Jonquière (; ; 2021 population: 60,250) is a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

(

arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements ...

) of the city of Saguenay in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean 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 located on the

Saguenay River __NOTOC__ The Saguenay River () is a major river of Quebec, Canada. It drains Lac Saint-Jean in the Laurentian Highlands, leaving at Alma and running east; the city of Saguenay is located on the river. It drains into the Saint Lawrence River. ...

, near the borough of

Chicoutimi Chicoutimi () is the most populous borough (arrondissement) of the city of Saguenay in Quebec, Canada. It is situated at the confluence of the Saguenay and Chicoutimi rivers. During the 20th century, it became the main administrative and com ...

History

Jonquière was founded in 1847 by Marguerite Belley, who came from

La Malbaie La Malbaie is a municipality in the Charlevoix-Est Regional County Municipality in the Province of Quebec, Canada, situated on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River at the mouth of the Malbaie River. It was formerly known as Murray Bay. La ...

to settle on the Rivière aux Sables. It was named after Jacques-Pierre de Taffanel de la Jonquière, Marquis de la Jonquière, governor of New France from 1749 to 1752. Arvida_Bridge_in_Jonquière

Growth came from the construction of pulp and paper mills at the beginning of the 20th century. Between 1925 and 1928, the world's largest aluminum plant was built along with the city Arvida (then a separate town). In 1942, to supply power to the plant, Alcan built a hydroelectric station at Shipshaw that was the largest in the world at that time. Jonquière, Arvida, and Kénogami were amalgamated into a single city, Jonquière, in 1975. Jonquière was the host city for the Quebec Games in the winter of 1976, and for the Canoe/Kayak World Championships in slalom and whitewater racing, in 1979. Much of Jonquière's development owed its strength to the Price family, who ran a pulp and paper factory in Kénogami. Today that factory is owned by Resolute Forest Products. Arvida is the home of an

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

plant owned by

Rio Tinto Alcan Rio Tinto Alcan is a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, based in Montreal. It was created on 15 November 2007 as the result of the merger between Rio Tinto's Canadian subsidiary and Canadian company Alcan. It is the global leader of aluminium mining and ...

. When the city of Saguenay was constituted on February 18, 2002 by municipal amalgamation, the borough of Jonquière was created from the former city of Jonquière, the former municipality of Shipshaw, and the former municipality of Lac-Kénogami. The former city of Jonquière had a population of 54,842 in the Canada 2001 Census, the last census in which Jonquière was counted as a separate city.2001 Statistics Canada Community Profiles: Jonquière
/ref> The heavy metal band Voivod formed in Jonquière. The Rivière aux Sables runs through the centre of Jonquière. Significant damage to the city's buildings was caused by the 1996 Saguenay Flood.

Transportation

Rail

Jonquière is the northern terminus of the Montreal–Jonquière passenger train operated by

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...

. Three round-trip trains per week run between

Jonquière station Jonquière station is a Via Rail station in Saguenay, Quebec, Canada. It is located on rue Saint-Dominique in the former city of Jonquière. It is the final stop of Via Rail's Montreal–Jonquière train The Montreal–Jonquière train (former ...

and

Montreal Central Station Montreal Central Station (french: Gare centrale de Montréal) is the major inter-city rail station and a major commuter rail hub in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Nearly 11 million rail passengers use the station every year, making it the second-bu ...

, scheduled to take about nine hours each way. This route is shared by the

Montreal–Senneterre train The Montreal–Senneterre train (formerly called the ''Abitibi'') is a passenger train operated by Via Rail between Montreal and Senneterre, in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec, Canada. The journey from end to end takes approximately ...

as far as

Hervey station Hervey station or Hervey-Jonction station is a railway station in Hervey-Jonction, Quebec, Canada. This station was built in when the National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) transcontinental railway main line was built between (Moncton–) Que ...

. From Montreal, passengers can connect to trains serving major destinations such as

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

, Ottawa,

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Halifax, and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Notable people

* Christiane Chabot, artist * Bernard Jean, oboist, conductor, and music educator *

Pierre Pilote Joseph Albert Pierre Paul Pilote (December 11, 1931 – September 9, 2017) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman and perennial All-Star, most notably for the Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League (NHL), for which he served ...

, NHL hall of famer * Annie Villeneuve, singer-songwriter * Voivod, heavy metal band * Guillaume Morissette, novelist

Mayors

*Jean Allard ( – January 20, 1868), (1872–1876) and (February 5, 1894 – August 26, 1895 Death) * Jules Gauthier Me Jules Gauthier (1942 - bef 1949) *Camille Gagné *Francis Dufour (1975–1985) (Arvida 1967 – 1975) *Gilles Marceau *Marcel Martel ( – November 7, 1999) * Daniel Giguère (November 7, 1999 – February 18, 2002)

References

External links

Borough Council of Jonquière

(Archive) *
Municipality of Jonquiere
(Archive)
"Giant of the North"
''Popular Mechanics'', December 1943, article on the crash program to create the Shipshaw hydroelectric project {{DEFAULTSORT:Jonquiere Populated places established in 1847 Populated places disestablished in 2002 Boroughs of Saguenay, Quebec Former municipalities in Quebec Former cities in Quebec 1847 establishments in Canada 2002 disestablishments in Quebec