Vaughan

This article is about the Canadian City of Vaughan, Ontario. For information about the American Town of Vaughan see Vaughan, Mississippi.

For the people whose names are Vaughan, see List of people by name: Vao-Vaz#Vau-Vaz.

City of Vaughan

File:York-vaughan.PNG
Motto: The City Above Toronto
Geography
Area - Total	275 km²
City Hall (Civic Center)	Maple
ISO 3166-2	CA-ON
Telephone Area Codes	905,289
Regional Municipality	York Region
Coordinates	43°50′N 79°30′W
Demographics
Population: (2006 est.)	245,000
Population Rank: (2001 Census)	20th in Canada
Ethnicity (as of 2001)	81.0% White 5.9% South Asian 3.5% Chinese 1.9% Black 6.2% Other.
Politics
File:Vaughan seal.jpg City of Vaughan Council http://www.vaughan.ca/
City Council
Mayor	Michael Di Biase
Regional Councillor	Mario Ferri
Regional Councillor	Linda Jackson
Regional Councillor	Joyce Frustaglio
Ward 1	Peter Meffe
Ward 2	Tony Carella
Ward 3	Bernie di Vona
Ward 4	Sandra Yeung Racco
Ward 5	Alan Shefman
City Manager	Michael DeAngelis
MPs	Susan Kadis (LPC) - Thornhill Maurizio Bevilacqua (LPC) - Vaughan
MPPs	Mario Racco (OLP) - Thornhill Greg Sorbara (OLP) - Vaughan
Communities
Thornhill, Concord, Kleinburg, Maple, Woodbridge

Vaughan (2006 population 245,000) is a city in York Region north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Vaughan is the fastest growing municipality in Canada, having nearly doubled in population since 1991. Vaughan is part of the Greater Toronto Area. Its slogan is "the city above Toronto".

History

The first European to pass through Vaughan was the French explorer Étienne Brûlé, who traversed the Humber Trail in 1615. However, it was not until the townships were created in 1792 that Vaughan began to see any settlements, as it was considered to be extremely remote and the lack of roads through the region made travel difficult.

Despite the hardships of pioneer life, settlers came to Vaughan in considerable numbers. The population grew from 19 men, 5 women, and 30 children in 1800 to 4300 in 1840. The first people to arrive were mainly Pennsylvania Germans, with a smaller number of families of English descent and a group of French Royalists being represented. This migration from the United States was by 1814 superseded by an influx of immigrants from Britain. While many of their predecessors had been agriculturalists, the newer immigrants proved to be highly skilled tradespeople, which would prove useful for a growing community.

Around the facilities established by this group arose a number of hamlets, the oldest of which was Thornhill, which witnessed the construction of a saw-mill in 1801, a grist mill in 1815, and boasted a population of 300 by 1836. Other such enclaves included Kleinburg, Coleraine, Maple, Richmond Hill, Teston, Claireville, Pine Grove, Carrville, Patterson, Burlington, Concord, Edgeley, Fisherville, Elder's Mills, Elgin Mills, Jefferson, Nashville, Purpleville, Richvale, Sherwood, Langstaff, Vellore and Burwick (Woodbridge).

Vaughan changed relatively little in its early history, from the 1840s when the number of inhabitants stood at 4300 to 1935 when it had 4873 residents. However, World War II sparked an influx of immigration, and by 1960 the population stood at 15,957. As well, the ethno-cultural composition of the area began to change with the arrival of different groups such as the Italians, Jews and Eastern Europeans.

Incorporated in 1850 as Vaughan Township, a municipal government was established. In 1971, the new regional government of York Region was established, acquiring policing and welfare services from the communities it served; simultaneously, the township merged with the Village of Woodbridge to form the Town of Vaughan. In 1991, it officially changed its legal status to City of Vaughan.

Law/Government

Following the death of Mayor Lorna Jackson in 2002, Michael Di Biase was appointed by Vaughan council as interim mayor by virtue of his position as one of two Regional Councillors representing Vaughan, Joyce Frustaglio was the other Regional Councillor. Gino Rosati, a Vaughan Local Councillor, was subsequently appointed by Vaughan Council to fill Di Biase’s position as Regional Councillor and a by-election was held to fill Rosati’s Local Councillor’s position which was won by Linda Jackson. Di Biase became involved in the city's politics when he was elected local councillor in 1985. In the 2003 Municipal Election, Di Biase won his first official term since the passing of Mayor Lorna Jackson. Following the elections, Vaughan faced fairly heavy media scrutiny, which revealed some questions in the leadership of Di Biase as mayor.

