Amqui () is a town in eastern

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 thirte ...

, Canada, at the base of the

Gaspé peninsula The Gaspé Peninsula, also known as Gaspesia (; ), is a peninsula along the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River that extends from the Matapedia Valley in Quebec, Canada, into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It is separated from New Brunswick ...

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 ...

. Located at the confluence of the Humqui and

Matapédia River The Matapedia River (french: Rivière Matapédia) is a river in the Matapedia Valley in the province of Quebec, Canada. It runs on from Matapedia Lake down to the village of Matapédia where it empties into the left bank of Restigouche River on ...

s, it is the seat of

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 ...

. The main access road is

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, ...

Etymology

The

Mi'kmaq 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 no ...

word ''amgoig'', also written ''humqui'', ''unkoui'' and ''ankwi'', means "the place to have fun", "half wall" or "place of amusement and pleasure." Another

name for the area is ''Amkooĭk'' or ''Mkooögwĭk'' which aptly describes the area as "boggy." One source postulates that its name comes from the swirling water at the junction of the Humqui and Matapédia rivers. However, the most plausible explanation appears to be more pragmatic: Amqui was formerly a place where

Amerindians The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the Am ...

gathered for

pow wow A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations communities. Powwows today allow Indigenous people to socialize, dance, sing, and honor their cultures. Powwows may be private or p ...

History

Originally

territory, the area was granted as a seignory by

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 ...

to Charles-Nicolas-Joseph D'Amours in 1694. D'Amours died in 1728 and none of his descendants claimed the rights to the seigneury. So it remained a remote and undeveloped land until the 19th century. In 1830 construction began on the Kempt Road, a strategic military road between Quebec and the Maritimes, completed in 1833, that opened the area to colonization. But it was the construction of 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 ...

in the 1870s that brought real development. In 1879, the post office opened under the name Amqui. In 1881, the Mission of Saint-Benoît-Joseph-Labre was established, named after

Benedict Joseph Labre Benedict Joseph Labre (french: Benoît-Joseph Labre, 25 March 1748 – 16 April 1783) was a French mendicant, Franciscan tertiary, and Catholic saint. Labre was from a well to do family near Arras, France. After attempting a monastic lifestyle ...

. By 1884, the town became known as a great destination for salmon and trout fishing. In 1889, the mission became a parish and the following year it was incorporated as the Parish Municipality of Saint-Benoît-Joseph-Labre. In 1907, the village itself separated from the parish municipality and was incorporated as the Village Municipality of Saint-Benoît-Joseph-Labre, renamed to Amqui in 1948. It gained ''

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

'' status in 1961. In January 1991, the Parish Municipality of Saint-Benoît-Joseph-Labre was merged into the Town of Amqui.

Geography

Amqui is located to the south of the

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, connecting ...

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 t ...

, which was formed by 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 Th ...

. The valley is of glacial origin and was formed during the Paleozoic era millions of years ago. The region is characterized by gentle slopes through which the Matapédia river snakes from the northwest to the southeast. The city is located at the confluence of the Humqui and Matapédia rivers. The city is situated 415 km northeast of

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

, 345 km west of Gaspé and 80 km 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 ...

. Neighbouring urban centres include

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 ...

and

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 ...

, at 105 km and 70 km to the west, respectively, and Matane, 65 km to the north. Amqui is located 25 km east of

Sayabec Sayabec () is a municipality located in the La Matapédia Regional County Municipality (RCM) in Bas-Saint-Laurent, Quebec, Canada. It is located in the Matapédia Valley between the Chic-Choc Mountains of the Appalachian near Lake Matapédia. T ...

and 20 km northwest of

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 ...

, the two largest municipalities of La Matapédia after Amqui. The city borders Saint-Vianney and Saint-Tharcisius to the north, Saint-Alexandre-des-Lacs to the east, Lac-au-Saumon and Saint-Léon-le-Grand to the south, as well as Sainte-Irène and Val-Brillant to the west. The Couturval hamlet is part of Amqui.

Climate

Amqui's climate is temperate. Being surrounded by the Chic-Chocs creates unique climatic conditions in the region: a long and snowy winter and a hot and humid summer.

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 Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), 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 cultu ...

, Amqui had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. According to the Statistics Canada website, 6,090 of Amqui's 6,120 residents speak French as their first language. In addition, 12% can speak both French and English.

Government

Municipal

Members of the city council are elected every four years on the first Sunday of November and are conducted electronically. It is composed of seven members:

Federal and provincial

Provincially, Amqui is represented by

Pascal Bérubé Pascal Bérubé (born February 16, 1975, in Matane, Quebec) is a Canadian politician and television host. He is the current Member of National Assembly of Quebec for the riding of Matane-Matapédia (formerly Matane) and represents the Parti Q ...

in the Matane-Matapédia electoral district. Federally, the city is represented by Kristina Michaud(politician) in the Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia electoral district.

Infrastructure

The two-story Amqui railway station built in 1904, is served by

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 ...

's ''

Ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wor ...

'', and Montreal – Gaspé trains. Both trains share the same rail line between

Montréal 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-p ...

and Matapédia. It is protected by the federal government under the Act on the Protection of heritage railway stations since 1993. The station is representative of the boom at the turn of the century, and the associated expansion of the railways in general, the

Intercolonial Railway of Canada 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 ...

(IRC) in particular. Amqui depended on the railway to transport their agricultural products and finished parts made of wood. Subsequently, Amqui became an important stop on the train's route from Montréal to Halifax, and from Montréal to Gaspé. The design of the station Amqui is unusual for a station of the IRC. It is distinguished by its two-stage design, housing the housing of the

station master The station master (or stationmaster) is the person in charge of a railway station, particularly in the United Kingdom and many other countries outside North America. In the United Kingdom, where the term originated, it is now largely historical ...

and his family.Gare et wagon Lynnewood
" Ville d'Amqui. Retrieved on 25 June 2012.

Notable people from Amqui

* Alfred Belzile - politician and farmer. * Sébastien Caron -

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near ...

for the

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

Cathy LeFrançois ''Cathy'' is an American gag-a-day comic strip, drawn by Cathy Guisewite from 1976 until 2010. The comic follows Cathy, a woman who struggles through the "four basic guilt groups" of life—food, love, family, and work. The strip gently pokes f ...

- IFBB professional bodybuilder * Olivier Roy - goaltender drafted by the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

References

External links

Ville d'Amqui official site

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