St. Malo is a

local urban district A local urban district is a type of unincorporated community within the Canadian province of Manitoba. According to ''The Municipal Act'', a local urban district is a locality wholly within a rural municipality that "has at least 250 residents a ...

located in the

Rural Municipality of De Salaberry De Salaberry (french: Municipalité rurale De Salaberry) is a rural municipality in the province of Manitoba in western Canada. The administratively separate village of St-Pierre-Jolys and St. Malo Provincial Park lie within the geographical bord ...

, approximately 70 km south of The Forks,

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

. Most of the community's residents are bilingual

francophone French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United State ...

or Québécois heritage.

Early history

Chronology of the early settlement of St. Malo: *1877 — Born in

Varennes Varennes-en-Argonne (, literally ''Varennes in Argonne'') or simply Varennes (German: Wöringen) is a commune in the Meuse department in the Grand Est region in Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 639. Geography Varennes-en-Ar ...

, Quebec, Louis Malo is the first pioneer to settle in St. Malo. *1878 — Opening of the Pembina Branch rail line from

St. Boniface Boniface, OSB ( la, Bonifatius; 675 – 5 June 754) was an English Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations o ...

to Dominion City through nearby Dufrost station. The new rail route resulted in the phasing-out of the generations-old Crow Wing ox trail through St. Malo; Dufrost began part of St. Malo parish. *1884 — Surveying of the St. Malo Settlement of lots along the Rat River (a tributary of the Red River) from the southern edge of the village of St. Malo to

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. Wi ...

. *1892 — Opening of register for the St. Malo parish of the Manitoban

archdiocese of St. Boniface The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint-Boniface ( la, Archidioecesis Sancti Bonifacii) is a Latin archdiocese in part of the civil Province of Manitoba in Canada. Despite having no suffragan dioceses, the archdiocese is nominally metropolitan and ...

. St. Malo Post Office established 1 February 1892. *1977 - On July 18, an F4 tore through the community, killing three and destroying several houses. Asphalt was peeled off of highway roads.

Geography

St. Malo lies in the eastern edge of the remarkably flat Red River flood plain, which was once the lake shore of

Lake Agassiz Lake Agassiz was a large glacial lake in central North America. Fed by glacial meltwater at the end of the last glacial period, its area was larger than all of the modern Great Lakes combined. First postulated in 1823 by William H. Keating, i ...

at the transition between southeastern Manitoba's upland woodlands to the east and the flat prairie grasslands to the west.

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, St. Malo had a population of 1,323 living in 492 of its 563 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 1,227. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Amenities

St. Malo is a shopping and services centre for the surrounding rural area; it is also recognized for its tourist attractions and

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

. Popular activities in St. Malo during the winter months include snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, hockey, as well as ice-fishing and car racing on the lake. In February 2008, the Friends of the Park ("''Les Amis du Parc''") organized its first annual Festival of Friends ("''Festival des Amis''"). École Saint-Malo School is the community's elementary and middle school and is part of the Red River Valley School Division. The school offers both French Immersion and English programs.

Notable people

Travis Hamonic Travis Hamonic ( ; born August 16, 1990) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted 53rd overall by the New York Islanders in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Playing c ...

, NHL player *

Daniel Joseph Marion Daniel Joseph Marion ( or – May 12, 2022) was the commissioner of the Northwest Territories The commissioner of the Northwest Territories (french: Commissaire des Territoires du Nord-Ouest) is the Government of Canada's representative in the ...

, politician

Friendship communities

* Rural Municipality of De Salaberry, Manitoba, Canada * Community of La Rochelle, Manitoba, Canada * Village of Saint-Pierre-Jolys, Manitoba, Canada * Village of Saint-Malo, Quebec, Canada * Port city of Saint-Malo, Brittany, France

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * 68 pages, L&A Canada link * * * * * * * * {{coord, 49, 19, 02, N, 96, 56, 56, W, region:CA-MB_type:city(1000), display=title

Saint Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast. The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the Alli ...

Unincorporated communities in Eastman Region, Manitoba Manitoba communities with majority francophone populations