The
Canadian province of
Ontario has several historic counties, which are past
census divisions that no longer exist today. Most historic counties either merged with other counties, or became
regional municipalities or single-tier municipalities. Although counties had existed prior to 1849, after 1849 they replaced the district systems in administering local government and courts in
Ontario.
The county system is used in southern, southwestern and eastern sections of the province of Ontario. There are no counties in
Northern Ontario due to sparse population and a long-standing boundary dispute with the
Northwest Territories (that was not resolved until 1912).
Haldimand County (1800–1974; 2001–present) was merged into the Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk for many years, but this was divided again with some minor adjustments to the old lines in 2001; it is now a single-tier municipality, not an official county
Norfolk County (1792–1974) was merged into the Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk for many years, but this was divided again with some minor adjustments to the old lines in 2001; it is now a single-tier municipality, not an official county
Ontario County a short-lived first county with this name existed from 1792 to 1800, and was split with the eastern portion joining Frontenac County and the western portion joining Addington County. The second existed from 1852 to 1973, and merged with portions of Durham County to form
Durham Regional Municipality. A small portion became part of Simcoe County.
Suffolk County (1792–1800) formed in 1792 with
Ontario County, in 1800 it was split into the Counties of
Kent,
Elgin and
Middlesex. During its short existence it was made up of Delaware Township, Westminster Township, most of North Dorchester Township and the rest Indian land.[1]
Various counties throughout Ontario were joined administratively in the 19th century. While many of these still exist today and have become relatively permanent, some have since been dissolved. For example, the former United Counties of Huron and Perth existed for only a few years in the 19th century. The United Counties of Northumberland and Durham, on the other hand, merged eight years after each one was created, and continued for 174 years up until the dissolution of Durham County on January 1, 1974.
Special cases
Four of Ontario's
electoral districts were also erroneously listed as counties of residence in some of Canada's first post-
Confederation censuses. These did not exist as counties in the political sense, although they may be referred to as such in some historical and genealogical works because of their appearances in census data:
Bothwell was made up of townships from Kent and Lambton counties.
Cardwell was made up of townships from Simcoe and Peel counties.
Monck was made up of townships from Lincoln, Haldimand, and Welland Counties.
Niagara was made up of townships from Lincoln County.