Sayabec () is a municipality located in the

La Matapédia Regional County Municipality La Matapédia is a regional county municipality (RCM) in eastern Quebec, Canada at the base of the Gaspé peninsula, in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region. Its seat is in Amqui. It is named after the Matapédia River which runs through the western p ...

(RCM) in

Bas-Saint-Laurent The Bas-Saint-Laurent (Lower Saint-Lawrence), is an administrative region of Quebec located along the south shore of the lower Saint Lawrence River in Quebec. The river widens at this place, later becoming a bay that discharges into the Atlanti ...

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 Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It is located in the

Matapédia Valley The Matapedia Valley (French: ''vallée de la Matapédia'') was formed by the Chic-Choc Mountains of eastern Québec. Its name is derived from the river that traverses the valley, as well as the lake that lies in its center. It is situated in ...

between the

Chic-Choc Mountains The Chic-Choc Mountains, also spelled Shick Shocks, is a mountain range in the central region of the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec, Canada. It is a part of the Notre Dame Mountains, which is a continuation of the Appalachian Mountains. History The ...

of the Appalachian near Lake Matapédia. The main activities of the village are agriculture and forestry. It has a population of approximately 2,000, the third biggest municipality in its RCM after Amqui and

Causapscal Causapscal () is a city in the Canadian province of Quebec, located in La Matapédia Regional County Municipality. It is located at the confluence of the Matapédia and Causapscal Rivers, along Quebec Route 132, approximately halfway between Mont- ...

. Due to the presence of the chipboards plant called Panval, the biggest industry of the valley, Sayabec is an important regional economic centre. The territory was historically occupied by

Mi'kmaq people The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations in Canada, First Nations people of the Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's ...

, a

First Nation Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

who occupied much of the Gaspe Peninsula. Its first French Canadian inhabitant was Pierre Brochu, who came in 1833. At the end of the 19th century settlers began to come in the region to work in sawmills. The municipality was first officially created in 1887 as a school municipality under the name Sainte-Marie-de-Sayabec. The Catholic parish was erected in 1894. In 1917, the village of Saindon was created, and it took the name of Sayabec in 1951. Today municipality was formed in 1982 through the merger of the parish municipality of Sainte-Marie-de-Sayabec and the village municipality of Sayabec. The municipality's main transportation link is the

Quebec Route 132 Route 132 is the longest highway in Quebec. It follows the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River from the border with the state of New York in the hamlet of Dundee (connecting with New York State Route 37 (NY 37) via NY 970T, ...

which loops around the Gaspe Peninsula back towards the

Mont-Joli Mont-Joli () is a city in the La Mitis Regional County Municipality within the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of Quebec, Canada. It is the county seat. The city is located east of Rimouski near the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River. History In ...

area northwest of Sayabec. It is also located along the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

(originally the

Intercolonial Railway The Intercolonial Railway of Canada , also referred to as the Intercolonial Railway (ICR), was a historic Canadian railway that operated from 1872 to 1918, when it became part of Canadian National Railways. As the railway was also completely ow ...

Toponymy

Sayabec is pronounced "Say-bec" (/se.bɛk/). This name comes from the

Mi'kmaq language The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the northe ...

word ''sepeg'', which means "full river" or "river obstructed by a beaver dam". In fact, the actual Mi'kmaq word is ''sakpediak'', ''sak'' meaning "river" and ''pediak'' "full", but the Mi'kmaq used to say "''sakbak''" to be shorter. Other sources say that the name is from the Mi'kmaq word ''siapeg'', which means "extension of the lake" or "small gulf". Demonyms of Sayabec are "Sayabécois" for male gender and "Sayabécoise" for female.

Geography

Sayabec is located to the south of

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...

on the Gaspe Peninsula in the

. It is located 375 km to the northeast of

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

, 350 km to the west of

Gaspé, Quebec Gaspé is a city at the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula in the Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine region of eastern Quebec in Canada. Gaspé is located about northeast of Quebec City, and east of Rimouski. As of the 2021 Canadian Census, the city had ...

and 100 km to the north of

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

. The main cities in the vicinity of Sayabec are

Rimouski Rimouski ( ) is a city in Quebec, Canada. Rimouski is located in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region, at the mouth of the Rimouski River. It has a population of 48,935 (as of 2021). Rimouski is the site of Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR), t ...

at 60 km and

at 30 km to the west,

Matane Matane is a town on the Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec, Canada, on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River at the mouth of the Matane River. The town is the seat for the La Matanie Regional County Municipality. In addition to Matane itself, the ...

at 40 km to the north and Amqui at 20 km to the east. Bordering municipalities are Saint-Moïse to the west,

