The Rural Municipality of Hanover is a rural municipality (RM) in southeastern Manitoba, Canada, located southeast of Winnipeg in Division No. 2.
It is Manitoba's most populous rural municipality and fourth-most populous municipality overall (behind the cities of Winnipeg, Brandon, and Steinbach) as of the 2021 census.
History The area of Hanover was part of the traditional lands of the Ojibway-speaking natives. In the summer of 1871, the federal government signed treaties with these people and relocated them to reserves such as the Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation to the south and the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation to the north. The Manitoba government set aside the East Reserve, slightly smaller than what is now the RM of Hanover, from the lands left behind for Plautdietsch-speaking Mennonites immigrants from the Russian Empire. In 1873, these Mennonites signed an agreement with the Canadian government known as the Privilegium, which guaranteed land, freedom of religion, private schools, and military exemption.
The East Reserve was divided into two municipalities in the early 1880s, as most of the southern Manitoba was organizing itself into new rural municipalities. In 1880, the north part of the East Reserve became the Rural Municipality of Hespeler, named in honour of William Hespeler, who had brought many of the Mennonite immigrants to the area. The RM of Hanover, to the south, was established on 25 May 1881. The two municipalities shared administrative staff and merged into the single municipality of Hanover in 1890.
Other settlers in the area were mainly French and Anglo-Saxons.
The neighbouring city of Steinbach and town of Niverville were originally within Hanover but have since become separate urban municipalities. Steinbach was incorporated (as a Town) in 1946 and Niverville in 1969. These three municipalities now have a combined population of over 40,000 residents. Hanover's municipal headquarters were located in Steinbach until a new office building near Mitchell was constructed in 2001.
Demographics Hanover is the province's most populated rural municipality, ahead of the Rural Municipality of Springfield, and fourth-most populated municipality overall, slightly behind the City of Steinbach. In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Hanover had a population of 17,216 living in 5,141 of its 5,305 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 15,540. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. The largest communities in Hanover are the local urban districts of Mitchell, Grunthal and Blumenort, which have populations of 2,828, 1,782 and 1,778, respectively.
+ Panethnic groups in the Rural Municipality of Hanover (2001−2021)Panethnic group20212016201120062001 European 14,915 14,440 13,015 11,455 10,460 Indigenous 1,410 995 740 305 185 Southeast Asian 265 25 15 0 0 African 220 105 45 35 10 Latin American 95 50 55 15 15 South Asian 65 10 35 10 10 East Asian 45 20 15 0 30 Middle Eastern 45 10 0 0 0 Other/multiracial 20 10 0 0 0 Total responses 17,130 15,660 13,935 11,815 10,705 Total population 17,216 15,733 14,026 11,871 10,789
Transportation Hanover is served by three provincial highways: PTH 52, PTH 12, and PTH 59; the latter two link the municipality with the City of Winnipeg, the provincial capital. There are no major rivers or rail lines running through Hanover; however, the Canadian Pacific Railway's Emerson subdivision forms a portion of the municipality's boundary with the Rural Municipality of Ritchot.
The Steinbach South Airport is a privately-run airport located within municipal boundaries near Steinbach.
Communities Local urban districts Blumenort Grunthal Kleefeld Mitchell New Bothwell
Other communities Barkfield Blumenhoff Bristol Friedensfeld Hochstadt Pansy Randolph Rosengard Sarto Tourond
Notes
References
External links
Official website Map of Hanover R.M. at Statistics Canada