Oakville is a town in

Halton Region The Regional Municipality of Halton, or Halton Region, is a regional municipality in Ontario, Canada, located in the Golden Horseshoe of Southern Ontario. It comprises the city of Burlington and the towns of Oakville, Milton, and Halton Hil ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. It is located on

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

between

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

and

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

. At its 2021 census population of 213,759, it is Ontario's largest town. Oakville is part of the

Greater Toronto Area The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York. In total, the region contains 25 urban, suburban, and rural municipalities. The Greater T ...

, one of the most densely populated areas of Canada.

History

In 1793,

Dundas Street Dundas Street is a major historic arterial road in Ontario, Canada. The road connects the city of Toronto with its western suburbs and several cities in southwestern Ontario. Three provincial highways— 2, 5, and 99—followed long sectio ...

was surveyed for a military road. In 1805, the

Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada The Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada was the elected part of the legislature for the province of Upper Canada, functioning as the lower house in the Parliament of Upper Canada. Its legislative power was subject to veto by the appointed Lis ...

bought the lands between

Etobicoke Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district of, and one of six municipalities amalgamated into, the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west-end, Etobicoke was first settled by Europeans in the 1790s, and the municipalit ...

and

from the indigenous

Mississaugas The Mississauga are a subtribe of the Anishinaabe-speaking First Nations peoples located in southern Ontario, Canada. They are closely related to the Ojibwe. The name "Mississauga" comes from the Anishinaabe word ''Misi-zaagiing'', meaning "hose ...

people, except for the land at the mouths of Twelve Mile Creek (Bronte Creek), Sixteen Mile Creek, and along the

Credit River The Credit River is a river in southern Ontario, which flows from headwaters above the Niagara Escarpment near Orangeville and Caledon East to empty into Lake Ontario at Port Credit, Mississauga. It drains an area of approximately . The total le ...

. In 1807, British immigrants settled the area surrounding Dundas Street as well as on the shore of

. In 1820, the Crown bought the area surrounding the waterways. The area around the creeks, , ceded to the Crown by the Mississaugas, was auctioned off to

William Chisholm William Chisholm may refer to: *William Chisholm (I) (died 1564), bishop of Dunblane *William Chisholm (II) (died 1593), bishop of Dunblane and of Vaison, and nephew of William (I) *William Chisholm (Nova Scotia politician) William Chisholm (De ...

in 1827. He left the development of the area to his son,

Robert Kerr Chisholm Robert Kerr Chisholm (May 26, 1819 – February 27, 1899) was a political figure in Oakville, Ontario, serving as mayor in 1866. He was born in Nelson Township in Upper Canada in 1819, the son of William Chisholm, and was educated in Hamilton ...

, and his brother-in-law, Merrick Thomas. Chisholm also formed shipbuilding business in Oakville Navy Street and

Sixteen Mile Creek (Halton Region) Sixteen Mile Creek is a river in Halton Region in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada. It is in the Great Lakes Basin, and flows from the Niagara Escarpment through the towns of Milton and Oakville to Lake Ontario. The creek is named fo ...

and lasted until 1842, but shipbuilding in Oakville lasted into the late 20th century. The population in 1846 was 1,500. The community shipped large quantities of wheat and lumber via schooners and the railway. There were three churches, a grist mill and saw mill, and various small companies making threshing machines, wagons, watches, saddles, and metal goods. There were also tradesmen of various types. Oakville's industries also included shipbuilding. In the 1850s, there was an economic recession and the foundry, the most important industry in town, was closed. Basket-making became a major industry in the town, and the

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rai ...

was built through it. In 1869, the population was 2,000. The community was served by the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

and it was a port on Lake Ontario. The town eventually became industrialized with the opening of Cities Service Canada (later

BP Canada BP Canada was a Canadian petroleum company and subsidiary of BP, British Petroleum that operated between 1955 and 1992. The name refers to a group of companies that engaged in various segments of the petroleum industry lifecycle. BP entered the Ca ...

, and now

Petro Canada Petro-Canada is a retail and wholesale marketing brand subsidiary of Suncor Energy. Until 1991, it was a federal Crown corporation (a state-owned enterprise). In August 2009, Petro-Canada merged with Suncor Energy, with Suncor shareholders rece ...

