Métabetchouan–Lac-à-la-Croix is a
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be de ...
in
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...
, Canada, in the
Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean
Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean (, ) is a region in Quebec, Canada. It contains the Saguenay Fjord, the estuary of the Saguenay River, stretching through much of the region. It is also known as Sagamie in French, from the first part of "Saguenay" and t ...
region.
The city consists of the population centres of Métabetchouan, on the shores of
Lac Saint-Jean
Lac Saint-Jean (Canadian French: ) 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 ...
at the mouth of the small Couchepaganiche River, and Lac-à-la-Croix, a few kilometres to the east on Cross Lake.
History

Historically the territory of the indigenous
Innu
The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period (French for "mountain people", English pronunciation: ), are the Indigenous inhabitants of territory in the n ...
, the first European, Jesuit
Jean de Quen, visited the place in 1647, followed by
Charles Albanel
Charles Albanel (1616 – 11 January 1696), born in Ardes or Auvergne, was a French missionary explorer in Canada, and a Jesuit priest.
Life
Charles Albanel entered the Society of Jesus in 1633 at Toulouse. In 1635 he began teaching at various Je ...
in 1671, during the meeting of twenty Indian nations. Five years later in 1676, a trading post and mission were established there. But real colonization only began after the proclamation of Métabetchouan Township in 1857, and the first settlers arrived from the
South Shore and
Bagotville in 1861. That same year, Stanislas Drapeau reported the presence of 154 people including 36 "savages" in Métabetchouan Township.
The place was first called Saint-Jérôme, in honour of Jérôme Demers (1774-1853), vicar general of the Bishop of Quebec (1825-1853). In 1870, it was nearly destroyed by a great fire, that only spared some twenty houses. In 1872, the Parish Municipality of Saint-Jérôme was formed, and in 1898, the village itself separated and was incorporated as the Village Municipality of Saint-Jérôme.
As for Lac-à-la-Croix, the first settlers came in 1864, and by 1910, it had some 800 inhabitants. Its parish was established in March 1911 and in December that same year, it was incorporated as the Parish Municipality of Sainte-Croix. In 1953, the village itself separated and formed the Village Municipality of Sainte-Croix, later renamed to Lac-à-la-Croix (French for "Lake at the Cross"). It was named after the adjacent lake where, according to popular thought, a cross that was planted on its shores by
François de Crespieul
François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis.
People with the given name
* Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters"
* Francis II of France, King ...
in the 17th century. But this has been proven untrue since missionaries never went through this place. The lake was probably named for having a resemblance to a cross.
In 1975, the Parish and Village Municipalities of Saint-Jérôme merged to form the new City of Métabetchouan, named after the township and the nearby
Métabetchouane River
The Metabetchouan River (French: ''Métabetchouane'') is a tributary of Lac Saint-Jean in the centre of the province of Quebec, Canada. The course of this river successively crosses the regional county municipalitys (MRC) of:
* La Jacques-Cartie ...
. The following year, the Parish Municipality of Sainte-Croix and the Village Municipality of Lac-à-la-Croix also merged to form the Municipality of Lac-à-la-Croix. And on January 6, 1999, the City of Métabetchouan and the Municipality of Lac-à-la-Croix amalgamated to form the new city of Métabetchouan–Lac-à-la-Croix.
Demographics
In the
2021 Census of Population conducted by
Statistics Canada, Métabetchouan—Lac-à-la-Croix 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.
Population trend:
* Population in 2021: 4121 (2016 to 2021 population change: 3.4%)
* Population in 2016: 3985
* Population in 2011: 4097
* Population in 2006: 4084
* Population in 2001: 4198
* Population total in 1996: 4487
** Métabetchouan (ville): 3474
** Lac-à-la-Croix (municipality): 1013
* Population in 1991:
** Métabetchouan (ville): 3379
** Lac-à-la-Croix (municipality): 971
Mother tongue:
* English as first language: 0%
* French as first language: 99.7%
* English and French as first language: 0%
* Other as first language: 0.3%
Education
Centre de services scolaire du Lac-Saint-Jean operates francophone public schools:
* École Mgr-Victor
* École secondaire Curé-Hébert (
Hébertville)
The
Central Quebec School Board operates anglophone public schools, including:
* Riverside Regional Elementary School in
Saguenay
*
Riverside Regional High School
Riverside Regional High School is an English-language secondary school in the Arvida area of Saguenay, Quebec, Canada. It occupies the building of the former Saguenay Valley High School, constructed in 1962. It is operated by the Central Quebec ...
in
Saguenay
See also
*
List of cities in Quebec
This is the list of municipalities that have the Quebec municipality type of city (''ville'', code=V), an administrative division defined by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, Regions and Land Occupancy.
Note that although the terms "city" and ...
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Metabetchouan-Lac-A-La-Croix, Quebec
Cities and towns in Quebec
Incorporated places in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean
Hudson's Bay Company trading posts