Barrie, Ontario encyclopedia topics

History

Barrie at its inception was a small group of houses and warehouses at the foot of the Nine Mile Portage from Kempenfeldt Bay to Fort Willow. The city was named in 1833 after Sir Robert Barrie, who was in charge of the naval forces in Canada and frequently had to portage from Lake Simcoe to Georgian Bay through the city. The Underground Railroad in the mid 1800s allowed many American slaves to enter Barrie. This contributed to the development (and the name) of nearby Shanty Bay. During World War II the Royal Canadian Navy named a Flower class corvette HMCS Barrie.

On 27 September 1977, in dense fog, a small plane hit the 68 meter tall CKVR Television Tower, knocking CHAY FM and CKVR-TV off the air. All on the aircraft were killed, and the tower was destroyed. A new 304 metre tower was erected and operational within a year.

On 31 May, 1985, an F4 tornado struck Barrie, during the The "Barrie" Tornado Outbreak of 1985.

On 12 June - 13 June 1987, a sculpture called Spirit Catcher by Ron Baird was moved to Barrie from Vancouver, British Columbia, where it had been exhibited as part of Expo '86. The sculpture was erected permanently at the foot of Maple Avenue on the shore of Kempenfelt Bay.

In January 2004, Barrie made international news when its city police raided the former Molson brewery, and found Canada's largest illegal cannabis grow operation.

Barrie's Park Place (formerly Molson Park) was chosen to host Live 8 Canada on 2 July, 2005. The success of the concert contributed to the resistance to a plan to convert the concert area to a commercial district. However, the stage, buildings and many of the trees on site have been destroyed since construction of the Park Place commercial district has begun.

An explosion in the Royal Thai restaurant, housed in the landmark Wellington Hotel, at the historic Five Points intersection in Barrie's downtown core occurred at 11:20 PM on 6 December, 2007. The fire quickly spread to several neighbouring buildings. Firefighters battled the blaze well into the following morning, requiring assistance from other Simcoe County fire services. Officials estimate the damages to be in the millions. The Wellington Hotel building collapsed. It was over one hundred years old. On 17 February, 2008, two people were charged in connection with the fire, after the Ontario Fire Marshal's office concluded the explosion and fire were the result of arson.

Geography

Barrie is located in Central Ontario and is accessible via Highways 90, 400, 27, 11 and has convenient access to Highway 401, the Highway 407 Express Toll Route and to neighbouring Toronto. Pearson International Airport in Toronto is a one hour drive from Barrie via Highway 400, a six lane highway that runs directly through Barrie.

Topography

Barrie's downtown is situated in a valley, surrounding the western edge of Kempenfelt Bay. Terrain is generally flat near the city's centre. Moving away from the downtown and up the valleys, the terrain can be rather steep in areas. Over the last few decades, the city has expanded its urban area beyond the confines of the valley, particularly to the south.

The city does not have any major rivers within its limits, but does have numerous creeks and streams, most of which empty into Kempenfelt Bay.

Climate

Barrie has warm, humid summers and cold, snowy winters. The proximity to the Great Lakes does moderate temperatures somewhat. Barrie is located in Ontario's snow belt region, where lake-effect snow falls throughout the winter. An average of 238 centimetres (95 inches) of snow falls annually. As a result, there are numerous winter recreation activities and facilities in the surrounding area, including skiing, snow tubing and snowboarding resorts, snowmobile trails and ice fishing. The Barrie area is well known for heavy thunderstorm activity in late spring and summer and more occasionaly, funnel clouds and tornados.

Economy== There are several manufacturers located in Barrie and Canadian Forces Base Borden is nearby. The perception of Barrie is that it is a bedroom community for people who commute to Toronto, which is approximately 100km south of Barrie, or (more often) to the northern suburbs of Toronto in York Region. However, only 32% of the resident-employed labour force (17,040 persons/53,400 persons) actually commute out of Barrie for employment purposes. In addition to this, 28% of the resident-employed labour force (14,880 persons/53,400 persons) actually commute into Barrie for employment for a net out-commuting figure of only 4.26%(17,040 persons –14,880 persons]/(50,665 persons employed in Barrie)). Source: 2001 Census and City of Barrie Economic Development.

Tourism plays an important role in the local economy. Barrie's waterfront is at the heart of its tourism industry, with events like the Kempenfest arts and crafts festival attracting more than 300,000 people. Recreational activities include skiing at nearby Horseshoe Valley, Snow Valley, Mount St.Louis Moonstone, and Blue Mountain as well as boating in Kempenfelt Bay. The city also boasts several beaches including Minet's Point Beach, Johnsons Beach, The Gables, Tyndale Beach, and Centennial Beach. Barrie's waterfront is currently under heavy construction, with the relocation of several roadways to provide more greenspace and parkland along the lakeshore. Being strategically situated between Toronto and Muskoka on Highway 400, Barrie is also considered the gateway to northern Ontario resort destinations (referred to as cottage country).

Demographics

N/A = Data Not Available

The 2006 census metropolitan area found that Barrie and surrounding area has 177,061 residents, which included the City of Barrie (128,430 residents) and its surrounding communities. With the surrounding communities' urban area, the city has 157,501 residents. The City is attracting people from all over Ontario, Canada and internationally. It is the fastest growing Census Metropolitan Area and one of Canada's fastest growing cities.

