Cornwall, Ontario

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Cornwall, Ontario
Cornwall
Cornwall
Location of Cornwall in the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario
Location of Cornwall in the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario
CountryCanada
ProvinceOntario
Founded1784
Government
 • MayorBob Kilger
Population
 (2006)
 • City45,965 (Ranked 100)
 • Metro
58,485
 source: Statistics Canada
Time zoneUTC-5 (EST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-4 (EDT)
Websitehttp://www.city.cornwall.on.ca/

Cornwall is a city in eastern Ontario, Canada and the seat of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario. Cornwall is Ontario's easternmost city, located on the St. Lawrence River and Highway 401, and is the urban centre for surrounding communities, which include Long Sault and Ingleside to the west, Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne to the south, St. Andrew's and Avonmore to the north, and Glen Walter, Martintown, Williamstown, and Lancaster to the east.

Cornwall is located approximately Template:Km to mi southeast of Ottawa, Canada's capital, Template:Km to mi southwest of Montreal, Quebec's largest metropolis and the second most important urban centre in Canada, and Template:Km to mi northeast of Toronto, the capital of Ontario and the largest urban centre in Canada.

History

Aboriginal peoples have lived in and around the area of present day Cornwall for millennia. The first serious non-aboriginal settlement was established in 1784, by disbanded Loyalist soldiers, their families and other United Empire Loyalists-- primarily from New York -- following the 1776 American Revolution. They founded a settlement on the site formerly called Pointe Maligne, and named it New Johnstown. It was later renamed Cornwall for the Duke of Cornwall, Prince George, and became one of the first incorporated municipalities in the British colony of Upper Canada in 1834[1].

West of Cornwall, along the St. Lawrence River, there existed several smaller communities now known as The Lost Villages. These communities were permanently flooded in 1958 by the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway to make way for the massive Moses-Saunders hydroelectric dam at the western end of the city and were covered by the hydroelectric reservoir.

Demographics

According to the 2006 census, Cornwall has a population of 45,965. This represents a 0.7% increase from the 2001 Census[2], which gave the city a population of approximately 45,640, but is still 3% below the 1996 census figure of 47,403.

The 2001 census indicates that English is the first language learned by approximately 65% of the population, while 27% count French as their native language and the remainder have any of a number of mother tongues, including (among others) Mohawk, Greek, Arabic, Urdu, and Italian.

Economy

Cornwall is a port-of-entry into Canada connected to the United States at Roosevelttown, near the municipalities of Massena, New York and Malone, New York, via the Three Nations Crossing Bridge (formerly known as the Seaway International Bridge), which crosses the St. Lawrence River and Cornwall Island, located within the Ontario portion of Akwesasne.[citation needed]

Cornwall was once home to a thriving cotton processing industry. Courtaulds Canada Inc.’s rayon manufacturing mill operated until 1992 at one point employing almost 3,000. Domtar, a Quebec-based company operated a paper mill in the city for nearly one-hundred years, ceasing operations on March 31, 2006. At its peak, Domtar employed nearly 1,500 employees. In addition, Canadian Industries Limited (C.I.L.), now Pioneer Chemicals, has operated a plant in Cornwall since 1935.[citation needed]

Cornwall's industrial base has now shifted to a more diversified mix of manufacturing, automotive, high tech, food processing, contact centres and materials handling. The City hosts the largest Wal-Mart distribution centre in Canada, its massive 1.5 million square foot facility employing nearly 1000 people. Furthermore, StarTek and Teleperformance both operate call centres in Cornwall, each of which provides in excess of 500 jobs. Cornwall's unemployment rate, now hovers at 7.9%.[citation needed]

A 2006 study of similar Ontario municipalities ranks Cornwall as one of the highest taxed in almost all categories[3].

MoneySense magazine rated Cornwall as Canada's 74th best city in May, 2007[4].

Culture

The city of Cornwall hosts various festivals and special community events. These include the Canada Day festivities, the Gay pride festival, and the very popular "Lift Off" hot air balloon festival which drew over 50,000 people to Cornwall for the concerts and hot air balloons in 2006.

Government

Cornwall's mayor is Bob Kilger. Cornwall is situated within the electoral district of Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, which is represented provincially by MPP Jim Brownell (Liberal), and federally by MP Guy Lauzon (Conservative).

Education

Cornwall Collegiate and Vocational School hosts grade 11 and 12 students and is one of the oldest schools in Canada to have not closed its doors, having celebrated its bicentennial in 2006.

St. Joseph's Secondary School is a part of the Catholic District Board and offers French Immersion education. The newest high school in Cornwall is Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary School[5] for grades 7 to 12, opened in response to overpopulation at St. Joseph's. Both schools offer French Immersion education.

