L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet

Coordinates: 45°43′N 76°37′W / 45.72°N 76.62°W / 45.72; -76.62
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L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet
Municipality
Location within Pontiac RCM
Location within Pontiac RCM
L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet is located in Western Quebec
L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet
L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet
Location in western Quebec
Coordinates: 45°43′N 76°37′W / 45.72°N 76.62°W / 45.72; -76.62[1]
CountryCanada
ProvinceQuebec
RegionOutaouais
RCMPontiac
Settled1840s
ConstitutedJuly 1, 1855
Government
[2]
 • MayorJean-Louis Corriveau
 • Federal ridingPontiac
 • Prov. ridingPontiac
Area
[2][3]
 • Total147.28 km2 (56.87 sq mi)
 • Land132.55 km2 (51.18 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[3]
 • Total648
 • Density5.0/km2 (13/sq mi)
 • Pop 2016-2021
Increase 3.5%
 • Dwellings
437
Time zoneUTC−5 (EST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
Postal code(s)
J0X 1J0
Area code819
HighwaysNo major routes
Websitexn--le-du-grand-calumet-41b.ca Edit this at Wikidata

L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet is a municipality in the Outaouais region, part of the Pontiac Regional County Municipality, Quebec, Canada. The municipality consists primarily of Calumet Island[4] (also Grand Calumet Island;[5] in French Île du Grand Calumet[6]), but also includes Lafontaine Island, French Island, Green Island, and numerous minor surrounding islets, all in the Ottawa River, approximately two kilometres (1¼ miles) from Campbell's Bay, two kilometres (1¼ miles) from Bryson.

Grand-Calumet is the principal settlement of L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet. Its centre is the Sainte-Anne Church, which is alongside the municipal building and the school. It is also the site where First Nation tribes held their annual pow-wow, occasionally smoking their calumet, from which its name is derived.[7]

Bordering on Whitewater Region, Ontario, the municipality is the co-location of some of the roughest sections on the Ottawa River, popular with kayakers and rafters. Three whitewater rafting companies based in L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet take adventurers down the Rocher Fendu Rapids, known as the best whitewater rapids in Eastern North America.[8]

Etymology[edit]

Its name is a reference to the ceremonial pipe (French: Calumet), occasionally smoked by the tribes of the first nation people to settle mainly territory disputes (establishing which tribe had the right to fish and hunt in a certain area). They gathered at Grand-Calumet in large numbers for their friendly annual pow-wow and exchanging stuff.[9]

Until December 22, 2007, it was called simply Grand-Calumet. The official name was changed to L'Île-de-Grand-Calumet, however, on July 5, 2008, it was changed again to use -du- rather than -de-. This last modification was considered a correction rather than a name change.[10][11][12]

Geography[edit]

About 20 kilometers (12 mi) long by 7 kilometers (4.3 mi) wide, L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet has an elevation of no more than 200 meters (660 ft) above sea level. Agricultural land use is mostly concentrated in the centre of the island.[13]

The primary population centre is Grand-Calumet; other smaller communities are Rivière-Barry, Tancredia, Dunraven, Freshwater, Duffyville.[14]

History[edit]

Like Allumette Island upstream, Calumet Island was for many centuries a fishing and hunting place of the Kichesipirini Algonquin people.[8] During the French Period, the region along the Ottawa River was not colonized in order to maintain the fur trade with the indigenous peoples who lived there. The French maintained military garrisons in several forts along the Ottawa River, including Fort-Coulonge.[15]

But because the Ottawa River was the main canoe route to the west, Calumet Island was the site of a portage trail to bypass the strong and turbulent rapids in the river at this point. Here the events of the Cadieux Legend took place.[8]

Jean Cadieux, born at Boucherville on March 12, 1671, youngest son of Jean Cadieux and Marie Valade, was a coureur des bois from 1695 on. In May 1709, when attacked by the Iroquois on the Island, he sacrificed himself in order to let his travelling companions escape by running the Seven Chutes Rapids. Remaining alone on the Island, he died of his injuries and exhaustion. When found, he held in his hand a sheet of bark on which he had transcribed a death chant, known as La Complainte Cadieux.[9] Its opening stanza is as follows:[16]

Petit rocher de la haute montagne, (Little stone of the high mountain,)
Je viens ici finir cette campagne! (I come here to finish this campaign!)
Ah! doux échos, entendez mes soupirs (Ah! sweet echoes, hear my sighs)
En languissant, je vais bientôt mourir! (Languishing, soon will I die!)
Memorial to Jean Cadieux

This legend is still kept alive and commemorated by the island's inhabitants.[9]

Circa 1836, former employees of the Hudson's Bay Company started to settle on the island, followed by three waves of Irish immigration between 1840 and 1850. In 1840 the Parish of Sainte-Anne-du-Grand-Calumet was formed.[9] In 1846 the Grand-Calumet Township was established, with F.X. Bastien as first mayor.[8] On May 14, 1847, the Township Municipality of Calumet was created, but abolished on the next September 1 and reestablished in 1855.[9]

