Val-des-Bois () is a town and municipality in the
Papineau Regional County Municipality
Papineau () is a regional county municipality in the Outaouais region of Quebec, Canada. The seat is Papineauville.
Subdivisions
There are 25 subdivisions within the RCM:
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics ...
in the
Outaouais region
Outaouais (, ; also commonly called The Outaouais) is a region of western Quebec, Canada. It includes the city of Gatineau, the municipality of Val-des-Monts, the municipality of Cantley and the Papineau region. Geographically, it is located on ...
of Quebec, Canada. The town is located on the eastern shores of the
Du Lièvre River, north of
Buckingham
Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of ...
.
The main local economic activity depends on cottage tourism.
The eastern half of the municipality is part of the
Papineau-Labelle Wildlife Reserve.
Geography
As part of the
Laurentian Highlands
The Laurentian Upland (or Laurentian Highlands) is a physiographic region which, when referred to as the "Laurentian Region" or the Grenville geological province, is recognized by Natural Resources Canada as one of five provinces of the larger C ...
, its territory is dotted with lakes such Écho, de l'Argile, de l'Aqueduc, Vert, and Delphis. Echo Lake lies at an altitude of , while the surrounding relief rises to above sea level.
History
In 1873, the Township of Villeneuve was formed and named after Léonard-Vincent-Léon Villeneuve (1808–1873), member of
Society of Saint-Sulpice
The Society of Priests of Saint-Sulpice (; PSS), also known as the Sulpicians, is a society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men, named after the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, where it was founded. The members of the Society add the ...
, professor at the Petit Séminaire de Montréal (1838–1846), and pastor of
Oka from 1871 to 1873.
In 1878, the local post office was named "Val-des-Bois". In 1883, the parish of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde was formed, and two years later, the United Township Municipality of Bowman-et-Villeneuve was established. In 1913, the townships separated, forming the
Township Municipality of Bowman and the Township Municipality of Villeneuve.
In 1929,
James Maclaren
James Maclaren (March 19, 1818 – February 10, 1892) was an early settler and entrepreneur in western Quebec.
Maclaren was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1818. He came to Richmond in Upper Canada with his family in 1822. The family then settl ...
began construction on a dam at the High Falls of the Lièvre River, displacing 156 families because of the rising waters. The majority of them where German settlers, the average amount the families received from the MacLaren Co. were, depending on the acreage, between $1000 and $2000 each.
In 1958, Villeneuve was renamed to Val-des-Bois (French for "Valley of the Woods"), in reference to the beautiful forest which decorated the banks of the Lièvre River.
On 23 June 2010 a
5.0 earthquake struck the region, with its
epicentre
The epicenter (), epicentre, or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates.
Determination
The primary purpose of a s ...
8 km from Val-des-Bois, which was the closest settlement.
Demographics
Mother tongue:
[
* English as first language: 5.8%
* French as first language: 91.9%
* English and French as first language: 1.2%
* Other as first language: 0.6%
]
Local government
List of former mayors:
* Marcel Proulx (2001–2013)
* Daniel Rochon (2013–2015)
* Roland Montpetit (2015–present)
References
External links
{{authority control
Incorporated places in Outaouais
Municipalities in Quebec