Pointe-Fortune () is a village municipality in southwestern

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, on the

Ottawa River The Ottawa River (french: Rivière des Outaouais, Algonquin: ''Kichi-Sìbì/Kitchissippi'') is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word 'to trade', as it was the major trade route of Eastern ...

(Rivière des Outaouais) in

Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality Vaudreuil-Soulanges () is a regional county municipality in Quebec, Canada. It is located on a triangular peninsula in the western Montérégie region of Quebec, formed by the confluence of the Ottawa River to the north, and the St. Lawrence River ...

, northwest 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- ...

. The population at the 2021 Census was 582.

History

The area was part of the Seigneury of Rigaud, granted in 1732 to the brothers

Pierre Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

and

François-Pierre Rigaud de Vaudreuil François-Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil (February 8, 1703 – August 24, 1779) was a soldier, fur trader, seigneur and administrator in New France. He served as governor of Trois-Rivières from 1749 to 1757 and governor of Montreal from 1757 ...

. Around 1750, they operated a

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...

on a point in the

, which later became known as Pointe Fortune. The name "Fortune" could refer to Colonel William Fortune who had received a concession in nearby Chatham Township at the end of the 18th century, or to Joseph Fortune, an early 19th century militiaman and surveyor. The village was formerly called Petites-Écorces and Petit-Carillon (referring to the larger

Carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoni ...

directly across the Ottawa River), but in 1851, the post office opened under the English name of Point Fortune (modified to its current name in 1954). In 1880, the Village Municipality of Pointe-Fortune was created out of territory ceded by Sainte-Madeleine-de-Rigaud.

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 ...

, Pointe-Fortune 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.

Attractions

Macdonell-Williamson House, which owes its existence to the fur trade and the

Voyageurs The voyageurs (; ) were 18th and 19th century French Canadians who engaged in the transporting of furs via canoe during the peak of the North American fur trade. The emblematic meaning of the term applies to places (New France, including th ...

, is located just west of the historical boundary marker, which still stands and marked the division between Upper and Lower Canada. The Parish of Saint-François-Xavier-de-Pointe-Fortune celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2004. The village was originally served by the Catholic parish of St. Francois Xavier, established in 1904, which eventually closed on December 24, 2014. The church was sold and is now privately owned.

Local government

List of former mayors: * John William Crosb (1880–1881, 1882–1883) * Ernest A. Saint-Denis (1881–1882) * George Augustus Barclay (1883–1884) * André Roy (1884–1887) * William Richard Hunsley (1887–1893) * Joseph Séguin (1893–1895) * John Middleton (1895–1899) * William Brown (1899–1913, 1914–1917) * Angus Victor Mc Lachlan (1913–1914) * Eric Galt Brown (1917–1923) * Joseph Elie Dicaire (1923–1927) * Joseph Nephtalie Corbeil (1927–1933) * Joseph Adelard Jean Marie Desjardins (1933–1936) * Joseph Raoul Lafond (1936–1951, 1961–1964) * Joseph Héliodore Oscar Labrie (1951–1959) * Joseph-Paul-Réal Larocque (1959–1961) * Joseph Wellie Leon Sabourin (1964–1969) * Joseph Bernard Roméo Séguin (1969–1973) * Joseph Raoul Juste Gérard Parson (1973–1979) * Joseph Paul-Emile Roger Pharand (1979–1980) * Joseph Denis Grégoire Labonté (1980–2001) * Joseph Roger Gérard Normand Chevrier (2001–2005) * David Eugene Doughty (2005–2009) * Jean-Pierre Daoust (2009–2017) * François Bélanger (2017–present)

Education

Commission Scolaire des Trois-Lacs operates Francophone schools. * École de l'Épervière in Rigaud

Lester B. Pearson School Board The Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB, french: Commission scolaire Lester-B.-Pearson, CSLBP) is one of the largest school boards on the island of Montreal and one of the nine English school boards in the province of Quebec. It is headquartere ...

operates Anglophone schools.School Board Map
"

. Retrieved 28 September 2017. * Soulanges Elementary School in

Saint-Télesphore Saint-Télesphore is a municipality located in Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality, Quebec ( Canada). The population as of the 2021 Canadian census was 754. The municipality is situated west of Saint-Polycarpe, south of Sainte-Ju ...

or Evergreen Elementary and Forest Hill Elementary (Junior Campus and Senior campus) in Saint-Lazare

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Villages in Quebec Incorporated places in Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality