Shaftesbury Settlement, Alberta


Shaftesbury Settlement is an unincorporated community in Alberta, Canada within the Municipal District of Peace No. 135 that is recognized as a designated place by Statistics Canada. It is located on the southeast side of Highway 684, south of Highway 2. It is adjacent to the Town of Peace River to the north on the west shore of the Peace River.
The Shaftesbury Formation, a stratigraphic unit of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin was named for the settlement.
The community is named after Shaftesbury, England when it was founded by Rev J.G. Brick in 1888 as an Anglican mission where Natives would be taught agriculture as their old ways were collapsing and they were living in want and hunger - he was from Shaftesbury.
A telegraph line was extended from Edmonton to Shaftesbury in 1910 or 1911. This accommodated telephone communication as well an provided the first rapid means of news and communication for the area.

Demographics

As a designated place in the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Shaftsbury Settlement recorded a population of 71 living in 30 of its 31 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2011 population of 50. With a land area of, it had a population density of in 2016.
As a designated place in the 2011 Census, Shaftesbury Settlement had a population of 50 living in 20 of its 21 total dwellings, a -27.5% change from its 2006 population of 69. With a land area of, it had a population density of in 2011.