New Carlisle, Quebec is a town in the

Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine () is an administrative region of Quebec consisting of the Gaspé Peninsula (''Gaspésie'') and the Îles-de-la-Madeleine. It lies in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence at the eastern extreme of southern Quebec. The p ...

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 thirte ...

, Canada. It best known as the boyhood home of

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 attemp ...

although he was born in

Campbellton, New Brunswick Campbellton is a city in Restigouche County, New Brunswick, Canada. Situated on the south bank of the Restigouche River opposite Pointe-à-la-Croix, Quebec, Campbellton was officially incorporated in 1889 and achieved city status in 1958. Fores ...

. Its population is approximately 1,388, most of which anglophone but many of which is francophone. New Carlisle is located on the

Baie des Chaleurs frame, Satellite image of Chaleur Bay (NASA). Chaleur Bay is the large bay in the centre of the image; the Gaspé Peninsula is to the north and the Gulf of St. Lawrence is seen to the east.">Gulf_of_St._Lawrence.html" ;"title="Gaspé Peninsula ...

. New Carlisle is the seat of

Bonaventure Regional County Municipality Bonaventure is a regional county municipality in the Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine region of eastern Quebec, Canada, on the Gaspé Peninsula. Its seat is New Carlisle. Subdivisions There are 14 subdivisions within the RCM: ;Cities & Towns ...

, the

judicial district A judicial district or legal district denotes the territorial area for which a legal court (usually a district court) has jurisdiction. By region Europe Austria In texts concerning Austria, "judicial district" (german: Gerichtsbezirk) refers ...

of Bonaventure, and the regional base for the Ministry of Transports Quebec, which has an operations centre on the outskirts of town. New Carlisle has a post office, primary and high schools, five different churches and many services.

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 ...

mothballed its operations between Matapédia and New Carlisle sometime around 2010.

History

The site of the town was selected in 1784 by the Lieutenant-Governor of the jurisdictional District of Gaspe, Nicholas Cox, named Cox Township. The town as is thought to have been named after Cox's home town, possibly

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, soon after, the name was changed from "Carlisle" to "New Carlisle". The original settlers of 1784 were discharged soldiers of British Army regiments and

Loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

claimants. In 1877, the place was incorporated when the Township Municipality of Cox was dissolved into the Municipalities of New Carlisle and

Paspébiac Paspébiac is a city on Baie des Chaleurs in the Gaspésie region of eastern Quebec, Canada. The population was 3,033 as of the Canada 2021 Census. The town is noted for the '' Banc de Pêche de Paspébiac'', a large sandbar jutting out into th ...

. Senator Theodore Robitallie was elected as a member from Bonaventure County and during his time in the federal government he commissioned the Words and music for O'Canada in 1885. The town was the scene of the capture of German spy

Werner von Janowski Werner Alfred Waldemar von Janowski, (Abwehr-codenamed "Bobbi"; Allied-codenamed WATCHDOG), was a captured German Second World War Nazi spy and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's first double agent. He is believed to have been a triple agent by ...

, who was dropped from a nearby

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

in November, 1942.

Demographics

Population

Language

Mother tongue: * English as first language: 62.8% * French as first language: 34.9% * English and French as first language: 1.1% * Other as first language: 1.1%

Climate

References