Mission, Calgary
Encyclopedia
The Mission district is an inner city
Inner city
The inner city is the central area of a major city or metropolis. In the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, the term is often applied to the lower-income residential districts in the city centre and nearby areas...
neighbourhood of Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
that originated as Notre Dame de la Paix, a Catholic mission, and was for a time the incorporated Village of Rouleauville. Mission contains the very popular 4th Street with many trendy restaurants and shops, and it hosts the Lilac Festival
Lilac Festival (Calgary)
Lilac festival is an annual street festival held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It celebrates the lilac flowers and was first organized in 1989 by the 4th Street Business Revitalization Zone....
in May.
It is represented in the Calgary City Council
Calgary City Council
The Calgary City Council is the legislative governing body that represents the citizens of Calgary. The Council consists of two offices; Office of the Mayor and Office of the Alderman. Naheed Nenshi was elected to the Office of the Mayor in October 2010 as the city's 36th chief executive...
by Ward 8 Alderman
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...
John Mar. The community has an area redevelopment plan
Area redevelopment plan
An Area redevelopment plan is an urban planning designation created by municipalities in Alberta, Canada for the purposes of facilitating development in specific geographic areas. ARPs differ from Area structure plans in that they apply to areas of a municipality that have already been developed...
in place.
History
After a temporary location 40 km (24.9 mi) away (started in 1872), Oblate missionaryMissionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816 by Saint Eugene de Mazenod, a French priest born in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France on August 1, 1782. The congregation was given recognition by Pope...
Father Constantine Scollen
Constantine Scollen
Father Con Scollen omi. was an Irish Roman Catholic missionary who lived among and evangelised the Blackfoot, Cree and Métis peoples on the Canadian Prairies and in Montana. Later he worked among the native peoples of the USA on missions in what is now, North Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas...
, on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, founded the permanent location in 1875. In 1883, Oblate missionary Father Albert Lacombe, returning after a ten year absence, obtained two quarter sections of land for a "Mission district" to ensure a strong French speaking Catholic community. Father Scollen who had lived in the area since 1862 and who had witnessed Treaty Six with the Cree
Cree
The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...
Nation and Treaty Seven with the Blackfeet
Blackfeet
The Piegan Blackfeet are a tribe of Native Americans of the Algonquian language family based in Montana, having lived in this area since around 6,500 BC. Many members of the tribe live as part of the Blackfeet Nation in northwestern Montana, with population centered in Browning...
Nation left for Edmonton and then the U.S.A.
After obtaining the rest of the land that's now Mission, the area was incorporated on November 2, 1899 as the Village of Rouleauville named after Charles Rouleau
Charles Rouleau
Charles Borromée Rouleau was a 19th-century Canadian politician, lawyer, judge and writer...
. The village was founded in what was then the Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
. Despite Lacombe's desire to preserve the French language and culture, Rouleauville progressively lost its French character, becoming overwhelmingly English. In 1907 the village was annexed by Calgary. In the process all the French names of streets were replaced by Calgary's street numbering system.
Institutions
In the latter part of his life, Lacombe helped found a number of Catholic schools throughout the West, including St. Mary's SchoolSt. Mary's High School (Calgary)
St. Mary's High School is a Canadian secondary school in Calgary, Alberta, operated by the Calgary Catholic School District . The school is well known in Calgary for its historical significance...
in 1885, initially using a two-storey log cabin convent in Mission district (Rouleauville). It is now the oldest school still operating in Calgary (though in a newer building). Talisman Centre
Talisman Centre
The Talisman Centre, formerly known as the Lindsay Park Sports Centre, is a multi-sports complex in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The name of the facility was changed in March 2002, after the City of Calgary sold the naming rights for 10 million dollars to Talisman Energy for 30 years.The complex...
is also located in this neighborhood.
In 1889 St. Mary's Church was founded, and in 1912 it became St. Mary's Cathedral
St. Mary's Cathedral (Calgary)
St. Mary's Cathedral in Calgary, Alberta, Canada is a Roman Catholic cathedral. The building’s full name is The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.- History:...
when it became the seat of the newly formed Diocese of Calgary.
Demographics
In 2006 the neighbourhood had a population of 4,433. Residents in this community had a median household incomeMedian household income
The median household income is commonly used to generate data about geographic areas and divides households into two equal segments with the first half of households earning less than the median household income and the other half earning more...
of $
Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
37,040 in 2000, and there were 25% low income residents living in the neighbourhood. As of 2000, 20.1% of the residents were immigrants. A proportion of 94.6% of the buildings were condominium
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
s or apartment
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
s, and 70% of the housing was used for renting
Renting
Renting is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property owned by another. A gross lease is when the tenant pays a flat rental amount and the landlord pays for all property charges regularly incurred by the ownership from landowners...
.