Tay, Ontario

Tay is a township in Central Ontario, Canada, located in Simcoe County in the southern Georgian Bay region. The township was named in 1822 after a pet dog of Lady Sarah Maitland (1792–1873), wife of Sir Peregrine Maitland, Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. Two other adjoining townships were also named for her pet dogs, Tiny and Flos (now Springwater Township).

History
The current territory of Tay was home to the Wendat towns of Teanaostataé (St. Louis), and Taenhatentaron (St. Ignace). Together with the nearby town of Teanaustayé (St. Joseph) in nearby Hillsdale they were destroyed by the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) in 1648–1649. During this warfare, the Jesuits Jean de Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalemant were killed at Taenhatentaron.

In 1994, under countywide municipal restructuring, the Villages of Port McNicoll and Victoria Harbour were amalgamated with Tay.

Communities
The township comprises the villages and rural hamlets of Ebenezer, Elliots Corners, Melduf, Mertzs Corners, Ogden's Beach, Old Fort, Paradise Point, Port McNicoll, Riverside, Sturgeon Bay, Triple Bay Park, Vasey, Victoria Harbour, Waubaushene and Waverley.

Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Tay had a population of $11,091$ living in $4,535$ of its $5,301$ total private dwellings, a change of NaN% from its 2016 population of $10,033$. With a land area of 137.86 km2, it had a population density of in 2021.

Notable people

 * Amos Arbour - NHL, NHA hockey player, member of original Montreal Canadiens hockey club.
 * Wayne Middaugh - World Champion Curling Skip
 * Sherry Middaugh - Canadian Curling Skip
 * Keith Waples - Famed driver of Standardbred horses and inductee into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame