Sherbrooke

Sherbrooke
—  City  —
Ville de Sherbrooke
Downtown Sherbrooke at night.
Flag Seal Coat of arms
Nickname(s): Queen of the Eastern Townships
Motto: Ne quid nimis
Sherbrooke Location in Quebec, Canada
Coordinates:
Country	Canada
Province	Quebec
Region	Estrie
Settled	1793
Electoral Districts Federal	Sherbrooke
Provincial	Sherbrooke
Government
- Mayor	Bernard Sévigny
- Governing body	Sherbrooke City Council
- Federal MP(s)	Serge Cardin (BQ)
- Quebec MNA(s)	Jean Charest (PLQ)
Area
- City	353.46 km2 (136.5 sq mi)
- Metro	1,231.86 km2 (475.6 sq mi)
Highest elevation	378 m (1,240 ft)
Lowest elevation	128 m (420 ft)
Population (2006)[1][2]
- City	147,427
- Density	417.1/km2 (1,080.3/sq mi)
- Metro	186,952
- Metro density	151.8/km2 (393.2/sq mi)
- Change (2001-06)	6.2%
- Dwellings	70,444
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
Postal code(s)	J1E, J1G, J1H, J1J, J1K, J1L, J1M, J1N, J1R
Area code(s)	819
Access Routes[3] A-10 A-55 A-410 A-610	Route 112 Route 108 Route 143 Route 216 Route 220 Route 222
Telephone Exchanges	-212 239 340 345-9 432 434 437 446 542 560 -6 569 570 - 4 575 577
GNBC Code	EIDHN
NTS Map	021E05
Website	City of Sherbrooke

Sherbrooke (2006 population: 147,427)^[1] is a Canadian city in southern Quebec. Sherbrooke is situated at the confluence of the Saint-François (St. Francis) and Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) and census division (CD) of Quebec, coextensive with the city of Sherbrooke. With 153,384 residents in 2009, Sherbrooke was the sixth largest city in the province of Quebec. The Sherbrooke Census Metropolitan Area had 194,555 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest metropolitan area in Quebec and twentieth largest in Canada.

Sherbrooke is the primary economic, political, cultural and institutional centre of Estrie, and was commonly known as the Queen of the Eastern Townships at the turn of the 20th century. Sherbrooke has eight institutions with 40,000 students. Sherbrooke has a proportion of 10.32 students per 100,000 residents, making it the highest concentration of students in Quebec, per capita.

Mountains and lakes surround the city. Mount Bellevue, a hill in the middle of the city, is used for downhill skiing.

History

Sherbrooke in 1889.

Part of a region historically known as the Eastern Townships, Sherbrooke was first settled in 1793 by American Loyalists, including Gilbert Hyatt, a farmer from Schenectady, New York, who built a flour mill in 1802. The village was named "Hyatt's Mills" until 1818 when the village was renamed after Governor General Sir John Sherbrooke at the time of his retirement and return to England.

The city grew considerably on January 1, 2002, by the mergers of the cities of Sherbrooke, Ascot, Bromptonville, Deauville, Fleurimont, Lennoxville, Rock Forest, and Saint-Élie-d'Orford.

Geography

Located at the confluence of the Saint-François (St. Francis) and Magog rivers in the heart of the Eastern Townships and the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) and census division (CD) of Quebec, coextensive with the city of Sherbrooke. Its geographical code is 43.

Climate

Sherbrooke has a humid continental climate (Koppen Dfb), with long, cold, and snowy winters, warm summers, and short but crisp springs and autumns. Highs range from −5.7 °C (21.7 °F) in January to 24.7 °C (76.5 °F) in July. In an average year, there are 36 nights at or colder than −20 °C (−4 °F), and 6.5 nights at or colder than −30 °C (−22 °F); 3.4 days will see highs reaching 30 °C (86 °F).^[4] Annual snowfall is large, averaging at 294 centimetres (116 in), sometimes falling in May and October. Precipitation is not sparse any time of the year, but is the greatest in summer and fall and at its least from January to April, totaling 1,140 millimetres (44.9 in) annually.

Demographics

City of Sherbrooke

Cathédrale Saint-Michel.

Language

from Canada 2006 Census

Ethnic origin

The information regarding ethnicities above is from the 2001 Canadian Census. The percentages add to more than 100% because of dual responses (e.g. "French Canadian" generates an entry in both the category "French" and the category "Canadian".) Groups with greater than 1,500 responses are included.

Age structure

• 0–14 years: 17.8%
• 15–64 years: 69.0%
• 65 years and over: 13.2%

Census Metropolitan Area

The Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) includes the cities of Sherbrooke, Magog and Waterville, the Parish of Saint-Denis-de-Brompton; the municipalities of Compton, Stoke, and Ascot Corner, Hatley county and the village of North Hatley.
The population in 2006 was 186,952. Indigenous peoples comprised just over 0.6% of the population.^[5]

Plymouth-Trinity United Church

French was mother tongue to 90.6% of residents (counting both single and multiple responses). The next most common mother tongues were English at 5.6%, Spanish at 1.3%, Arabic and Serbo-Croatian languages at 0.6% each, Persian at 0.4%, Niger-Congo languages at 0.3%, and Chinese and German at 0.2% each. (Percentages may total more than 100% owing to rounding and multiple responses).^[6][7]

