Big Lakes County, formerly the Municipal District of Big Lakes, is a

municipal district A municipal district is an administrative entity comprising a clearly-defined territory and its population. It may be a city, a town, a village, a small grouping of them, or a rural area. Brazil In Brazil, municipal districts are, in general, su ...

in north-central

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It is located in Census Division 17, around the

Lesser Slave Lake Lesser Slave Lake is located in northern Alberta, Canada, northwest of Edmonton. It is the second largest lake entirely within Alberta boundaries (and the largest easily accessible by vehicle), covering and measuring over long and at its wid ...

. Utikuma Lake and

Winagami Lake Winagami Lake () is a large and shallow lake in northern Alberta, Canada. It is in Big Lakes County and Municipal District of Smoky River No. 130, northeast of the junction of Highway 2 and Highway 679. It lies in the hydrographic basin of the ...

are also located in the municipality.

History

Big Lakes County was previously known as the Municipal District of Big Lakes prior to March 6, 2015.

Geography

Communities and localities

The following urban municipalities are surrounded by Big Lakes County. ;

Cities A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

*none ;

Towns A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

High Prairie High Prairie is a town in northern Alberta, Canada within Big Lakes County. It is located at the junction of Alberta Highway 2, Highway 2 and Alberta Highway 749, Highway 749, approximately northeast of Valleyview, Alberta, Valleyview and wes ...

Swan Hills Swan Hills is a town in northern Alberta, Canada. It is in the eponymous Swan Hills (Alberta), Swan Hills, approximately north of Whitecourt and northwest of Fort Assiniboine. The town is at the junction of Alberta Highway 32, Highway 32 and Alb ...

;

Villages A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village ...

*none ; Summer villages *none The following

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

are located within Big Lakes County. ;

Hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

Enilda Enilda is a hamlet in northern Alberta within Big Lakes County, located west of Highway 49, approximately northeast of Grande Prairie. The community's name is an anadrome of ''Adline'', after Adline Tompkins, an early postmaster's wife. De ...

Faust Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...

* Grouard or Grouard Mission * Joussard *

Kinuso Kinuso (, ) is a hamlet in northern Alberta, Canada within Big Lakes County, and surrounded by the Swan River First Nation reserve. It is located approximately west of Slave Lake and 71 km east of High Prairie along Highway 2, south of ...

The following

Métis settlements The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They have ...

and

Indian reserves In Canada, an Indian reserve () or First Nations reserve () is defined by the ''Indian Act'' as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." R ...

are located within Big Lakes County. ;Métis settlements * East Prairie Métis Settlement * Gift Lake Métis Settlement * Peavine Métis Settlement ;Indian reserves * Drift Pile River * Kapawe'no Freeman * Halcro and Pakashan * Sucker Creek * Swan River The following

localities Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

are located within Big Lakes County. ;Localities *Aggie *Banana Belt *Big Prairie *Gilwood *Heart River *Heart River Settlement *Improvement District No. 17 *Kenzie *Leicester *Lesser Slave Lake Settlement *Nine Mile Point *Prairie Echo *Salt Prairie *Salt Prairie Settlement *Triangle

Demographics

As a

census subdivision The census geographic units of Canada are the census subdivisions defined and used by Canada's federal government statistics bureau Statistics Canada to conduct the country's quinquennial census. These areas exist solely for the purposes of st ...

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; ), 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 culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Big Lakes County had a population of 4,986 living in 2,007 of its 2,632 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 5,625. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. As a census subdivision in the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Big Lakes County had a population of 5,672 living in 2,099 of its 2,728 total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of 5,912. This includes the populations of three Métis settlements, East Prairie (304), Gift Lake (658) and Peavine (607), located within the census subdivision that are municipalities independent of Big Lakes County. With a land area of , the census subdivision had a population density of in 2016. Excluding the three Metis settlements, Big Lakes County had a population of 4,103 in 2016, a change of from its 2011 population of 4,914. Big Lakes County's 2013 municipal census counted a population of 3,861, a change from its 2002 municipal census population of 4,181.

Visible minorities and Aboriginals

Big Lakes had the most Métis people per capita of any Canadian census subdivision in 2006 with a population of 5,000 or more due to the census' inclusion of the population of the three Métis settlement municipalities within Big Lakes' totals.

Education

Southeastern parts of the district are within Pembina Hills Public Schools, which formed in 1995 as a merger of three school districts.

References

External links

* {{Alberta, RM=yes Big Lakes