The term township , in Canada , is generally the district or area associated with a town. The specific use of the term to describe political subdivisions has varied by country, usually to describe a local rural or semirural government within the country itself.
41-502: Ramara is a lower-tier township municipality in Simcoe County , Ontario , Canada. Ramara was formed in 1994 through the amalgamation of the townships of Rama and Mara . The municipality stretches along the northeastern shore of Lake Simcoe from Gamebridge to Orillia, and along the entire eastern shore of Lake Couchiching from Orillia to Washago. Farming, tourism and aggregate are the primary industries, and are supported by
82-503: A cost of $ 3,200. The population of the new settlement was calculated in 1858 to be 201 persons, and its inhabitants' annual revenue from land purchases was $ 1894.21. Notwithstanding this income, a government report of 1858 commented on the "lamentable" conditions of life among the Chippewas of Rama, observing that, owing to government neglect, "the log houses built for them ... being badly constructed, are all going to decay", that farming
123-466: A large Treaty area comprising Treaty 18, 16, 5, 20, 27, 27 1/4, Crawford Purchase and the Gunshot Treaty. Rama sits on approximately 2,350 acres (951 ha) of land on eight separate parcels. It was once known as Mnjikaning and Rama Mnjikaning but after a community referendum has since re-assumed the name of Chippewas of Rama First Nation. There are 1600 members with approximately 700 living on
164-556: A lower-tier municipality (if located in a county or regional municipality , i.e. in Southern Ontario ) or single-tier municipality (if located in a district, i.e. in Northern Ontario ). A township municipality may consist of a portion of one or more geographic townships united as a single entity with a single municipal administration. Often rural counties are subdivided into townships. In some places, usually if
205-528: A point between the Black River and Lake Couchiching, or possibly at Wasdell Falls. This area lacked rail transport , so the sawn lumber would have to be barged to the Northern Railway at Bell Ewart. Instead, Sage came up with the idea of a canal to float logs from the Black River to supply the mills of Lake Simcoe. The Rama Timber Transport Company was formed in 1868. Not only did it allow
246-662: A political unit called a rural municipality in general is 3 townships by 3 townships in size, or 18 miles squared, about 324 square miles (840 km ). Three municipalities in British Columbia , Langley , Esquimalt and Spallumcheen , have "township" in their official names but legally hold the status of district municipalities . Mnjikaning First Nation 32, Ontario Chippewas of Rama First Nation , also known as Chippewas of Mnjikaning and Chippewas of Rama Mnjikaning First Nation ( Ojibwe : Mnjikaning Anishinaabek , also alternatively Rama Anishinaabek),
287-454: A population density of 25.0/km (64.8/sq mi) in 2021. Separated municipalities but remain a census subdivision of the county Township (Canada) In Eastern Canada , a township is one form of the subdivision of a county . In Quebec, the term is canton in French. The historic colony of Nova Scotia (present-day Nova Scotia, New Brunswick , and Prince Edward Island ) used
328-1113: A wide variety of local enterprises. The area is perhaps best known for its proximity to Casino Rama , which is actually located on the neighbouring First Nations reserve of Chippewas of Mnjikaning First Nation in Rama . The township comprises the communities of Atherley, Bayshore Village, Bayview Beach, Bonnie Beach, Brechin, Brechin Beach, Brechin Point, Concord Point, Cooper's Falls , Fawkham, Floral Park, Fountain Beach, Gamebridge, Gamebridge Beach, Geneva Park, Glenrest Beach, Grays Bay, Hopkins Bay, Joyland Beach, Lagoon City, Lakeview Beach, Little Falls, Longford Mills, Mara Beach, Mariposa Beach, McDonald Beach, Millington (ghost town), Murphy Beach, New Gamebridge Beach, Oaklawn Beach, O'Connell, Orkney Point, Orkney Beach, Paradise Point, Point of Mara Beach, Prophet Beach, Ramona, Rathburn, Riverside Beach, Sandy Beach, Sandy Pine Beach, Southview Cove, Talbot, Tanglewood Beach, Udney, Uptergrove, and Val Harbour. Brechin
369-460: Is Lake Simcoe Regional Airport located between Barrie, Ontario and Orillia, and the closest major airport is Toronto Pearson Airport , via Highway 12 and Highway 400. In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada , Ramara had a population of 10,377 living in 4,408 of its 6,166 total private dwellings, a change of 9.4% from its 2016 population of 9,488 . With a land area of 414.94 km (160.21 sq mi), it had
