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Maniwaki is a town located north of
Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region and is part of Canada's Na ...
and north-west of
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
, in the province 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 thirte ...
, Canada. The town is situated on the
Gatineau River The Gatineau River (french: Rivière Gatineau, ) is a river in western Quebec, Canada, which rises in lakes north of the Baskatong Reservoir and flows south to join the Ottawa River at the city of Gatineau, Quebec. The river is long and drai ...
, at the crossroads of Route 105 and Route 107, not far south of Route 117 (Trans-Canada Highway). It is the administrative centre for
La Vallée-de-la-Gatineau Regional County Municipality La Vallée-de-la-Gatineau ''(The Valley of the Gatineau)'' is a regional county municipality in the Outaouais region of western Quebec, Canada. The seat is in Gracefield. It was incorporated on January 1, 1983 and was named for its location str ...
.


History

The history of Maniwaki is closely linked to that of the adjacent Kitigan Zibi Reserve, because the Town of Maniwaki was developed on land that was originally part of this reserve. Its municipal lands were included in historical land claims by Kitigan Zibi; some of which were settled as recently as 2007. In the first half of the nineteenth century, Algonquins of the mission at Lake of Two Mountains, under the leadership of Chief Pakinawatik, came to the area of the Désert River. Shortly after, in 1832, the
Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...
followed them and installed a trading post at the confluence of the Désert and Gatineau rivers. A decade later,
Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816, by Eugène de Mazenod, a French priest born in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France on August 1, ...
established the mission of Notre-Dame-du-Desert and, from 1849, they demanded of the authorities the demarcation of a township in order to establish a reserve for the Algonquins. The township limits were drawn in 1850 and the settlement was given the name of Maniwaki by the Oblates at this time (Algonquin for "Mary's Land"). Soon after, wood merchants, farmers, trade workers, businessmen and professionals, drawn by the forest's wealth, came to live in Maniwaki. Ottawa was linked to Maniwaki by a branch line of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, a distance of 82.3 miles. After crossing the Ottawa River, there were stations were at Hull, Wakefield, Low, Kazabazua and Gracefield before reaching Maniwaki. It was opened in stages between 1893 and 1902. Passenger services were discontinued in 1964. The line was totally abandoned in 1986. In 1851, the Oblats founded the L'Assomption-de-Maniwaki parish. Forestry took root and became the livelihood of many settlers in the region. Irish, French and Algonquins, the three traditional cultures of the Gatineau Valley, contributed to the development of the town and lived side by side in harmony. Maniwaki was officially founded in 1851 and became a township municipality in 1904. It obtained the status of "village" in 1930, and status of "Ville" in 1957. At the end of World War I, the region, like everywhere in Quebec, indeed like in most of the world, was hit by an epidemic of the
Spanish influenza The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...
. In less than two weeks, some twenty deaths were related to this sickness. Scared, people refused to go outdoors, and for the first time in its history, a Sunday passed without any mass being celebrated at the Assumption church. The flood of 1974 is an event remembered by the local population. On May 14 of that year, the waters of the Gatineau river and those of the Désert river overflowed. The water rose at the alarming rate of 3 to 6 inches an hour. Over 1,000 residences in the Maniwaki area were flooded and approximately 3,000 peoples had to be evacuated. Although no one was injured, damages reached many millions of dollars. Since 1974, no other major calamity has occurred. The area continues prospering every year in two predominant fields, namely forestry and tourism.


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 cultu ...
, Maniwaki 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: * Population in 2016: 3778 * Population in 2011: 3930 * Population in 2006: 4102 ** 2006 to 2011 population change: -4.2% * Population in 2001: 4020 (R) * Population in 1996: 4527 (included additional area before ceded to Kitigan Zibi) * Population in 1991: 4605 (R) = Revised count. Languages: * English as first language: 5.5% * French as first language: 90.7% * English and French as first language: 0.7% * Other as first language: 3.1%


Notable people

* Annie Galipeau: actress who starred in the 1999 movie about Grey Owl, alongside
Pierce Brosnan Pierce Brendan Brosnan (; born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He is best known as the fifth actor to play secret agent James Bond in the Bond film series, starring in four films from 1995 to 2002 ('' GoldenEye'', '' Tomorro ...
. *
Matt Lang Matt Lang is a Canadian country singer and songwriter. He is signed to the Jayward Artist Group, and has released one album ''More'' and four singles. Early life Lang is from Maniwaki, Quebec. He recalls Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" as t ...
:
country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
artist. *
Gino Odjick Wayne Gino Odjick (September 7, 1970 – January 15, 2023) was a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger who played 12 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1990 to 2002 for the Vancouver Canucks, New York Islanders, Philadelph ...
: NHL player for Vancouver Canucks, New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers and Montreal Canadiens.


Disappearance of Maisy Odjick and Shannon Alexander

On September 6, 2008 the town of Maniwaki was brought into the international spotlight with the disappearance of Maisy Odjick and Shannon Alexander from the
Kitigan Zibi Kitigan Zibi (also known as River Desert, and designated as Maniwaki 18 until 1994) is a First Nations reserve of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation, an Algonquin band. It is situated near the confluence of the Désert and Gatineau River ...
Nation. Search and Rescue Global One was invited to the community by the chief and council. Two separate searches were conducted, both unsuccessful. Since their disappearance, the Quebec police, RCMP and the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg police have carried out several investigations, but it was not possible to move the case forward.


References

{{authority control Cities and towns in Quebec Incorporated places in Outaouais