Oakville Has a Special Connection to These 3 Cities
Published September 6, 2018 at 3:17 pm
We all know where Dorval Dr. and Neyagawa Blvd. are in Oakville.
But why are these named so?
Oakville named these streets after the town’s sister cities.
We all know where Dorval Dr. and Neyagawa Blvd. are in Oakville.
But why are these named so?
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Oakville named these streets after the town’s sister cities.
It started back in 1957, when Oakville Mayor W. Anderson signed a declaration to twin Oakville and Dorval, Que. as sister cities.
Dorval is a suburb of Montreal. Founded in 1667, it’s one of the oldest cities in North America.
Nearly 30 years later, in 1984, officials in Neyagawa, Japan, were looking for cities to twin with when a former Oakville resident living in Japan suggested Oakville.
At the time, both places had a mix of industry and agriculture and were dealing with the challenge of achieving balanced growth in different ways.
They felt they had lessons to share.
In April 1984, Oakville Mayor Harry Barrett and Neyagawa Mayor Tadahiro Nishikawa signed a twinning declaration.
Neyagawa is a suburb of a larger city and is located about 20 kilometres north-west of Osaka, near the centre of a triangle formed by three of Japan’s oldest cities — Kyoto, Nara and Osaka.
Neyagawa was founded as a city in 1951 and grew to be a suburb of Osaka, where many of its residents commute to work.
In 2012, the Mayor and the town’s director of economic development participated in a trade mission to establish business relationships and explore opportunities for economic development with China.
A number of initiatives have since developed including: implementing an Oakville-China Business Opportunities Forum for local companies; hosting delegations from China including two from the City of Huai’an, creating an Oakville-Chinese Business Association; following up with the City of Huai’an’s letter of intent to form the sister city relationship.
In June 2015, Mayor Rob Burton signed the sister city agreement during his trip to China with Sheridan College president Dr. Jeff Zabudsky.
Moving forward, Oakville and Huai’an will continue to connect and visit one another to establish business relationships and explore economic development opportunities.
Located in the Jiangsu Province of China, the City of Huai’an is about a two-hour drive from Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu, and a four-hour drive to Shanghai.
Huai’an is known for farming, including vegetables, fruits, oil seeds, poultry, livestock, and forestry.
Improvements in transportation have led to more national and international investors coming to Huai’an allowing the city to expand in various sectors including chemicals, automotive, mechanical, textile, bio-technology, and new materials.
Twinning of cities grew in popularity after World War II, as people looked for ways to promote understanding between cultures. Oakville’s relationship with its sister cities was initiated to promote understanding, cooperation, friendship and economic development.
Here are some of the exchange programs in which Oakville participates with its sister cities: citizen exchanges; student/teacher exchanges; service club exchanges; sports organization exchanges; artwork exchanges; economic exchanges.
On the first floor of the North Atrium at Town Hall you can see examples of gifts on display sent to the town from sister cities.
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