Community Profile
Elgin County is located on the shores of Lake Erie in Southwestern Ontario. The area consists of 1,880 square kilometers, subdivided into six townships (West Elgin, Dutton-Dunwich, Southwold, Central Elgin, Malahide, and Bayham) and two towns (Aylmer and St. Thomas). See Figure 2 for a map of Elgin County.
Figure 2. Elgin County
The areas range in characteristics of agricultural, rural hamlets, international harbour ports, and one large town, the City of St. Thomas. St. Thomas is located near the geographical centre of Elgin County. The City of St. Thomas is a centre of employment, shopping, health and education, recreation and administration offices that serve the County. St. Thomas is home to branch plants for the automotive industry. The industrial sections of Central Elgin and St. Thomas are an attractive site for large companies. The large natural attractions of the lakeshore are a tourist destination and a major bird watching site frequented by people from London and surrounding areas.
East Elgin is heavily influenced by the agricultural industry. Tobacco is a major crop here and the industry has invested heavily. Imperial Tobacco, for example, has a tobacco warehouse, auction, and processing plant that provide major employment opportunities year round. The tobacco industry however has declined under the pressure of declining market demand and increasing international competition. Layoffs for 260 workers were announced in 2003 (Currie 2003). This will have a significant impact (estimated at $5 million) on farmers and the local economy. The Town of Aylmer is the focal point for shopping, recreation, health, and education in East Elgin.
A review of services was included in the poverty scan conducted in Elgin County (Fuller et al 2002). The following summarises the research team’s review. In addition, see Appendix E for an inventory of services in Elgin County.
Employment services: Employment services are centralised in Elgin County. Employment Service Elgin is located in St. Thomas, with satellite offices in Aylmer and West Lorne. Other employment services offered through Ontario Works are located in St. Thomas. Employment training and preparation are specifically geared toward the unemployed and to those who work very few hours. Young people have access to four outreach programs of Employment Service Elgin: Student Outreach Program; Getting It Together; Volunteer Youth in the Millennium Program; Summer Job Services Program.
Food security resources: There are many food and food skill providers in Elgin County. However, it appears that an opportunity exists to expand all of these programs to address people who experience chronic food shortages, to extend hours of operation in order to improve accessibility; and to extend services to rural areas.
Youth services: Eighteen agencies meet regularly as part of the Inter Agency Council for Children and Youth. The aim is to identify needs within Elgin County and to ensure that services are not duplicated.
Mennonite resources: The Mennonite Resource Centre, located in Aylmer, serves the east side of Elgin County. The Centre provides information, counselling, settlement services, and other resource information. The primary clientele are the Low German speaking residents.
Poverty
The poverty scan conducted in Elgin County reviewed a number of barriers to social inclusion. These include population, transportation, gender and employment, education, health and health care, housing, and language and recent immigration. Many of these issues are reviewed in this section of the report. Below is a summary of key findings. Please refer to the research team’s report (Fuller et al 2002) for a full account of their review.
Transportation: The predominantly rural area of Elgin County coupled with an inadequate transportation service structure makes the issue of rural mobility and service inaccessibility the most noted factor related to social exclusion.
Employment and income: A significant proportion of Elgin County’s population can be classified as ‘working poor.’ These people are under-employed, not unemployed.
Health services: A key asset in Elgin County is the West Elgin Community Health Centre, which serves the west side of the County. No such integrated health prevention services exists in the east side of the County.
Food security: Many people in Elgin County are forced to rely upon monthly services provided by food banks, churches, and other organisations. The County appears very supportive of the food security fundraisers and food drives.
Networks: Elgin County is fortunate to have many groups, agencies, and organisations working together for common social causes. Three specific recommendations address social inclusion. The aim of these recommendations is to release latent assets for the betterment of all residents of Elgin County. The recommendations, which represent ‘early wins,’ are:
Transportation: Community-based transportation services require multi-agency collaboration, shared facilities, renewable volunteers, and creative routings to overcome the inconvenient shape of the county.
Employment: A key livelihood asset and major source of social exclusion. Employment for youth is clearly a necessary focus. Provision of youth services, for example, illustrates the need to build on everyone’s assets in a collective and collaborative way.
Institution building: Opportunity exists for further inter-agency development to produce synergies from combining assets.
Population Distribution
In 2001, the population of Elgin County was approximately 81,000 (an increase of 3.0 from 1996), with approximately 22,000 residents living in East Elgin, 45,000 living in Central Elgin and 14,000 living in West Elgin. St. Thomas is the most densely populated settlement with over 33,000 residents, or approximately 1,200 residents per square kilometre, while Malahide and Bayham have population densities of approximately 22 and 25 residents per square kilometre respectively. This compares with average population densities in the province of 12.6 residents per square kilometre.
