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Anunorganized area orunorganized territory (French:Territoire non organisé) is any geographic region in Canada that does not form part of amunicipality orIndian reserve. In these areas, the lowest level of government isprovincial or territorial. In some of these areas, local service agencies may have some of the responsibilities that would otherwise be covered by municipalities.
Mostregional districts in British Columbia include someelectoral areas, which are unincorporated areas that do not have their own municipal government, but residents of such areas still receive a form of local government by electing representatives to their regional district boards.
TheStikine Region in the province's far northwest is the only part of British Columbia not in a regional district, because of its low population and the lack of any incorporated municipalities. The Stikine Region—not to be confused with theStikine Country or theKitimat-Stikine Regional District—provides services and regulatory capacities in the same way as regional districts, however, but is managed directly by the provincial government instead of by a regional district board.
In Manitoba, territories not part ofrural municipalities,urban municipalities (city, town, or village),local government districts, orIndian reserves are classified as "Unorganized". These cover 67.4% of the total area of the province ofManitoba, withUnorganized Division No. 23 constituting more than half of the entire unorganized area of the province. The unorganized areas of Manitoba are labeled to and referred as with theCensus division number they are located in, even though census divisions do not serve any administrative purpose.
Nunavut has three unorganized areas:Kitikmeot, Unorganized,Qikiqtaaluk, Unorganized andKivalliq, Unorganized.
InOntario, unorganized areas are found only in theNorthern Ontario region, inclusive of theParry Sound District, the parts of the province where there is nocounty orregional municipality level of government. Some communities within unorganized areas may have some municipal services administered bylocal services boards.
Unorganized areas in Ontario are named only by thedistrict of which they are a part, with a geographic qualifier added when a single district contains more than one such area. Three of the province's unorganized areas had no reported population in theCanada 2006 Census; they are marked with †daggers.
Unorganized territories (territoires non organisés) in Quebec are located withinregional county municipalities. They are usually named for a geographic feature within theunincorporated area.
TheNorthern Saskatchewan Administration District is theunorganized area ofSaskatchewan, which encompasses approximately half of the province’s landmass. Because of its extremely sparse population, the district has no local government and is directly subject to theMinister of Government Relations.[1]
Unorganized Yukon is the unorganized area covering the majority ofYukon.