PEEL REGION

ith over 1 million             are administered by 3 school
residents, Peel Region is     boards - The Peel District School
the second largest            Board for the public, English
Administrative Region in Ontario.     based students. The Dufferin-Peel
Conveniently located with Halton      Catholic District School Board
Region to the West and York and       for Catholic denomination
Toronto to the East, the Region       students and The Conseil Scolaire
has experienced fast growth in        de District du Centre Sud-Ouest
both residential and commercial       which is for the French students.
developments. Peel Region was
incorporated into the
organisation it is today when the     The Region also has its own
old County of Peel had its            administration for Healthcare
municipalities reformed into the      which follows the Provincial
2 cities of Brampton (central         system. As with the rest of the
region) and Mississauga (largest      GTA, transportation links are the
city south of the region) and the     best in Canada with Highways,
Town of Caledon (north of the         Railroads and the country's
region).                              largest airport - the Lester
                                     Pearson International.
As with all of Ontario, Peel
Region has an extensive heritage.     The Municipalities
Starting with the native peoples
and then the settlement by the        The City of Mississauga is
westerners in the 16/17 hundreds.     Canada's sixth largest city, with
The Peel Heritage Complex has         a Population of at least 680,000
been constructed to provide ample     is still growing rapidly and is
coverage of this.                     named after a band of the Ojibwa
                                     First Nation. Many new businesses
The Regional education programs       are being attracted by

competitive tax rates with            businesses. Two major automobile
exceptional services,                 manufacturers have their Canadian
infrastructure and transportation     bases here - Ford and
links. The lowest crime rate          Daimler/Chrysler - along with
across all the major Canadian         Canadian Tire, Coca-Cola and
cities also makes it a prime          Nortel. The unemployment rate is
location for families to settle.      around 7.5% and there is an
                                      average growth rate for industry
                                      of 3.8%.
Well situated on the shores of
Lake Ontario adjacent to Toronto,     The city is dissected by five of
Mississauga is a business             Ontario's major highways, is
powerhouse. Many of Canada's top      close to Lester Pearson
companies are based here              International airport, has rail
including Bell Mobility, Air          links and the local Brampton
Canada, Pratt & Whitney,              Transit connects to the GTA GO
GlaxoSmithKline, RBC and TD           Transit and Mississauga Transit.
Financial Groups. Over 20,000
businesses in total are in the        There are the standard
city employing over 400,000           recreational activities - 3,000
people.                               acres of parks, trails, arenas
                                      and leisure centres. Also, the
The Peel Region local government      large man made Professor Lake has
is headquartered in the City of       sandy beaches and provides wind
Brampton (chartered as a village      surfing, canoeing and boating in
in 1853) and is one of the major      the summer months. Staying on the
employers in the area. With over      aquatic scene - the Wild Water
370,000 residents, Brampton is a      Kingdom is Canada's largest water
large city with numerous              park and attracts millions of
attractions, parks and                visitors each year. The Peel

Heritage Complex is in the city       fairly rural community in the
and the new Performing Arts           Northern section of the Peel
Centre will be opening in 2005.       Region. Again, it’s a very fast
Gage Park was the first municipal     growing community with an
park and is still open to the         increase in population of over
public today with concerts,           26% between 1996 and 2001 to
wading pool for the kids which        around 50,000. The Town is made
becomes an ice arena in the           up of several smaller communities
winter.                               with Bolton being the larger. The
                                     others are Caledon East, Mayfield
The schools and healthcare are        West, Cheltenham, Alton,
administered by the Peel Region       Inglewood and Caledon itself.
Government with one major
hospital in the city. Housing         Most employment is in the
costs are rising at around 10%        Manufacturing, Retail and
per year with the 2003 average        Business services sectors with a
for a detached home at around         low unemployment rate of only
$295,000. The average household       3.3%.
income was $75,000. The city is
known for being a safe place to       Like the rest of the Peel Region,
live with low average crime rates     Caledon has excellent
and is policed by the Peel Region     transportation links with close
Police Force. Overall, the city       proximity to Pearson
offers an excellent standard of       International airport and the
living to its residents and is        independent airport at Brampton.
set to continue as one of
Canada's fastest growing cities.
                                      For more detailed information and
                                      great links please go to
The Town Of Caledon is a smaller,     http://www.onestopimmigration-can

ada.com/peel_region.html

About the Author:

dave Lympany emigrated to Canada with his family in 2003 and has developed a free onestop information resource for Canada and Canadian Immigration - http://www.onestopimmigration-canada.com