Breton is a village in 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. It is located roughly southwest of
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...
.
History
Originally called Keystone, it was established in 1909 by a group of African-American immigrants as a
block settlement
A block settlement (or bloc settlement) is a particular type of land distribution which allows settlers with the same ethnicity to form small colonies. This settlement type was used throughout western Canada between the late 19th and early 20th c ...
.
[
] The new
Black Canadian homesteaders arrived from Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas, just four years after Alberta became a province in 1905.
A Canadian Northern Railway line was built through Breton. Breton had several grain elevators and a station.
In 1927 the town was renamed after
United Farmers MLA
Douglas Breton, shortly after his election as the region's
Member of the Alberta Legislature.
Infrastructure
It has one High School (grades 7–12) and one elementary (K-6) school. It has a Paid on call Fire department operating with the Brazeau county fire services, one grocery store, one golf course, 2 restaurants, 1 hair parlors, a police station with three officers and one secretary.
Demographics
In the
2021 Census of Population 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 ...
, the Village of Breton had a population of 567 living in 259 of its 296 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 574. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
In the
2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Village of Breton recorded a population of 574 living in 252 of its 292 total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of 496. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016.
The Village of Breton's 2012 municipal census counted a population of 581,
a 0.3% increase over its 2007 municipal census population of 579.
See also
*
List of communities in Alberta
The province of Alberta, Canada, is divided into ten types of Local government in Canada, local governments – urban municipalities (including List of cities in Alberta, cities, List of towns in Alberta, towns, List of villages in Alberta, vil ...
*
List of villages in Alberta
*Similar 1908 to 1910 Alberta homesteader settlements of Black Canadians:
**
Amber Valley, Alberta
**
Campsie, Alberta
**
Junkins (now Wildwood), Alberta
References
External links
*
{{Subdivisions of Alberta, villages=yes
1909 establishments in Alberta
Black Canadian culture in Alberta
Villages in Alberta
Black Canadian settlements
Populated places established by African Americans