the city hall and the Welland Public Library. The project is proving to be a catalyst for development, as several new establishments have been opened downtown and some businesses are expanding. Welland is represented in the House of Commons of Canada by the Liberal Party Member of Parliament Vance Badawey, and in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by the NDP Member of Provincial Parliament Jeff Burch, representing the Niagara Centre and the provincial ridings of Niagara Centre, respectively. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Welland had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. In 2021, 87.0% of the population was white/European, 8.7% were visible minorities and 4.3% were Indigenous. The largest visible minority groups were Black (2.6%), South Asian (1.6%), Latin American (1.3%), Filipino (0.7%), Southeast Asian (0.5%), and Chinese (0.5%). 80.2% of residents spoke English as a mother tongue. French was the first language of 7.2% of the population, compared to 3.3% in all of Ontario. In terms of non-official languages, the most common mother tongues were Italian (2.1%), Spanish (1.0%), Hungarian (0.6%), Polish (0.6%), Korean (0.4%), German (0.4%) and Chinese languages (0.4%). 1.5% of residents listed both English and French as mother tongues, while 1.2% listed both English and a non-official language. 62.4% of residents were Christian, down from 77.2% in 2011. 35.1% were Catholic, 15.1% were Protestant, 7.7% were Christian n.o.s, and 4.5% belonged to other Christian denominations or Christian-related traditions. 34.9% were non-religious or secular, up from 22.0% in 2011. All other religions accounted for 2.3% of the population, up from 0.8% in 2011. The largest non-Christian religions were Islam (0.9%), Hinduism (0.4%) and Sikhism (0.4%). Another significant cultural group was established with the opening of the Plymouth Cordage plant. Many workers relocated to Welland from the company's operations in Plymouth, Massachusetts were of Italian origin. To minimize the potential effects of cultural and language barriers, Plymouth Cordage sent four foremen to Welland: one was Italian, one French, one German and one English. The neighbourhood that the company built for its employees, now the Plymouth Cordage Heritage District, became the first Italian ethnic neighbourhood in Welland. Education Like the rest of Ontario, Welland has access to four public education systems: the regional school boards are