A police village was a form of
municipal government
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 ...
that was used in the
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...
of
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 Ca ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its 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's second-largest country by to ...
in the early 19th century if the finances or the population of an area did not permit the creation of a
village
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 ...
.
Formation
In the early 19th Century, the
Parliament of Upper Canada
The Parliament of Upper Canada was the legislature for Upper Canada. It was created when the old Province of Quebec was split into Upper Canada and Lower Canada by the Constitutional Act of 1791.
As in other Westminster-style legislatures, ...
established "boards of police" in municipalities that were not large enough to justify the creation of a
municipal council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...
.
The creation of "police villages" was authorized in 1850 upon the passage of the Baldwin Act by the
Parliament of the Province of Canada, and was continued by the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Member of Provincial ...
in 1873. The law relating to them remained essentially unchanged until 1965, when the ability to create new police villages was abolished.
The rules governing the formation of police villages were as follows:
#A county council, upon the petition of a sufficient number of property owners and tenants, could erect a locality into a police village, so long as it had a population of not less than 150, and an area of not more than .
#Where the locality straddled two or more counties, the council of the county that had the largest portion of the locality was the one that could establish the police village.
#If the area was less than , the council could later increase the size up to that limit.
#If the population later exceeded 500, upon the petition of two thirds of the owners and tenants, the area could be increased beyond that limit at the rate of per 100 in population.
#If an expansion of a police village involved an extension into another county, it could not occur without the consent of the other county council.
#After the
Ontario Municipal Board
The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) was an independent administrative board, operated as an adjudicative tribunal, in the province of Ontario, Canada. It heard applications and appeals on municipal and planning disputes, as well as other matters s ...
was established, such erections and expansions could not occur without its approval, and it also had direct power to erect and expand police villages if a county council has failed to act on a petition and if the locality was within one of the
provisional judicial districts.
Almost all of the communities that once held that status have since been erected into villages, towns, or cities or amalgamated into other municipalities.
Russell still exists as such a body.
Police villages were dissolved with provincial acts creating new municipalities. In 1971, the creation of
York Region
The Regional Municipality of York, also called York Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, between Lake Simcoe and Toronto. The region was established after the passing of then Bill 102, An Act to Establish The Regional M ...
resulted in the dissolution of
Holland Landing,
King City,
Maple
''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since h ...
,
Mount Albert,
Nobleton,
Queensville
Queensville is a village within the Town of East Gwillimbury, Ontario, Canada.
History
Originally named ''Four Corners'' and ''Hackett's Corners'' (after William Hackett owner of a general store), it was renamed as ''Queensville'' in 1843 to ho ...
,
Schomberg,
Sharon,
Thornhill, and
Unionville as police villages.
The responsibilities of the police village boards were shifted to other boards or the municipality to which the police village was amalgamated. For example, the trustees of the police village of King City were deemed a commission for the King City Hydro-Electric System, which became a local board of the township of
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...
with full transfer of all rights and obligations.
Police villages
References
Further reading
*
External links
*{{cite web, url=https://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/guides/rg_209_municipal-records.aspx, title=Municipal Records at the Archives of Ontario, publisher=
Archives of Ontario
The Archives of Ontario are the archives for the province of Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1903 as the Bureau of Archives, the archives are now under the responsibility of the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery. The main offices of ...
, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121122061639/http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/guides/rg_209_municipal-records.aspx, archivedate=22 November 2012
Types of administrative division
Local government in Ontario
Police divisions