Shigawake is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine () is an administrative region of Quebec consisting of the Gaspé Peninsula () and the . It lies in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence at the eastern extreme of southern Quebec. The predominant economic activities are fishing, forestry and tourism. ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

of the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

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 ...

. Shigawake is bordered to the west by Saint-Godefroi and to the east by

Port-Daniel–Gascons Port-Daniel–Gascons () is a municipality (Quebec), municipality in the Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine List of regions of Quebec, region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec in Canada. The municipality includes the co ...

. The place name is taken from the river that flows through the village and is of

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...

origin, meaning either "land of the rising sun" or "white water". The Municipality of Shigawake has an eight kilometre stretch of coastline behind high red cliffs on the Gaspe Coast. It has been officially designated as an

Anglophone The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the largest language ...

community among the largely

Francophone The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...

population of Quebec. The community is only home to, among many small houses, a municipal building, the Anglican church of St Paul's (built in the 1860s), and a former Rectory converted to the Community Centre. The United Church was decommissioned in 2012, formerly the site of a temperance hall. Shigawake has held the Shigawake Fair annually since 1909, also now paired with the Shigawake Music Festival which has showcased local talent. Shigawake is also the site of Seagro, an organic fertiliser and composting firm. The oldest farmhouse on the entire coast continuously inhabited by one family, the Old Homestead, was built early in the first decade of the 1800s. The founding of Shigawake is described in The Alford Saga, an eight book series of a romantic adventures by Paul Almond, an officer of the Order of Canada. The area's fields, once so productive, are now used mainly for hay and its forests for harvest of sawlogs and firewood.

History

It is believed that the first settlers were probably sailors on a ship transporting slaves at the end of the 18th century. In 1864, its post office opened, and the parish was formed in 1873. But it was only on December 15, 1924, more than 50 years afer, that Shigawake was officially created by splitting away from the Township of Saint-Godefroy.

Demographics

Mother tongue (2021): * English as first language: 58.2% * French as first language: 37.3% * English and French as first language: 4.5% * Other as first language: 0%

Government

List of former mayors: * John A. Le Callais (1925–1929) * Claude A. Skene (1929–1933) * James P. Robinson (1933–1935, 1937–1941) * Garvin Almond (1935–1937) * Earle Almond (1941–1949) * Edmund Vautier (1949–1953) * Gillis Hayes (1953–1957) * George Sullivan (1957–1973) * Garry Hayes (1973–1987) * Kenneth Duguay (1987–2013) * Denzil Ross (2013–2017) * Colette Dow (2017–2021) * Rolande Couture-Beebe (2021–present)

Notable people

Major Sydney Valpy Radley-Walters of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers has lived in Shigawake, who in World War II was credited with putting out of action 18 enemy tanks and assault guns.

References

External links