Cornwall also has two French high schools: l'École secondaire publique l'Heritage, and l’École secondaire catholique La Citadelle.

Several Cornwall area high schools figured in a report published by the Canadian Fraser Institute (April 2007). The report ranked schools by student performance in reading, writing and math. Seven out of ten area schools scored 50% or less in the study. Out of 719 Ontario schools, l'Ecole secondaire catholique La Citadelle, held the top spot for Cornwall placing 208th, with a score of 7.3 out of 10. [6]

Census results from Statistics Canada[7] indicate that 1 in 4 working age adults (20 - 64 years)did not finish high school. The same body of statistics do however infer a recent trend among Cornwall residents to complete high school as well as undertake post secondary studies.

Cornwall has many public and Catholic elementary schools, including Gladstone Public School, East Front Public School, Viscount Alexander Public School, Immaculate Conception, St. Peter's, and a number of others. The oldest elementary school, Central Public School opened its doors in 1816.

A campus of St. Lawrence College is situated in Cornwall. The St. Lawrence River Institute of Environmental Sciences is located on the College campus, and, among other academic and vocational offerings, provides an Environmental Technician program. The St. Lawrence River Institute of Environmental Sciences is a research centre that carries out ecotoxicological studies on large river systems and in particular, the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence River ecosystem.

Cornwall is also home to the Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Control Operations (CFSACO)[8] and the Nav Canada Training Institute for training of civilian air traffic controllers.

Environment

Cornwall does not enjoy a positive environmental reputation as a result of decades of heavy industrial pollution, the legacy of which is a riverfront contaminated by mercury, zinc, lead, and copper[9], soil contaminated by coal tar and byproducts[10] , and most evidently, "Big Ben": a 45 acre, 80 metre tall dumpsite within the city filled with wood bark, paper mill sludge, demolition waste and asbestos, and the proposed site for the dumping of coal tar contaminated soil from elsewhere in the city.

Industrial emissions in the Cornwall area, have fuelled public health concern about respiratory disease and cancer. Health Canada[11] found the rate of hospitalization for asthma was approximately double that of cities such as Hamilton, Sudbury and Windsor. Further research, showed that infants under two years of age had four times the expected hospital admission rate for asthma. Lung and male rectal cancer rates were also elevated in comparison with the rest of the province.

The shutdown of the Courtaulds rayon fiber operation (1992) and the Domtar paper mill (2006) have been a significant factor in the city's improved air quality. Cornwall now consistently ranks in the top 10 of 40 monitored communities across Ontario.

In 2006, the city updated its Strategic Plan including the objective, to develop an environmentally sustainable community. [citation needed]

There has been progress in some areas of energy conservation. In the 1990's a co-generation plant went into operation that provides 4% to 6% of the city's daily electrical needs while at the same time, heating a number of buildings including both hospital sites. Cornwall also converted all of its traffic signals in 2002 to energy efficient LEDs that have reduced power usage by more than 600,000 kW, enough to light close to 70 homes. The data was contained in a report prepared by the city's public works department.

More recently, a former city councillor, Naresh Bhargava, has been working with the St. Lawrence River Institute of Environmental Sciences on a project called the Community Carbon Reduction Initiative. City council has provided $5,000 in start-up funding for the project.[citation needed]

Sports

Cornwall has been home to a variety of sports teams, the most notable of which have been its hockey teams. The Cornwall Royals played in both the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and the Ontario Hockey League before moving to Newmarket in 1992. The Royals won the Memorial Cup in 1972, 1980 and 1981. Currently, Cornwall has a very successful Junior A team in the Cornwall Colts of the Central Junior A Hockey League.[citation needed]

Cornwall hosted the Ontario Winter Games and Special Olympics some years ago, and the City has been chosen as the venue for the 2008 Royal Bank Cup for Junior A hockey teams.

Notable people

Some of the more famous people to hail from the Cornwall area include:

Media

Radio

Television

Print

References

  1. ^ 5 Star Flags
  2. ^ Cornwall Population Stats Canada
  3. ^ Tax Rate Survey
  4. ^ MoneySense Ranking
  5. ^ Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary School
  6. ^ Fraser Institute
  7. ^ Education Stats
  8. ^ CFSACO
  9. ^ International Joint Commission Assessment
  10. ^ Environment Canada
  11. ^ Investigating Human Exposure to Contaminants in the Environment (Published by Health Canada)
  12. ^ Reach Every Child
  13. ^ TV Cogeco
  14. ^ Le journal de Cornwall
  15. ^ Seaway News

External links

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