Val-des-Monts is a municipality in the

Outaouais Outaouais (, ; also commonly called The Outaouais) is a region of western Quebec, Canada. It includes the city of Gatineau, the municipality of Val-des-Monts and the Papineau region. Geographically, it is located on the north side of the Ottaw ...

region 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 thirtee ...

, Canada, located about north of Ottawa,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. It has a population of 13,328 residents in 2021. Formed in 1975 by the merger of the towns of Perkins, Saint-Pierre-de-Wakefield and Poltimore, it consists mainly of farms and mountainous forests. Many of its residents commute to Ottawa or Gatineau for work. Due to its numerous lakes, its population is boosted during summers by people living in cottages. Most of the people in Val-des-Monts live in the village of Perkins.

Toponymy

The name of Val-des-Monts is from the French words ''Val'' which means "small valley" and ''Monts'' which means "mounts". This name is a reference to the fact that the territory of the municipality includes several valleys and mountains.

Geography

The municipality of Val-des-Monts is located at approximately 10 km north of Gatineau and 220 km 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 ...

. It is part of

Les Collines-de-l'Outaouais Regional County Municipality Les Collines-de-l'Outaouais (French for "The hills of the Outaouais") is a regional county municipality in the Outaouais region of western Quebec, Canada. The region nearly encircles the City of Gatineau, which is to the south. Its administrative ...

within

region. It is also part of the

National Capital Region A capital region, also called a capital district or capital territory, is a region or district surrounding a capital city. It is not always the official term for the region, but may sometimes be used as an informal synonym. Capital regions can exis ...

which includes Ottawa and Gatineau as well as some adjacent municipalities. The territory of Val-des-Monts is composed mainly of lakes, farming lands and forests. The largest lakes are McGregor, Grand, l'Écluse and Newcombe. The municipality of Val-des-Monts shares its borders with the municipalities of

Denholm Denholm is a small village located between Jedburgh and Hawick in the Scottish Borders region of Scotland, UK. The estimated population of Denholm is 600. There is a village green in the centre. It lies in the valley of the River Teviot. Denhol ...

and Bowman to the north, Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette and L'Ange-Gardien to the east,

La Pêche La Pêche (, Quebec French pronunciation: ) is a municipality along both sides of the Gatineau River in Les Collines-de-l'Outaouais Regional County Municipality in the Outaouais region of Quebec, Canada, about north of downtown Gatineau. Bord ...

to the west, and Cantley and Gatineau to the south. The two main highways crossing Val-des-Monts are provincial highways

307 __NOTOC__ Year 307 ( CCCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Maximinus (or, less frequently, year 1060 ...

and

366 __NOTOC__ Year 366 ( CCCLXVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gratianus and Dagalaifus (or, less frequently, year 1119 '' Ab urbe condita''). The denomina ...

. The municipal road network includes more than 270 km of roads.

History

The first settlers of the territory of Val-des-Monts arrived during the 19th century. From 1878 the region was booming economically, thanks to the discovery of

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phosph ...

. From 1892 the phosphate production began decreasing while the mica production began to develop. The Blackburn brothers' mine that was located to the northeast of Perkins was recognized as the biggest mica mine in Canada. At end of the 1910s the mica production was falling. At this time, after having exploited the mining and forestry resources, the inhabitants started to leave the region. The municipality of Val-des-Monts was created in 1975 by the merging of the municipalities of Perkins, Saint-Pierre-de-Wakefield and Poltimore. Nowadays it is mainly the attraction of living around the lakes that is drawing a large part of the population. On June 23, 2010, at 1:41 p.m. ET, a magnitude 5.0 earthquake hit Val-des-Monts. The earthquake was felt as far away as

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Demographics

Languages

According to the 2021 Canadian Census by Statistics Canada, 62% of Val-des-Monts' population speak both

official languages of Canada The official languages of Canada are English and French, which "have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and Government of Canada," according to Canada's constitution. "Official ...

while 32% speak only French and 6% speak only

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. At home, 84% speak only French, 13% only English, and 2% both English and French. Beside the language spoken the most often at home, 6% also speak English and 3% also speak French. Among the population who worked, 68.9% use French most often at work, 24.5% English, and 6.5% both English and French. Beside the language spoken the most often at work, 34.9% also use English and 15.6% also use French.

Mayors

List of mayors of Val-des-Monts since 2005 and the year of their election: * Marc Carrière (2005) * Jean Lafrenière (2008 and 2009) * Jacques Laurin (2013 and 2017)

Tourism

Val-des-Monts is part of the

touristic region. The main touristic attractions are outdoors activities, campgrounds and snowmobile trails. The municipality is also known for fishing since it has 125 lakes suitable for fishing. Every year since 2011, Val-des-Monts has hosted a country music festival.

Gallery

File:Poltimore QC.JPG, Poltimore File:St-Pierre-Wakefield QC.JPG, St-Pierre-de-Wakefield File:Lac Clair, Val-des-Monts, Quebec aerial.jpg, Lac Clair and other lakes

References

External links

Municipality of Val-des-Monts Website

Affaires Municipales et Regions Quebec

Statistics Canada

Elections Canada Results - 39th General Election (2006)

Director General of Quebec Elections

Official Transport Quebec Road Map
{{authority control Incorporated places in Outaouais Municipalities in Quebec National Capital Region (Canada)