Ville-Marie, Quebec
Encyclopedia
Ville-Marie is a town on Lake Temiscaming in western Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Canada. It is the largest city and seat of the Témiscamingue Regional County Municipality, Quebec
Témiscamingue Regional County Municipality, Quebec
Témiscamingue is a county regional municipality in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of western Quebec, Canada. The county seat is Ville-Marie....

. As one of the oldest towns in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue
Abitibi-Témiscamingue
Abitibi-Témiscamingue is a region located in western Quebec, Canada, along the border with Ontario. It became part of the province in 1898. It has a land area of 57,674.26 km2 . As of the 2006 census, the population of the region was 143,872 inhabitants.-History:The land was first occupied...

 region, it is considered the cradle of north-western Quebec and nicknamed "Pearl of Témiscamingue".

CKVM-FM
CKVM-FM
CKVM-FM is a French-language Canadian radio station located in Ville-Marie, Quebec.Owned and operated by Radio Témiscamingue , it broadcasts on 93.1 MHz with an effective radiated power of 18,400 watts using an omnidirectional antenna...

 broadcasts from Ville-Marie. The town was home to the Junior "A" Ville-Marie Dragons
Ville-Marie Dragons
The Powassan Eagles are a Canadian Junior ice hockey team based out of Powassan, Ontario, Canada. They play in the Greater Metro Junior 'A' Hockey League and are currently on hiatus.-History:...

 of the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League
Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League
The Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League is a Canadian Developmental Junior "A" ice hockey league. The GMHL is not affiliated with the Canadian Junior Hockey League or a member by Hockey Canada...

 in 2008-09.

History

Already in 1679, the place functioned as a trading post between the French and indigenous Algonquians
Algonquian peoples
The Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups, with tribes originally numbering in the hundreds. Today hundreds of thousands of individuals identify with various Algonquian peoples...

. In 1720, the North West Company
North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada...

 opened a trading post and built a store in 1785, which came into the hands of the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

 in 1821 when the two companies merged. In 1836, a mission was established, followed in 1863, by a mission founded by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816 by Saint Eugene de Mazenod, a French priest born in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France on August 1, 1782. The congregation was given recognition by Pope...

, who gave it the name "Ville-Marie".

Originally the area was called Kelly Bay in honor of its first settler, James Kelly, who lived as a hermit. In 1874, Oblate missionary Joseph Moffet (1852-1932) cleared some land and moved to Kelly Bay that came to be known as Baie-des-Pères (Bay of Fathers). In 1883, he was joined by a group of settlers from Nicolet
Nicolet, Quebec
Nicolet, Quebec is the county seat of Nicolet-Yamaska Regional County Municipality, Quebec, Canada. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 7,827...

. In 1886, the Parish of Notre-Dame-du-Saint-Rosaire-de-Ville-Marie was founded, and in 1891, the Baie-des-Père Post Office opened. The Village Municipality of Ville-Marie was incorporated in 1897 and the following year the post office was renamed to match the village's name. In 1899, the HBC post closed.

On December 22, 1962, the Village Municipality of Ville-Marie became the Town of Ville-Marie.

Ville-Marie is the seat of the judicial district
Judicial districts of Quebec
The province of Quebec is divided into 36 judicial districts by the , R.S.Q., chapter D-11. Each district has a seat where the courthouse is located, although some have more than one courthouse, service point, or itinerant court location....

 of Témiscamingue.

Demographics

Population trend:
  • Population in 2006: 2696 (2001 to 2006 population change: -2.7 %)
  • Population in 2001: 2770
  • Population in 1996: 2855
  • Population in 1991: 2581


Private dwellings occupied by usual residents: 1209 (total dwellings: 1245)

Mother tongue:
  • English as first language: 0.6 %
  • French as first language: 98.1 %
  • English and French as first language: 0.4 %
  • Other as first language: 1.0 %

Climate

Ville-Marie presents a typical continental climate
Continental climate
Continental climate is a climate characterized by important annual variation in temperature due to the lack of significant bodies of water nearby...

, with extremely cold winters and relatively warm and humid summers. It benefits from the lake's influence in winter, its temperature being significantly higher than in other towns further from the lake. It still holds the record as the hottest day in Quebec with a temperature of 40° on July 6, 1921.

Economy

The main components of the local economy are agriculture, forestry, hydro-electricity, outdoor tourism (hunting and sport fishing).

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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