About 87% of the population identified as Roman Catholic in 2001 while 6% said they had no religious affiliation. Among smaller denominations Statistics Canada counted 1.2% Anglicans, 0.8% Muslims, 0.8% United Church, 0.7% Baptists, 0.5% Eastern Orthodox and 0.3% Jehovah’s Witnesses. Pentecostals and Methodists accounted for 0.2% each, while Buddhists, Presbyterians, Seventh-day Adventists, Mormons and Plymouth Brethren accounted for 0.1% each.^[8]

Four thousand recent immigrants (arriving between 2001 and 2006) now comprise about 2% of the total population. Approximately 13% have emigrated from Colombia, 12% from France, 7% from Afghanistan, 6% from each of Morocco and Argentina, 5% from each of Algeria and Congo, 4% from China, and 3% from each of Burundi, Tunisia, and Tanzania. About 2% of these recent immigrants were born in the United States while about 2% were born in Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[9]

Sherbrooke University Hospital Centre (properly, the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Sherbrooke, or CHUS) in the Fleurimont borough

Government

Gordon Street

The merged city is composed of six boroughs: Brompton, Fleurimont, Lennoxville, Mont-Bellevue, Rock Forest-Saint-Élie-Deauville and Jacques-Cartier.

Public safety

In 2007, the crime rate was 5,491 per 100,000.^[10]

Economy

Wellington Street North in downtown Sherbrooke

In 2007 Canadian Business Magazine Magazine ranked Sherbrooke as the top place to do business in Canada.^[10] The report cites large increases in commercial building permits (23%), strong exports, a highly educated workforce, a low unemployment rate, and a low cost of living index (64.3).

Sherbrooke is also the centre of an important agricultural region with many dairy farms.

Education

The city is the location of one French language university, the Université de Sherbrooke, and an English language university, Bishop's University. U de S is a comprehensive university with schools of medicine and law and extensive graduate programs. Bishop's is smaller and predominantly undergraduate. There are three CEGEPs in Sherbrooke, two of them French-language, the Cégep de Sherbrooke and the Séminaire de Sherbrooke, and one English-language, Champlain College Lennoxville.

Infrastructure

Hotel times, downtown Sherbrooke

Transportation

Sherbrooke Airport, in Cookshire-Eaton is just east of the city. There are currently no scheduled flights operating out of the airport.

Transdev Limocar provides bus service to Montreal via Granby and Magog. Formerly, Autobus Jordez linked Sherbrooke to Drummondville and Trois-Rivières, and also to Victoriaville and Quebec City, but since the company lost their licence to operate heavy vehicles^[11], they sold their licence to Autobus La Québécoise, who now provide the service.

Société de transport de Sherbrooke (STS) provides bus service within the city. It operates 17 bus routes, 11 minibus routes, and 5 taxibus routes.

The city is located at the eastern terminus of A-10, and directly on the Autoroute Trans-Québécoise (A-55). A-10 provides a direct freeway connection to Montreal and points west, while A-55 connects directly to Trois-Rivières, Shawinigan, and points north, as well as to Interstate 91 to the south (Vermont). A-410 and A-610 are the southern and northern bypass roads, respectively.

Public health and safety

Historical buildings located on Dufferin Street.

The suburban Sherbrooke University Hospital ("CHUS" or "Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbooke) has over 5,200 employees, including 550 doctors. It includes a clinical research facility, the Etienne-Lebel Research Center.

Media

Sherbrooke skyline and Mount Orford.

Notable Sherbrooke residents

The former Winter Prison

• George Foss, builder of the first Canadian gasoline powered automobile (1897).^[12]
• Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Éric Bélanger and David Perron, hockey players for the Minnesota Wild, Washington Capitals and the St. Louis Blues (ice hockey), respectively.
• Serge Cardin, Bloc Québécois MP for Sherbrooke
• Jean Charest, federal cabinet minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Progressive Conservative Party leader; Quebec Liberal Party leader and Premier of Quebec
• Jim Corcoran, singer-songwriter
• Christian Dubé, ice hockey player
• Northrop Frye, literary critic
• Garou, singer
• Yousuf Karsh, photographer
• Harry Saltzman, film producer
• Yanic Perreault, former NHL ice hockey player
• Mathieu Dandenault, NHL ice hockey player was born here

Joseph-Armand Bombardier hailed from the Sherbrooke area. John Bassett and Conrad Black started their careers as media barons as owner and co-owner, respectively, of the Sherbrooke Record.

Bordering counties

	Le Val-Saint-François
			Le Haut-Saint-François
		Sherbrooke
	Memphrémagog		Coaticook

See also

• Boroughs of Sherbrooke
• List of mayors of Sherbrooke
• Société de transport de Sherbrooke

References

External links

• (English) (French) Sherbrooke website
• (French) La Tribune
• (English) The Record - English language daily newspaper
• (English) The Townships Outlet - English language bi-monthly newspaper)

Administrative divisions of Estrie  (Region 05) Regional county municipalities and equivalent territories Le Granit · Les Sources · Le Haut-Saint-François · Le Val-Saint-François · Sherbrooke · Coaticook · Memphrémagog Municipalities Lac-Mégantic · Asbestos · Danville · Cookshire-Eaton · East Angus · Scotstown · Valcourt (V) · Windsor · Richmond · Sherbrooke · Coaticook · Waterville · Stanstead (V) · Magog Administrative divisions of Quebec

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