Best Places to Live In Canada - Whitby, Ontario

Whitby is one of the best places to live in Canada. Situated in desirable Durham Region of Ontario. Whitby is located in Southern Ontario east of Ajax and west of Oshawa, on the north shore of Lake Ontario, and is home to the headquarters of Durham Region. It had a population of 138,501 at the 2021 census.

Whitby borders Ajax to the west, Pickering to the northwest, the Township of Scugog to the north, and Oshawa to the east. Since at least the mid-1990s, the development of subdivisions to accommodate population growth has proceeded in a mostly northward direction.

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Whitby had a population of 138,501 living in 46,460 of its 47,389 total private dwellings, a change of 7.9% from its 2016 population of 128,377. With a land area of 146.69 km2 (56.64 sq mi), it had a population density of 944.2/km2 (2,445.4/sq mi) in 2021

According to the 2006 Census, approximately 17.0% of Whitby's population is classified as visible minority, with Black (6.1%), South Asian (3.3%) and Chinese (1.9%) populations forming the largest individual groups. 2011 Census data[10] show that English is the mother tongue of 83.7% of the residents of Whitby, while native speakers of French make up 1.7% of the population. Of immigrant languages, only Italian is the mother tongue of more than 1% of the population (1.4%).

The median household income in 2015 for Whitby was $103,809

Economy:
Many residents commute to work in other Greater Toronto Area communities. Whitby itself is home to a steel mill operated by Gerdau Ameristeel, a retail support centre operated by Sobeys, and a major Liquor Control Board of Ontario warehouse. Other companies present in Whitby include pharmaceutical manufacturer Patheon, Lear Corporation, Automodular Assemblies, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, and several others.

Education:
Public education in Whitby is provided via the Durham District School Board, which also has its headquarters in Whitby. There are twenty-four elementary schools and five secondary schools: Anderson Collegiate Vocational Institute, Brooklin High School, Donald A Wilson Secondary School, Henry Street High School and Sinclair Secondary School.

The Durham Catholic District School Board oversees public Catholic education in Durham Region. There are twelve Catholic elementary schools and two secondary schools; Father Leo J. Austin Catholic Secondary School and All Saints Catholic Secondary School.

Full French language education is provided by the Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir. There is one elementary school in Whitby, École élémentaire catholique Jean-Paul II (JK-grade 6), as well as a high-school, École secondaire catholique St-Charles Garnier (grades 7-12) which services all of Durham region.

As noted above, Whitby is home to Trafalgar Castle School,[13] an independent school for women that offers grades 5 through 12 in a university preparatory programme. Built in 1859 by the flamboyant Sheriff of Ontario County, Nelson Gilbert "Iron" Reynolds, Trafalgar Castle remains a unique Canadian treasure. The school had opened its doors in 1874 and was called "Ontario Ladies' College" until the late 70s, after which it changed its name to "Trafalgar Castle".

There are also a number of Montessori schools offering programmes for early elementary grades.

Whitby is also the site of the Skills Training Centre of Durham College. The main campus of the college is located in Oshawa, as is Ontario Tech University. Canada Christian College is located in Whitby as well.

Culled from Wikipedia