Val-Brillant Val-Brillant is a municipality in eastern Quebec, Canada, at the base of the Gaspé peninsula. On the southern shores of the Lake Matapedia, Val-Brillant is part of the Matapédia Valley. The place was previously known by many other names: La ...

to the east, Saint-Cléophas to the south and

Sainte-Paule Sainte-Paule () is a commune in the Rhône department in eastern France. See also *Communes of the Rhône department The following is a list of the 208 communes of the Rhône department of France. This list does not includes the Lyon Metropo ...

to the north. Sayabec is divided into two sections: the main section located near Lake Matapédia, and a second section near Lake Malcolm known as the hamlet of Lac-Malcolm. Sayabec covers 130 km². Forests cover 47.9% of this territory, 8.4% is water and the rest (43.7%) is treeless. Approximately 35% of the territory is propitious for agriculture.. Sayabec is part of

in the administrative region of

. The catholic parish of Sayabec named Saint-Nom-de-Marie is part of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rimouski The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rimouski ( la, Archidioecesis Sancti Germani) is a Roman Catholic archdiocese that includes part of the Province of Quebec, Canada, and includes the suffragan dioceses of Baie-Comeau and Gaspé. As of 2018, ...

. The municipality is part of the touristic region of Gaspésie. The geography of Sayabec is located in the mountains range of the Appalachian on a side of

in the section of

Notre Dame Mountains The Notre Dame Mountains are a portion of the Appalachian Mountains, extending from the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec to the Green Mountains of Vermont. The range runs from northeast to southwest, forming the southern edge of the St. Lawrence Rive ...

. It is at an altitude of 200 m and the summits reach 350 m. Lac Matapédia2

The territory of Sayabec encompasses two watersheds. The first one sheds into Lake Matapédia, and covers approximately 60% of the territory. It includes Lake Matapédia as well as Sayabec and Saint Pierre Rivers. Lake Matapédia is known for lake and brook trout fishing. The second watershed empties into Blanche River and covers 40% of the territory. It includes mainly Malcolm and Squaw Lakes as well as Blanche, Arthur, Edouard and Sauvages Rivers. Malcolm Lake to the north of the village is known for fishing, nautical activities and camping. Sayabec is located in a

temperate climate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

. Between 2001 and 2010 maximum temperature was 34 Celsius, and minimum temperature was -41 Celsius.

Demographics

According to Statistics Canada, Sayabec's population in 2021 was 1,706, a 6.8% decrease from the 2016 population of 1,831. Most of the population is located in the southern portion of the municipal territory. There are a total of 872 private housing units in Sayabec, 812 of which are occupied by regular residents. The majority of Sayabec's housing are single-family homes. According to Statistics Canada's most recent survey, no immigrants were counted in Sayabec. French is the mother tongue of nearly the entire population. About 13% of the population can speak English, and no residents has a language other than French or English as its native language. Unemployment rate in Sayabec was 16.8% in 2021. Median income was $32,000, and 20.7% of the adult population had a lower-income status in 2005.

Transportation

Sayabec is located on the main transportation axis of the Gaspe Peninsula:

. It is also located on the

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 ...

operates two passenger trains on this railway: Le Chaleur and L'Océan. They stop at Sayabec at a railway stop on demand. Intercity buses of

Orléans Express Orléans Express is a coach (vehicle), coach operator in Quebec, Canada. Destinations served include Ottawa (Ontario, ON), Gatineau, Montreal, Trois-Rivières, Quebec City, Rivière-du-Loup, Rimouski, and Gaspé, Quebec, Gaspé. Maritime Bus, a s ...

serve Sayabec, using the Route 132 in direction of

and

Matapédia, Quebec Matapédia (former name: Saint-Laurent-de-Matapédia) is a municipality at the southern tip of the Gaspé Peninsula, in eastern Quebec, Canada. Matapédia is located along Quebec Route 132 on the border of New Brunswick. In addition to Matapédi ...

. The closest regional airport is located in Mont-Joli at 43 km to the northwest of Sayabec. Sayabec was the first village of the province of Quebec to adopt

macadam Macadam is a type of road construction, pioneered by Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam around 1820, in which crushed stone is placed in shallow, convex layers and compacted thoroughly. A binding layer of stone dust (crushed stone from the o ...

roads as soon as 1910, before the arrival of asphalt on the market.

History

Early history

The region was first frequented by the Mi'kmaq First Nation, beginning before the 17th century. In 1694, the lordship of Lake Madapequia was granted to Charles-Nicolas-Joseph D'Amours by the New France's governor,

Louis de Buade de Frontenac Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau (; 22 May 162228 November 1698) was a French soldier, courtier, and Governor General of New France in North America from 1672 to 1682, and again from 1689 to his death in 1698. He established a nu ...

