Notre Dame de Lourdes is an unincorporated community recognized as a local urban district in the Municipality of Lorne within the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

that held village status prior to January 1, 2015. It is located within the Central Plains Region, 100 km southwest of

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

. The community had a population of 683 inhabitants in the 2011 census, an increase of 16.0% from the 589 inhabitants during the 2006 census. The community's name (English: Our Lady of Lourdes) is a reference to the

Marian apparition A Marian apparition is a reported supernatural appearance of Mary, the mother of Jesus. While sometimes described as a type of vision, apparitions are generally regarded as external manifestations, whereas visions are more often understood as ...

that is said to have appeared before

Saint Bernadette Bernadette Soubirous, SCN (; ; ; 7 January 184416 April 1879), also known as Bernadette of Lourdes ( in religion Sister Marie-Bernarde), was a miller's daughter from Lourdes ( in Occitan), in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées in France, and ...

Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for its Château fort, a ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

History

The site of Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes lies in

Ojibwa The Ojibwe (; syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the northern plains, extending into the subarctic and thro ...

country. Canadian pioneer explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Vérendrye traveled through the area in 1738 while seeking to establish a route to the western oceans. The first settlers, from present-day

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, ...

, arrived in the 1880s. The post office was established in 1892 on 36-6-9W. Father Dom Benoît became the parish's first priest after arriving with French and Swiss immigrants. He also established a seminary of the Canons Regulaires with about 30 students but changes to the rules from Rome caused its dissolution. A CNR railway point was established in 1912.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

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 ...

, Notre Dame de Lourdes had a population of 756 living in 287 of its 296 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 744. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Notable people

* Rhayne Vermette, filmmaker

References

* ''Geographic Names of Manitoba'' (pg. 195) - the Millennium Bureau of Canada Central Plains Region, Manitoba Designated places in Manitoba Former villages in Manitoba Local urban districts in Manitoba Manitoba communities with majority francophone populations Populated places disestablished in 2015 2015 disestablishments in Manitoba {{manitoba-geo-stub