Halifax, NS

Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the Halifax CMA was 530,167, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The regional municipality consists of four former municipalities that were amalgamated in 1996: Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford, and Halifax County.

Halifax is an economic centre of Atlantic Canada, home to a concentration of government offices and private companies. Major employers include the Department of National Defence, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia Health Authority, Saint Mary's University, the Halifax Shipyard, various levels of government, and the Port of Halifax. Resource industries found in rural areas of the municipality include agriculture, fishing, mining, forestry, and natural gas extraction.

History

The Mi'kmaq name for Halifax is , pronounced "che-book-took". The name means "Great Harbour" in the Mi'kmaq language.

The first permanent European settlement in the region was on the Halifax Peninsula. The establishment of the ''Town of Halifax'', named after the 2nd Earl of Halifax, in 1749 led to the transfer of the colonial capital from Annapolis Royal.

The establishment of Halifax marked the beginning of Father Le Loutre's War. The war began when Edward Cornwallis arrived to establish Halifax with 13 transports and a sloop of war on June 21, 1749. By unilaterally establishing Halifax, the British were violating earlier treaties with the Mi'kmaq (1726), which were signed after Father Rale's War. Cornwallis brought along 1,176 settlers and their families. To guard against Mi'kmaq, Acadian and French attacks on the new Protestant settlements, British fortifications were erected in Halifax (Citadel Hill) (1749), Bedford (Fort Sackville) (1749), Dartmouth (1750), and Lawrencetown (1754), all areas within the modern-day Regional Municipality. St. Margaret's Bay was first settled by French-speaking Foreign Protestants at French Village, Nova Scotia who migrated from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia during the American Revolution.

December 6, 1917, saw one of the great disasters in Canadian history, when the , a French cargo ship carrying munitions, collided with the Belgian Relief vessel in "The Narrows" between upper Halifax Harbour and Bedford Basin. The resulting explosion, the Halifax Explosion, devastated the Richmond District in the North End of Halifax, killing approximately 2,000 people and injuring nearly 9,000 others. The blast was the largest artificial explosion before the development of nuclear weapons. Significant aid came from Boston, strengthening the bond between the two coastal cities.

The four municipalities in the Halifax urban area had been coordinating delivery of some services through the Metropolitan Authority since the late 1970s, but remained independent towns and cities until April 1, 1996, when the provincial government amalgamated all municipal governments within Halifax County to create the Halifax Regional Municipality. The municipal boundary thus now includes all of Halifax County except for several First Nation reserves.

Since amalgamation, the region has officially been known as the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), although "Halifax" has remained in common usage for brevity. On April 15, 2014, regional council approved the implementation of a new branding campaign for the municipality. The campaign would see the region referred to in promotional materials simply as "Halifax", although "Halifax Regional Municipality" would remain the region's official name.

Geography

Climate

Halifax has a humid continental climate (Köppen ''Dfb''), with warm summers and relatively mild winters, which is due to Gulf Stream moderation. The weather is usually milder in the winter or cooler in the summer than areas at similar latitudes inland, with the temperature remaining (with occasional notable exceptions) between about . January is the coldest month, being the only month with a high that is slightly below freezing at , while August is the warmest. The sea heavily influences the climate of the area, causing significant seasonal lag in summer, with August being significantly warmer than June and with September being the third mildest month in terms of mean temperature.

Precipitation is high year-round. Winter features a mix of rain, freezing rain and snow with frequent freeze-thaw cycles. Snowfall is heavy in winter, but snow cover is usually patchy owing to the frequent freeze-thaw cycles, which melt accumulated snow. Some winters feature colder temperatures and fewer freeze-thaw cycles; the most recent of which being the winter of 2014–2015, which was the coldest, snowiest and stormiest in about a century. Spring is often wet and cool and arrives much later than in areas of Canada at similar latitudes, due to cooler sea temperatures. Summers are mild and pleasant, with hot and humid conditions very infrequent. Warm, pleasant conditions often extend well into September, sometimes into mid-October. Average monthly precipitation is highest from November to February due to intense late-fall to winter storms migrating from the Northeastern U.S., and lowest in summer, with August being the year's warmest and driest month on average. Halifax can sometimes receive hurricanes, mostly between August and October. An example is when Hurricane Juan, a category 2 storm, hit in September 2003 and caused considerable damage to the region. Hurricane Earl grazed the coast as a category 1 storm in 2010. In 2019, Hurricane Dorian made landfall just south of Halifax as a post-tropical storm with an intensity equivalent to a category 2 hurricane and caused significant damage across Nova Scotia. In 2021 Hurricane Ida hit the region with minor damage. In 2022, Hurricane Fiona hit as a category 2 storm, although damage was relatively minor in Halifax, with downed trees and widespread power outages for days. Atlantic sea surface temperatures have risen in recent years, making Halifax and the coast of Nova Scotia somewhat more susceptible to hurricanes than the area had been in the past.

