Bruce County is a county in Southwestern

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada comprising eight lower-tier municipalities and with a 2016 population of 66,491. It is named for James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine, sixth

Governor General of the Province of Canada The Governor General of the Province of Canada was the viceregal post of the pre-Confederation Province of Canada that existed from 1840 to Canadian Confederation in 1867. The post replaced the Governor General of New France and later Governor Ge ...

. The Bruce name is also linked to the Bruce Trail and the

Bruce Peninsula The Bruce Peninsula is a peninsula in Ontario, Canada, that divides Georgian Bay of Lake Huron from the lake's main basin. The peninsula extends roughly northwestwards from the rest of Southwestern Ontario, pointing towards Manitoulin Island, ...

. It has three distinct areas. The Peninsula is part of the Niagara Escarpment and is known for its views, rock formations, cliffs, and hiking trails. The Lakeshore includes nearly 100 km of fresh water and soft sandy beaches. Finally, the Interior Region has a strong history in farming.

History

Cessions of First Nations lands

The territory of the County arose from various surrenders of

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

lands. The bulk of the land arose from the Queen's Bush, as a result of the 1836 Saugeen Tract Agreement. This was followed by the cession of the Indian Strip in 1851, for a road between

Owen Sound Owen Sound ( 2021 Census population 21,612) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The county seat of Grey County, it is located at the mouths of the Pottawatomi and Sydenham Rivers on an inlet of Georgian Bay. The primary tourist attractio ...

and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

that was never constructed. Friction between the Chippewas that arose out of this led to significant delay in later negotiations. The Saugeen Surrenders of 1854, known as "Treaty 72", transferred the remainder of the Bruce Peninsula to the Crown, reserving the following lands:

Municipal history

Huron County was organized in the Huron District in 1845, and the District itself (which had been continued for judicial purposes) was abolished at the beginning of 1850. Legislation passed later in the same session of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada provided instead for it to be reconstituted as the United Counties of Huron, Perth and Bruce, with the territory of the

(referred to as the "Indian Reserve") withdrawn and annexed to Waterloo County. Bruce County consisted of the following townships: * Huron * Kinloss * Curloss * Carrick * Kincardine * Greenock * Brant * Bruce * Saugeen * Elderslie * Arran The Indian Reserve (being that part not otherwise transferred to

Grey County Grey County is a county of the Canadian province of Ontario. The county seat is in Owen Sound. It is located in the subregion of Southern Ontario named Southwestern Ontario. Grey County is also a part of the Georgian Triangle. At the time of t ...

) was later withdrawn from Waterloo and transferred to Bruce in 1851. The

County of Perth Perthshire ( locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the nort ...

was given its own Provisional Municipal Council at that time, and was separated from the United Counties in 1853. In 1849, the Huron District Council initially united the area of the county with the United Townships of Wawanosh and Ashfield as a single municipality, which lasted until 1851 when Wawanosh and Ashfield were withdrawn. The area then became known as the "United Townships in the County of Bruce", which lasted until its division into municipalities in 1854. The Bruce Peninsula was later surveyed into townships, starting with Amabel and Albemarle in 1855, Eastnor in 1862, Lindsay in 1870, and St. Edmunds in 1871. The following villages and towns would be constituted over the years:

Formation of a separate county council (18571867)

Townships of Bruce County, Ontario, 1880

A Provisional Municipal Council was established for Bruce County at the beginning of 1857, Walkerton was initially proclaimed as the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

, in preference to Kincardine, but local opposition forced the proclamation to be deferred until each town and village had presented a case for its selection. A subsequent proclamation confirmed Walkerton's selection. In 1863, the provisional council promoted a bill in the Legislative Assembly to divide the county into the counties of Bruce and Wallace, with Kincardine and Southampton once more proposed as the respective county towns, but it only went as far as second reading and did not proceed further. The provisional council later asked for legislation to provide for a

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

as to whether Walkerton, Paisley, Kincardine or another place would be the most acceptable choice. The referendum was held in September 1864, and Paisley received a plurality of the votes. In early 1865, the provisional council asked for legislation to confirm the result, but changed its mind later in the year in favour of Walkerton. Confirming legislation was passed in 1866 to provide for the dissolution of the United Counties on January 1, 1867, with Huron and Bruce becoming separate counties for all purposes.