Age Structure
Elgin County has a larger proportion of seniors per capita than the province of Ontario and a lower proportion of youth. Table 1 shows the populations of seniors and youth by settlement area in Elgin County. The proportions of youth and senior populations are illustrated in Charts 1 and 2, respectively. The greater proportion of older and younger residents means that compared to the Ontario average there is a higher degree of dependency. This means that a smaller share of economically-active residents may be required to support the rest of the population.
Table 1. Population of Seniors and Youth by Settlement Area
| Youth (15-24) | Seniors (55+) | |||
| Population | % of total | Population | % of total | |
| Ontario | 1,487,835 | 13.0 | 2,536,180 | 22.2 |
| Elgin County | 8,310 | 10.2 | 19,230 | 23.6 |
| Aylmer | 820 | 11.5 | 1,730 | 24.3 |
| Bayham | 630 | 9.9 | 1,345 | 21.1 |
| Central Elgin | 1,160 | 9.4 | 3,095 | 25.0 |
| Dutton-Dunwich | 295 | 8.0 | 930 | 25.2 |
| Malahide | 950 | 10.8 | 1,600 | 18.2 |
| Southwold | 460 | 10.3 | 1,070 | 23.8 |
| St. Thomas | 3,195 | 9.6 | 8,045 | 24.2 |
| West Elgin | 530 | 9.7 | 1,440 | 26.4 |
Chart 1. Youth Population by Settlement Area
Chart 2. Senior Population by Settlement Area
Table 2 shows the changes in population between 1996 and 2001 at a rate of approximately 3%. While the birth rate remains stable, the growth rate in the county appears to be slowing. Populations declined in Malahide and West Elgin. St. Thomas and Southwold grew the most since 1996. These areas of population growth are likely associated with proximity to London. People may be choosing to live in these areas and commute to London for work.
Table 2. Population changes in Elgin County
| 2001 | 1996 | Change | |
| Elgin County | 81,553 | 79,159 | 3.0 |
| Aylmer | 7,126 | 7,022 | 1.5 |
| Bayham | 6,376 | 6,234 | 2.3 |
| Central Elgin | 12,360 | 12,156 | 1.7 |
| Dutton-Dunwich | 3,696 | 3,603 | 2.6 |
| Malahide | 8,809 | 8,891 | -0.9 |
| Southwold | 4,487 | 4,273 | 5.0 |
| St. Thomas | 33,236 | 31,407 | 5.8 |
| West Elgin | 5,464 | 5,573 | -2.0 |
By 2021, it is expected that Ontario's population by age will shift, particularly through a sharp increase in the proportion of seniors. The population under 15 is expected to decline. As indicated in Table 1, above, Elgin County has a greater proportion of young people and fewer seniors relative to the provincial average. However, it is expected that Elgin County will follow the overall trend of the rest of the province, with an increasing proportion of seniors.
Language and Immigration
East Elgin has a much larger proportion of residents who had German as a mother tongue (23.1%) than the rest of the County (1.5%) and Ontario (1.5%). Approximately 14% of East Elgin residents spoke German most often at home. In addition, 11.4% of East Elgin residents were immigrants from Mexico, compared to 0.3% in the rest of the County and 0.1% in Ontario.
Families and Household Living Arrangements
Tables 4 and 5 show the 1996 census makeup of families in Elgin County. East Elgin has a greater proportion of two-parent families than the rest of the County. Family sizes were also bigger in East Elgin than the rest of the County. Within East Elgin, Malahide had the largest proportion of two-parent families, the greatest number of children, and the largest family size. The proportion of residents 65+ years of age living alone varied across Elgin County. Less than 19% of Malahide residents 65+ lived alone, whereas 32% of Aylmer residents lived alone.
Note: In the following charts, Elgin County is organised into East, Central and West.
East: Aylmer, Malahide and Bayham
Central: Central Elgin, St. Thomas
West: West Elgin, Southwold, Dutton-Dunwich
Table 4. Private households, Elgin County
| East Elgin | Central Elgin | West Elgin | Elgin County | |||||
| Total Families with children in private households | 3,835 | 100 | 8,005 | 100 | 2,325 | 100 | 14,200 | 100 |
| Married (children at home) | 2,965 | 77 | 5,230 | 65 | 1,790 | 77 | 9,995 | 70 |
| Common Law (children at home) | 220 | 6 | 770 | 10 | 125 | 5 | 1,135 | 8 |
| Lone parents | 650 | 17 | 2,005 | 25 | 410 | 18 | 3,070 | 21 |
Table 5. Children at home, Elgin County
| Total # children at home | East Elgin | Central Elgin | West Elgin | Elgin County |
| Under 6 years | 2120 (24%) | 3345 (23%) | 955 (21%) | 6420 (23%) |
| 6-14 years | 3390 (38%) | 5590 (40%) | 1910 (42%) | 10895 (39%) |
| 15-24 | 2710 (15%) | 4325 (14%) | 1355 (14%) | 8420 (15%) |
| 25 and over | 530 (6%) | 1105 (8%) | 345 (8%) | 1975 (7%) |
Education and Employment
Table 6 indicates that the proportion of Elgin County residents who had less than a grade 9 education was almost twice that of the rest of Ontario. Almost 22% of Elgin residents aged 20+ had less than grade 9 education compared to the provincial average of 13%. The number of residents with high school graduation certificates or trade certificates was higher than the provincial average, however the number of residents with university education was greatly lower, with only 10% of the County residents graduating from university compared to 26% in Ontario.
