Malartic, Quebec

Malartic () is a town on the Malartic River in northwestern Quebec, Canada, in the La Vallée-de-l'Or Regional County Municipality. It is located about east of the centre of Rouyn-Noranda along Quebec Route 117 and the Canadian National Railway.

In addition to the main population centre of Malartic, the municipality also includes the smaller settlement of Norrie ().

History

At the time when the Abitibi region was being surveyed and organized in 1907, the name Malartic was chosen for the geographic township and lake, following the pattern of assigning names of regiments and officers of General Montcalm's army. It was named after Anne Joseph Hippolyte de Maurès, Comte de Malartic, aide de camp to Montcalm.

The discovery of major gold deposits in 1923 led to a gold rush in the Abitibi region, attracting settlers (exclusively men during the first six years) to the area in 1928. In 1935, the Canadian Malartic Gold Mines began operation, employing people from all over the province, Canada, and several east European countries. Together with Eastern Malartic and Malartic Goldfields that began operating in 1937 and 1939 respectively, these three became Quebec's largest gold mines. But newly arriving workers were not permitted to settle near the mines and would build a squatter camp on Crown land about 4 km ( miles) north of Malartic, that became the community of Roc d'Or. The two settlements grew concurrently, duplicating services. But the parishes (Saint-Martin-de-Tours in 1928), railway station, and post office (1936) were established near the mines in Malartic.Gourd, Benoit-Beaudry. "Malartic", in ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (Edmonton: Hurtig Publishing, 1988), Volume 2, p.1287.

In 1939, the Town of Malartic was incorporated under the auspices of the Quebec Ministry of Mines, in an attempt to halt the proliferation of squatter camps in the Abitibi region. In 1943, the entire community of Roc d'Or was ordered to move to Malartic by the provincial government and the settlement was demolished. Despite a mining accident in April 1947 that killed 12 miners in an underground fire, Malartic was thriving throughout the 1950s, reaching a peak of nearly 7000 residents.

But in 1965, Canadian Malartic and Malartic Goldfields closed their mines, followed by the Barnat and East Malartic mines in the 1980s. This led to rapid decline in the economy and population.

In 2008 and 2009, renewed exploration by Osisko Mining revealed an untapped new gold deposit, estimated at 9 million ounces, beneath the town. The Canadian Malartic Corporation received approval from the government of Quebec to launch what would become Canada's largest ever open pit gold mine.Rhéal Séguin
"Tiny Quebec town is sitting on a gold mine"
''The Globe and Mail'', July 14, 2009. The project, with an estimated cost of $1 billion, involved relocating most of the portion of the town lying south of Route 117, consisting of about 200 houses and several of the town's public facilities, to a new housing development in the north end of town. This move was featured in season 4 of the television show ''Monster Moves''. As of late 2009, most of the relocation work had been completed, and this, before the end of public consultations by Quebec's Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks.

In May 2011, the open pit mine began commercial production. In June 2014, it was bought from Osisko by a partnership of Agnico Eagle and Yamana Gold. By 2023, the mine had produced a total of of gold.

Documentary filmmaker Nicolas Paquet profiled the effects of the mining development on the town in two documentary films, ''The Golden Rule (La Règle d'or)'' in 2011 and '' Malartic'' in 2024."Documentary feature ‘Malartic’ hits theatres across Quebec"
''CityNews'', April 19, 2024.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Malartic 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.<

Mother tongue (2021):
* English as first language: 2.8 %
* French as first language: 93.7 %
* English and French as first language: 0.6 %
* Other as first language: 2.5 %

Government

As of 2023, the municipal government consists of mayor Martin Ferron and councillors Sylvie Daigle, Catherine Larivière, Jude Boucher, Alexy Vezeau, Daniel Magnan, and Jean Turgeon.

Federally, Malartic is located in the electoral district of Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, currently represented in the House of Commons of Canada by Sylvie Bérubé of the Bloc Québécois. Provincially, it is in the district of Abitibi-Est, represented in the National Assembly of Quebec by Pierre Dufour of the Coalition Avenir Québec.

List of former mayors:

* Fernand Carpentier (...–2008)
* André Vezeau (2008–2013)
* Martin Ferron (2013–present)

Notable people

* Yves Bergeron, ice hockey winger
* Michel Brière, ice hockey centre
* Marcel Côté, economist and politician
* Robbie King, organist
* Jim Watson, ice hockey defenseman

Education

* École Des Explorateurs – Kindergarten to grade six
* École Secondaire Le Tremplin – secondary grades one to five
* Trait d'Union – adult education

References

External links

*
Ville de Malartic
official website

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Cities and towns in Quebec
Incorporated places in Abitibi-Témiscamingue
Mining communities in Quebec
1928 establishments in Quebec