Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade () is a municipality located on the north shore of the
St. Lawrence River
The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawren ...
, in
Les Chenaux RCM,
Mauricie
Mauricie () is a traditional and current administrative region of Quebec. La Mauricie National Park is contained within the region, making tourism in Mauricie popular. The region has a land area of 35,860.05 km2 (13,845.64 sq mi) and a popu ...
region,
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, ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
.
History
On October 29, 1672, an area of 1.5
lieue by 1 lieue (around 4.8 km by 3.2 km) deep at the Sainte-Anne River was granted by Intendant
Jean Talon
Jean Talon, Count d'Orsainville (; January 8, 1626 – November 23, 1694) was a French colonial administrator who served as the first Intendant of New France. Talon was appointed by King Louis XIV and his minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, t ...
as a seignory to Edmond de Suève and Thomas Tarieu de Lanouguère (or Lanaudière). An increase of 3 lieues was granted to Marguerite Denis, widow of Thomas Tarieu, by
Governor Frontenac and Intendant Champigny on March 4, 1697. The islands were added to the seignory on April 6, 1697, and confirmed on October 30, 1700. The order of January 8, 1710, dismissed the co-seigneur François Chorel de Saint-Romain d'Orvilliers and granted the islands to Pierre-Thomas Tarieu de la Pérade, son of Thomas Tarieu and husband of
Madeleine de Verchères
Marie-Madeleine Jarret, known as Madeleine de Verchères (; 3 March 1678 – 8 August 1747) was a woman of New France (modern Quebec) credited with repelling a raid on Fort Verchères when she was 14 years old.
Early life
Madeleine's fat ...
, a Quebec heroine who, at 14 years of age, successfully defended her parents' fort against a band of Iroquois. Following another increase granted in April 1735 to Pierre-Thomas Tarieu, the Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade Seignory came to be named after him.
In 1693, the Parish of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade was formed. In 1820, the post office opened. In 1845, the parish municipality was established, abolished two years later during provincewide municipal restructuring, and reestablished in 1855. In 1912, the village itself separated from the parish municipality and was incorporated as the Village Municipality of
La Pérade.
In May 1989, the village and parish municipalities merged again to form the new Municipality of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade. On December 31, 2001, it was transferred from the
Francheville Regional County to the new
Les Chenaux Regional County, following the creation of the new
City of Trois-Rivières and the dissolution of the Francheville RCM.
Geography
Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade stretches on each side of the
Sainte-Anne River
Sainte-Anne River (Les Chenaux), Teyaiar River ( Huron Wendat), rivière Sainte-Anne (French), flows from north to south on the north shore in the estuary section of the St. Lawrence River, in Les Chenaux, Portneuf and La Jacques-Cartier R ...
, until its
confluence
In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...
with the
St. Lawrence River
The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawren ...
.
The main accesses are the Félix-Leclerc highway
(
Autotoure 40) and the ''
Chemin du Roy
The Chemin du Roy (; French for "King's Highway" or "King's Road") is a historic road along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. The road begins in Repentigny and extends almost eastward towards Quebec City, its eastern terminu ...
'' that stretches from
Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
to
Quebec City
Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...
, a historic segment of
Quebec Route 138
Route 138 is a major highway in the Canadian province of Quebec, following the entire north shore of the St. Lawrence River past Montreal to the temporary eastern terminus in Kegashka on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The western terminus is in E ...
. The Sainte-Anne River is no longer navigable since the silting caused by the
Saint-Alban 1894 Landslide.
The centerpiece of the municipality is the Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade church, a
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
temple located at the intersection of rue Sainte-Anne and boulevard Lanaudière (
Chemin du Roy
The Chemin du Roy (; French for "King's Highway" or "King's Road") is a historic road along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. The road begins in Repentigny and extends almost eastward towards Quebec City, its eastern terminu ...
or Route 138), facing the
Sainte-Anne River (Les Chenaux)
Sainte-Anne River (Les Chenaux), Teyaiar River ( Huron Wendat), rivière Sainte-Anne (French), flows from north to south on the north shore in the estuary section of the St. Lawrence River, in Les Chenaux, Portneuf and La Jacques-Cartier R ...
. Its architecture is inspired by that of the
Notre-Dame Basilica (Montreal)
Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal ( French: ''Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal'') is a minor basilica of the Catholic Church in the historic Old Montreal district of Montreal in Quebec, Canada. It is located at 110 Notre-Dame Street West, at th ...
.
In 2021, Statistics Canada counted a population of 2,031 people and 978 private dwellings. The area of the municipality was 109.28 square km (42.19 square mi), the population density was 18.6 people per square kilometer (7.18 people per square mile).
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
Private dwellings occupied by usual residents: 978 (total dwellings: 1,109)
Mother tongue:
* English as first language: 0.8%
* French as first language: 97.0%
* English and French as first languages: 1.0%
* Other as first language: 1.0%
Attractions
Tommy cod fishing

In the heart of the village, as soon as the ice freezes in December, the mouth of the Sainte-Anne River becomes the world capital of
Tommy Cod fishing
Tommy may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Tommy (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
* Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army
* Tommy Giacomelli (born 1974), Brazilian fo ...
. During Tommy Cod season, officially from the 26th of December to the 14th of February, thousands of tourists come to Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade for
ice fishing
Ice fishing is the practice of catching fish with lines and fish hooks or spears through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of water. Ice fishers may fish in the open or in heated enclosures, some with bunks and amenities.
Shelters
L ...
and a small fishing village is built on the frozen waters of the Sainte-Anne River which then forms a link between the shores.
Environmental protection
The Grondines and Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade
swamp
A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...
is one of the last remaining large, treed swamps on the river. It extends along seven kilometres of shoreline in the
Estuary of St. Lawrence. The swamp is home to several
endangered species
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...
, including plants that are
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to the freshwater estuary.
Since 2008, the
Nature Conservancy of Canada
The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is a private, non-profit, charitable nature conservation and restoration organisation based in Canada. Since its founding in 1962, the organisation and its partners have protected of land and water acro ...
(NCC) has participated in the restoration of 40 hectares of the Grondines and Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade marsh, where 2,500 trees have been planted. In 2018, the project attempted to raise awareness among the local population of the richness of the environment and to encourage actions to protect it, including a conference on
birds of prey
Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as (although not the same as) raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively predation, hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and smaller birds). In addition to speed ...
, guided tour on the
ornithology
Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...
and
entomology
Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...
of the area, guided tour on the facilities favorable to
wildlife
Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...
, and school outings.
References
See also
*
Saint-Alban, municipality
*
Trou du Diable, cave in Saint-Casimir
*
Charest River
The Charest River originates from Charest Lake in the Montauban-les-Mines area, located in the eastern part of Notre-Dame-de-Montauban, within the Mekinac Regional County Municipality, in the administrative region of Mauricie in the province of Q ...
, tributary of Sainte-Anne River
*
Sainte-Anne River (Les Chenaux)
Sainte-Anne River (Les Chenaux), Teyaiar River ( Huron Wendat), rivière Sainte-Anne (French), flows from north to south on the north shore in the estuary section of the St. Lawrence River, in Les Chenaux, Portneuf and La Jacques-Cartier R ...
*
Saint-Anne Seignorial Estate
Further reading
* ''Répertoire des mariages – Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade 1684-1900'', written by Dominique Campagna, 162 pages
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sainte-Anne-de-la-Perade, Quebec
Incorporated places in Mauricie
Municipalities in Quebec
Les Chenaux Regional County Municipality