The City of Vaughan's Council is made up of nine members; a mayor, three regional councillors and five local councillors. The mayor, elected at large by electorate, is the head of Vaughan council and a representative on York Region Council. The three regional councillors are elected to represent Vaughan at both local and regional levels of government. Five local councillors are elected, one from each of Vaughan's five wards, to represent those wards on Vaughan Council. City councillors meet at the Civic Centre, located in the community of Maple. Construction recently began on a new, environmentally friendly city hall, to be called the Lorna D. Jackson Civic Centre in memory of the late Mayor. The new Civic Centre will be one of the first in Canada to conform to a LEED Gold Standard, the second highest environmental classification available.[1] The Toronto Star newspaper has made claims that the naming was part of a preliminary deal that would wrap up an outstanding lawsuit between the Jackson estate and the city.

Vaughan is the first municipality in Ontario to have a Youth City Councillor. The youth city councillor is appointed as a non-voting member of Council every six months to represent the youth of Vaughan. Vaughan council originally rejected the proposal of a youth councillor but after the Vaughan Youth Cabinet amended their proposal, Council accepted the reccomendation..

The next municipal election will take place on November 13, 2006 to elect a Mayor, three Regional Councillors and five Local Councillors.

Lawsuits

Recently, the Toronto Star reported that Vaughan reached an out-of-court $160,000 settlement in a unlawful dismissal lawsuit with former employee Mary Ruffolo. Ruffolo is now a candidate running in the city's Ward 1 and is married to mayoral candidate, Gino Ruffolo.

A lawsuit involving the estate of deceased former Mayor Lorna Jackson (mother of current regional councillor Linda Jackson), is also ongoing. In addition, another candidate, Paul Donofrio, has a 7 million dollar suit in the process steming from threats allegedly recieved from his superiors.

In 2004, Joyce Epstein, the city's former director of recreation, filed a wrongful dismissal suit citing "emotional battering, covert anti-Semitism and threats" by Mayor Michael Di Biase. The city and Di Biase strongly denied the claims. The lawsuit was settled out-of-court. Epstein was one of 10 city commissioners or other senior managers who left following Di Biase's appointment in April 2002.

Geography

Vaughan is bounded by Caledon, Ontario and Brampton, Ontario to the west, King, Ontario and Richmond Hill, Ontario to the north, Markham, Ontario and Richmond Hill, Ontario to the east, and Toronto, Ontario to the south. It is located at 43°50′N 79°30′W.

Communities within Vaughan

• Maple, Ontario
• Thornhill, Ontario
• Woodbridge, Ontario
• Kleinburg, Ontario
• Concord, Ontario

Demographics

Ethnic Origin (as of 2001)	Population	Percent
Catholic	101,325	55.80%
Jewish	33,090	18.20%
Protestant	13,235	7.29%
Other Christian	9,345	4.33%
Hindu	4,490	2.47%
Muslim	4,415	2.43%
No Affiliation	10,725	5.91%

Due to Vaughan's proximity to the multicultural megacity of Toronto, it is very diverse. The city contains some of the highest concentration of Southern and Eastern Europeans in Ontario, and is one of Canada's few cities where those of British Isles origin make a small fraction. Almost 20 percent of the population claimed to be a visible minority (non-white/non-Caucasian), the bulk being of Asian, Chinese origin. Vaughan also has the largest Hispanic population as a percentage of its population compared to any other city in the G.T.A. excluding Toronto.

Attractions

• Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum
• McMichael Canadian Art Collection, located in Kleinburg.
• Paramount Canada's Wonderland, a large amusement park located in Maple.
• Vaughan Mills, the largest mall in the Greater Toronto Area, was recently constructed in Vaughan.

Education

York University in North York, Ontario lies on the Toronto side of the Toronto-Vaughan border. It is a major comprehensive university, with more than 43,000 students enrolled through ten different faculties. There are also a number of Elementary and High Schools in Vaughan which operate under the York Region District School Board and the York Catholic District School Board.

Sister cities or city twinnings

• Sora, Italy (1992)
• Delia, Italy (1998)
• Lanciano, Italy (2002)
• Ramla, Israel (1993)
• Sanjo, Japan (1993)
• Yangzhou, China (1995)
• Baguio, Philippines (1997)

Trivia

• The City of Vaughan is the largest city in Canada that does not have a Hospital within city boundaries.

• The Great One himself, Wayne Gretzky started his illustrious hockey career as a junior playing for the now defunct Vaughan Nationals hockey team of the Ontario Hockey Association during the 1975-76 season.

• On December 15, 2003, the City of Vaughan received international attention within the hockey world when tragedy struck. Former Chicago Black Hawks captain Keith Magnuson and former Toronto Maple Leafs captain Rob Ramage was involved in a serious auto accident in Vaughan on their way back from former Montreal Canadians Keith McCreary’s funeral who died from cancer. Magunson was killed in the accident while Ramage made a full recovery.

External links

• City of Vaughan official website
• Vaughan Watchdog website
• Ontario Plaques - J.E.H. MacDonald
• Ontario Plaques - Lord Beaverbrook
• Ontario Plaques - St. Andrew's Church
• Ontario Plaques - Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church