410-687: Is Chief Rodney Noganosh and Councillors Ronald Douglas, Ted Williams, Tracey Snache, Nemke Quarrington, and Gina Genno. A by-election held in January 2015 elected a sixth councillor, Ted Snache. The First Nation is a member of Ogemawahj Tribal Council , a regional Chiefs' council, and in June 2016 rejoined the Union of Ontario Indians /Anishinabek Nation. Rama is also a part of the Chippewa Tri-Council which consists of Beausoleil First Nation and
451-454: Is a major deity of Hinduism. He is the seventh avatar of the god Vishnu. Mara is a Sanskrit word meaning "death" or any personification thereof. In Hinduism, Mara is the goddess of death. The townships were originally part of York County , but were transferred to Ontario County when they were first incorporated as an amalgamated municipality in 1852. They were later reincorporated as separate municipalities in 1869. A portion of Rama Township
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#1732773215350492-619: Is an Anishinaabe ( Ojibway ) First Nation located in the province of Ontario in Canada . The name Mnjikaning , or fully vocalized as Minjikaning , refers to the fishing weirs at Atherley Narrows between Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching and it means "in/on/at or near the fence". Rama is one of the Williams Treaties First Nations which consists of Rama, Beausoleil, Georgina Island, Scugog Island, Curve Lake, Hiawatha and Alderville. Together these Nations have
533-640: Is geographically located within the Township of Ramara , but functions separately. Rama First Nation is also home to 195,000-square-foot (18,100 m ) Casino Rama and Entertainment Complex. The people are descendants of the Chippewas of Lakes Huron and Simcoe (19th century) and were part of the Coldwater (1836) experiment before settling on the eastern shores of Lake Couchiching. While the ancestors used clan markings/drawings for signatures, original family names were replaced with English names. Arriving to
574-417: Is one of the township's largest communities. It is known for its several local businesses such as a new Tim Hortons and a Statue Store. The town has all the necessities of a small town, such as a Foodland, LCBO , Legion, both a Shell and a nearby Esso, as well as schools and churches. The town is also a central meeting location for the area's youth where they partake in numerous recreational activity involving
615-648: The Prairie Provinces and parts of British Columbia , a township is a division of the Dominion Land Survey . Townships are (mostly) 6-by-6-mile (9.7 by 9.7 km) squares, about 36 square miles (93 km ) in area. The townships are not political units (although political boundaries often follow township boundaries) but exist only to define parcels of land relatively simply. Townships are divided into 36 equal 1-by-1-mile (1.6 by 1.6 km) square parcels, known as "sections." In Saskatchewan ,
656-708: The British Conquest, primarily as a surveying unit. They were designated and cover most of the unattributed territory in Eastern Quebec and what is now known as the Eastern Townships and later used in surveying the Outaouais and Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean regions. Townships often served as the territorial basis for new municipalities, but township municipalities are no different from other types such as parish or village municipalities. In
697-709: The Chippewas numbered approximately "550 souls" under the leadership of "Chief Yellow Head"—the same "Musquakie or Yellow Head, Chief of the Rein Deer Tribe", who was involved in the Lake Simcoe-Lake Huron Purchase and the South Simcoe Purchase. They still occupied their remaining lands about Lake Simcoe and the Holland River, and reportedly had "expressed a strong desire to be admitted to Christianity, and to adopt
738-550: The Chippewas of Georgina Island as well as descendants in Neywash (Huron-Robinson Treaty). The Chippewa Tri-Council were once one reserve, the Coldwater Narrows Reserve established in 1830, under one principal chief, Chief Yellowhead. Further, before The Coldwater Narrows Reserve was established this group was the Chippewas of Lake Simcoe and Huron. Separated municipalities but remain a census subdivision of
779-620: The Chippewas received an annual income from the interest. As a consequence of the Simcoe-Coldwater Purchase, the Chippewas had to abandon the villages built for them by Colborne in 1830. The Coldwater band relocated to Beausoleil Island in Georgian Bay, whereas, in 1838, the main band at the Atherley Narrows relocated to Rama, where they had obtained 1600 acres of land "purchased out of their own funds" at
820-487: The Chippewas to give up this country "[rather] than to continue [living] on it, surrounded as it was by the White Population, and consequently deprived as it was of its Game". Musquakie/Yellowhead and his chiefs afterwards objected to this Simcoe-Coldwater Purchase , writing to Governor General Charles Bagot in 1842 that "we were not made sensible of the full purport" of the deal, which paid them only one-third of
