Welcome to Hamilton, Ontario

Motto:             Together Aspire, Together Achieve
Population:    504,559 (2006)

Hamilton is a port city founded by George Hamilton shortly after the War of 1812. In 2001 the City of Hamilton amalgamated with  the townships of Hamilton-Wentworth  to form the new City of Hamilton, the 9th largest city in Canada and the 3rd largest in Ontario.

Traditionally, the local economy has been led by the steel and heavy manufacturing industries. Within the last decade, there has been a shift towards the service sector, like health and sciences including the Hamilton Health Sciences which employs nearly 10,000 staff and serves approximately 2.2 million people in Central South and Central West Ontario. The Hamilton Airport is the busiest air cargo hub and fastest growing airport in Canada. Recent construction in Hamilton includes the research campus McMaster Innovation Park, on land formerly belonging to the steel company Camco.

Hamilton is home to the Royal Botanical Gardens , the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum , the Bruce Trail , McMaster University and Mohawk College. The Canadian Football League 's Hamilton Tiger-Cats play at Ivor Wynne Stadium , close to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, and the American Hockey League's Hamilton Bull Dogs play at Copps Coliseum. Partly because of its diverse locations, numerous TV and film productions have been filmed in Hamilton. A growing arts and culture sector includes art galleries, recording studios and centres devoted to acting and independent film production.

Geography
Hamilton is located on the western end of the Niagara Peninsula and wraps around the westernmost part of Lake Ontario , most of the city including the downtown section are on the south shore. Situated in the geographic centre of the Golden Horseshoe and is roughly the midway point between Toronto and Buffalo. The major physical features are Hamilton Harbour marking the northern limit of the city and the Niagara Escarpment running through the middle of the city across its entire breadth, bisecting the city into 'upper' and 'lower' parts.

The first aboriginals to settle in the area called Hamilton bay "Macassa," meaning "beautiful waters." The bay is a natural harbour with a large sandbar called the Beachstrip. This sandbar was deposited during a period of higher lake levels during the last ice age, and extends southeast through the central lower city to the escarpment. Hamilton's deep sea port is accessed by ship canal through the beach strip into the harbour and is traversed by two bridges, the QEW's Burlington Skyway a nd the lower Canal Lift Bridge.

Conservation
The Hamilton Conservation Authority manages almost 10,000 acres of land with the City of Hamilton. Many of the parks are located along the Niagara Escarpment, which runs from Tobermory at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula in the north, to Queenston at the Niagara River in the south, and provides views of the cities and towns at the western end of Lake Ontario. The hiking path Bruce Trail runs the length of the escarpment and through parks with cliffs and waterfalls. Over 80 waterfalls have been identified here which led to the city being nicknamed "The City of Waterfalls".

Demographics
According to the 2001 Canadian Census, one-fourth of the local population was not born in Canada. This is the third highest such proportion in Canada after Toronto, and Vancouver. Hamilton also had a high proportion of British Isles origins. Nearly three in ten residents reported English as their sole ethnic origin, or as one of their ancestral origins. As well, nearly one in five reported Scottish ancestry either alone or in combination with another ethnic origin.

The most described religion in Hamilton is Christianity though other religions brought by immigrants are also growing. The 2001 census indicates that 77.56% of the population adheres to a Christian denomination, Protestants constituting 37.08% of the population, while Roman Catholics number 35.48% (significantly lower than the national average), while Christ the King Cathedral is the seat of the Diocese of Hamilton . The remaining 5.0% consists of Orthodox, and independent Christian churches. The largest non-Christian religion is Islam with 12,880 adherents or 1.96% of the total population. Other religions including Judaism , Buddhism , Hinduism , and other consistitute less than one percent each. Those with no religious affiliation account for 115,510 (17.63%) in 2001.