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The term township generally means the district or area associated with a town. However in some systems no town need be involved. Specific use of the term to describe political subdivisions has varied by country, usually to describe a local rural or semi-rural government within a county.
In eastern Canada a township is one form of the subdivision of a county. In Canadian French, this is a canton.
Atlantic Canada
The historic colony of Nova Scotia (present-day Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island) used the term township as a subdivision of counties. In Prince Edward Island's case, the colonial survey of 1764 established 67 townships, known as lots, and 3 royalties, which were grouped into parishes, and hence into counties; the townships were geographically and politically the same. In New Brunswick, parishes have taken over as the present-day subdivision of counties, whereas present-day Nova Scotia uses districts where appropriate.
Ontario
In Ontario, there are both geographic and political townships. Most of Ontario, except for the sparsely populated far north, is subdivided into geographic townships. These are used primarily for geographic purposes, such as land surveying, natural resource exploration and tracking of phenomena such as forest fires.
A political township is an incorporated municipality consisting of one or more geographic townships united as a single entity with a single municipal administration, but which does not have sufficient population to be defined as a town. Often rural counties are subdivided into townships. In some places, usually if the township is in a county rather than in a regional municipality, the head of a political township is called a reeve, not a mayor.
Western Canada
In the Prairie provinces and parts of British Columbia, a township is a division of the Dominion Land Survey. Townships are (mostly) 6-mile (9.7-km) by 6-mile squares - about 36 square miles (95 km²) in area. These townships are not political units (although political boundaries often follow township boundaries), but exist only to define parcels of land in a relatively simple way. Townships are divided into 36 equal 1-mile (1.6-km) by 1-mile square parcels known as sections. Refer to the article about the Dominion Land Survey for further details about section numbering and the further subdivision of land parcels.
The District Municipality of Langley, B.C. is officially the "Township of Langley". As well, Nova Scotia used to be divided into townships, however this is no longer true.
See also
"Township (Canada)"