at one point in the 90s billboards advertised that "all roads lead to Brampton".

It is served by major transportation routes: Highway 401 from Toronto is a short distance south in Mississauga, and is reached by Highway 410. Highway 407 is the present unofficial boundary between Mississauga and Brampton (the true boundary is mainly the hydro lands to the south and the railway line in the south east), just south of Steeles Avenue, another thoroughfare from Toronto. The former Highway 7 (now Regional Road 107) is another east-west corridor, and Highway 427 is to the east.

Both Canadian National Railways and the Orangeville-Brampton Railway short line (formerly part of the Canadian Pacific Railway line) run through the city, CN's Intermodal Yards are located east of Airport Road between Steeles and the former Highway 7/Queen Street East. The CN Track from Toronto's Union Station, is the Georgetown GO Transit Rail Corridor providing commuter rail and bus services to and from Toronto with stops at Bramalea, Downtown Brampton, and Mount Pleasant. VIA Rail connects through Brampton as part of the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. The city is served by Brampton Airport for general aviation, and is near Toronto Pearson International Airport for commercial flights. Local transit is provided by Brampton Transit, with connections to other systems such as Mississauga Transit, York Region Transit, and Toronto Transit Commission.

Education

Besides private post-secondary facilities, Brampton's only place of higher education is Sheridan College. Also with a campus in Oakville, Sheridan's "Davis Campus" primarily focusing on education for the business world and for trades.

High schools in Brampton include Bramalea, Brampton Centennial, Cardinal Leger, Central Peel (1975-1976 champions of the game show Reach for the Top), Chinguacousy, Fletcher's Meadow, Harold M. Brathwaite, Heart Lake (was the home school of an award-winning youth director), North Park, North Peel, Notre Dame, St.Augustine, St. Edmund Campion, St. Marguerite d'Youville, St. Thomas Aquinas and Turner Fenton (Canada's only campus-based high school).

Notable Bramptonians

Notable people either born, raised, or living in Brampton.

• Robert William Bradford C.M., former Director of the National Aviation Museum
• Nathaniel Branden, psychotherapist, best known as a former associate of Ayn Rand and founder of the Nathaniel Branden Institute.
• William Grenville Davis C.C., Bill Davis, or Brampton Billy, a former premier of Ontario.
• Susan Fennell, current mayor, commissioner of the NWHL.
• Alan Thicke, actor, singer, songwriter. Starred in 1980's sitcom Growing Pains and "Thicke of the Night". Father and sister still live and work in Brampton, although born in Kirkland Lake in Northern Ontario.
• Friendly Rich, composer/musician
• Hon. Sir James A. Lougheed (1854-1925)
• Leonard Norris, founder of the Okanagan Historical Society

Comedians

• Michael Cera, comedian, Arrested Development
• Paulo Costanzo, comedic television actor, a lead in the Friends spin-off Joey
• Russell Peters, comedian
• Scott Thompson (b. 1959), openly-gay television comedian, member of the noted comedy troupe Kids in the Hall.

Authors

• Rohinton Mistry, author
• Sabrina Noble, local playwright

Hockey

• Luciano Borsato, former pro-hockey player, NHL Winnipeg Jets
• Andrew Cassels, professional hockey player currently playing the National Hockey League NHL
• Todd Sloan Elik, former pro-hockey player, NHL Edmonton Oilers hockey player 1992-94
• Rick Nash acclaimed hockey player. Winner of the Maurice Richard trophy in 2004 with the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League

Other

• IMDb listed actors: Andrew Bednarski, Daryl Jaye, Tyler Labine, Kris Lemche, Johanna Black, Joanne Boland, Sabrina Grdevich, Nicole Lyn, Brenna O'Brien, Leah Straatsma, Lynley Swain

Deceased

• John Coyne (died 1873), Peel County's first representative in the Ontario Legislature
• Gordon Graydon, politician
• JoAnn Wilson, wife and murder victim of politician Colin Thatcher, moved here

External links

• brampton.com: Your Community Connection
• City of Brampton
• Brampton Arts Council
• William Osler Health Centre (Brampton)
• Rogers Community Cable Brampton
• Rogers Community Billboard: Brampton

See also

• List of airports in the Greater Toronto Area
• City of Brampton Arts Person of the Year

Unrelated: Brampton Lake, Ontario

• Brampton, Ontario