Brampton

City of Brampton

File:Bramptoncoa.pngFile:Bramptonlogo.png
Motto: Welcomes You
Geography
Area - Total	266.53 km²
ISO 3166-2	CA-ON
Telephone Area Codes	905
Regional Municipality	Peel Region
Coordinates	43°41' N 79°46' W
Time Zone	EST (UTC-5)
Demographics
Population: (2006 est.)	424,000 (2006 est.)
Population Rank: (2001 Census)	16th in Canada
Density	1221.0/km²
Ethnicity	60.0% Caucasian 20.0% Asian 9.8% Black 2.1% Filipino 1.6% Chinese.
Politics
Brampton City Council http://www.brampton.ca/
Mayor	Susan Fennell
Regional Councillors	Elaine Moore — (Wards 1 + 5) Paul Palleschi — (Wards 2 + 6) Susan Dimarco — (Wards 3 + 4) Gael Miles — (Wards 7 + 8) John Sprovieri — (Wards 9 + 10) 2006 regional election details
City Councillors	Grant Gibson — (Wards 1 + 5) John Hutton — (Wards 2 + 6) Bob Callahan — (Wards 3 + 4) Sandra Hames — (Wards 7 + 8) Garnett Manning — (Wards 9 + 10) 2006 city election details
City Manager	Lorne McCool
MPs	Navdeep Singh Bains (LPC) — Miss.—Brampton S. Colleen Beaumier (LPC) — Brampton West Ruby Dhalla (LPC) — Brampton—Springdale Gurbax Singh Malhi (LPC) — Brampton—Malton
MPPs	Vic Dhillon (OLP) — Brampton W.—Miss. Linda Jeffrey (OLP) — Brampton Centre Kuldip Singh Kular (OLP) — Brampton—Malton

Brampton's City Hall

Brampton (IPA: ˈbræmtən, ˈbræmptən) is a city in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada and the seat of Peel Region. As of 2001, Brampton's population stood at 325,428 people, and estimates for 2006 put the number at 424,000. As one of Canada's fastest growing municipalities, the city has found it difficult to cope with such significant growth, in terms of the provision of adequate public infrastructure and services. 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 of Brampton, Cambridgeshire, England.

Major companies include, Brafasco, Ford, Rogers Communications, Nortel, Para Paints, Coca-Cola, Nestlé, DaimlerChrysler Canada Ltd., Maple Lodge Farms, Zellers, Loblaw Companies Ltd., Frito Lay Canada, MD Robotics, Parkinson Coach Line, Canadian Tire, 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.

There are several cultural entities in the city under the umbrella of the Brampton Arts Council. These include Visual Arts Brampton, the Brampton Historical Society 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 latter two "designed to identify Brampton residents whose achievements have been recognized at the Provincial, National or International level".

Geography

Brampton has a total land area of 265 square kilometres. The City of Brampton is bordered by Highway 50 (Vaughan) to the East, Winston Churchill Boulevard (Halton Hills) to the West, Mayfield Road (Caledon) to the North and the Hydro Corridor (Mississauga) to the South.

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

Ethnicity

Ethnic Origin	Population	Percent
Canadian	69,485	21.42%
English	55,540	17.12%
East Indian	54,900	16.92%
Scottish	37,050	11.42%
Irish	35,735	11.01%
Italian	25,775	7.94%

The City of Brampton has long been considered one of Canada's fastest growing communities. Brampton's recent exponential growth in population is due primarily to immigration. The City of Brampton has a fast growing South Asian presence. Between 1996 and 2001, the South Asian population grew from 34,000 to 63,000, including a significant share of Punjabi Sikhs.

Religion

Some 67.78 percent of Brampton claimed various Christian denominations. The largest was Roman Catholicism (35.11%), followed by various Protestant denominations Anglican, United Church, Lutheran, at (27.96%), while the remaining numbers of Christians (4.70%) consists mostly of the Eastern Orthodox rite. Other religions with a notable presence include Sikhism (10.63%), Hinduism (5.43%), and Islam (3.53%). More than 10 percent of the population have no religion.