Lead-zinc was discovered on Calumet Island in 1893. New Calumet Mines began production in 1943, with a peak output of 840 tons per day in 1953 and employing 435 people. In 1968 the mine was shut down.[8]

In 2003, the Township Municipality of Grand-Calumet became the Municipality of Grand-Calumet, and on December 22, 2007, changed its name to the Municipality of L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet.[9]

Demographics[edit]

Canada census – L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet community profile
202120162011
Population648 (+3.5% from 2016)626 (-14.4% from 2011)731 (-6.9% from 2006)
Land area130.55 km2 (50.41 sq mi)132.57 km2 (51.19 sq mi)132.14 km2 (51.02 sq mi)
Population density5/km2 (13/sq mi)4.7/km2 (12/sq mi)5.5/km2 (14/sq mi)
Median age56.8 (M: 56.8, F: 56.8)56.8 (M: 56.4, F: 57.0)52.2 (M: 52.0, F: 52.3)
Private dwellings437 (total)  321 (occupied)457 (total)  428 (total) 
Median household income$54,800$46,784$.N/A
Notes: 2011 income data for this area has been suppressed for data quality or confidentiality reasons.
References: 2021[17] 2016[18] 2011[19] earlier[20][21]
Historical Census Data - L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet, Quebec
YearPop.±%
1976 919—    
1981 872−5.1%
1986 833−4.5%
1991 787−5.5%
1996 774−1.7%
YearPop.±%
2001 732−5.4%
2006 785+7.2%
2011 731−6.9%
2016 626−14.4%
2021 648+3.5%
Source: Statistics Canada[22]

Language[edit]

Mother tongue (2021):[3]

  • English as first language: 32.6%
  • French as first language: 62.8%
  • English and French as first language: 4.6%
  • Other as first language: 0.8%

List of mayors[edit]

Over its 158 years, the Municipality of L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet has had 21 mayors. They are as follows, including the years in which they served:[23]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Banque de noms de lieux du Québec: Reference number 400324". toponymie.gouv.qc.ca (in French). Commission de toponymie du Québec.
  2. ^ a b "L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet". Répertoire des municipalités (in French). Ministère des Affaires municipales et de l'Habitation. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  3. ^ a b c "L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet, Municipalité (MÉ) Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Government of Canada - Statistics Canada. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  4. ^ "Calumet Island, Pontiac District, Quebec". geogratis.gc.ca. Government of Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Earth Sciences Sector; Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  5. ^ "Grand Calumet Island". outaouais.quebecheritageweb.com. Outaouais Heritage WebMagazine. 2014. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  6. ^ "Place names - Île du Grand Calumet". www4.rncan.gc.ca. Government of Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Earth Sciences Sector, Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation. 2016-04-05. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  7. ^ "Grand-Calumet (Sainte-Anne)". Archived from the original on 2016-03-27. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
  8. ^ a b c d e "Pontiac MRC Gateway: Calumet Island". Pontiac MRC Gateway. Archived from the original on 2008-05-11. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  9. ^ a b c d e f "Municipalité de L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet" (in French). Commission de toponymie du Québec. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  10. ^ "Modifications aux municipalités du Québec Décembre 2007" (PDF). Modifications Aux Municipalités du Québec. Institut de la statistique du Québec. January 2008. ISSN 1715-6408. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  11. ^ "Modifications aux municipalités du Québec Juillet 2008" (PDF). Modifications Aux Municipalités du Québec. Institut de la statistique du Québec. September 2008. ISSN 1715-6408. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  12. ^ "Municipalité de l'Île-du-Grand-Calumet – Pontiac, Québec". Archived from the original on 2022-07-06. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  13. ^ "Canton de Grand-Calumet" (in French). Commission de toponymie du Québec. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  14. ^ "Google".
  15. ^ Dunn, Guillaume, Les forts de l'Outaouais, Éditions du jour, Montreal, 1975
  16. ^ Taché, Jean-Charles, Forestiers et Voyageurs (chapter 15), 1884, Online version at Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
  17. ^ "2021 Community Profiles". 2021 Canadian Census. Statistics Canada. February 4, 2022. Retrieved 2023-10-19.
  18. ^ "2016 Community Profiles". 2016 Canadian Census. Statistics Canada. August 12, 2021. Retrieved 2019-11-19.
  19. ^ "2011 Community Profiles". 2011 Canadian Census. Statistics Canada. March 21, 2019. Retrieved 2014-02-01.
  20. ^ "2006 Community Profiles". 2006 Canadian Census. Statistics Canada. August 20, 2019.
  21. ^ "2001 Community Profiles". 2001 Canadian Census. Statistics Canada. July 18, 2021.
  22. ^ 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 census
  23. ^ L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet 150th Anniversary mayor list

External links[edit]

Media related to L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet at Wikimedia Commons

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