) and

Shell Canada Shell Canada Limited (french: Shell Canada Limitée) is the principal Canadian subsidiary of British energy major Shell plc and one of Canada's largest integrated oil companies. Exploration and production of oil, natural gas and sulphur is a maj ...

oil refineries An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, liquefie ...

(both now closed), the

Procor Procor is a Canadian company producing railway shipping cars. It is Canada's largest private rail car rental fleet, with more than 30,000 conventional and special-purpose tank and freight cars. Linked to Sparling Tank Car of Toronto, Procor w ...

factory (no longer manufacturing), and, most importantly, the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

's Canadian headquarters and

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

, all close to the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

and the Queen Elizabeth Way highway between Toronto and Fort Erie (Buffalo). In 1962, the town of Oakville merged with its neighbouring villages ( Bronte, Palermo, Sheridan, and the remainder of

Trafalgar Township Trafalgar Township was a township within the historic Halton County in Ontario, Canada. It today forms parts of the towns of Oakville, Milton, and Halton Hills in the Regional Municipality of Halton. Named after Cape Trafalgar where Horatio Ne ...

) to become the new Town of Oakville, reaching northwards to

Steeles Avenue Steeles Avenue is an east–west street that forms the northern city limit of Toronto and the southern limit of Regional Municipality of York, York Region in Ontario, Canada. It stretches across the western and central Greater Toronto Area from ...

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

. In 1973, the restructuring of Halton County into Halton Region brought the northern border southwards to just north of the future

Highway 407 The following highways are numbered 407: Canada * Manitoba Provincial Road 407 * Newfoundland and Labrador Route 407 * Ontario Highway 407 Costa Rica * National Route 407 Iceland * Route 407 (Iceland) Italy * State road 407 Japan * Japa ...

Geography

Neighbourhoods

Oakville's Planning Department divides the town into communities. These are based on traditional neighbourhoods. Oakville Harbour

Climate

Like much of Southern Ontario, Oakville has a

Humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

straddling Dfa/Dfb classifications, with cold, but not extreme, winters and warm, to very warm summers. Like most lakeside municipalities on the Great Lakes, there are varying temperatures within town boundaries, generally warmer days further from the lake, the exception being on the colder days in winter.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, Oakville had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. According to the 2016 Census, the median age in the town is 41.7 years. 18.9% of the population is under 15 years of age, 66.5% is between 15 to 64 years, and 14.5% is 65 and over. The 2016 Census found the most reported ethnocultural background to be

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

(68.5%), followed by

South Asian South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, ...

(8.9%),

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

(7%),

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

(3.2%),

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

(2.9%),

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

(1.9%),

Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-eth ...

(1.9%),

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

(1.6%),

West Asian Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes An ...

(1.1%), and other backgrounds. Aboriginals make up 0.7% the population: 0.4%

First Nation Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

s and 0.3%

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...

. In 2016, immigrants made up 35.9% of the population. The top 10 places of birth of the immigrant population were the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

(11%),

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(9.3%),

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

(7.6%),

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

(4.2%),

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

(3.8%),

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

(3.7%), the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

(3.4%),

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

(3.3%),

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

(3.1%), and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

(2.9%). According to the 2011 Census, 70.1% of the population identify as

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, with

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

(37.9%) making up the largest denomination, followed by

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

(7.6%),

United Church A united church, also called a uniting church, is a church formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations. Historically, unions of Protestant churches were enforced by the state ...

(7.3%), and other denominations. Others identify as

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

(4%),

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

(2.1%),

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

(1.4%),

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

(0.8%),

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

(0.5%) and with other religions. 20.6% of the population report no religious affiliation. The most common mother tongues among the population in 2016 were English (64.1%), Mandarin (3.9%), Arabic (2.4%), and Spanish (2.2%).

Economy

The top employers in Oakville include: Tim Hortons corporate headquarters - 01

Employers

Sagen MI Canada (TSX:MIC) and Mattamy Homes are based in Oakville while

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

The Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobile ...

, and MADD Canada have their head Canadian offices in the town. Many Oakville residents work in advanced manufacturing at large facilities operated by

UTC Aerospace Systems UTC Aerospace Systems (UTAS) was one of the world’s largest suppliers of aerospace and defense products, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. The company was formed in August 2012 when parent United Technologies Corporation ...

and

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

. Many Oakville companies fall under the life science umbrella, with an emphasis on

pharmaceuticals A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and rel ...

and

elder care Elderly care, or simply eldercare (also known in parts of the English-speaking world as aged care), serves the needs and requirements of senior citizens. It encompasses assisted living, adult daycare, long-term care, nursing homes (often call ...

