Facts

It’s the largest of nine municipalities in York Region with a growing population of over a quarter of a million. Its land area covers 211.53 square kilometres, and its geography location is 43° 53′ N, 79° 15′ W. Its boundaries extend from Steeles Avenue to the south, Stouffville Road to the north and York-Durham Line in the east. For the western boundaries, it reaches to highway 404 then to a southern direction to Highway 407 stretching westward to Yonge Street.

Markham is a multicultural community of over 65 cultures and languages. Among Ontario cities, the municipality of Markham was the most diverse, with 55.5% of its population part of visible minority groups. From 2001 Statistic Canada, the average age for males is 36.2 and for females is 38.1.

It is dedicated to preserving its natural beauty and historical heritage. In August 2000, the Town of Markham won the first prestigious prize, the Prince of Wales heritage award, honouring the local government for preserving heritage buildings through bylaws and policies. This award was initiated by the Heritage Canada Foundation under royal decree.

The town of Markham is known as the High-Tech Capital of Canada because it has the greatest concentration of over 900 high tech companies in Canada. These Fortune 500 businesses are of  research & development, computer software, electronics, robotics, pharmaceutical, health care, communication, manufacturing, and distribution companies. They are Canadian industry leaders which include  IBM Canada,  Sun Microsystems of Canada Inc,  Apple Canada,  ATI Technologies,  Hewlitt Packard,  GEAC,  Toshiba of Canada Limited,  Lucent Technologies,  Compaq Canada Inc,  AT&T Canada,  SMTC Manufacturing Corporation, and so much more. This is why Markham is also known as “The Silicon Valley of the North”.

Over 400 national and international corporations have located their headquarters in the town of Markham. They are supported by a pro-business environment, highly educated labour force, state-of-art facilities, fibre optic communication system, and an efficient transportation system. These corporations include Mitsubishi, American Express,  Pioneer Electronics,  Office Depot,  Johnson & Johnson,  A.C. Nielsen Canada,  Robin Hood Multi Foods Inc.,  Allstate Insurance, and Levi Strauss Inc to just name a few. he top 5 employers of 2004 in Markham are IBM Canada Ltd. with 7,000 employees, American Express Canada (3,000), Miller Paving Ltd. (1,700), ATI Technologies Inc. (1,700), and Markham Stouffville Hospital (1,487).

Milne Dam Conservation Park on the Rouge River is one of Markham’s natural treasure park of diverse wildlife and plants. It’s a migratory destination for birds.

One of Markham’s best new golf courses of 1995, Angus Glen golf club will host The Bell Canadian Open Championships in 2007.

Markham’s attraction includes one of the top museums in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Markham Museum. There’s also the Markham Theatre for Performing Arts featuring world class music and theatre production. Furthermore, Varley Art Gallery presents an extensive collection of paintings by one of  Canada’s famous Group of Seven artists, F. V. Varley. 

Markham has 214 sportsfields, 89 baseball diamonds, 125 soccer fields, 24 public tennis courts, 10 indoor skating facilities, 2 cricket pitches, 2 rugby fields, 7 bocci courts, 4 bowling green courts and 12 golf courses spread throughout its communities of Unionville, Milliken, Cornell, Buttonville, Thornhill, and Markham Village for recreational activities.