List Of Hamlets In Alberta
Hamlets in the province of Alberta, Canada, are unincorporated communities administered by, and within the boundaries of, specialized municipalities or rural municipalities (municipal districts, improvement districts and special areas). They consist of five or more dwellings (a majority of which are on parcels of land that are smaller than 1,850 m²), have a generally accepted boundary and name, and contain parcels of land used for non-residential purposes.
Section 59 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA) enables specialized municipalities and municipal districts to designate a hamlet, while Section 590 of the MGA enables the Minister of Alberta Municipal Affairs to designate a hamlet within an improvement district. The Minister may also designate a hamlet within a special area pursuant to Section 10 of the Special Areas Act.
A hamlet can be incorporated as a village when its population reaches 300. However, Alberta has not had a hamlet incorporate as a village in over 30 years since both Barnwell and Wabamun incorporated as villages on January 1, 1980. Since then, it has been more common for urban municipalities to dissolve from their current municipal status to that of a hamlet under the jurisdiction of its surrounding specialized or rural municipality. As such, the number of hamlets in Alberta has steadily grown over the years.
As of 2012, Alberta has 389 hamlets recognized by Alberta Municipal Affairs. Alberta's two largest hamlets – Fort McMurray (formerly a city) within the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo and Sherwood Park within Strathcona County – have been further designated as urban service areas by Municipal Affairs. If they were to incorporate as cities, Sherwood Park and Fort McMurray would rank fifth and seventh respectively among Alberta's largest cities by population.
The latest populations of hamlets are not published by Municipal Affairs, with the exception of the two urban service areas. However, the populations of some hamlets are available from:
- Statistics Canada's 2011 federal census population centre and designated place census geographic units;
- Statistics Canada's 2006 and 2001 federal census community profiles of urban municipalities that were recently dissolved; and
- detailed breakdowns of municipal censuses conducted by specialized and rural municipalities.
Read more about List Of Hamlets In Alberta: List of Hamlets, Former Hamlets
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