. There are also a number of retirement homes in the city. As Oakville is considered part of the

it is common for residents to commute to jobs in

Arts and culture

Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts

The

Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts The Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts is a municipally run multi-use facility which opened in downtown Oakville, Ontario, Canada in 1977. The Oakville Centre was built to provide Oakville residents with a place to learn about themselves and ...

houses several performances by local and international artists. It is also the performing venue for the Oakville Symphony Orchestra, the

Oakville Children's Choir The Oakville Children's Choir is an internationally recognized multi-level community children’s choir that provides children in the Oakville, Ontario community with music education, leadership development and performance opportunities. The organi ...

and the Oakville Ballet Company. The Oakville Arts Council provides further artistic talents in the town showcasing films, literary figures and visual arts.

The Oakville Children's Choir

The

has been in business since 1994.

Oakville Galleries

Oakville Galleries is a not-for-profit art museum that exhibits contemporary art, cares for a permanent collection and delivers public programming. Its exhibition spaces are located on two sites: Gairloch Gardens and Centennial Square.

Events

Downtown Oakville Jazz Festival

The Downtown Oakville Jazz Festival is an annual summer jazz festival established in 1992. The event includes performances at a number of stages along

Lakeshore Road Lakeshore Road (originally Lake Shore Road) is a historic roadway in the Canadian province of Ontario, running through the city of Burlington and the town of Oakville in Halton Region, as well as the city of Mississauga in Peel Region. As its n ...

in downtown Oakville. The event is free to the public.

Waterfront Festival

Beginning in 1982, Oakville's Coronation Park played host to the annual Oakville Waterfront Festival. Among a range of events, the festival included small amusement park rides, arts and crafts, food and drinks, free concerts headlined by Canadian bands, and nightly fireworks displays. The Waterfront Festival took place in late June of each year until 2010, when it was cancelled due to financial difficulties, despite having annual attendance of up to 100,000 visitors. It returned in August 2013, which was the most recent festival to date.

Kerrfest

The Kerrfest is an annual outdoor music festival that takes place in early September in Oakville. Having begun in 2014, the event includes free performances and is open to the public, located at Westwood Park.

For the Love of the Arts Festival

The For the Love of the Arts Festival is an annual event taking place in the late spring in Oakville. Inaugurated in 2002, the event is hosted by CommUnity Arts Space (originally known as Music and Art Shared Space who initiated the festival), a local umbrella group advocating for shared physical space for Oakville's arts and cultural groups. Currently the only such multi-disciplinary community festival of its kind in Oakville, the event serves to showcase local talent, skills, crafts, literary art, dance performances, theatre groups and music performances. The event is intended as a symbolic presentation of a "shared space" and is entirely sponsored by local corporate and private donations.

Shopping

The Oakville Place Shopping Centre is an indoor shopping mall in Oakville that opened in 1981. The mall is approximately .

Sports

Athletics

The Oakville Half Marathon is an annual

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcu ...

event held in Shell Park, with sub-events in 10K, 5K, and 2K Fun Run/Walk.

Golf

Glen Abbey Golf Course Glen Abbey Golf Club is a privately-owned golf course in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. It is one of Canada's most famous golf courses and is home to the Golf Canada and the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. It has hosted 30 Canadian Open Championships, ...

is located in Oakville. Designed by

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940), nicknamed The Golden Bear, is a retired American professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest go ...

, the course has hosted 30 Canadian Open championships since it opened in 1977, and both

Golf Canada The Royal Canadian Golf Association (RCGA), branded as Golf Canada, is the governing body of golf in Canada. Beginnings Golf Canada was founded on June 6, 1895, as the ''Canadian Golf Association'' at the Royal Ottawa Golf Club. The Royal prefix ...

and the

Canadian Golf Hall of Fame The Canadian Golf Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum and hall of fame covering the history of the game of golf in Canada, and celebrating the careers and accomplishments of the most significant contributors to the game in that country. Operated by ...

are located there. In 2018, the owner,

Clublink TWC Enterprises Limited () operates ClubLink One Membership More Golf. It is based in King City, Ontario, and is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) with the symbol "TWC". ClubLink is the largest owner and operator of golf courses in Can ...