Table 6. Education characteristics, Elgin County
| School Attendance | Elgin | Ontario |
| Total population 15 years and over attending school full time | 6,545 | 1,060,115 |
| Age group 15-19 attending full time | 4,220 | 570,550 |
| Age group 20-24 attending full time | 1,565 | 312,470 |
| Total population 15 years and over attending school part time | 2,030 | 436,730 |
| Age group 15-19 attending part time | 215 | 19,045 |
| Age group 20-24 attending part time | 185 | 57,580 |
| Highest Level of Schooling | ||
| Total population aged 20-34 | 14,330 | 2,263,910 |
| % of the population aged 20-34 with less than a high school graduation certificate | 21.4 | 13.2 |
| % of the population aged 20-34 with a high school graduation certificate and/or some postsecondary | 37.3 | 33.7 |
| % of the population aged 20-34 with a trades certificate or diploma | 9.7 | 7.9 |
| % of the population aged 20-34 with a college certificate or diploma | 21.0 | 19.5 |
| % of the population aged 20-34 with a university certificate, diploma or degree | 10.5 | 25.7 |
| Total population aged 35-44 | 13,035 | 1,949,840 |
| % of the population aged 35-44 with less than a high school graduation certificate | 24.4 | 17.3 |
| % of the population aged 35-44 with a high school graduation certificate and/or some postsecondary | 29.0 | 25.6 |
| % of the population aged 35-44 with a trades certificate or diploma | 15.7 | 11.5 |
| % of the population aged 35-44 with a college certificate or diploma | 21.8 | 21.2 |
| % of the population aged 35-44 with a university certificate, diploma or degree | 9.1 | 24.3 |
| Total population aged 45-64 | 19,100 | 2,684,705 |
| % of the population aged 45-64 with less than a high school graduation certificate | 33.1 | 27.5 |
| % of the population aged 45-64 with a high school graduation certificate and/or some postsecondary | 23.6 | 22.9 |
| % of the population aged 45-64 with a trades certificate or diploma | 14.8 | 11.6 |
| % of the population aged 45-64 with a college certificate or diploma | 17.7 | 16.6 |
| % of the population aged 45-64 with a university certificate, diploma or degree | 10.7 | 21.5 |
Labour Force and Average Household Income
Table 7 shows the unemployment rates for Elgin County and Ontario. Generally, rates are similar. Females experience a higher rate of unemployment in Elgin relative to Ontario.
Table 7. Unemployment rates in Elgin County
| Elgin County | Ontario | |||||
| Total | Male | Female | Total | Male | Female | |
| Unemployment rate | 6.6 | 5.8 | 7.4 | 6.1 | 5.8 | 6.5 |
Source: 2001 Census, Statistics Canada
The average household income in East Elgin in 1996 was $44,339, compared to the County average of $47,627 (Table 8). Over 20% of households in East Elgin reported incomes of less than $20,000, compared to 18% for the County. Just over 5% of households reported incomes of $100,000 or more, compared to 7% for the County.
Table 8. Income characteristics, Elgin County
| Characteristics | Elgin County | Ontario |
| Earnings | ||
| All persons with earnings (counts) | 44,245 (54%) | 6,319,535 (55%) |
| Average earnings (all persons with earnings ($)) | 28,893 | 35,185 |
| Worked full year, full time (counts) | 23,270 (28%) | 3,480,670 (30%) |
| Average earnings (worked full year, full time ($)) | 39,721 | 47,247 |
Source: 2001 Census, Statistics Canada
The average price of a single detached dwelling in Elgin County in 1996 was $116,452. Single detached homes comprise the principal dwelling type, with apartment at 2.5% and row housing at 4.4%.
The primary industries (including agriculture) comprise the single largest sector, at 27.7%, followed by manufacturing at 25.7%. All other sectors are comparatively small, with the third-largest being retail (8.3% of the labour force).
Due to East Elgin’s location and its predominantly rural nature, 56.5% of the labour force commutes to employment outside the municipality. According to the poverty scan, the predominantly rural areas of Elgin County have a larger proportion of residents commuting to other municipalities for employment. At the same time, rural areas also have a higher proportion of residents who work at home. This reflects the agricultural economic base.
The poverty scan disclosed issues related to the ‘working poor.’ These are people who are employed but still unable to pay for basic necessities. This may be attributed to a higher incidence of lower-paying, part-time or seasonal work. Again, this reflects aspects of Elgin’s agriculture economic base.