The Rural Municipality of Willowdale No. 153 ( 2016 population: ) is a rural municipality (RM) in the southeast portion of the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

within Census Division No. 5 and Division No. 1.

History

The RM of Willowdale No. 153 incorporated as a rural municipality on January 1, 1913. ;Heritage properties New Finland is a Finnish speaking block settlement locates within the RM. The St. John's New Finland Lutheran Church, with an active congregation, was officially declared a municipal heritage property on May 4, 2007. The church building was built in 1907, and then the community moved it in 1934 by steam engine to the present location five miles south of the original construction site. This arduous undertaking necessitated sawing the church in half. The RM's municipal office building, located at 711 Lalonde Street in Whitewood, was originally built in 1935 to house Whitewood's

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

. The building is a designated heritage property. The building was constructed by the federal government as a

make-work A make-work job is a job that has less immediate financial or little benefit at all to the economy than the job costs to support. It may also have no benefit. Make-work jobs are similar to workfare, but are publicly offered on the job market and h ...

project during the depression era.

Geography

The burrowing owl (athene cunicularia), an endangered animal, makes its home in this area, and the

monarch butterfly The monarch butterfly or simply monarch (''Danaus plexippus'') is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. It ...

(danaus plexippus) is also monitored in this area by conservationists.

Communities and localities

The following urban municipalities are surrounded by the RM. ;

Towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

* Whitewood

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

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 ...

, the RM of Willowdale No. 153 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. In the 2016 Census of Population, the RM of Willowdale No. 153 recorded a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016.

Government

The RM of Willowdale No. 153 is governed by an elected municipal council and an appointed administrator that meets on the second Wednesday of every month. The

reeve Reeve may refer to: Titles *Reeve (Canada), an elected chief executive of some counties, townships, and equivalents *Reeve (England), an official elected annually by the serfs to supervise lands for a lord *High-reeve, a title taken by some Englis ...

of the RM is Larry Sippola while its administrator is Andrea Smyth. The RM's office is located in Whitewood.

References

{{SKDivision5 Willowdale Division No. 5, Saskatchewan