, planned to demolish the golf course in order to build residential and commercial properties. In 2021, following objections from the community and municipal government, Clublink withdraw its development plan and stated it would continue operating Glen Abbey as a golf course.

Soccer

The Oakville Blue Devils of League 1 Ontario is a professional soccer team. The Blue Devils are affiliated with the Oakville Soccer Club, which is the largest soccer club in Canada. Oakville boasts over 60 soccer fields and a Soccer Club Facility with a two-star, full-size, FIFA-Certified indoor soccer pitch.

Lacrosse

Oakville is home to the headquarters and practice facilities of the

Toronto Rock The Toronto Rock are a professional box lacrosse franchise based in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the North Division of the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The team was the first Canadian franchise in the NLL. ...

professional box lacrosse team competing in the National Lacrosse League. Oakville is also home to the 3rd largest minor lacrosse association in Ontario: The Oakville Minor Lacrosse Association has more than 1,500 players and competes in multiple classes and multiple divisions. The town also has the

Oakville Buzz The Oakville Buzz are Canadian box lacrosse team from Oakville, Ontario, Canada that play in the Ontario Junior A Lacrosse League.https://ontariolacrosse.com/content/news/ola-junior-a-expansion-oakville-buzz.pdf The Buzz played in the OLA Junior ...

, a Junior "A"

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

team who won the

Founders Cup The Founders' Cup is the championship trophy of Canada's Junior "B" lacrosse leagues. The custodial duties of this trophy fall upon the Canadian Lacrosse Association. The national champions are determined through a round robin format with a play ...

in 2006. The current rep lacrosse team is the Oakville Hawks.

Hockey

Sixteen Mile Sports Complex (NE View) - Oakville, ON

The

Oakville Blades The Oakville Blades are a Junior "A" ice hockey team from Oakville, Ontario, Canada. They are a part of the Ontario Junior Hockey League. History The Blades started as a Junior C team, and made it to the Clarence Schmalz Cup Final once to compet ...

is a Tier II Junior "A" franchise since 1966, and a "AAA" hockey system. The current rep hockey team for boys in Oakville is Oakville Rangers, who are the 2-time defending champions for the Midget "AAA" group. For girls, there is the Oakville Hornets, who are the largest female hockey association in the world.

Skating

Skate Oakville, which is headquartered at Oakville's Sixteen Mile Creek Sports Complex, was recently the largest skating club in Canada, providing learn to skate lessons, recreational figure skating programs, competitive training, and 10 synchronized skating teams.

Baseball

Baseball is represented in Oakville by two organizations: Oakville Little League and the OMBA (Oakville Minor Baseball Association). Oakville Little League is the largest

Little League Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Little League World Series The Little League World Series is an annual baseball tournament for children—typically boys—aged 10 to 12 years old, held in the Eastern United States. Originally called the National Little League Tournament, it was later renamed for the Wor ...

and

Junior League World Series The Junior League World Series is a baseball tournament for children aged 12, 13, and 14 years old. The tournament is held annually at Heritage Park in Taylor, Michigan. It is patterned after the Little League World Series, which was named fo ...

, respectively. The OMBA (Oakville Minor Baseball Association) was established in 1963. It offers three levels of baseball to children and youth in Oakville: House League, Select and Rep. OMBA runs the Oakville A's, the official Town Rep baseball playing in the Central Ontario Baseball Association (COBA) system.

Canoeing

Burloak Canoe Club is located in Oakville. Three Olympians, Adam van Koeverden,

Mark Oldershaw Mark Oldershaw (born February 7, 1983) is a Canadian sprint canoeist. Oldershaw won the bronze medal in the C-1 1000 m at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. He is a third generation Canadian Olympic canoer, fifth family member to compete a ...

and

Larry Cain Laurence J. "Larry" Cain, (born January 9, 1963) is a Canadian sprint canoeist. He was the first Canadian canoeist since Frank Amyot to win an Olympic gold medal in canoeing. Early life Cain was born in Toronto, Ontario. He attended Oakville ...

, trained at the club.