The highest temperature ever recorded in Halifax was on July 10, 1912, and the lowest temperature recorded was on February 18, 1922. The March 2012 North American heat wave brought unusually high temperatures to the municipality of Halifax. On March 22, the mercury climbed to at the Halifax Windsor Park weather station, and at Halifax Stanfield International Airport. In spite of the possibility of high temperatures, in a normal year there are only three days that go above . Halifax also has a modest frost count by Canadian standards due to the maritime influence, averaging 131 air frosts and 49 full days below freezing annually. On average the frost-free period is 182 days, ranging from May 1 to October 31.

Metropolitan landscape

As of the 2021 Canadian Census, the Halifax Census Metropolitan Area (''Metropolitan Halifax'') is coterminous with the Municipality of Halifax and the Municipality of East Hants. The total land area of Metropolitan Halifax is

The metropolitan area grew between the 2016 Canadian Census and the 2021 Canadian Census. Before the 2021 Canadian Census, Metropolitan Halifax covered After the addition of the Municipality of East Hants, the metropolitan area's land area expanded by to its current land area.

Municipal landscape

Halifax has two distinct areas: its rural area and its urban area. Since 1 April 1996, the entirety of the County of Halifax and all of its places (cities, suburbs, towns, and villages) were turned into communities of a larger single-tier municipality called Halifax Regional Municipality. As of 2021, the total surface area of the municipality is .

The Halifax Regional Municipality occupies an area comparable in size to the total land area of the province of Prince Edward Island, and measures approximately in length between its eastern and westernmost extremities, excluding Sable Island. The nearest point of land to Sable Island is not in HRM, but rather in adjacent Guysborough County. However, Sable Island is considered part of District 7 of the Halifax Regional Council.

The coastline is heavily indented, accounting for its length of approximately , with the northern boundary of the municipality usually being between inland. The coast is mostly rock with small isolated sand beaches in sheltered bays. The largest coastal features include St. Margarets Bay, Halifax Harbour/Bedford Basin, Cole Harbour, Musquodoboit Harbour, Jeddore Harbour, Ship Harbour, Sheet Harbour, and Ecum Secum Harbour. The municipality's topography spans from lush farmland in the Musquodoboit Valley to rocky and heavily forested rolling hills. It includes a number of islands and peninsulas, among them McNabs Island, Beaver Island, Melville Island, Deadman's Island and Sable Island.

Regional Centre

The Halifax Regional Centre includes the Halifax Peninsula, and Dartmouth inside the Circumferential Highway. The new inner urban area covers and houses 96,619 people in 55,332 dwelling units as of the 2016 Census. The Regional Centre has many public services within its boundaries, and is home to large entertainment venues, such as Scotiabank Centre, and major hospitals, including Dartmouth General Hospital, the QEII Health Sciences Centre, and IWK Health Centre.

Communities and neighbourhoods

Halifax is geographically large, and there are over 200 official communities and neighbourhoods within the municipality. They vary from rural to urban. The former town of Bedford, and the former cities of Dartmouth and Halifax have maintained their original geographic names. Furthermore, communities that were suburban, or even rural before 1996, now have become more urban and have attained ''community'' status (e.g. Cole Harbour, Lower Sackville, Spryfield, et cetera). These community names are used on survey and mapping documents, for 9-1-1 service, municipal planning, and postal service.

Before the amalgamation of Halifax in 1996, and since its restructure as a municipality, the growth of Halifax has gradually increased. Many of the present day communities within the conurbation have morphed from being primarily rural in the recent past, to now primarily urban. With the demographic change and growth of many communities within urban Halifax, their function and role within the conurbation has changed. With this continuous growth, many of the current communities have developed ''de facto'' business districts where residents of their respective communities (and their respective environs) can access products and services without travelling long distances (e.g. to Downtown Dartmouth or to Downtown Halifax).

