Sainte-Mélanie, Quebec

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Sainte-Mélanie
Municipality
Rocher Lake, largest lake within the municipality
Location within Joliette RCM.
Sainte-Mélanie
Location in southern Quebec.
Coordinates: 46°08′N 73°31′W / 46.133°N 73.517°W / 46.133; -73.517Coordinates: 46°08′N 73°31′W / 46.133°N 73.517°W / 46.133; -73.517[1]
Country  Canada
Province  Quebec
Region Lanaudière
RCM Joliette
Constituted July 1, 1855
Government[2]
  Mayor Yves Beaulieu
  Federal riding Joliette
  Prov. riding Joliette
Area[2][3]
  Total 78.30 km2 (30.23 sq mi)
  Land 75.84 km2 (29.28 sq mi)
Population (2011)[3]
  Total 2,892
  Density 38.1/km2 (99/sq mi)
  Pop 2006-2011 Increase 4.6%
  Dwellings 1,404
Time zone EST (UTC−5)
  Summer (DST) EDT (UTC−4)
Postal code(s) J0K 3A0
Area code(s) 450 and 579
Highways Route 348
Website www.sainte-melanie.ca

Sainte-Mélanie is a municipality in the Lanaudière region of Quebec, Canada, part of the Joliette Regional County Municipality. It is located along the western shores of the L'Assomption River.

History

Sainte-Mélanie was formerly part of the territory of the Ailleboust Seignory, granted to Jean d'Ailleboust d'Argenteuil (1694-1785) in 1736. By 1800, Pierre-Louis Panet (1761-1812) was Lord of Ailleboust, whose daughter Charlotte-Mélanie Panet (1794-1872) may have been the source of the name Sainte-Mélanie, also a reference to Melania the Younger (383-439). Charlotte-Mélanie's husband, Marc-Antoine-Louis Lévesque (1782-1833), donated the land in 1814 for a chapel that was eventually built in 1830. The Parish of Sainte-Mélanie was founded in 1832, and four years later in 1836, the post office opened under the name Daillebout.[4]

The municipality officially started in 1845, was soon after abolished, and reestablished in 1855 as Sainte-Mélanie-d'Ailleboust. In 1881, the post office was renamed to Sainte-Mélanie, and more than a century later in 1986, the municipality followed suit by also adopting this shortened name.[4]

Demographics

Population trend:[5]

  • Population in 2011: 2892 (2006 to 2011 population change: 4.6%)
  • Population in 2006: 2765
  • Population in 2001: 2633
  • Population in 1996: 2474
  • Population in 1991: 2282

Private dwellings occupied by usual residents: 1,221 (total dwellings: 1,404)

Mother tongue:

  • English as first language: 0.9%
  • French as first language: 97.8%
  • English and French as first language: 0%
  • Other as first language: 1.3%

Notable people from Sainte-Mélanie

  • Aimé Pelletier (1914-2010), surgeon and well-known Quebec novelist, under the nom de plume of Bertrand Vac. Pelletier, who spent the majority of his professional career in Montreal, is interred with his ancestors at the Sainte-Mélanie cemetery.[6]

References

  1. Reference number 278086 of the Commission de toponymie du Québec (French)
  2. 2.0 2.1 Geographic code 61050 in the official Répertoire des municipalités (French)
  3. 3.0 3.1 Statistics Canada 2011 Census - Sainte-Mélanie census profile
  4. 4.0 4.1 "Sainte-Mélanie (Municipalité)" (in French). Commission de toponymie du Québec. Retrieved 2009-10-07. 
  5. Statistics Canada: 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 census
  6. Obituary, Aimé (Bertrand Vac) Pelletier; www.inmemoriam.ca.



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