Swimming

Oakville Aquatic Club is a competitive swim club, catering to every level of swimmer, from novice swim lessons to high performance coaching since 1968.

Government

Municipal and regional

At the municipal level, the governing body is the

Oakville Town Council The Oakville Town Council is the governing body of the Town of Oakville, Ontario, Canada. The council consists of the mayor plus fourteen elected councillors elected among seven wards. Within each ward, the Town Councillor represents the ward sole ...

consisting of a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

(currently Rob Burton) and fourteen

councillors A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

. The town is divided into seven

wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...

, with two councillors elected by residents of each ward. In each ward, one councillor represents the ward solely on the Oakville Town Council, and the other is a member of the 21-member governing council of the

Regional Municipality of Halton The Regional Municipality of Halton, or Halton Region, is a regional municipality in Ontario, Canada, located in the Golden Horseshoe of Southern Ontario. It comprises the city of Burlington and the towns of Oakville, Milton, and Halton Hi ...

, in addition to being a member of the 14-member Town Council.

Provincial

Two provincial ridings are situated in Oakville, which use the same boundaries as the federal ridings and are currently represented provincially by: * Oakville: Stephen Crawford (

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

) * Oakville North-Burlington:

Effie Triantafilopoulos Effie J. Triantafilopoulos is a Canadian politician and lawyer who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 2018 provincial election. She represents the riding of Oakville North—Burlington as a member of the Progressive Con ...

(Conservative)

Federal

Two federal ridings are situated in Oakville, which are currently represented by: * Oakville:

Anita Anand Anita Anand (born May 20, 1967) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who serves as the minister of national defence since 2021. She has represented the riding of Oakville in the House of Commons since the 2019 federal election, sitting as ...

(

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

) * Oakville North-Burlington:

Pam Damoff Pamela Damoff (born March 13) is a Canadian Liberal politician, who was elected to represent the riding of Oakville North—Burlington in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 federal election. Personal history Born in London, Ontario ...

(Liberal)

Infrastructure

Transportation

Oakville Transit Oakville Transit is the public transportation provider in Oakville, Ontario, Canada since 1972. It is a department of the town and a member of the Canadian Urban Transit Association. It offers the typical conventional bus A bus (contracted ...

provides local bus service.

GO Transit GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven millio ...

commuter rail and bus service operates from Bronte and Oakville stations.

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...

services along the line between Windsor and Quebec corridor, and operates from Oakville station. Several major roads and highways go through Oakville: * Ontario QEW crown

Queen Elizabeth Way The Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario linking Toronto with the Niagara Peninsula and Buffalo, New York. The freeway begins at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie and travels around the western ...

Ontario Highway 403 King's Highway403 (pronounced "four-oh-three"), or simply Highway403, is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario that travels between Woodstock and Mississauga, branching off from and reuniting with Highway 401 at both en ...

407 ETR * The Queen Elizabeth Way and Ontario Highway 403 run concurrently throughout most of Oakville.

Emergency services

Law enforcement in Oakville is performed by the

Halton Regional Police Service The Halton Regional Police Service provides policing service for the Regional Municipality of Halton, which is located west of Toronto, in Ontario, Canada. Halton Region encompasses the City of Burlington and the Towns of Oakville, Milton and ...

. Fire service is provided by the Oakville Fire Department with its nine fire stations. The Town of Oakville's Waters Air Rescue Force is a volunteer organization that provides marine search and rescue service in Western Lake Ontario. It was founded in 1954 and was a charter member of the

Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary The Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary (CCGA; , ''GCAC'') is a Canada-wide volunteer marine association dedicated to marine search and rescue (SAR) and the promotion of boating safety, through association with the Canadian Coast Guard under the ausp ...

Education

Elementary schools and high schools in Oakville are a mix of private and public schools, with one of the highest ratios of private schools to student population in the country. Oakville is covered by the

Halton District School Board The Halton District School Board serves public school students throughout Halton Region, including the municipalities of Burlington, Halton Hills, Milton and Oakville. Its administration area is to the southwest of the city of Toronto. In 2006-20 ...

Halton Catholic District School Board The Halton Catholic District School Board (HCDSB) serves over 37,000 students at its 46 elementary schools, 9 secondary schools and 3 continuing education facilities. The HCDSB serves the communities of Burlington, Halton Hills, Milton, and Oakvi ...