Community planning areas

Currently, the municipality is divided into 21 community planning areas which are further divided into neighbourhoods. The regional municipality has taken steps to reduce duplicate street names for its 9-1-1 emergency dispatch services; at the time of amalgamation, some street names were duplicated several times throughout the municipality.

Current planning areas:
*Beaver Bank, Hammonds Plains, and Upper Sackville
*Bedford
*Cole Harbour/Westphal
*Dartmouth
*Eastern Passage/Cow Bay
*Eastern Shore (East)
*Eastern Shore (West)
*Downtown Halifax
*Halifax
*Lawrencetown
*Musquodoboit Valley/Dutch Settlement
*North Preston, Lake Major, Lake Loon, Cherry Brook, and East Preston
*Planning Districts 1 & 3 (St. Margaret's Bay)
*Planning District 4 (Prospect)
*Planning District 5 (Chebucto Peninsula)
*Planning Districts 8 & 9 (Lake Echo/Porters Lake)
*Planning Districts 14 & 17 (Shubenacadie Lakes)
*Regional Centre Plan Area
*Sackville
*Sackville Drive
*Timberlea/Lakeside/Beechville

Rural landscape

Halifax is centred on the urban core and surrounded by areas of decreasing population density. Rural areas lie to the east, west and north of the urban core. The Atlantic Ocean lies to the south. Certain rural communities on the urban fringe function as suburban or exurban areas, with the majority of those residents commuting to and working in the urban core.

Farther away, rural communities in the municipality function like any resource-based area in Nova Scotia, being sparsely populated and their local economies based on four major resource industries: agriculture, in the Musquodoboit Valley, fishing, along the coast, mining, in the Musquodoboit Valley and in Moose River Gold Mines and forestry, in most areas outside the urban core. Also, the tourism industry is beginning to change how some rural communities in Halifax function, particularly in communities such as Hubbards, Peggys Cove, with its notable lighthouse and Lawrencetown, with Lawrencetown Beach. There are two other large beaches along the coast, Martinique Beach, near Musquodoboit Harbour and Taylor Head Beach, located in Spry Bay, within the boundaries of Taylor Head Provincial Park.

The northeastern area of the municipality, centred on Sheet Harbour and the Musquodoboit Valley, is completely rural, with the area sharing more in common with the adjacent rural areas of neighbouring Guysborough, Pictou and Colchester counties. Most economic activity in the Musquodoboit Valley is based on agriculture, as it is the largest farming district in the municipality. Most coastal communities are based on the fishing industry. Forestry is active in this area as well. It is also prevalent in the Musquodoboit Valley, but it takes a backseat to the more prominent agricultural industry.

Urban landscape

At , Halifax's urban area (defined as ''population centre'' by Statistics Canada) is less than five percent of the municipal land area. The area surrounds Halifax Harbour and its main centres are Bedford, Dartmouth, and Halifax (and their respective environs).

Between the 2016 Canadian Census and the 2021 Canadian Census, the built-up area of Halifax grew by from in 2016 to 23,829 hectares (238.29 km²) in 2021.

Culture

Halifax is a major cultural centre within the Atlantic provinces. The municipality has maintained many of its maritime and military traditions, while opening itself to a growing multicultural population. The municipality's urban core also benefits from a large population of post-secondary students who strongly influence the local cultural scene. Halifax has a number of art galleries, theatres and museums, as well as most of the region's national-quality sports and entertainment facilities. Halifax is also the home to many of the region's major cultural attractions, such as Halifax Pop Explosion, Symphony Nova Scotia, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, The Khyber, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic and the Neptune Theatre. The region is noted for the strength of its music scene and nightlife, especially within the urban communities; see List of musical groups from Halifax, Nova Scotia for a partial list.

Halifax hosts a wide variety of festivals that take place throughout the year, including; the largest Canada Day celebration east of Ottawa, the Atlantic Film Festival, the Halifax International Busker Festival, Greekfest, Atlantic Jazz Festival, the Multicultural Festival, Natal Day, Nocturne Festival, the Halifax Pop Explosion, periodic Tall Ship events, the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo, and Shakespeare by the Sea—to name a few. Halifax Pride

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