. However, despite the laws of the time, this owner never inhabited nor exploited this territory, and he didn't officially bequeathed it. It is the construction of Kempt Road from 1830 to 1832 and Matapédia Road from 1847 to 1862 that allowed the colonization of the Matapédia Valley. Afterwards, the

, built from 1870 to 1872, has been an important catalyst for the development of the forest industry in the valley. Sayabec-Croix Pierre Brochu

The first inhabitant of Matapédia Valley was Pierre Brochu (1795-1871) born in Saint-Vallier, Bellechasse, who settled down at the tip of Matapédia Lake in 1833. He was operating a guard post along Kempt Road to offer relief and lodging to travellers and postilions. He occupied this position until his death in 1871. Around 1850 he sat up a sawmill at the head of Matapédia Lake. After his death his second wife Marcella Dumas continued to cultivate the land at this place for eight years. Even if the first settler established himself as soon as 1833, it is the establishment of John Fenderson Company at the end of the 19th century that attracted more settlers in Sayabec. From this moment, more settlers, mainly from

and

counties, moved to Sayabec to work in the sawmills or to clear lands. From then on the forestry vocation of Sayabec was set and more people came to work in the sawmills then to settle as farmers. The Fenderson family was the first real industrials of the valley. They bought a shingle mill in 1896. This mill was destroyed by fire the next year, and John Fenderson built a new sawmill for timbers and shingles as well as a plant for wood finishing. In 1910 he bought the lordship of Matapédia Lake as well as the sawmill of Val-Brillant, Quebec. The sawmill for timbers closed in 1918, and has been demolished in 1922, but the sawmill for wood finishing continued to operate full-time. Around 80% of products were exported to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In 1922 John Fenderson & Company built a plant to transform hardwood into wood flooring. At the time it was the biggest industry in all Eastern Quebec, employing around 400 people. John Fenderson & Company's plants has been sold to John Fenderson Lumber Limited Company, and then to Domaine Seigneurial, before being definitely closed in 1952.

Development of the municipality

The municipality was first officially created on February 18, 1887 as a school municipality instead of a parish municipality unlike as usual in Quebec, because education was important for local settlers. The first school was built in 1892. For the construction of this school each Sayabécois had to provide 24 ft of 8 ft long squared cedar for each arpent of land he possessed. In 1885 a catholic mission was established under the name of Sainte-Marie-de-Sayabec. The catholic parish had been canonically erected on November 29, 1894, and the first priest was Joseph-Cléophas Saindon, beginning on October 2, 1896. The parish municipality had been officially created on April, 1st 1895 under the same name of the mission established five years before. On May 20, 1895 the municipal council unanimously adopted a motion stipulating that French was the only language used in debates and municipal affairs. The first aqueduct was built in 1903. The same year started the construction of the first stone church. The ''

caisse populaire A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is a member-owned nonprofit financial cooperative. Credit unions generally provide services to members similar to retail banks, including deposit accounts, provision ...

'' (credit union) had been established in 1907 by the priest Joseph-Cléophas Saindon. The phone had been installed before the electricity, when the first switchboard was commissioned in 1908. In 1910 Sayabec became the first village of the province of Quebec to adopt

roads, when it applied it on ''route de l'Église'' (Church Road). Between 1912 and 1917 the ''grand chemin Matapédia'' (Matapédia Big Road) also known as ''chemin Militaire'' (Military Road) had been macadamized. In 1911 ''Compagnie électrique d'Amqui'' (Amqui Electric Company) built an hydroelectric power plant downstream of Matapédia Lake in order to provide electricity to Amqui, Val-Brillant and Sayabec. This allowed the installation of street lightning in 1914. ''Compagnie électrique d'Amqui'' held the exclusivity on the electric network for a 25 years period in exchange of providing street lightning. In 1922 '' Compagnie de Pouvoir du Bas-Saint-Laurent'' (Bas-Saint-Laurent Power Company) owned by

Jules-André Brillant Jules-André Brillant (30 June 1888 – 11 May 1973) was a French Canadian entrepreneur who was active in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of Quebec from 1920 to 1962. He founded an electrical power company in 1922, a telephone company in 1927 and a s ...

bought ''Compagnie électrique d'Amqui'' and became the only power distributor in the region until the nationalization of electricity in Quebec in 1963. Sayabec église

In 1912 the

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

opened. On March 28, 1917 the village split into two municipalities, when the village municipality of Saindon separated from the parish municipality of Sayabec. The village was named after the first priest, canon Joseph-Cléophas Saindon. On May 19, 1921 the village was once more divided, when the parish municipality of Saint-Cléophas was founded. Once again it had been named after priest Saindon. In 1927

