Duhamel () is a town and municipality in the Outaouais region of Quebec, Canada. It is the largest municipality in surface area in the Papineau Regional County Municipality. Its western portion consists mostly of undeveloped Laurentian Hills, part of the Papineau-Labelle Wildlife Reserve. The town itself is located along the Petite-Nation River between Lake Simon and Lake Gagnon.

History

In the mid 19th century, the area's forests were being exploited. Duhamel, which used to be called Preston, formed shortly after when its first settlers were assigned land, while logging continued to be the dominant factor for its colonization. By 1880, a post office existed bearing the name Duhamel, named in honour of

Joseph-Thomas Duhamel Joseph-Thomas Duhamel (; 6 November 1841 – 5 June 1909) was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest and Archbishop of Ottawa. Born in Contrecœur, Lower Canada, he was educated at St. Joseph's College, Ottawa, and ordained in 1863. He became B ...

(1841–1909), second bishop of Ottawa from 1874 to 1909. In 1888, the Mission of Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel opened. In 1892, the Township of Preston was formed (named after

Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby Frederick Arthur Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby (15 January 1841 – 14 June 1908), known as Hon. Frederick Stanley until 1886 and Lord Stanley of Preston between 1886–1893, was a Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician in the Un ...

, Baron of Preston, and governor general of Canada from 1888 to 1893). Starting in 1925, the Singer Company, best known for its sewing machines, built a railway through Duhamel linking

Thurso Thurso (pronounced ; , ) is a town and former burgh on the north coast of the Highland council area of Scotland. Situated in the historical County of Caithness, it is the northernmost town on the island of Great Britain. From a latitudinal s ...

to Lake Montjoie (in Lac-Ernest unorganized territory). The railroad was used until 1980 when it was dismantled and converted to a tourism corridor. On August 15, 1936, the Municipality of Duhamel was formed when it separated from the United Township Municipality of Hartwell-et-Preston. On December 21, 1985, Duhamel annexed a portion of the unorganized territories of Lac-du-Sourd and Lac-des-Écorces, and again on October 10, 1998, it annexed the northern portion of Lac-des-Écorces.

Demographics

Mother tongue (2021): * English as first language: 7.0% * French as first language: 91.2% * English and French as first language: 0.9% * Other as first language: 0.9%

Local government

Duhamel forms part of the federal electoral district of Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation and has been represented by Stéphane Lauzon of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

since 2015. Provincially, Duhamel is part of the Papineau electoral district and is represented by Mathieu Lacombe of the

Coalition Avenir Québec The Coalition Avenir Québec (, , CAQ) is a Quebec nationalism, Quebec nationalist, Autonomism in Quebec, autonomist and conservatism, conservative

since 2018. List of former mayors: * Télesphore Tremblay, 1936 – 1941 * Lionel Ethier, 1941 – 1949 * René Pilon, 1949 – 1950 * Fréréole Filion, 1950 – 1951 * Arthur Lamontagne, 1951 – 1954 * Lionel Éthier, 1954 – 1955 * Camille Poliquin, 1955 – 1976 * Jean Turcot, 1976 – 1979 * Martial Brière, 1979 – 1981 * Yvon Jérôme, 1981 – 1985 * Phil Patry, 1985 – 1997 * Yvon Charlebois, 1997 – 2005 * Richard Chartrand, 2005 – 2009 * David Pharand, 2009 -

References

External links

* {{authority control Incorporated places in Outaouais Municipalities in Quebec