Lac-Sainte-Marie, Quebec

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Lac-Sainte-Marie
Municipality
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Lac-Sainte-Marie is located in Western Quebec
Lac-Sainte-Marie
Lac-Sainte-Marie
Location in western Quebec.
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Country  Canada
Province  Quebec
Region Outaouais
RCM La Vallée-de-la-Gatineau
Settled 1840s
Constituted January 1, 1872
Government[2]
 • Mayor Gary Lachapelle
 • Federal riding Pontiac
 • Prov. riding Gatineau
Area[2][3]
 • Total 240.40 km2 (92.82 sq mi)
 • Land 209.52 km2 (80.90 sq mi)
Population (2011)[3]
 • Total 611
 • Density 2.9/km2 (8/sq mi)
 • Pop (2006–11) Decrease 5.6%
 • Dwellings 897
Time zone EST (UTC−5)
 • Summer (DST) EDT (UTC−4)
Postal code(s) J0X 1Z0
Area code(s) 819
Website www.lac-sainte-marie.com

Lac-Sainte-Marie is a municipality in the La Vallée-de-la-Gatineau Regional County Municipality, Quebec, Canada, 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of Gatineau. It is named after Lake Saint Mary.

History

In 1840, the area was opened to colonization, and a municipality was formed in 1872, originally called Hincks, in honor of politician Sir Francis Hincks (1807-1885), who was then finance minister in the cabinet of Macdonald. After this cabinet fell in 1873, Hincks name was quickly replaced in popular usage by the name of the parish, and then by the name of the lake.[4]

In 1928 the Village was voluntarily flooded to create the Paugan hydroelectric dam in Low Quebec, 90% of the Village had to be relocated to more higher grounds. The Church remained in the center of the old town and is to this day still underwater. As devastating as this was for the locals it attracted enough attention that allowed many tourist to visit Lac-Ste-Marie and this expanded its surface and conquer the hearts of numerous tourists from the city of Ottawa and Gatineau.

In 1975, Lac-Sainte-Marie became the official name, and paid tribute to a forgotton pioneer, Marie Léveillée, mother of Jean-Marie Léveillée who was the first settler in the area.[4]

Demographics

Population trend:[5]

  • Population in 2011: 611 (2006 to 2011 population change: -5.6 %)
  • Population in 2006: 647
  • Population in 2001: 488
  • Population in 1996: 492

Private dwellings (occupied by usual residents): 295

Mother tongue languages:[6]

  • French as first language: 77%
  • English as first language: 21%
  • English and French as first language: 2%

References

  1. Reference number 33337 of the Commission de toponymie du Québec (French)
  2. 2.0 2.1 Ministère des Affaires municipales, des Régions et de l'Occupation du territoire - Répertoire des municipalités: Lac-Sainte-Marie
  3. 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. Statistics Canada: 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 census
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