Chibougamau () is the largest town in

Nord-du-Québec Nord-du-Québec (; ) is the largest, but the least populous, of the seventeen administrative regions of Quebec, Canada. Spread over nearly 14 degrees of latitude, north of the 49th parallel, the region covers on the Labrador Peninsula, making ...

, central

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. Located on Lake Gilman, it has a population of 7,233 people (

2021 Canadian census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canada, 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%, whic ...

). Chibougamau is surrounded by, but not part of, the local municipality of

Eeyou Istchee James Bay Eeyou Istchee James Bay (, ) is a local municipality in the (TE) in administrative region of . Located to the east of James Bay, Eeyou Istchee James Bay covers of land, making it the largest incorporated municipality in Canada — only eight ...

. Its remoteness from

Lac Saint-Jean Lac Saint-Jean (, ) is a large, relatively shallow lake in south-central Quebec, Canada, in the Laurentian Highlands. It is situated north of the Saint Lawrence River, into which it drains via the Saguenay River. It covers an area of , and is ...

(over south-east) and

Abitibi-Témiscamingue Abitibi-Témiscamingue () is an administrative region located in western Québec, Canada, along the border with Ontario. It became part of the province in 1898. It has a land area of and its population was 147,082 people as of the 2021 cens ...

(over south-west) areas causes Chibougamau to provide services for a few smaller communities surrounding it (

Mistissini Mistissini ( meaning Big Rock) is a Cree town located in the south-east corner of the largest natural lake in Quebec, Lake Mistassini. The town is inside the boundaries of the Baie-James Municipality and is the second largest Cree community ...

Oujé-Bougoumou Oujé-Bougoumou (; ) is a Cree community, located on the shores of Opémisca Lake, in Eeyou Istchee, a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality, in Quebec, Canada. It has a population of 795 people (as of 2022). Oujé-Bougoumou ...

, and Chapais) and for the regional resource-based industries. Despite Chibougamau's remoteness, it is only about as far north as

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

and is south of any part of the mainland of England. Nearby is

Lac Aux Dorés Lac may refer to: Places Africa * Lac Region, a district in Chad * Lac Prefecture, a district in Chad America * Rivière du Lac, a tributary of the Montmorency River, in Capitale-Nationale, Quebec, Canada Europe * Laç, a city in Albania * Lac ...

, which is fed by the

Chibougamau River The Chibougamau River flows west in the Chibougamau, then Eeyou Istchee James Bay (municipality) in the administrative region of Nord-du-Québec, Quebec, Canada. From the source, the course of the river successively crosses the townships of: R ...

from the larger

Chibougamau Lake Chibougamau Lake is a freshwater body of the municipality of Chibougamau, in the administrative region of Nord-du-Québec, in province of Quebec, in Canada. The surface of Chibougamau Lake is usually frozen from early November to mid-May, however ...

after which the town was named. ''Chibougamau'' means "gathering place" in the

Cree language Cree ( ; also known as Cree–Montagnais language, Montagnais–Naskapi language, Naskapi) is a dialect continuum of Algonquian languages spoken by approximately 86,475 people across Canada in 2021, from the Northwest Territories to Alberta to ...

. The neighbouring

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

village of Oujé-Bougoumou has the same name with a more traditional Cree spelling. The area surrounding Lake Gilman is Obalski Regional Park. Its many amenities include a beach, pier, picnic tables, and cabins. The many trails allow for hiking, cycling, cross-country skiing, or even snowmobiling through the park's

boreal forest Taiga or tayga ( ; , ), also known as boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by pinophyta, coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, and larches. The taiga, or boreal forest, is the world's largest land biome. I ...

. Access to the town is by Route 167 from Lac Saint-Jean and by Route 113 from

Lebel-sur-Quévillon Lebel-sur-Quévillon () is a city (Quebec), city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec, located on Quebec Route 113, Route 113 in the Jamésie region. It is located approximately 88 kilometres north of Senneterre ...

. Chibougamau/Chapais Airport is along Route 113, about halfway to Chapais.

History

The area has long been part of the

territory. It was in the early 17th century that French explorers and traders, including

Charles Albanel Charles Albanel (; 1616 – 11 January 1696), born in Ardes or Auvergne, was a French missionary explorer in Canada, and a Jesuit priest. He was the first to travel by land to Hudson Bay from Tadoussac. Life Charles Albanel entered the Society ...

in 1671, came to the Lake Chibougamau area. However, no permanent European settlements were established at that time. Only in the late 19th century would the area attract the interest of mining

prospectors Prospecting is the first stage of the geological analysis (followed by exploration) of a territory. It is the search for minerals, fossils, precious metals, or mineral specimens. It is also known as fossicking. Traditionally prospecting rel ...

