Chelmsford, Ontario

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Chelmsford is a community in the Ontario city of Greater Sudbury.

Founded in 1868, Chelmsford started out as an outpost on the Trans Canada Railway. As with many communities in Northern Ontario, logging and fur trapping were the first industries. Having depleted the lumber in the early 1900's, Chelmsford turned to mining and agriculture to support the town's economy. Errington mine and Nickel Offset mine were two of the largest mines in Chelmsford and both closed in the 1930's.

Today, Chelmsford has no major industries and is mostly a residential community. Although there are still some farms producing mostly potatoes, small fruits and corn, it is mostly supported by the mining activities in the nearby communities of Onaping Falls and Copper Cliff.

From 1973 to 2000, Chelmsford was part of the town of Rayside-Balfour, in the Regional Municipality of Sudbury. On January 1, 2001, the Regional Municipality was dissolved into the single-tier City of Greater Sudbury. The community is majority francophone. It is the birthplace of Stef Paquette, popular francophone singer-songwriter.

[edit] Education

Chelmsford is home to two secondary schools: Chelmsford Valley District Composite School (CVDCS) is a French immersion and English high school, specializing in technology and the trades with an excellent STAR (Science and Tech Achieving Results) academic programme. CVDCS' motto is "The Place to Be". École secondaire catholique Champlain is the francophone high school in the area, which serves the former towns of Rayside-Balfour and Onaping Falls.

Chelmsford is also home to a new «super»-elementary school, École Alliance St-Joseph. The school, part of the Conseil scolaire de district catholique du Nouvel-Ontario, services the francophone community and is the largest population-wise in the entire City of Greater Sudbury, amalgamated three separate French catholic elementary schools: St-Joseph, Jacques-Cartier and Monseigneur Côté. The school uses advanced technology in the classroom, and provides its students with portable computers for in-class use.

The community is also home to a French public school, Pavillon-de-l'Avenir, which is housed in the former Collège Rayside-Balfour section of the Chelmsford Valley District Composite School building.