L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''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, part of the Pontiac Regional County Municipality, Quebec, Canada. The municipality consists primarily of Calumet Island (also Grand Calumet Island; in French ''Île du Grand Calumet''), but also includes Lafontaine Island, French Island, Green Island, and numerous minor surrounding islets, all in the

Ottawa River The Ottawa River (, ) 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 Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border betw ...

, approximately two kilometres (1¼ miles) from Campbell's Bay, two kilometres (1¼ miles) from Bryson. Grand-Calumet is the principal settlement of L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet. Its centre is the Sainte-Anne Church, which is alongside the municipal building and the school. It is also the site where First Nation tribes held their annual pow-wow, occasionally smoking their ''calumet'', from which its name is derived. Bordering on Whitewater Region, Ontario, the municipality is the co-location of some of the roughest sections on the Ottawa River, popular with kayakers and rafters. Three whitewater

rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

companies based in L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet take adventurers down the Rocher Fendu Rapids, known as the best

whitewater Whitewater forms in the context of rapids, in particular, when a river's Stream gradient, gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that foam, froths, making t ...

rapids in Eastern North America.

Etymology

Its name is a reference to the

ceremonial pipe A ceremonial pipe is a particular type of smoking pipe (tobacco), smoking pipe, used by a number of cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Americas in their sacred ceremonies. Traditionally they are used to offer prayers in a religious ceremo ...

(), occasionally smoked by the tribes of the first nation people to settle mainly territory disputes (establishing which tribe had the right to fish and hunt in a certain area). They gathered at Grand-Calumet in large numbers for their friendly annual pow-wow and exchanging stuff. Until December 22, 2007, it was called simply Grand-Calumet. The official name was changed to L'Île-de-Grand-Calumet, however, on July 5, 2008, it was changed again to use ''-du-'' rather than ''-de-''. This last modification was considered a correction rather than a name change.

Geography

About long by wide, L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet has an elevation of no more than above sea level. Agricultural land use is mostly concentrated in the centre of the island. The primary population centre is Grand-Calumet; other smaller communities are Rivière-Barry, Tancredia, Dunraven, Freshwater, Duffyville.

History

Like Allumette Island upstream, Calumet Island was for many centuries a fishing and hunting place of the Kichesipirini

Algonquin people The Algonquin people are an Indigenous people who now live in Eastern Canada and parts of the United States. They speak the Algonquin language, which is part of the Algonquian language family. Culturally and linguistically, they are closely ...

. During the

French Period In Northern European historiography, the term French period (, , ) refers to the period between 1794 and 1815 during which most of Northern Europe was controlled by Republican or Napoleonic France.Eduard Rothert''Rheinland-Westfalen im Wechsel d ...

, the region along the Ottawa River was not colonized in order to maintain the

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...

with the

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 ...

who lived there. The French maintained military garrisons in several forts along the Ottawa River, including Fort-Coulonge. But because the Ottawa River was the main canoe route to the west, Calumet Island was the site of a

portage Portage or portaging ( CA: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a '' ...

trail to bypass the strong and turbulent rapids in the river at this point. Here the events of the Cadieux Legend took place. Jean Cadieux, born at

Boucherville Boucherville () is a city in the Montérégie region in Quebec, Canada. It is a suburb of Montreal on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River. Boucherville is part of both the urban agglomeration of Longueuil and the Montreal Metropolitan ...

on March 12, 1671, youngest son of Jean Cadieux and Marie Valade, was a

coureur des bois A coureur des bois (; ) or coureur de bois (; ) were independent entrepreneurial French Canadian traders who travelled in New France and the interior of North America, usually to trade with First Nations peoples by exchanging various European i ...

from 1695 on. In May 1709, when attacked by the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

on the Island, he sacrificed himself in order to let his travelling companions escape by running the Seven Chutes Rapids. Remaining alone on the Island, he died of his injuries and exhaustion. When found, he held in his hand a sheet of bark on which he had transcribed a death chant, known as ''La Complainte Cadieux''. Its opening stanza is as follows: :''Petit rocher de la haute montagne,'' (Little stone of the high mountain,)
''Je viens ici finir cette campagne!'' (I come here to finish this campaign!)
''Ah! doux échos, entendez mes soupirs'' (Ah! sweet echoes, hear my sighs)
''En languissant, je vais bientôt mourir!'' (Languishing, soon will I die!) MonumentCadieux

This legend is still kept alive and commemorated by the island's inhabitants. Circa 1836, former employees of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

started to settle on the island, followed by three waves of Irish immigration between 1840 and 1850. In 1840 the Parish of Sainte-Anne-du-Grand-Calumet was formed. In 1846 the Grand-Calumet Township was established, with F.X. Bastien as first mayor. On May 14, 1847, the Township Municipality of Calumet was created, but abolished on the next September 1 and reestablished in 1855. Lead-zinc was discovered on Calumet Island in 1893. New Calumet Mines began production in 1943, with a peak output of 840 tons per day in 1953 and employing 435 people. In 1968 the mine was shut down. In 2003, the Township Municipality of Grand-Calumet became the Municipality of Grand-Calumet, and on December 22, 2007, changed its name to the Municipality of L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet.

Demographics

Language

Mother tongue (2021): * English as first language: 32.6% * French as first language: 62.8% * English and French as first language: 4.6% * Other as first language: 0.8%

List of mayors

Over its 158 years, the Municipality of L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet has had 21 mayors. They are as follows, including the years in which they served:L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet 150th Anniversary mayor list *François X. Bastien (1847-1866) *Simon McNally (1894-1897) *Cornelius McNally (1894-1897, 1901–1924, 1927–1928) *François-Eugène LaSalle (1898-1900) *Thomas Griffen (1925-1926, 1929–1930) *Joseph Marchant (1931-1938) *François X. Rouleau(1939-1941) *Omer Dufault (1942-1949, 1954–1959) *George Dufault (1950-1951) *Pierre Corriveau (1951-1953) *Gérald Lemaire (1960-1962) *Alexandre Tremblay (1963-1965) *Eugène Pigeon (1965-1973, 1977–1978) *Marcel Pigeault (1974-1977, 1997–2001) *Pierre Asselin (1978-1979) *George Lamothe (1979-1980) *Marcel Meloche (1981-1982) *Lucien Brousseau (1983-1985) *Gaétan Boulanger (1985-1987) *Gisèle Benoît (1987-1995, 1995–1997) *Paul-Emile Maleau (2001–2017) *Serge Newberry (2017–2021) *Jean-Louis Corriveau (2021–present)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ile-Du-Grand-Calumet, Le Incorporated places in Outaouais Municipalities in Quebec Populated places on the Ottawa River