Population growth

• 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: 405,000
• 2031: 700,000 (est.)

Brampton is considered to be one of the safest cities in Canada by civic officials.

Brampton is home to Peel Regional Police Headquarters, 22 Division.

Attractions

Shopping

• Bramalea City Centre
• Shoppers World
• Trinity Common Mall

Historical attractions

• Bovaird House

Cultural attractions

• Rose Theatre
• Heritage Theatre
• Peel Heritage Complex

Outdoor and sports attractions

• Claireville Conservation Area
• Heart Lake Conservation Area
• Powerade Centre
• South Fletchers Sportsplex
• Wild Water Kingdom

History of Brampton

John Haggert, Brampton's first mayor

See also: List of mayors of Brampton, Ontario; Brampton Fall Fair; and 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). 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.

In 1884 a group of mechanics of the Haggert Foundry of Brampton formed what is now known as the Brampton Concert Band, one of Canada's oldest community concert bands.

A group of regional farmers in 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 1922, when the town's population had reached 8,000, 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 an 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 name "Bramalea" was created by the farmer William Sheard, who integrated the BRAM from Brampton, MAL from Malton (A neighbouring region), and the EA from his own farm; SunnymEAd Farms. He sold the land to Brampton Leasing developers and built one of Bramalea's first houses on Dixie road across from the former headquarters of Nortel. 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 and swimming pools. An extensive parkland trail and sidewalk system that connects the entire city, amplifying what Brampton already had in a smaller scale.

Region of Peel

In 1974, the Ontario government decided to update Peel County's structure. Along with amalgamating a series of villages into the City of Mississauga, the new City of Brampton was created out of the greater portion of the Townships of Chinguacousy and Gore, including Bramalea and the other communities in those townships. The province converted Peel County into the Regional Municipality of Peel. Brampton retained its role as the administrative centre of Peel Region, which it already had as county seat. 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 located 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. Many residents of the former community of Bramalea do not classify themselves as Brampton residents.

In 1972, Bramalea created its civic centre. Two years after it was built, when 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.

The future of Peel Region as encompassing all of Brampton, Mississauga, and Caledon, has been called into question by some. Mississauga council, led by Mayor Hazel McCallion, voted in favour of becoming a single tier municipality and asked the provincial government to be separated from Peel Region, arguing that the city has outgrown the need for a regional layer of government and that Mississauga is now being held back by supporting Brampton and Caledon with its municipal taxes.

Development of Brampton as a city

In the 1980s, the Capitol Theatre, then owned by Odeon, closed its doors. 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. It was renamed the Heritage Theatre. In 1983, Toronto consultants Woods Gordon reported to the City that, rather than continue "pouring money" into the Heritage, a new 750-seat facility should be built. The 2005/06 season was designated as the theatre's "grand finale" season.

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

The Brampton Fair Grounds were sold in 1992 to the City of Brampton, leading the Agricultural Society to relocate 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. In early 2006, the Brampton campus of the William Osler Health Centre was renamed back to Peel Memorial Hospital, as residents continued to use the old name, a cause of much confusion.

Current events

File:North brampton hospital in the works.jpg

Bird’s eye view looking north-westward at the development of the new Brampton hospital. Photo by MPP Linda Jeffrey.

The Rose Theatre (originally the Brampton Performing Arts Centre), billed as "a cultural and tourist destination that will attract significant new business to surrounding restaurants, shops and services," opened in September 2006. 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.

A new hospital is being built in north Brampton, to supplement the 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

Miss Brampton and Punjabi Virsa Art & Culture Academy, before a bhangra performance at Ontario Place.

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.

