Saint-Michel-des-Saints () is a municipality in the

Matawinie Regional County Municipality Matawinie () is a regional county municipality in the region of Lanaudière in southwestern Quebec, Canada. Its seat is Rawdon. The population according to the 2021 Canadian Census was 55,500. Subdivisions There are 27 subdivisions within the ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Agriculture, forestry, recreation, and tourism have been the main activities found within this region.

History

In 1863, Thomas-Léandre Brassard settled near the falls of Pine Lake (''Lac des Pins'') where he built a mill and a manor. Three years later, there were 136 inhabitants. In 1870, the post office opened. By 1883, the Parish of Saint-Michel-des-Saints was officially formed and followed two years later in 1885 by the formation of the parish municipality. The name Saint-Michel-des-Saints, chosen by

Ignace Bourget Ignace Bourget (; October 30, 1799 – June 8, 1885) was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest who held the title of Bishop of Montreal from 1840 to 1876. Born in Lévis, Quebec, in 1799, Bourget entered the clergy at an early age, undertook several ...

at the suggestion of Father Brassard, honours Michael de Sanctis who lived from 1591 to 1625. In 1929, the dam on the Matawin River was constructed that would result in the formation of the Taureau Reservoir. This reservoir drowned the neighbouring village of Saint-Ignace-du-Lac (founded in 1877) and so that municipality was annexed by Saint-Michel-des-Saints in 1931, thereby increasing its territory by about . In 1979, the Parish Municipality of Saint-Michel-des-Saints and the United Township Municipality of Masson-et-Laviolette (founded in 1914) were merged to form the new Municipality of Saint-Michel-des-Saints. In 2018, a flood occurred in late April and early May.

Geography

Saint-Michel-des-Saints is the largest and northernmost municipality in the

Lanaudière Lanaudière (, ) is one of the seventeen administrative regions of Quebec, Canada, situated immediately to the northeast of Montreal. It has a total population ( 2016 Census) of 494,796 inhabitants, an increase of 4.9% over the 2011 census. Geogr ...

region (not considering the unorganized territories). The village itself is located at the northern end of

Quebec Route 131 Route 131 is a Quebec highway running from Lavaltrie (junction of Quebec Route 138, Route 138) to Saint-Michel-des-Saints in Lanaudière. This route, combined with Quebec Autoroute 31, Autoroute 31, provides the key route to Joliette, and then co ...

along the Matawin River, near the south-western corner of Taureau Reservoir. The larger lakes in the municipality include Durand, Beauséjour, Hazen, and Kaiagamac. These and the many other ones attract many summer cottage vacationers. The area's forests are popular for hunting and trapping.

Demographics

Population

In the 2011 Census,

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), 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 culture. It is headquartered in ...

originally reported that Saint-Michel-des-Saints had a population of 2,201 living in 979 of its 1,774 total dwellings, an 18.9% change from its 2006 population of 2,713. Statistics Canada subsequently amended the 2011 census results to a population of 2,436 living in 1,084 of its 1,990 total dwellings, a -10.2% change from 2006. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2011.

Language

Mother tongue:Statistics Canada 2006 Census
Saint-Michel-des-Saints community profile
/ref> * English as first language: 1.5% * French as first language: 95.7% * English and French as first language: 0.4% * Other as first language: 2.4%

Education

Commission scolaire des Samares The Centre de services scolaire des Samares is a francophone school district headquartered in Saint-Félix-de-Valois, in the Canadian province of Quebec.

operates francophone public schools: * École secondaire des Montagnes * École Saint-Jean-Baptiste The

Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board The Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board (SWLSB, , CSSWL) is a school board headquartered in Rosemère, Quebec in Greater Montreal. It officially came into existence in July 1998 when English-language schools from eight former school boards were amalg ...

operates anglophone public schools serving the community at the secondary level, including: *

Joliette High School Joliette High School (JHS, ) is a public anglophone secondary school in Joliette, Quebec. Operated by the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board, it is the sole anglophone high school in Lanaudière. , it had about 265 students. Attendance boundary Ar ...

Joliette Joliette () is a city in southwest Quebec, Canada. It is approximately northeast of Montreal, on the L'Assomption River and is the seat of the Regional County Municipality of Joliette. It is considered to be a part of the North Shore of G ...

Joliette High School Zone Sec 1-5
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. Retrieved on September 5, 2017.

Cultural twinning

Saint-Michel-des-Saints is twinned with the community of Saint-Varent in the

Deux-Sèvres Deux-Sèvres (, Poitevin-Saintongese: ''Deùs Saevres'') is a French department. ''Deux-Sèvres'' literally means "two Sèvres": the Sèvre Nantaise and the Sèvre Niortaise are two rivers which have their sources in the department. It had a ...

department in western

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

References

{{authority control Municipalities in Quebec Incorporated places in Lanaudière Matawinie Regional County Municipality