Passes-Dangereuses (until May 2009: Chute-des-Passes) is an

unorganized territory Unorganized territory may refer to: * An unincorporated area in any number of countries * One of the current or former territories of the United States that has not had a government "organized" with an "organic act" by the U.S. Congress * Unorganize ...

in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

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 ...

, located between the

Peribonka River The Peribonka River (French: ''Rivière Péribonka'') is a river emptying in Sainte-Monique, in Lac-Saint-Jean-Est Regional County Municipality, in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean area in Quebec, Canada. It is long and drains an area of . It drains ...

on the east and the

Mistassibi River The Mistassibi River is a river in central Quebec, Canada. It is long and has a drainage basin of . Its source is an area with unnamed lakes about east of Canso Bay of Lake Albanel, eastern neighbor of Lake Mistassini. The name ''Mistassibi'' ...

on the west.

Geography

The territory, part of the

regional county municipality The term regional county municipality or RCM (''french: municipalité régionale de comté, MRC'') is used in Quebec, Canada to refer to one of 87 county-like political entities. In some older English translations they were called county r ...

of Maria-Chapdelaine, covered a land area of and had a population of 210 as of the

Canada 2021 Census 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 ...

, all living in the village of Sainte-Élisabeth-de-Proulx (), which is north-east of

Dolbeau-Mistassini Dolbeau-Mistassini is a town in northern Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Mistassibi River, Riviere aux Rats and the Mistassini River, on Lac Saint-Jean. Dolbeau-Mistassini is in the Maria-Chapdelaine Regional County Municipality and is ...

in the geographic township of Proulx.

Toponymy

The territory was formed in January 1981, and was then known as "Lac-Saint-Jean-Ouest, partie Chute-des-Passes". This was shortened to Chute-des-Passes in August 1986. On May 23, 2009, the territory was renamed to Passes-Dangereuses in order to avoid confusion with the hamlet of Chute-des-Passes in the neighbouring Unorganized Territory of Mont-Valin. The territory's name ''Passes-Dangereuses'' (French for "dangerous pass") refers to a series of rapids and chutes that stir up the

for a distance of about from Lake Peribonka's outlet downstream. This section of the river flows through impressive escarpments of over high and was first identified as "the nasty

portage Portage or portaging (Canada: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a ...

" by Jesuit Pierre-Michel Laure on his map of 1731. The following year, this missionary used the

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

name ''Katchiskataouakigs'', also used by Bellin on his map of 1744. A map of

Jonathan Carver Jonathan Carver (April 13, 1710 – January 31, 1780) was a captain in a Massachusetts colonial unit, explorer, and writer. After his exploration of the northern Mississippi valley and western Great Lakes region, he published an account of his exp ...

from 1776 indicated "Falls and Rift" to characterize the place. Not until the end of the 19th century did the current toponym begin to appear on survey maps. In 1941,

Alcan Alcan was a Canadian mining company and aluminum manufacturer. It was founded in 1902 as the Northern Aluminum Company, renamed Aluminum Company of Canada in 1925, and Alcan Aluminum in 1966. It took the name Alcan Incorporated in 2001. During t ...

built at the head of these rapids a dam called Chute-des-Passes, forming Lake Peribonka behind it. The dam's name also refers to the nearby hamlet that formed the east side of the river, and was the former name of Passes-Dangereuses Territory.

Demographics

Population trend:Statistics Canada:

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

census * Population in 2021: 210 (2016 to 2021 population change: 14.1%) * Population in 2016: 184 * Population in 2011: 226 * Population in 2006: 174 * Population in 2001: 188 * Population in 1996: 192 * Population in 1991: 207 Private dwellings occupied by usual residents: 104 (total dwellings: 151)

References

{{authority control Unorganized territories in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean Maria-Chapdelaine Regional County Municipality