Gracefield, Quebec
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Gracefield is a
city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
in La Vallée-de-la-Gatineau Regional County Municipality in the
Outaouais Outaouais (, ; also commonly called The Outaouais) is a region of western Quebec, Canada. It includes the city of Gatineau, the municipality of Val-des-Monts, the municipality of Cantley, Quebec, Cantley and the Papineau Regional County Municipal ...
region of
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 Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. It was reorganized on 13 March 2002 when three former municipalities (Gracefield, Northfield, and Wright) were merged into one. Its name comes from Patrick Grace who opened there the first business and was mayor of Wright from 1885 to 1890.Commission de toponymie du Québec
/ref> Gracefield is located along the Gatineau River and Picanoc River. Its area is dotted with many lakes, most of which are lined with numerous summer camps and cottages.


History

In 1840, Augustin Ethier, originally from Saint-Martin on Île Jésus, became the first settler in Gracefield. Settlers built the first church in 1841 which also served as school during the week. In 1845, Gracefield counted 20 families forming a small village core. New families settled on the banks of the Gatineau River, in what would become Northfield, which was at that time the periphery of the village in the canton of Wright. Since the beginning of colonization, the population of these three municipalities lived in close relation, always sharing multiple services and infrastructure. Therefore, it was logical to reorganize them into one municipality in 2002, called Wright-Gracefield-Northfield and renamed to Gracefield on 22 February 2003. The great flood of 1974 is an event remembered by the local population. On May 14, 1974, the waters of the Gatineau river and lakes linked to the River overflowed. The water rose at a rate of three to six inches an hour. Many residences in the Gracefield area were flooded and approximately 50% of the village had to be evacuated. Although no one was injured, damages reached many millions of dollars. On June 23, 2010, Gracefield was struck by a magnitude 5.0 earthquake that rocked
Central Canada Central Canada (, sometimes the ''Central Provinces'') is a Canadian region consisting of Ontario and Quebec, the largest and most populous provinces of the country. Geographically, they are not at the centre of Canada but instead overlap wi ...
. A
state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...
was declared after several buildings were damaged, including the church, some of the city's administration buildings and the Vimy Hotel. Gracefield had many
mica Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into fragile elastic plates. This characteristic is described as ''perfect basal cleavage''. Mica is co ...
mines in the late 19th century to early 20th century but they have now all closed. There has been some interest in mining
zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...
since discovering an important quantity in Wright around the Calument Road area corner of the 105 provincial Road. The Canadian Pacific Maniwaki subdivision linked Gracefield with Wakefield, but it was abandoned in 1986.


Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population 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 ...
, Gracefield 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. Populations prior to amalgamation: *Populations in 2001: **Gracefield: 615 **Northfield: 521 **Wright: 1137 *Population in 1996: **Gracefield: 713 **Northfield: 516 **Wright: 1202 *Population in 1991: **Gracefield: 703 **Northfield: 514 **Wright: 1157 Mother tongue (2021): * English as first language: 9.6% * French as first language: 86.8% * English and French as first language: 2.6% * Other as first language: 1.3%


Local government

List of former mayors since formation of current city: * Yves Côté (2002–2005) * Réal Rochon (2005–2013, 2017–2021) * Joanne Poulin (2013–2017) * Mathieu Caron (2021–present)


See also

*
List of anglophone communities in Quebec This is a list of anglophone communities in the Canadian province of Quebec. Municipalities with a high percentage of English-speakers in Quebec are listed. The provincial average of Quebecers whose mother tongue is English is 7.6%, with a tot ...


References


External links


Official website
{{authority control Cities and towns in Quebec Incorporated places in Outaouais Designated places in Quebec