From 1996 to 2001, Barrie saw phenomenal growth. According to StatCan, the city grew by 31.0 per cent, the second fastest growing city in the province of Ontario. This is due to both the young population profile, and a growing number of Canadians moving into the city for economic and technological opportunities. The city grew by an average 4.8% per year from 2001 to 2006 (Census).

In 2001, some 46 per cent of the population is under 14, while 10.9 per cent of the population is of retirement age.

According to 2006 census data from Statistics Canada released, only one out of every 17 people in the Barrie region are visible minorities

Racial Groups	Population	Percentage
Total visible minority population	10,130	5.8%
Black	2,310	1.3%
South Asian	1,900	1.1%
Chinese	1,180	0.7%
Latin American	1,165	0.7%
Filipino	1,075	0.5%
Southeast Asian	535	0.4%
Korean	410	0.3%
Japanese	350	0.2%
West Asian	310	0.2%
Arab	300	0.2%
Visible minority n.i.e	310	0.2%
Multiple visible minority	495	0.3%
Not a visible minority	165,205

Ethnic origin	Population	Percentage
English	65,160	37.2%
Canadian	58,510	33.4%
Scottish	45,300	25.8%
Irish	41,390	23.6%
French	23,050	13.1%

Religious Affiliations
Religious Affiliation	Total
Catholic	28,385
Protestant	46,840
Christian Orthodox	865
Christian, n.i.e.	2,815
Muslim	445
Jewish	340
Buddhist	205
Hindu	250
Sikh	95
Eastern religions	105
Other religions	75
No religious affiliation	21,930

Barrie's Houses Of Worship

Barrie's Am-Shalom Congregation (Synagogue)
St. George's Anglican Church
St. Giles Anglican Church
St. Margaret's Anglican Church
Trinity Anglican Church
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church
Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses
St. John Vianney Catholic Church
Bethel Community Church
Hi-Way Pentecostal Church
Mapleview Community Church
Barrie First Baptist Church
Holy Spirit Parish
St. Andrews Presbyterian Church
Harvest Bible Chapel of Barrie
Connexus Community Church

Education

Barrie has two major school boards that operate inside the city at a public level. The Simcoe County District School Board administers a Public education in Barrie and Simcoe County, while the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board administers to the Catholic population and serves the Simcoe and Muskoka areas.

Georgian College

Georgian College's main campus, with 9,000 full-time students and over 28,000 part-time students, is located in Barrie. As a result, many of the bars and clubs in downtown Barrie are filled with students during the school year. Georgian College also offers some university degree programs in conjunction with Laurentian University.

Politics

Municipal

The current mayor of Barrie is Dave Aspden, who was elected in November, 2006, succeeding Rob Hamilton.Federal representation

Party		Member of Parliament	From	To	District
Conservative	Patrick Brown	January 23 2006	present	Barrie

Provincial representation

Party		Member of Provincial Parliament	From	To	District
Liberal	Aileen Carroll	October 10 2007	present	Barrie

Culture

In 2008 Barrie city council started electing an exemplary citizen as an honorary Mayor. This occurs on the first day of summer as a symbolic start to the lucrative tourist season in the City. Michael Barnes has been recognized as the first recipient for this award.

Barrie is home to a number of live performance companies. The Georgian College is the home of the Gryphon Theatre which is a professional company and the Huronia Sympnony. The Maclaren Art Centre is the home of Theatre by the Bay which specializes in Shakespeare productions. Grove Park Home is the practice hall for On Stage Performance Group which performs in Cookstown. Talk is Free Theatre (TIFT), the Strolling Youth Players (contact at 705-739-5025), and the Kempenfelt Community Players also all perform in Barrie. There is also a live concert series annually hosted by Georgian College featuring musical performances.

Plans are currently in the works to build another, smaller theatre in downtown Barrie to facilitate small theatre groups.

Media

Print There are two newspapers that are published in Barrie. The Barrie Advance is a free newspaper delivered twice a week (Wednesday & Fridays) to every resident in the city, plus every home in Springwater Township, and parts of Oro-Medonte. The newspaper contains local news, classifieds, advertisements and flyers. The Barrie Examiner is a subscription-based paper delivered 6 days a week. It is also delivered free to residents of Barrie on Wednesdays and Fridays. Television

Channel 3: CKVR - A
Channel 10: Rogers TV, community channelRadio
FM 93.1 - CHAY (93.1 CHAY-FM), adult contemporary
FM 95.7 - CFJB ("Rock 95"), active rock
FM 100.3 - CJLF ("Life FM"), Christian
FM 101.1 - CIQB ("B101"), contemporary hit radio
FM 107.5 - CKMB ("1075 Kool FM"), hot adult contemporary

Sports

Club	League	Venue	Established	Championships
Barrie Colts	OHL Hockey	Barrie Molson Centre	1995	1
Barrie Baycats	IBL Baseball	Barrie Metals Stadium	2001	1

Barrie is also home to the Mariposa School of Skating which has trained many world-class figure skaters, including Brian Orser, Elvis Stojko and Jeff Buttle.