Mississauga
Mississauga (/ˌmɪsɪˈsɔːɡə/ ⓘ MISS-iss-AW-gə),[3] historically known as Toronto Township,[4] is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario, situated on the western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a population of 717,961 as of 2021, Mississauga is the seventh-most populous municipality in Canada, third-most in Ontario, and second-most in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) after Toronto itself.[5][6] However, for the first time in its history, the city's population declined according to the 2021 census, from a 2016 population of 721,599 to 717,961, a 0.5 per cent decrease.[1]
This article is about the city in Ontario, Canada. For the indigenous people, see Mississaugas. For the First Nation, see Mississauga First Nation. For the rattlesnake species, see Massasauga.
The growth of Mississauga was attributed to its proximity to Toronto.[7] During the latter half of the 20th century, the city attracted a multicultural population and built up a thriving central business district.[8][9] Malton, a neighbourhood of the city located in its northeast end, is home to Toronto Pearson International Airport, Canada's busiest airport, as well as the headquarters of many Canadian and multinational corporations. Mississauga is not a traditional city, but is instead an amalgamation of three former villages, two townships, and a number of rural hamlets (a general pattern common to several suburban GTA cities) that were significant population centres, with none being clearly dominant, prior to the city's incorporation that later coalesced into a single urban area.[10]
Indigenous people have lived in the area for thousands of years and Mississauga is situated on the traditional territory of the Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabeg people, including the namesake Mississaugas.[11] Most of present-day Mississauga was founded in 1805 as Toronto Township within York County, and became part of Peel County when new counties were formed by splitting off parts of the original county in 1851. Mississauga itself was established in 1968 as a town, and was reincorporated as a city in 1974, when Peel was restructured into a regional municipality.[12]
Etymology[edit]
The name Mississauga comes from the Anishinaabe word Misi-zaagiing, meaning "[Those at the] Great River-mouth".
Other forms such as Sauga and, in reference to the city's residents, Saugans,[13] and Mississaugans,[2] are also commonly used.
Mississauga's Paramount Fine Foods Centre (formerly the Hershey Centre) is the city's main sports venue. It is the home arena for Mississauga's minor league teams, the Raptors 905 of the NBA G League and the Mississauga Steelheads of the Ontario Hockey League. The arena was originally built for Mississauga's first OHL team, the Mississauga Icedogs, before they moved to St. Catharines and became the Niagara IceDogs. The Steelheads are the rebranded Mississauga St. Michael's Majors who had moved from Toronto in 2007. The arena was formerly the home of the Mississauga MetroStars of the MASL. It formerly was the home arena for the Mississauga Power of the National Basketball League of Canada before the team dissolved in 2015 after the announcement of the Raptors 905. In 2018, Mississauga's City Council approved a motion to study the feasibility and business case for construction of a new stadium in Mississauga with the hope of gaining a new CPL Team.
Other hockey teams in Mississauga include the Mississauga Chiefs of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (who play at Iceland Mississauga), the Mississauga Chargers of the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League (who play at Port Credit Arena), and the many teams in the Greater Toronto Hockey League, Mississauga Hockey League, and Mississauga Girls Hockey League that play in the city's 13 arenas. In addition, there is a roller hockey team, the Mississauga Rattlers of the Great Lakes Inline Junior "A" Roller Hockey League
Mississauga also has teams for box lacrosse (Mississauga Tomahawks of the OLA Junior A Lacrosse League), cricket (Mississauga Ramblers of the Toronto and District Cricket League, Mississauga Titans of the Etobicoke District Cricket League), and Canadian football. The Mississauga Football League (MFL) is a youth football program that is for players aged 7–17, founded in 1971. The city also has other amateur football teams in Ontario leagues: the Mississauga Warriors of the Ontario Varsity Football League and the Mississauga Demons of the Ontario Australian Football League. Mississauga's rugby players are now served by the Mississauga Blues[107] through u7 - u17 Youth And Junior Programs as well as hosting one or more Senior Men's and Senior Women's Teams.
Ringette is one of the affiliated youth groups that are allocated ice time by the City of Mississauga (Recreation and Parks Division, Community Services Department) on an allocated priority basis.[108] The Ringette program is administered by the Mississauga Ringette Association.
Mississauga Marathon, a qualifier race for the Boston Marathon, is held in Mississauga annually.[109][110]
Mississauga is also the host for the following major sports events:
Mississauga is the home to the University of Toronto Mississauga, one of three campuses of the University of Toronto. UTM has an enrollment of approximately 13,200 students. It is growing at a rate of about 1,000 students per year since 2002, following a major expansion. U of T Mississauga has 15 academic departments, 143 programs and 87 areas of study, and includes Institutes for Management and Innovation, and Communication, Culture, Information and Technology. The Mississauga Academy of Medicine is located on campus in the Terrence Donnelly Health Sciences Complex. The campus employs over 2,000 full- and part-time employees (including 800 permanent faculty and staff), and has more than 47,000 alumni, including astronaut Roberta Bondar, filmmaker Richie Mehta, actor Zaib Shaikh and writer/poet Dionne Brand. The $35-million Innovation Complex, which opened in September 2014, houses the Institute for Management and Innovation, a new model for business education combining management studies with key industry sectors, and the first phase of the multi-phase North Building reconstruction, known as Deerfield Hall, opened in September 2014.
Sheridan College opened a new $46 million facility in Mississauga in 2011. The school has two main concentrations: business education, and programs to accelerate the movement of new Canadians into the workforce. The 150,000 sq ft (14,000 m2) campus will be located on an 8.5-acre (34,000 m2) parcel of land in City Centre just north of the Living Arts Centre. The campus accommodated 1,700 students upon completion of phase one of construction in Fall 2011. Phase two of construction after 2011 increased capacity by 3,740 students to a combined total of 5,000; it also included construction of a 10-level municipal parking garage.[127][128][129][130]
Mississauga is served by the Peel District School Board, which operates the secular Anglophone public schools, the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, which operates Catholic Anglophone public schools, the Conseil scolaire Viamonde, which operates secular Francophone schools, and the Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud, which operates Catholic Francophone schools. Within the city, the four boards run a total of more than 150 schools.
Multiple schools in Mississauga also offer specialized programs:
Mississauga is part of the Toronto media market and is served by media based in Toronto, with markets in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) that cover most of the news in the GTA. Examples of this being the majority of radio stations transmitting from the nearby CN Tower in Toronto. However, Mississauga also has The Mississauga News, a regional newspaper that is published two days a week in print and daily online.[132] There is also the Sunday Times, a community newspaper for the South Asian community that is published weekly in print and also available online, as well as Modern Mississauga, a bi-monthly general-interest print and digital magazine.[133]
The city also has three local radio stations:
The following national cable television stations also broadcast from Mississauga:
Mississauga has one sister city:
Both cities have a park and road named after each other.
The Mississauga Friendship Association (MFA) was established in 1993 to assist with the city's twinning program.[135]
