Mississauga
city in Ontario, Canada

Mississauga is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Situated on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, and Oakville to the southwest. With a population of 717,961 as of 2021, Mississauga is the seventh-most populous municipality in Canada, third largest city in Ontario, and second-most populous in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) after Toronto itself. However, for the first time in its history, the city's population declined according to the 2021 census, from a 2016 population of 721,599 to 717,961, a 0.5 per cent decrease.
The growth of Mississauga was initially attributed to its proximity to Toronto. However, during the latter half of the 20th century, the city attracted a diverse and multicultural population. Over time, it built up a thriving, transit-oriented central business district of its own; the Mississauga City Centre. Malton, a neighbourhood of the city located in its northeast end, is home to Toronto Pearson International Airport, Canada's busiest airport, as well as the headquarters of many Canadian and multinational corporations. Mississauga is not a traditional city, but is instead an amalgamation of three former Ontario villages and two townships which contained a number of rural hamlets (a general pattern common to several suburban GTA cities) that were significant population centres, with none being clearly dominant, prior to the city's incorporation that later coalesced into a single urban area.
Indigenous people have lived in the area for thousands of years, and Mississauga is situated on the traditional territory of the Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabeg people, including the namesake Mississaugas.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Mississauga” is city in Ontario, Canada. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Mississauga, city and Ontario, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “city in Ontario, Canada” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q50816. VIAF identifies the subject as 131952550. The Library of Congress control number is n81053357. Authority coordinates are 43.600, -79.650. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2021 and 2016.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Mississauga”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Mississauga primary sources, Mississauga archive and Mississauga research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Mississauga”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Mississauga” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.