List of cities in Canada

This is a list of incorporated cities of Canada in alphabetical order categorized by province. More thorough lists of communities are available for each province.

A map showing the provincial capitals and provinces of Canada

Provincial and territorial capitals

Alberta

To qualify as a city in Alberta, a sufficient population size (over 10,000 people) must be present and a majority of the buildings must be on parcels of land smaller than 1850 square metres.¹ A community is not always incorporated as a city even if it meets these requirements. For example, Fort McMurray merged with Improvement District No. 18 in 1995 to form the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. As a result, it lost its city status and is officially known as a hamlet. Some communities attained city status without reaching the 10,000-population threshold, such as Drumheller (which reverted to town status in 1997). Sherwood Park, despite having ample qualifications to be a city, has chosen to remain, legally, a hamlet.

British Columbia

In British Columbia, a community can be incorporated as a city if its population exceeds 5,000.⁴ Once so incorporated, a city does not lose this status even if its population later declines; the once-thriving city of Greenwood, for example, now has a population of just 695 people.

Manitoba

New Brunswick

Newfoundland and Labrador

Northwest Territories

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia no longer has any incorporated cities, as they were amalgamated into Regional Municipalities in the 1990s.

Nunavut

As in the other two Canadian territories, the only incorporated city in Nunavut is its capital, Iqaluit.

Ontario

In Ontario, city status is conferred by the provincial government, generally upon the request of the incorporated municipality. A municipality may apply for city status anytime after its population surpasses 10,000. This status is not automatically conferred on a community that reaches this population target, but must be requested by the municipality and granted by the provincial Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Not all municipalities which reach this population target have pursued city designation (as, for example, Markham, Ajax and Oakville, which in 2006 had census populations of ca. 262,000, 93,000, and 166,000 respectively). Once designated a city, however, a municipality does not lose this status even if its population later falls back below 10,000 (as, for example, Dryden.)

City status may also be conferred on some rural counties which have been amalgamated such that all municipal governance takes place at the county level with no further municipal subdivisions. Thus, city status in Ontario does not always connote a primarily urbanized community.

Prince Edward Island

Quebec

In Quebec, provincial law does not currently distinguish between towns and cities — one designation, ville, covers both types of communities regardless of size. A ville might be informally referred to as a town or a city in English, but this is an arbitrary and subjective distinction. Quebec does, however, distinguish between villes and other types of incorporated municipalities, such as municipalités and villages autochthones. Quebec did at one time distinguish between villes and cités, but no longer does.

All municipalities in Quebec which have ville status are listed here, regardless of whether they are considered towns or cities in unofficial usage.

Saskatchewan

In Saskatchewan, towns must maintain a population above 5,000 and meet other criteria in order to be granted city status, although in the early 20th century several centres such as Saskatoon and Regina were granted city status despite having a smaller population. The city of Melville retains city status as of 2006 despite dropping below 5,000 population in the 1990s. Kindersley, with a population that fluctuates around the 5,000 mark, has applied for city status in recent years.

Yukon

As in the other two Canadian territories, the only incorporated city in the Yukon is its capital, Whitehorse. Dawson was also previously incorporated as a city, but when the criteria were changed in the 1980s, its status was reduced to that of a town due to population. Through special provision, however, it is officially the town of the city of Dawson.

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