Conseil scolaire Viamonde The Conseil scolaire Viamonde (CSV) is a public-secular French first language school board, and manages elementary and secondary schools in the Ontario Peninsula and the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The school board operates 41 elementary schools and ...

, and

Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir ( en, My Future Catholic School Board) is a Roman Catholic French first language public- separate school board that manages elementary and secondary schools in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The school board op ...

. St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School (Oakville) and

White Oaks Secondary School White Oaks Secondary School (WOSS) is a secondary school located in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. The school has north and south campuses, across the road from each other. The north campus used to be attended by students who had different levels a ...

both offer the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...

Program. The town is home to

Appleby College Appleby College, a leading Canadian day and boarding school, is an international independent school (grades 7–12) located in Oakville, Ontario, Canada, founded in 1911 by John Guest, a former Headmaster of the Preparatory School at Upper Cana ...

, a private school for grades seven to twelve, established in 1911 as well as St. Mildred's-Lightbourn School, an independent all-girls school. Oakville is also home to the Trafalgar Campus of

Sheridan College Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology) is a public polytechnic institute of technology located in the west-Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Founded in ...

, primarily an arts and business studies institute, and Oakville's only higher education facility.

Media

Oakville is primarily served by media based in Toronto with markets in the

(GTA) that cover most of the news in the GTA. One regional newspaper, the ''

Oakville Beaver The ''Oakville Beaver'' is a locally distributed community newspaper in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. It is published weekly by Metroland Media Group. The first edition of the ''Oakville Beaver'' was published on December 5, 1962 by W. (William) Kir ...

'', is published once weekly. The monthly magazines ''Neighbours of Joshua Creek'', ''Neighbours of Glen Abbey'' and ''Neighbours of Olde Oakville'' serve three key neighbourhoods. The town is also served by Oakvillenews.org, a locally owned online daily newsletter and website. The town also has two specialty radio stations: AM 1250

CJYE CJYE is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 1250 AM in Oakville, Ontario. The station airs a Christian music Christian music is music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life and fa ...

, a

Christian music Christian music is music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence, and lament, and its forms vary widely around ...

station and AM 1320

CJMR CJMR is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts multicultural programming at AM 1320. Although officially licensed to Mississauga, Ontario, it currently broadcasts from studios in Oakville. CJMR's studios are located on Church Street in dow ...

, a

Multicultural The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for "Pluralism (political theory), ethnic pluralism", with the tw ...

station. The following national cable television station also broadcast from Oakville: *

The Weather Network The Weather Network (TWN) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language, English-language weather information specialty channel available in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. It delivers weather information on television, ...

has broadcast nationally from Oakville since 2005. * The Hamilton-based television station

CHCH-DT CHCH-DT (channel 11) is an independent television station in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Channel Zero, the station maintains studios on Innovation Drive in the west end of Hamilton; prior to 2021, it was located near the corner of Jack ...

serves

, Halton and Niagara, thus including Oakville. CHCH recently closed its Halton Bureau (due to budget considerations) which was located in downtown Oakville. * TVCogeco from the studio in the

Cogeco Cable Cogeco Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications and media company. Its corporate offices are located at 1 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec. The company is structured into three strategic business units (SBU); Cogeco Connexion, Breezeline ( ...

Headquarters at Harvester Road & Burloak Drive, just inside of

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...

Sister cities

Oakville is twinned with the following cities: *

Dorval Dorval () is an on-island suburban city on the island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. In 2016, the Canadian Census indicated that the population increased by 4.2% to 18,980. Although the city has the largest surface area in Montré ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada (1957) *

Neyagawa 270px, Neyagawa Green City is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 228,802 in 111,545 households and a population density of 9,300 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Neyagaw ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, Japan (April 6, 1984) *

Huai'an Huai'an (), formerly called Huaiyin () until 2001, is a prefecture-level city in the central part of Jiangsu province in Eastern China. Huai'an is situated almost directly south of Lianyungang, southeast of Suqian, northwest of Yancheng, almos ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

, China (June, 2015) The town of Oakville has named two streets after Dorval and Neyagawa.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Lower-tier municipalities in Ontario Populated places on Lake Ontario in Canada Towns in Ontario 1827 establishments in Canada Populated places on the Underground Railroad Populated places established in 1827