Indigenous lands

Two First Nations are included within the Bruce census division, but their lands are separate from the county administration:

Land disputes

There have been disputes relating to cottage owners leasing properties on First Nations lands in the County. At

Hope Bay Hope Bay (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Bahía Esperanza'') on Trinity Peninsula, is long and wide, indenting the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and opening on Antarctic Sound. It is the site of the Argentinian Antarctic settlement Esperanza Ba ...

, the occupiers of 68 cottages saw their leases revoked in 2007, resulting in a lawsuit that was only settled in 2018, leading to the resulting demolition of the cottages. in the Saugeen and Chief's Point reserves, there are four blocks of land encompassing 1,200 cottages that had been subject to ten-year lease agreements, on which a new five-year agreement came into effect in May 2021. Litigation is underway, in which the Saugeen Ojibway First Nation is claiming the following: #Compensation resulting from the Crown breaching its fiduciary trust to protect and preserve the territory of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation; #Aboriginal title over the water territory around the Bruce Peninsula, from the international boundary with the United States in Lake Huron across to Georgian Bay; and #A declaration that their harvesting (ie, hunting and fishing) rights within their traditional territory were not extinguished by Treaty 72 of 1854. In July 2021, the

Ontario Superior Court The Superior Court of Justice (French: ''Cour supérieure de justice'') is a superior court in Ontario. The Court sits in 52 locations across the province, including 17 Family Court locations, and consists of over 300 federally appointed judges. ...

dismissed the first two claims, but upheld the third. It deferred the question of liability with respect to municipal defendants for a subsequent hearing. An appeal has been filed with respect to the dismissals. Settlements on municipal liability have since been reached with Bruce County and Saugeen Shores. The Saugeen First Nation is pursuing separate litigation relating to the determination of the actual reserve boundary. Treaty 72 had originally provided for the following reservation of land: A dispute has arisen because the original survey of Amabel Township appears to be at variance with the treaty's specifications, with the eastern limit being drawn at 8 miles from the western limit, instead of the 9½ stated. The matter had been partially resolved some years earlier, with certain lands running from Sauble Beach down to Southampton reverting to the reserve. However, another part of the public beach in Sauble Beach, approximately 2 km in length, is still in dispute. The matter has been in protracted litigation, with separate claims being filed in 1990 by the federal government and in 1995 by the First Nation. An attempted settlement, arising from mediation overseen by the former Supreme Court of Canada justice

Ian Binnie William Ian Corneil Binnie (born April 14, 1939) is a former puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, serving from January 8, 1998 to October 27, 2011. Of the justices appointed to the Supreme Court in recent years, he is one of the few app ...

, collapsed in 2014. The case hearing began in November 2021. In the meantime, some friction has occurred between the First Nation and local authorities over maintenance work being undertaken on the local dunes. The southern portion of Sauble Beach, known as Sauble Park, is within the limits of the reserve. As of 2018, beach parking is no longer available there, in line with what is already the case at Wasaga Beach and Grand Bend.

Demographics

As a census division in the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by Statistics Canada, Bruce County had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Municipalities

Bruce County comprises eight municipalities (in population order): The County of Bruce is governed by a council consisting of a warden and mayors of the area

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

. County council meetings are held in the Bruce County Administration building in Walkerton, Ontario.

Environment

Protected areas

National parks

* Bruce Peninsula National Park * Fathom Five National Marine Park

Provincial parks

* Inverhuron Provincial Park *

MacGregor Point Provincial Park MacGregor Point Provincial Park is a park located on Lake Huron, off of Bruce Road 33 near Port Elgin, Ontario, Canada. The varied habitat found within the park includes a seven-kilometre stretch of coast, coastal wetlands, forests, and dunes. ...

* Sauble Falls Provincial Park * Black Creek Provincial Park

Conservation areas

Bruce County is home to a number of conservation areas with the jurisdiction of Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority and Grey Sauble Conservation Authority.

Endangered species

Massasauga Rattlesnake The massasauga (''Sistrurus catenatus'') is a rattlesnake species found in midwestern North America from southern Ontario to northern Mexico and parts of the United States in between. Like all rattlesnakes, it is a pit viper and is venomous. Th ...