Bruce County
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Bruce County is a county in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It has eight lower-tier municipalities with a total 2021 population of 73,396. It is named for James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine, the sixth Governor General of the Province of Canada. The Bruce name is also linked to the Bruce Trail and the Bruce Peninsula.
The county has three distinct areas. The Bruce Peninsula is part of the Niagara Escarpment and is known for its views, rock formations, cliffs, and hiking trails. The Lakeshore includes nearly 100 km of fresh water and soft sandy beaches. Finally, the Interior Region has a strong history in farming.
History
Cessions of First Nations lands
The territory of the County arose from various surrenders of First Nations lands.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The bulk of the land arose from the Queen's Bush, as a result of the 1836 Saugeen Tract Agreement. That was followed by the cession of the Indian Strip in 1851 for a road between Owen Sound and Southampton that was never constructed.<ref name="Marsh1931">Template:Cite book</ref> Friction between the Chippewas arising out of that led to significant delay in later negotiations.<ref name="Marsh1931"/>
The Saugeen Surrenders of 1854, known as "Treaty 72," transferred the remainder of the Bruce Peninsula to the Crown and reserved the following lands:<ref name="Treaties1905">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
| Reserved for | Tract | Later disposition |
|---|---|---|
| Saugeen Indians | Saugeen | now known as Saugeen 29 |
| Chief's Point | now known as Chief's Point 28 | |
| Owen Sound Indians | Newash | Surrendered to the Crown in 1857 under the Peter Jones Treaty (also known as "Treaty 82"),<ref name="Treaties1905"/>Template:Rp becoming Sarawak Township in Grey County.<ref>Marsh, p. 210</ref> Resulting land sales were for the benefit of the Indians, who would be moved to Cape Croker.<ref name="Marsh1931"/> |
| Cape Croker | now known as Neyaashiinigmiing 27 | |
| Colpoy's Bay Indians | Colpoy's Bay | Surrendered to the Crown in 1861 under "Treaty 93", becoming part of Keppel Township in Grey County.<ref name="Treaties1905"/>Template:Rp Resulting land sales were for the benefit of the Indians, who would be moved to Christian Island.<ref name="Marsh1931"/> |
Municipal history
Huron County was organized in the Huron District in 1845,<ref>Template:Cite canlaw</ref> and the District itself, which had been continued for judicial purposes, was abolished in early 1850.<ref>Template:Cite canlaw</ref> Legislation passed later in the same session of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada provided instead for it to be reconstituted as the United Counties of Huron, Perth and Bruce, with the territory of the Bruce Peninsula (referred to as the "Indian Reserve") to ne withdrawn and annexed to Waterloo County.<ref>Template:Cite canlaw</ref> Bruce County consisted of the following townships:
- Huron
- Kinloss
- Curloss
- Carrick
- Kincardine
- Greenock
- Brant
- Bruce
- Saugeen
- Elderslie
- Arran
The Indian Reserve (being the part not otherwise transferred to Grey County) was later withdrawn from Waterloo and transferred to Bruce in 1851.<ref>Template:Cite canlaw</ref> The County of Perth was given its own Provisional Municipal Council at that time,<ref>S.Prov.C. 1849, c. 96, s. 3</ref> and was separated from the United Counties in 1853.<ref>Template:Cite canlaw</ref>
In 1849, the Huron District Council initially united the area of the county with the United Townships of Wawanosh and Ashfield as a single municipality, which lasted until 1851, when Wawanosh and Ashfield were withdrawn. The area then became known as the "United Townships in the County of Bruce," which lasted until its division into municipalities in 1854.<ref name="Robertson">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
The Bruce Peninsula was later surveyed into townships, starting with Amabel and Albemarle in 1855,<ref name="Robertson"/>Template:Rp Eastnor in 1862,<ref name="Robertson"/>Template:Rp followed by Lindsay in 1870<ref name="Robertson"/>Template:Rp and St. Edmunds in 1871.<ref name="Robertson"/>Template:Rp
The following villages and towns would be constituted over the years:
| Villages | Towns |
|---|---|
|
|
Formation of separate county council (1857Template:En dash1867)
A Provisional Municipal Council was established for Bruce County at the beginning of 1857,<ref>Template:Cite canlaw</ref> Walkerton was initially proclaimed as the county seat, in preference to Kincardine,<ref name="Robertson"/>Template:Rp but local oppositionTemplate:Efn forced the proclamation to be deferred until each town and village had presented a case for its selection.<ref>Template:Cite canlaw</ref> A subsequent proclamation confirmed Walkerton's selection.<ref name="Robertson"/>Template:Rp
In 1863, the provisional council promoted a bill in the Legislative Assembly to divide the county into the counties of Bruce and Wallace, with Kincardine and Southampton once more proposed as the respective county towns,<ref name="Robertson"/>Template:Rp but it went only as far as thé second reading and did not proceed further.<ref name="Robertson"/>Template:Rp<ref>Bill 292, 2nd Session, 7th Parliament (1863)</ref>
The provisional council later asked for legislation to provide for a referendum as to whether Walkerton, Paisley, Kincardine, or another place would be the most acceptable choice.<ref>Template:Cite canlaw</ref> The referendum was held in September 1864, and Paisley received a plurality of the votes.<ref name="Robertson"/>Template:Rp In early 1865, the provisional council asked for legislation to confirm the result but changed its mind later in the year in favour of Walkerton.<ref name="Robertson"/>Template:Rp Confirming legislation was passed in 1866 to provide for the dissolution of the United Counties on January 1, 1867, with Huron and Bruce becoming separate counties for all purposes.<ref>Template:Cite journal, implementing Template:Cite canlaw</ref>
Indigenous lands
Two First Nations are included within the Bruce census division, but their lands are separate from the county administration:
| Saugeen First Nation | Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation |
|---|---|
| Saugeen and Cape Croker Fishing Islands 1 | |
Land disputes
There have been disputes relating to cottage owners leasing properties on First Nations lands in the county. At Hope Bay, the occupiers of 68 cottages saw their leases revoked in 2007,<ref name="Grant2008">Template:Cite news</ref> resulting in a lawsuit that was only settled in 2018, leading to the resulting demolition of the cottages.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> in the Saugeen and Chief's Point reserves, there are four blocks of land encompassing 1,200 cottages that had been subject to ten-year lease agreements,<ref name="Grant2008"/> on which a new five-year agreement came into effect in May 2021.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Litigation is underway, in which the Saugeen Ojibway First Nation is claiming the following:<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Compensation resulting from the Crown breaching its fiduciary trust to protect and preserve the territory of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation;
- Aboriginal title over the water territory around the Bruce Peninsula, from the international boundary with the United States in Lake Huron across to Georgian Bay; and
- A declaration that their harvesting (i.e., hunting and fishing) rights within their traditional territory were not extinguished by Treaty 72 of 1854.
