Big Lakes County, formerly the Municipal District of Big Lakes, is a

municipal district A municipal district is an administrative entity comprising a clearly-defined territory and its population. It can refer to a city, a town, a village, a small grouping of them, or a rural area. Brazil In Brazil, municipal districts are, in genera ...

in north-central

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Terr ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world ...

. It is located in Census Division 17, around the Lesser Slave Lake. Utikuma Lake and Winagami Lake are also located in the municipality.

History

Big Lakes County was previously known as the Municipal District of Big Lakes prior to March 6, 2015.

Geography

Communities and localities

The following urban municipalities are surrounded by Big Lakes County. ;

Cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

*none ;

Towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

* High Prairie * Swan Hills ;

Villages A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred t ...

*none ; Summer villages *none The following

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

are located within Big Lakes County. ;

Hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

* Enilda *

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...

* Grouard or Grouard Mission * Joussard * Kinuso The following Métis settlements and Indian reserves are located within Big Lakes County. ;Métis settlements * East Prairie Métis Settlement * Gift Lake Métis Settlement * Peavine Métis Settlement ;Indian reserves * Drift Pile River * Kapawe'no Freeman * Halcro and Pakashan * Sucker Creek * Swan River The following localities are located within Big Lakes County. ;Localities * Aggie *Banana Belt *Big Prairie *Gilwood *Heart River *Heart River Settlement *Improvement District No. 17 *Kenzie *Leicester *Lesser Slave Lake Settlement *Nine Mile Point *Prairie Echo *Salt Prairie *Salt Prairie Settlement *Triangle

Demographics

As a

census subdivision The census geographic units of Canada are the census subdivisions defined and used by Canada's federal government statistics bureau Statistics Canada to conduct the country's quinquennial census. These areas exist solely for the purposes of stat ...

in the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultu ...

, Big Lakes County had a population of 4,986 living in 2,007 of its 2,632 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 5,625. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. As a census subdivision in the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Big Lakes County had a population of 5,672 living in 2,099 of its 2,728 total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of 5,912. This includes the populations of three Métis settlements, East Prairie (304), Gift Lake (658) and Peavine (607), located within the census subdivision that are municipalities independent of Big Lakes County. With a land area of , the census subdivision had a population density of in 2016. Excluding the three Metis settlements, Big Lakes County had a population of 4,103 in 2016, a change of from its 2011 population of 4,914. Big Lakes County's 2013 municipal census counted a population of 3,861, a change from its 2002 municipal census population of 4,181.

Visible minorities and Aboriginals

Big Lakes had the most Métis people per capita of any Canadian census subdivision in 2006 with a population of 5,000 or more due to the census' inclusion of the population of the three Métis settlement municipalities within Big Lakes' totals.

Education

Southeastern parts of the district are within

Pembina Hills Public Schools The Pembina Hills School Division, (formerly known as Pembina Hills Regional Division No. 7 and Pembina Hills Public Schools) is a school district, school division headquartered in Barrhead, Alberta. The division, with 16 schools having a total ...

, which formed in 1995 as a merger of three school districts.

References

External links

* {{Alberta, RM=yes Big Lakes