Grand-Métis is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

La Mitis Regional County Municipality La Mitis is a regional county municipality in the Bas-Saint-Laurent The Bas-Saint-Laurent (Lower Saint-Lawrence), is an administrative region of Quebec located along the south shore of the lower Saint Lawrence River in Quebec. The river wide ...

within the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada. It is situated where the

Mitis River The Mitis River (french: Rivière Mitis) is a salmon river in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of Quebec, Canada. It flows to the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River. There are two hydroelectric dams on the river at a point where a waterfall used t ...

meets the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...

, and was developed from 1818 by the pioneering

John MacNider John MacNider (10 June 1760 – 1829) was a Scottish-Quebecer businessman who pioneered the settlement and development of the Seigneurial system of New France, Seigneuries of Grand-Métis, Quebec, Grand-Métis and Métis-sur-Mer, Quebec, Mét ...

Etymology

The names "Métis" and "Mitis" are said to come from a

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the northe ...

word meaning "meeting place" or another referring to willow or poplar trees.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, Grand-Métis had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Population

Attractions

The historic Reford Gardens (''Jardins de Métis'') are located nearby. These gardens, now maintained by Les Amis des Jardins de Métis, are the result of

Elsie Reford Elsie Reford (; January 22, 1872 – November 8, 1967) was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Quebec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of th ...

's extraordinary passion for

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

. An International Garden Festival is held here each summer. The garden's symbol, the Himalayan Blue Poppy (''Meconopsis betonicifolia''), can be found growing there in summer. The gardens were designated a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of t ...

in 1995.

References

External links