Passes-Dangereuses (; until May 2009: Chute-des-Passes) is an unorganized territory in 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 ...

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, ...

, located between the Peribonka River on the east and the Mistassibi River on the west.

Geography

Until 2024, the territory, part of the

regional county municipality The term regional county municipality or RCM (, , MRC) is used in Quebec, Canada to refer to one of 87 county-like political entities. In some older English translations they were called county regional municipality. Regional county municipalit ...

of Maria-Chapdelaine, covered a land area of and had a population of 210 as of the

Canada 2021 Census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canada, 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%, whic ...

, all living in the village of Sainte-Élisabeth-de-Proulx (), which is north-east of

Dolbeau-Mistassini Dolbeau-Mistassini () is a town in northern Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Mistassibi River, Riviere aux Rats and the Mistassini River, on Lac Saint-Jean. Dolbeau-Mistassini is in the Maria-Chapdelaine Regional County Municipality and ...

in the geographic township of Proulx.

Toponymy

The territory was formed in January 1981, and was then known as "Lac-Saint-Jean-Ouest, partie Chute-des-Passes". This was shortened to Chute-des-Passes in August 1986. On May 23, 2009, the territory was renamed to Passes-Dangereuses in order to avoid confusion with the hamlet of Chute-des-Passes in the neighbouring Unorganized Territory of Mont-Valin. The territory's name ''Passes-Dangereuses'' (French for "dangerous pass") refers to a series of rapids and chutes that stir up the Peribonka River for a distance of about from Lake Peribonka's outlet downstream. This section of the river flows through impressive escarpments of over high and was first identified as "the nasty

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 '' ...

" by Jesuit Pierre-Michel Laure on his map of 1731. The following year, this missionary used the

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

name ''Katchiskataouakigs'', also used by Bellin on his map of 1744. A map of Jonathan Carver from 1776 indicated "Falls and Rift" to characterize the place. Not until the end of the 19th century did the current toponym begin to appear on survey maps. In 1941,

Alcan Alcan was a Canadian mining company and aluminum manufacturer. It was founded in 1902 as the Northern Aluminum Company, renamed Aluminum Company of Canada in 1925, and Alcan Aluminum in 1966. It took the name Alcan Incorporated in 2001. During ...

built at the head of these rapids a dam called Chute-des-Passes, forming Lake Peribonka behind it. The dam's name also refers to the nearby hamlet that formed the east side of the river, and was the former name of Passes-Dangereuses Territory.

Demographics

Population trend:Statistics Canada:

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

census * Population in 2021: 210 (2016 to 2021 population change: 14.1%) * Population in 2016: 184 * Population in 2011: 226 * Population in 2006: 174 * Population in 2001: 188 * Population in 1996: 192 * Population in 1991: 207 Private dwellings occupied by usual residents: 104 (total dwellings: 151)

References

{{authority control Unorganized territories in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean Maria-Chapdelaine Regional County Municipality