, which was until then a mission of the catholic parish of Sayabec, separated to form its own municipality. In the 1920s the village counted 500 families. On February 18, 1929 a lightning destroyed most of the church; it has been rebuilt with the original walls in 1931. In May 1941 a corps of peace officers had been founded to ensure public order. In 1942, Sayabécois adopted a strong position against conscription. At the beginning of the 1950s Sayabec counted a total of nine schools. In 1951 the village of Saindon adopted the name of Sayabec. The first telephone code assigned to Sayabec was "748", but in 1969 the current code "536" had been assigned to Sayabec and Saint-Cléophas. On March 6, 1962 an office of the ''Police provinciale du Québec'' (Quebec Provincial Police) opened in Sayabec; it closed on April 30, 1963. The municipality bought its first snowplow in 1969. On January 5, 1976 the municipality office had been sat up in the current city hall, which was an old Daughters of Jesus residence bought by the Matapédia School District. On December 24, 1982 the Parish Municipality of Sainte-Marie-de-Sayabec and the Village Municipality of Sayabec had been merged into one municipality under the current name of Sayabec. Sayabec-HLM

In 1968 eight

HLM An habitation à loyer modéré (HLM, , ), is a form of low-income housing in France, Algeria, Senegal, and Quebec. It may be public or private, with rent subsidies. HLMs constitute 16% of all housing in France.Société d'habitation du Québec'' (Quebec Housing Corporation). In 1984 an eleven-tenant building for the elderly called ''Pavillon Chanoine Saindon'' was built, and in 1990 a second eleven-tenant building for elderly called ''Appartements J.-A. Ross'' was built next to the first. Those lodging units are managed by the Sayabec Municipal Housing Office. Following a governmental decree of July 1, 1986 Sayabec had to close its municipal opencast dump, which opened in 1951. From then on, Sayabec's waste are transported to the regional landfill in Amqui. In 1988

Hydro-Québec Hydro-Québec is a public utility that manages the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the Canadian province of Quebec, as well as the export of power to portions of the Northeast United States. It was established by the ...

installed a new power distribution station in Sayabec. On February 20, 1987 the municipality bought a warehouse to establish its municipal garage in order to house fire protection vehicles and municipal machinery. Sayabec - Panval

On February 19, 1981 the implantation of the panels-furniture plant was officially announced. On August, 20 of the same year the Quebec Premier

René Lévesque René Lévesque (; August 24, 1922 – November 1, 1987) was a Québécois politician and journalist who served as the 23rd premier of Quebec from 1976 to 1985. He was the first Québécois political leader since Confederation to attempt ...

came to Sayabec. The Crown corporation Rexfor and the German firm Kunz were the two main shareholders of this plant named ''Panneaux de la Vallée'' shortened into Panval. On December 5, 1982 a thanksgiving mass had been celebrated at the occasion of the start of operations of Panval. Doctor Kunz himself attended this mass, and stated that this religious celebration was a first between all his plants around the world. In 1987 Panval was enlarged by the addition of a third laminating press, and then became the largest producer of laminated panels in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. In 1989 Panval employed 425 full-time employees, and occupied 62,700 sq m. More than 1,000 trucks by month served the plant. However, the

NAFTA The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA ; es, Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, TLCAN; french: Accord de libre-échange nord-américain, ALÉNA) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that crea ...

had a bad impact on the production of Panval, and its personnel had been reduced to 225 employees. As of 2012, the plant belongs to Uniboard Canada and is the largest industry in the region.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Sayabec for the 2017-2021 tenure is:. * Mayor: Marcel Belzile * Councillors: Frédéric Caron, Manon Lacroix, Jimmy Bouillon, Patrick Santerre, Diane Pineault, Bruno Côté

Notable people

Joseph Kaeble Joseph Thomas Keable, Victoria Cross, VC, Military Medal, MM (5 May 1892 – 9 June 1918) was a Canadians, Canadian soldier during the First World War. Keable was a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for galla ...

, first

French-Canadian French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fr ...

soldier to be decorated by the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

, the highest military distinction of the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

. He received this honor for an act of bravery during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He also received the

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land. The award ...

. *

David Pelletier David Jacques Pelletier (born November 22, 1974) is a Canadian pairs figure skater. With his former wife Jamie Salé, he was the co-gold medal winner at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. They shared the gold medal with the Russian pair Elena Ber ...

, Gold medal, Olympic Gold Medalist in figure skating at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games (along with Jamie Salé) * Irvin Pelletier, Member of the National Assembly of Quebec for the riding of Rimouski (provincial electoral district), Rimouski * Jordan Caron, 2009 1st round draft pick of the Boston Bruins * Jules Boucher, politician * Claude Rioux, politician and judge * Carolanne D'Astous-Paquet, singer who participated in Star Académie

References

External links

Location of Sayabec

{{authority control Designated places in Quebec Municipalities in Quebec Incorporated places in Bas-Saint-Laurent La Matapédia Regional County Municipality