Mississauga - City of Canada

Mississauga incorporated in 1974, is a city located in the Regional Municipality of Peel, Ontario, and part of the Greater Toronto Area. With a population of 668,549 as of the 2006 census, it is Canada's sixth-most populous municipality, and has almost doubled in population in each of the last two decades.

Mississauga has been trying to create a distinctive image for itself over the past few years. An international architectural design competition was held in 2006 for a 50-story condominium tower that is intended to be a landmark for the city named Absolute World. The city is debt-free and has not borrowed money since 1978. With five major highways passing through the city, Mississauga offers access to major destinations in Canada and the United States. In addition, most of Toronto Pearson International Airport, Canada's busiest, is located in the city. Residents of the city are called Mississaugans. Mississauga also boasts one of the largest corporate/financial districts in Canada with major international companies having their Canadian headquarters located in the region including Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Pepsico, General Electric, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, Fujitsu and Wal Mart, among many other Fortune 500 companies.

At the time of the arrival of the Europeans in the 1600s, both Iroquoian and Algonquian speaking peoples already lived in the Credit River Valley area. One of the First Nations groups the traders found around the Credit River area was called the Mississaugas, a tribe originally from the Georgian Bay area. By 1700 the Mississaugas had driven away the Iroquois.

Toronto Township was formed on August 2, 1805 when officials from York purchased 84,000 acres of land from the Mississaugas for 1,000 pounds and in 1806 the area was opened for settlement. Toronto township is not to be confused with the present-day City of Toronto, as no part of the former township boundaries overlap with the Toronto of today. The various communities settled include: Lakeview, Clarkson, Cooksville, Dixie, Erindale , Lorne Park, Port Credit, Sheridan, Streetsville, Meadowvale and Summerville. This region would become known as Toronto Township. Part of northeast Mississauga, including the Airport lands and Malton were part of Gore Township.


The Queen Elizabeth Way highway, one of the first controlled access highways in the world opened from Highway 27 to Highway 10 , Port Credit, in 1935 and later Hamilton and Niagara in 1939. The first prototypical suburban developments occurred around the same time, in the area of the Dixie Road and the QEW. Development in general moved north and west from there over time and around established towns. Large scale developments such as in Meadowvale and Erin Mills sprung up in the 1960s and 70s.

In 2006, an international architectural design competition was held for a 50 storey condominium tower that is intended to be a recognizable landmark for the city. The winning design, named Absolute World, by Chinese architect Yansong Ma of the MAD firm, is a bold, curvaceous tower that was dubbed the "Marilyn Monroe" for its supposed sexiness, and has received plaudits from urban architecture critics such as Christopher Hume of the Toronto Star. The building is currently scheduled to be finished by 2010.

The climate of Mississauga is represented by Pearson International Airport. Localized conditions can vary fog tends to be more common along the lakeshore and in the Credit River Valley at certain times of year, particularly the fall. The southwestern side of the city can be much milder in winter than northern areas including the airport, while lakeshore areas particularly from Port Credit east through Lakeview are sometimes cooler on hot summer days and noticeably cooler on sunny spring days. During snowfalls when temperatures hover close to freezing, northern parts of the city, such as around Derry Road away from warmer Lake Ontario, tend to get more snow than the southern parts, the reverse is true when a strong storm approaches from the south with temperatures below freezing. Such winter storms that come from the US Midwest often bring a volatile mix of snow with sleet and sometimes freezing rain. Summer thunderstorms are common, most are not severe but can occasionally bring violent winds.

Mississauga is the home to the University of Toronto at Mississauga , one of three intercity campuses of the University of Toronto. UTM has an enrollment of approximately 10,000 students. It is growing rapidly, at a rate of about 1,000 students per year since 2002.

Mississauga is served by the Peel District School Board and the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board. Together there are more than 150 schools in this city to fulfill the needs of its large youth population.

French immersion schools in multiple locations across the city.
Extended French Program at Green Glade Senior Public School and Lorne Park Secondary School.
Arts Education Program at Queen Elizabeth Senior Public School and Cawthra Park Secondary School.
International Business and Technology Program at Allan A. Martin Senior Public School and Gordon. Graydon Memorial Secondary School.
International Baccalaureate Program at St. Francis Xavier Secondary School and Glenforest Secondary School.
Sci Tech Program at Tomken Road Middle School and Port Credit Secondary School.