Pointe-de-l'Église is a village located on Saint Mary's Bay in the District of Clare

Clare, Nova Scotia

Clare is a municipal district in western Nova Scotia, Canada.Primarily an Acadian region, Clare occupies the western half of Digby County. Most of the municipality's settled areas are located along St. Marys Bay, a sub-basin of the Gulf of Maine...

, Digby County

Digby County, Nova Scotia

Digby County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.Taking its name from the Township of Digby , which had been named in honour of Rear Admiral Robert Digby who dispatched HMS Atlanta to convey loyalists from New York City in the spring of 1783 to Conway, which became known as Digby,...

, Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It is home to Université Sainte-Anne

Université Sainte-Anne

Université Sainte-Anne is a francophone university located in the seaside town of Pointe-de-l'Église in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is the only French-language university in the province of Nova Scotia and is one of only two such universities in the Maritime Provinces, the other being the Université...

 and is known primarily for the tallest wooden church in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, Église Sainte-Marie

Église Sainte-Marie, Church Point, Nova Scotia

Église Sainte-Marie is a Catholic church located in Church Point, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is the largest and tallest wooden building in North America. Built in the form of a cross, the church nave measures 58 metres in length, with transepts that are 41 metres across...

, which is located just north of the University.

Also on the university campus is the local arena and the home of the Clare Acadiens

Clare Acadiens

The Clare Acadiens minor hockey association is located in Clare, Nova Scotia. The Midget AA/A has won provincials in the 2005-2006, 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 season....

 hockey team.

Church Point, Louisiana

Church Point, Louisiana

Church Point is a town in Acadia Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 4,756 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Crowley Micropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...

, in the heart of Cajun

Cajun

Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...

 country, was named after the town by Acadian

Acadian

The Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia . Acadia was a colony of New France...

s who were forced out of Acadia

Acadia

Acadia was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire of New France, in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day Maine. At the end of the 16th century, France claimed territory stretching as far south as...

 during the Great Expulsion. Today the area in Nova Scotia is populated largely by the descendants of Acadians who returned after the Great Expulsion.

History

The Catholic Church Sainte-Marie, was built from 1903 to 1905. Today it is on the "Evangeline Trail

Evangeline Trail

The Evangeline Trail is a scenic roadway in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.It is located in the western part of the province, bringing visitors to the Minas Basin, the Annapolis Valley and the Gulf of Maine...

" and borders the campus of Université Sainte-Anne

Université Sainte-Anne

Université Sainte-Anne is a francophone university located in the seaside town of Pointe-de-l'Église in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is the only French-language university in the province of Nova Scotia and is one of only two such universities in the Maritime Provinces, the other being the Université...

, the only French language

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 university

University

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

 in Nova Scotia. Pointe-de-l'Église continues to constitute part of a thriving Acadian French

Acadian French

Acadian French , is a regionalized dialect of Canadian French. It is spoken by the francophone population of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, by small minorities in areas in the Gaspé region of eastern Quebec, by small groups of francophones in Prince Edward Island, in several tiny pockets...

 linguistic presence in Nova Scotia.

Population

Based on the 2006 Census of Population, Pointe-de-l'Église has a population of 1,108 which is 8.5% lower than in 1996. In 2006, 18.4% of the population was under the age of 20 and 21.1% was 65 years or older.

Family Structure

In 2006, for Pointe-de-l'Église, total census families decreased 8.5% to 356. Married families decreased by 10.0% while common law families decreased 20.0% and lone-parent families increased 97.2%. Lone female parent families were 14.2% of all families while lone male parents were 4.0% of all families.

Citizenship & Mobility

Compared to Nova Scotia, Pointe-de-l'Église has a relatively low immigrant population. In 2006, there were 25 immigrants which is 2.3% of the population compared to 5% immigrants for Nova Scotia. In Pointe-de-l'Église, 98.3% of people were Canadian citizens compared to 98.3% for Nova Scotia.
88.9% of Pointe-de-l'Église's population was born in the province of their residence.
In Pointe-de-l'Église, 18% of the population moved within the last five years. 13.6% moved within the municipality, 2.3% moved within the Province, 1.6% moved within Canada, and 0.8% moved outside of Canada. A lower percentage of residents moved in the last five years than in Nova Scotia (33.2%).

Language

French is the predominant language in Pointe-de-l'Église, with 50.3% of people in Pointe-de-l'Église speak only French at home and 7.8% speak French and English at home. For Nova Scotia, 1.4% speak only French at home while 0.4% speak English and French at home.

42.1% of the residents of Point-de-l'Église speak only English in the home and 24.4% speak only English at work. This compares to 97.8% and 96% respectively for Nova Scotia.

Trivia

• Pointe-de-l'Église is mentioned in the Grand Dérangement
  Grand Dérangement (band)
  Grand Dérangement is an Acadian folk band from southwestern Nova Scotia whose style shows influence of Acadian, American, Celtic, and French music. The band's name, literally, "great disturbance", comes from the French name for the Great Expulsion of the Acadians by the British in 1755, a major...
  
  song "Adèle".
• Pointe-de-l'Église is home to Université Sainte-Anne, Nova Scotia's only French-language university.

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