861-527: The Floral Park community in which one of the band's members grew up. Located off from Sandy Beach, Goffatt Island is a privately owned 11.10 acres island in Lake Simcoe . The former townships of Rama and Mara were first named in 1820. The origins of the names are unclear, as both may be either Spanish words ( rama for "branch" and mara for "sea") or Biblical references ( rama for Ramah ,
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#1732773215350902-681: The Indigenous people were resettled there. The main settlement on the reserve is also known as Rama and is the site of Casino Rama . North of Rama, the community of Longford Mills was established in 1868. In 1867 American lumberman Henry W. Sage had purchased blocks of land in Rama Township after buying timber berths in Oakley Township in Muskoka District . Sage had considered relocating his mill from Bell Ewart to
943-696: The area during the Great Anishinaabe migration, the Chippewas of Lakes Huron and Simcoe briefly migrated north during conflict with the Haudenosaunee during the Beaver Wars. Following resolution of the Beaver Wars and the creation of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt, the Chippewas of Lakes Huron and Simcoe returned to Mnjikaning. The Chippewas of Lakes Huron and Simcoe occupied, at their greatest known extent,
984-626: The biblical town of Benjamin in ancient Israel , and mara for Marah , named in the biblical Book of Exodus as the place where Moses sweetened the bitter waters for the Israelites.) As both styles of place naming were popular in Ontario at the time, it is not clear which one Lieutenant-Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland had in mind. Being British, the names likely originated from the Ramayana , an ancient Sanskrit text. Rama (Ramachandra),
1025-502: The corner of County Rd. 47 & Hwy. 12. Fire Hall #2 is located at 85 Patricia Drive, Atherley at the corner of Patricia Drive & Balsam Rd. Fire Hall #3 is located at 7305 Simcoe County Rd. 169, Washago at County Rd #169 & Switch Road. The Ontario Lumberjack Championships were held at the Brechin Ball Park on the second Saturday in June in 2012, 2013 and 2014. The Canadian rock band, Floral Park, takes its name from
1066-596: The government declared invalid, he appointed his nephew Isaac Yellowhead to succeed him as "Head Chief of the Chippewa tribe of Indians", but it was Joseph B. Naingishkung who succeeded him. The First Nation's leadership consists of a chief and six councillors, elected under the Indian Act Electoral System put into place in the 1930s by Canada in the attempt to depose hereditary chiefs and headman as leaders. The current elected leadership (2014-2016)
1107-437: The habits of civilized life". In 1830, Musquakie/Yellowhead and his people were induced by agents of Lieutenant Governor John Colborne to settle in two purpose-built villages, one at the Atherley Narrows between Lakes Simcoe and Couchiching, and the other at Coldwater, between which they cleared a road on his instructions. Colborne began paying the Chippewas an annuity and identified "three islands set apart for them", but it
1148-658: The lands surrounding Lake Simcoe and the Holland River watershed, extending westwards to encompass roughly present-day Simcoe County. Over a 20-year-span beginning in 1798, their leaders ceded the country west of the lake to the government of Upper Canada via three separate purchase agreements—the Penetanguishene Bay Purchase (1798), the Lake Simcoe–Lake Huron Purchase (1815) and the South Simcoe Purchase (1818). In 1828
1189-502: The logs of Muskoka and Victoria reach the mills of Lake Simcoe, but helped establish the community of Longford Mills. Ontario County was dissolved upon the formation of the Regional Municipality of Durham in 1974, and both townships were transferred to Simcoe County. As part of the municipal restructuring of Simcoe County, Mara and Rama Townships were reamalgamated to form Ramara in 1994. Washago station , located in
1230-552: The neighbouring township of Severn , is served by Via Rail 's weekly Canadian transcontinental service between Toronto and Vancouver . The station was also formerly a stop on the Ontario Northland Railway 's Northlander service. The gingerbread style Atherley Junction station was built by the Grand Trunk Railway in what is now Ramara in 1897, but it was destroyed by a fire in 1931. It
1271-432: The original historical administrative subdivisions surveyed and established primarily in the 1800s. They are used primarily for geographic purposes, such as land surveying, natural resource exploration and tracking of phenomena such as forest fires or tornados , but are not political entities. Township municipalities, also called "political townships", are areas that have been incorporated with municipal governments, and are