. When gold was discovered in 1903, there were periods of intense exploration. The difficulty of access caused no lasting development to take place at the time. Not until 1949 was copper first exploited,St.-Hilaire, p.407. with the opening of a multi-metallic mine in the area, and a permanent community was established in 1952. Chibougamau started out as a

company town A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...

but soon afterward, in 1954, it was incorporated as a municipality. Many mines have exploited the area since. While still thought of as a mining town, Chibougamau is now also the centre of a large

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, truckssawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

industry. From 1962 to 1988, the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Can ...

operated CFS Chibougamau, a radar station in Chibougamau that was part of the

Pinetree Line The Pinetree Line was a series of radar stations located across southern Canada at about the 50th parallel north, along with a number of other stations located on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Run by North American Aerospace Defense Comm ...

. The complex has now been transformed into a golf complex and an office for a mining company. Since December 2001, the mayor of Chibougamau has been also on the municipal council of Municipality of Baie-James. The city is home to an annual "''Folies frettes''" festival ("Cold Follies") and a

snowmobile A snowmobile, also known as a snowmachine (chiefly Alaskan), motor sled (chiefly Canadian), motor sledge, skimobile, snow scooter, or simply a sled is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. Their engines normally ...

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Political demonstration, a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a North American school or college sporting event Sport ...

Geography

Climate

Chibougamau has a humid continental climate (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Dfb''), bordering very closely on a subarctic climate. Winters are long, very cold, and very snowy with a January high of and a low of . Summers are warm though short with a July high of and a low of . The average temperature for the year is (1991-2020), an increase of from 1981-2010. Overall precipitation is high for such a cold climate with an average annual precipitation of and of snow per season. Precipitation is significant year-round, though February through April are drier.

Demographics

In the

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), 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 culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Chibougamau had a population of 7,233 living in 3190 of its 3,557 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 7,504. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. The median age is 40.8, as opposed to 41.6 for all of Canada. French was the

mother tongue A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongue'' refers ...

of 92.5% of residents in 2021. The next most common mother tongues were

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

at 3.0%, followed by Cree-Innu languages at 1.6%. A small number (0.9%) reported both English and French as their first language. Additionally there were 0.2% who reported both French and a non-official language as their mother tongue. As of 2021,

Indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

, primarily

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

and some

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

, comprised 7.8% of the population and visible minorities contributed 3.9%. The largest visible minority groups in Chibougamau are Black (1.5%), Filipino (1.1%), and Arab (0.8%). The region is home to 555 recent immigrants (i.e. those arriving between 2016 and 2021). In 2021, 67.7% of the population identified as

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, while 22.8% said they had no religious affiliation.

Pentecostals Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Spirit. The term ''Pentecostal'' is derived ...

were the largest religious minority, at 1.3% of the population, while

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

were the largest non-Christian religious minority, making up 0.8% of the population. Counting both single and multiple responses, the most commonly identified ethnocultural ancestries were: ''(Percentages may total more than 100% due to rounding and multiple responses).'' Chibougamauflagwave

Education

French-language schools in Chibougamau, past and present, are: *École Bon-Pasteur *École Vatican II *École Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire *École La Porte-du-Nord *École Vinette (closed 1994) *Centre de formation professionnelle de la Baie-James *Centre d'études collégiales Chibougamau The English-language school is MacLean Memorial School. formerly Chibougamau Protestant School. There also used to be a Catholic English-language school called Holy Family School.

Notes

References

Notes

Sources

*St.-Hilaire, Marc. "Chibougamuau", in ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', Volume 1, p. 407. Edmonton: Hurtig Publishing, 1988. *

External links

* Albert Peter Low (1881-1942)), geologist, he explored and mapped more than 12,000 km of harsh terrain in Labrador and northern Quebec in the late 1800s *
Official site
{{Authority control Chibougamau Cities and towns in Quebec Hudson's Bay Company trading posts Incorporated places in Nord-du-Québec James Bay Jamésie

History

Geography

Climate

Demographics

Education

Notes

See also

References

Notes

Sources

External links