Wawanesa is an unincorporated urban community in the

Municipality of Oakland – Wawanesa The Municipality of Oakland – Wawanesa is a rural municipality (RM) in the Canadian province of Manitoba. History The RM was incorporated on January 1, 2015 via the amalgamation of the RM of Oakland and the Village of Wawanesa. It was forme ...

within the Canadian province of

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

that held village status before January 1, 2015. Wawanesa is considered to be the Cree word for whippoorwill (Douglas) or for wild goose nest (Rayburn). It is the birthplace of

The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Co. Wawanesa Insurance—officially The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company, also known as Wawanesa Mutual or simply Wawanesa —is a Canadian mutual insurance firm, as well as among Canada's ten largest property and casualty insurers. The company's h ...

Demographics

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, Wawanesa had a population of 653 living in 254 of its 266 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 594. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. In 2016, of those in Wawanesa aged 15 or older, 57.4% are

married Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

, 7.4% are living with a

common-law partner Common-law marriage, also known as non-ceremonial marriage, marriage, informal marriage, or marriage by habit and repute, is a legal framework where a couple may be considered married without having formally registered their relation as a civil ...

, 18.0% have never been married, 2.1% are separated, 6.4% are divorced, and 8.5% are

widowed A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has died. Terminology The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed ''widowhood''. An archaic term for a widow is "relict," literally "someone left over". This word can so ...

. Of the census families in Wawanesa, 52.9% consist of two persons, 11.8% consist of three persons, 20.6% consist of four persons, and the remaining 11.8% consist of five or more persons. The average size of a census family in Wawanesa is 2.9 persons. 53.3% of couple census families live without children, 10.0% live with one child, 23.3% live with two children, and 13.3% live with three or more children.

Notable people

Notable people associated with Wawanesa have included suffragist

Nellie McClung Nellie Letitia McClung (; 20 October 18731 September 1951) was a Canadian author, politician, and social activist, who is regarded as one of Canada's most prominent suffragists. She began her career in writing with the 1908 book ''Sowing Seeds ...

and

Edna Diefenbaker Edna May Diefenbaker (''née'' Brower; November 30, 1899 – February 7, 1951) was the first wife of the 13th Prime Minister of Canada, John Diefenbaker.Geoffrey Stevens, "The Chief's unknown and vivacious first love". ''The Globe and Mail'', Sept ...

, the first wife of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

John Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electi ...

References

External links

Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa
{{manitoba-geo-stub Designated places in Manitoba Former villages in Manitoba Populated places disestablished in 2015 2015 disestablishments in Manitoba