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1312-422: The proceeds of the sale, and complaining that "we have not received any money from the sale of the said Land". Bond Head had hidden from the Chippewas his intention to sell the land, lot by lot, to white settlers and to forward the proceeds to them as they were generated. Their petition of 1842 received a sympathetic hearing: as they had asked, the proceeds of the piecemeal sales of their former land were banked, and
1353-453: The reserve and about 900 living off the reserve. The First Nation is adjacent to a 4,500-year-old wooden stake fishing weir system which at one time sustained many Native peoples but it is not clear who actually built this structure. The First Nation's main reserve , the 908.4 hectares (2,245 acres) Mnjikaning First Nation 32 Indian Reserve , is located approximately 5 kilometres (3 mi) northeast of Orillia, Ontario . Rama First Nation
1394-582: The term township as a subdivision of counties and as a means of attracting settlers to the colony. In Prince Edward Island, the colonial survey of 1764 established 67 townships, known as lots, and 3 royalties, which were grouped into parishes and hence into counties; the townships were geographically and politically the same. In New Brunswick, parishes have taken over as the present-day subdivision of counties, and present-day Nova Scotia uses districts as appropriate. In Ontario , there are both geographic townships and township municipalities. Geographic townships are
1435-555: The town's proximity to the lake. The Township of Ramara owns and operates the Ramara Centre, located at 5482 Highway 12, between Atherley and Uptergrove. The Township of Ramara also owns community centres in Longford, Udney and Brechin that are operated by Community Centre Boards of Management which are composed of volunteers. There are three fire halls in the Township. Fire Hall #1 is located at 3290 County Road 47, Brechin at
1476-401: The township is in a county rather than in a regional municipality , the head of a political township may be called a " reeve ", not a mayor. However, the distinction is changing as many rural townships are replacing the title with "mayor" to reduce confusion. A few townships keep both titles and designate "mayor" as the head of the municipal council and use "reeve" to denote the representative to
1517-412: The upper tier (usually county) council. The term "geographic township" is also used in reference to former political townships that were abolished or superseded as part of municipal government restructuring. In Quebec , townships are called cantons in French and can also be political and geographic, similar to Ontario although the geographic use is not used much or at all. They were introduced after
1558-541: Was allocated to form what became the Mnjikaning First Nation 32 Indian reserve of the Chippewas of Mnjikaning First Nation . Many Indigenous people were living on the narrow strip of land that separates lakes Simcoe and Couchiching between Atherley and Orillia . These lands were surrendered by treaty in 1836. After that time, the local Indian Agent began purchasing lands in Rama Township and
1599-472: Was his hope that they would soon take to farming, the village of Orillia having been established by white settlers brought there to teach them European farming techniques. In a surviving letter to Colborne dated September 1830, Yellowhead and four other leaders spoke of their gladness at receiving "the money you sent us" for clearing the road, asking however "when you can pay us the remainder". Just six years later, Lieutenant Governor Francis Bond Head persuaded
1640-535: Was likely rebuilt after 1931 by Canadian National Railway , and now the structure is now located at Couchiching Beach Park in Orillia, Ontario . There is bus service from Toronto to Washago operated by Ontario Northland Motor Coach Services . As well, there is extensive charter bus service to Casino Rama . Ontario Highway 12 ( Trans Canada Highway ) is a main connecting road between Ontario Highway 169 and Rama Road (Simcoe County Road 44). The closest airport
1681-582: Was not being taken up, and that the residents "are dragging through a life disgraceful to humanity". Indebtedness to white traders accounts for some of the settlement's early economic woes. In 1839, Musquakie/Yellowhead and two of his chiefs wrote to the Indian Department, that, as soon as Rama was up and running, they intended "to go and hunt in order to pay our debts to those we have been so long owing". Musquakie/Yellowhead, also known as William Yellowhead, died on 11 January 1864. In his will, which