Greater Sudbury (2006 census population 157,857)[2] is a city in Ontario, Canada. Greater Sudbury was created in 2001 by merging the cities and towns of the former Regional Municipality of Sudbury, along with several previously unincorporated geographic townships.It is the largest city in the Northern Ontario region by population, and the 24th largest metropolitan area in Canada. By land area, it is the largest city in Ontario, and the seventh largest municipality by area in Canada.

Greater Sudbury is one of only five cities in Ontario, the others are Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton and Kawartha Lakes, that constitute their own independent census divisions, and are not part of any district, county or regional municipality.

It is also the only city in Ontario which has two official names; its name in French is Grand-Sudbury. Unlike designations such as Greater Toronto or Greater Montreal, the name “Greater Sudbury” refers to a single city, not a conurbation of independent municipalities. However, Sudbury is still the more common name for the city in everyday usage.

The city’s Census Metropolitan Area consists of the city and the First Nations reserves of Whitefish Lake and Wahnapitae, and had a population of 158,258 in the 2006 census.^[3] Statistics Canada estimates the Greater Sudbury CMA’s population as 165,322 as of 2009.^[4] Informally, some residents of the area may also consider the metropolitan area to include the towns of Markstay-Warren, St. Charles and French River, a region commonly known as Sudbury East, as well as the outlying unincorporated communities of Estaire and Cartier.

The Sudbury Community Foundation is pleased to present its fourth annual Vital Signs report, joining 14 other community foundations across Canada. This report measures the vitality of our community today so that the Foundation, its donors, community organizations, policy-makers and citizens can have a better understanding of our community and work towards shaping a vibrant future. We are delighted to see change occur within our community in response to Vital Signs and invite everyone to take part in initiatives that will make our community better.» Download the full report (13.1MB, PDF)You will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed to view the report. The software is available as a free download from Adobe’s web site.