Alternative lifestyles embraced

Brampton also embraces its Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community, with Mayor Susan Fennell proclaiming Gay Pride Day in 2004 and 2005, and a Gay Pride Week in 2006.

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. Brampton is also home to Ontario Jr. A OHA hockey teams the Brampton Capitals and the Bramalea Blues.

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.

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, including the Brampton Thunder. Expansion is planned into the USA.

Every year, since 1967, the Brampton Canadettes host the Brampton Canadettes Easter Tournament[1] 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.

Accessibility and transportation

Brampton is served by several major transportation routes: Highway 401 from Toronto is a short distance south in Mississauga, and can be reached by Highway 410, which runs north-south through the middle of the city. Highway 407 runs along the southern portion of the city, just north of the boundary with Mississauga. Steeles Avenue, which runs north of the 407, is another thoroughfare from Toronto. The former Highway 7 (now Regional Road 107 in Brampton) is another east-west corridor, and Highway 427 is located in the city's eastern end.

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.

Brampton is currently planning a new Bus Rapid Transit system, called Acceleride along Main/Hurontario and Queen Streets, which would form the backbone to its bus network. Acceleride received funding from the provincial government in 2006 to begin implementation of this system.

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 Mayfield, a publicly funded academy for the artistically gifted with a rigorous academic program, 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, 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).

Brampton is also home to some known private schools. The first is Brampton Christian School operating just outside of Brampton, in Caledon, and John Knox Christian School in central Brampton. Tall Pines School puts a strong emphasis on the Montessori program. There is also Rowntree Montessori, which despite the name, follows a more traditional teaching style.

Notable Bramptonians

Sportspeople

NHLers Rick Nash, Andrew Cassels, Jamie Storr, Todd Elik, and Luciano Borsato are from Brampton, as is TSN and NBC play-by-play announcer and author Chris Cuthbert. Brampton-born Cassie Campbell was captain of the 2002 and 2006 Canadian national women's hockey team.

Politicians

Three Canadian premiers got their start in Brampton; Premiers T.C. Norris and Howard Pawley OC of Manitoba, and "Brampton Billy", Ontario premier William Grenville Davis CC. Other notable politicians include John Coyne, Gordon Graydon. Alberta politician Sir James A. Lougheed was also from Brampton.

Actors and comedians

One of the first openly-gay television personalities in Canada, Kids in the Hall's Scott Thompson is from Brampton. Comedian Russell Peters recently moved to town.

Alan Thicke (Growing Pains, Thicke of the Night) grew up in Brampton. Other Brampton-born or affiliated actors include Shawn Ashmore (X-Men movie series, Terry Fox in Terry) and his twin brother Aaron Ashmore, Michael Cera (Arrested Development), Paulo Costanzo (Joey), Brenna O'Brien (InuYasha) as well as Kris Lemche, Sabrina Grdevich, Nicole Lyn and film director Mark Penney.

Musicians

Composer and musician Friendly Rich, music director Little X, and bands The Junction and Moneen are from Brampton, as is Jason Collett, member of Broken Social Scene. Heavy metal and jazz artist Lee Aaron also has connections with Brampton. Gospel singer Karen Burke, cofounder of the Toronto Mass Choir, has been living in Brampton for many years.

Authors

• Rohinton Mistry
• Edo Van Belkom

Others

• Robert William Bradford C.M., former director of the Canada Aviation Museum
• Nathaniel Branden, psychotherapist, best known as a former associate of Ayn Rand and founder of the Nathaniel Branden Institute
• Shawn Morrissey, naturalist and author, founder of the Korean Mountaineering League

See also

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

Unrelated: Brampton Lake, Ontario

External links

• City of Brampton
• Rogers Community Billboard: Brampton
• brampton.com: Your Community Connection

Local media

• The Brampton Guardian, community newspaper
• The Brampton Bulletin, community newspaper
• The Brampton News, online-only news source
• Rogers Community Cable Brampton, television station

43°41′N 79°46′W