Civil and Municipal - Jan 2024

York. Other early settlers were German Hessian soldiers who fought for the British crown during the Revolutionary War.. With a fascinating history preceding it, on January 1, 1971, Whitchurch Township and the Village of Stouffville were merged to create the Town of Whitchurch–Stouffville with a combined population of 11,487, and an area of about 200 square kilometers. In 2019, the Town decided to drop the word Whitchurch from its signs, and while its official name remains Whitchurch-Stouffville, it’s more commonly referred to, these days, as just Stouffville. A UNIQUE CHARACTER AND A CHANGING POPULATION Today, the town is a bedroom community of Toronto, with a population of about 60,000 -a number which has doubled over the last 20 years, largely due to the municipality being connected to the York Durham Sewage System. Another reason for the town’s explosive growth is its unique character in the GTA: while it has a very urbanized center, 95% of its surrounding area is rural and protected from development by provincial legislation, specifically the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act of 2001, designed to protect the ecological and hydrological integrity of the Oak Ridges Moraine. “We’ve got a very small area that has all the urban amenities that any large city might want, but then you can walk in any direction, or drive two minutes in a car, and you are in either farmland or forest,” explains Mayor Iain Lovatt.“So, it’s a beautiful place to be.” Stouffville’s recent growth has brought about a marked shift in the town’s demographics.What used to be a predominantly white farming community is now a very diverse municipality with 40% of its population classified as minority. “We now have, for the first time, a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee composed of representatives from the public and town staff,” Lovatt shares. “Everything we do is through the lens of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: How we develop our events, how we create programming, and how we take into consideration language and cultural barriers. It’s amazing to see. Whether it’s our long-standing Strawberry Festival on Canada Day weekend, the Holiday Market, which is the last week of November, or movies or a concert in the park - seeing so many cultures represented is what makes Stouffville a great place to live.” 79 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 5, ISSUE 01 WHI TCHURCH-STOUFFVI LLE , ONTARIO