In July 2021, the Ontario Superior Court dismissed the first two claims, but upheld the third.<ref name="Langlois2021">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="ONSC2021">Template:Cite CanLII</ref> It deferred the question of liability with respect to municipal defendants for a subsequent hearing.<ref name="Langlois2021"/><ref name="ONSC2021"/> An appeal has been filed with respect to the dismissals.<ref name="Dunn2021">Template:Cite news</ref> Settlements on municipal liability have since been reached with Bruce County<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Saugeen Shores.<ref name="Dunn2021"/>
The Saugeen First Nation is pursuing separate litigation relating to the determination of the actual reserve boundary. Treaty 72 had originally provided for the following reservation of land:
A dispute has arisen because the original survey of Amabel Township appears to be at variance with the treaty's specifications, with the eastern limit being drawn at 8 miles from the western limit, instead of the 9½ stated.<ref name="Gray2015">Template:Cite news</ref> The matter had been partially resolved some years earlier, with certain lands running from Sauble Beach down to Southampton reverting to the reserve.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, another part of the public beach in Sauble Beach, approximately 2 km in length, is still in dispute. The matter has been in protracted litigation, with separate claims being filed in 1990 by the federal government and in 1995 by the First Nation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> An attempted settlement, arising from mediation overseen by the former Supreme Court of Canada justice Ian Binnie, collapsed in 2014.<ref name="Gray2015"/> The case hearing began in November 2021.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In the meantime, some friction has occurred between the First Nation and local authorities over maintenance work being undertaken on the local dunes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The southern portion of Sauble Beach, known as Sauble Park, is within the limits of the reserve.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As of 2018, beach parking is no longer available there, in line with what is already the case at Wasaga Beach and Grand Bend.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In April 2023, the Ontario Superior Court ruled that the entire portion of the fish landing ground fronting on Lake Huron that was reserved from surrender in Treaty 72, being the substantial part of Sauble Beach, continues to be part of the Saugeen reserve, and no third parties have an interest in any part of it.<ref>Template:Cite CanLII</ref> A proposal to allow a life interest to the private landowners being displaced is currently under consideration by the court.<ref>2023 ONSC 2056, at par. 697</ref> The Town of South Bruce Peninsula subsequently announced that it would take the case to the Ontario Court of Appeal.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Demographics
As a census division in the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Bruce County had a population of Template:Val living in Template:Val of its Template:Val total private dwellings, a change of Template:Percentage from its 2016 population of Template:Val. With a land area of Template:Convert, it had a population density of Template:Pop density in 2021.<ref name="sc2021"/> Template:Canada census
Template:Historical populations
Municipalities
Bruce County comprises eight municipalities (in population order):
| Municipality | 2016 Population<ref>Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2016 Census: Ontario: Census subdivisions (municipalities)</ref> | Population Centres<ref>Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2016 Census: Ontario: Population centres</ref> |
|---|---|---|
| Town of Saugeen Shores | 13,715 | Port Elgin, Southampton |
| Municipality of Kincardine | 11,389 | Kincardine |
| Municipality of Brockton | 9,461 | Walkerton |
| Town of South Bruce Peninsula | 8,416 | Wiarton, |
| Township of Huron-Kinloss | 7,069 | Lucknow |
| Municipality of Arran-Elderslie | 6,803 | Chesley, Paisley |
| Municipality of South Bruce | 5,639 | Mildmay |
| Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula | 3,999 | Lion's Head, Tobermory |
The County of Bruce is governed by a council consisting of a warden and mayors of the area municipalities. County council meetings are held in the Bruce County Administration building, in Walkerton.
See also
- Municipalities of Bruce County
- Bruce County municipal elections, 2010
- Ontario municipal elections, 2010
- List of municipalities in Ontario
- List of counties and districts of Canada
- List of townships in Ontario
- List of secondary schools in Ontario#Bruce County
Notes
References
External links
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