Saint-Jacques (French pronunciation:[sɛ̃ʒak]ⓘ) is a 26 mi² (67.34 km²) rural municipality in the Lanaudière region of Quebec, Canada, part of the Montcalm Regional County Municipality with a population of 4,300 year-round residents.[5][6] The municipality is notable for its natural beauty and horticulture. Officially founded in 1774 by thirty Acadian families who managed to escape by boat to Quebec after forced expulsion, Saint-Jacques is part of the region known as the "Acadian cradle of Lanaudière."[7]
"The Great Upheaval" (Fr. "le Grand Dérangement") began in the fall of 1755 and lasted until 1778.[8][9] "The first removals ... [of] approximately 7,000 people were from settlements around the Bay of Fundy" in present-day Nova Scotia.[6] The majority were expelled by ship to the "continental colonies or France," but 225 fled south to Quebec.[8] They would go on to found a handful of new Acadian villages, or “Little Cadies,” including Saint-Jacques, which is why the Saint-Jacques coat of arms uses the same colors as the Acadian flag.[6][7][10]
Toponymy
Over the years, the territory has been known by various names:[1]
Saint-Jacques-de-la-Nouvelle-Acadie (ca. 1770)
Saint-Jacques-de-l'Achigan (1832-1917)
Saint-Jacques-de-Saint-Sulpice
L'Achigan
Nouvelle-Acadie
Terres-Promises
Saint-Jacques-de-Montcalm
The name Saint-Jacques was given in honour of Jacques Degeay (1717-1774), priest of L'Assomption from 1742 to 1774, who supported the Acadians in 1766.[1]
History
Originally called Saint-Jacques-de-la-Nouvelle-Acadie to commemorate the Acadians' second pioneering effort and Father Jacques Degeay who helped them, the municipality provided the settlers key resources for living off the land.[9][11][12] The site provided ready access to "hardwood ... with which [to] build homes, barns, poultry houses, hog barns, sheep pens.... ploughs, tables, chairs, or tool handles ... and "soft wood" — the white pine especially — [for] cabinets, hutches, bowls and shoes."[9] Although the first houses, built in 1768, were wood, by the beginning of the 1800s, they were being built of stone, which was also plentiful.[10][9] An oft-repeated adage explained such abundance this way: "Our fathers lost Acadia; In return, [we] found the richest lands of Lower Canada.... In [our] veins flow[s] the purest French blood."[10]
In 1772, the parish of Saint-Jacques-de-l'Achigan was founded.[1] That same year, the villagers hired a priest and, in 1775, they built their first church.[12] Nine years later, they began cultivating tobacco, which became so essential it is pictured on one of the four quadrants of the municipality's coat of arms.[9][13] Other agricultural crops followed: corn, grain, as well as dairy farms in the swine industry, vegetable farming, the farming of mink, and maple trees, eventually leading to the development of off-season industries and factories.[9]
In 1835, its post office opened with the abbreviated name of Saint-Jacques. In 1845, the Parish Municipality of Saint-Jacques-de-Saint-Sulpice or L'Achigan was formed, but abolished in 1847 to become part of the County Municipality of L'Assomption. In 1855, the Parish Municipality of Saint-Jacques(-de-l'Achigan) was reestablished.[1] By 1895, Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World Containing Notices of Over One Hundred and Twenty-five Thousand Places described Saint-Jacques this way:
SAINT JACQUES DE L’ACHIGAN, a post-village of Québec, co. of Montcalm, 13 miles N.N.W. of L'Assomption. It has a church, a convent, a brewery, &c. Pop. 800.[14]
In 1912, the Village Municipality of Saint-Jacques-de-l'Achigan was created when it ceded from the parish municipality. Its name was shortened to Saint-Jacques in 1917, and 3 years later, the name of the parish municipality was also abbreviated.[1]
In 1998, the village municipality and the parish municipality merged to form the new Municipality of Saint-Jacques.[1]
Demographics
Historical census populations – Saint-Jacques, Quebec
Year
Pop.
±%
1921
3,046
—
1931
2,885
−5.3%
1941
2,973
+3.1%
1951
3,158
+6.2%
1956
3,438
+8.9%
1961
3,485
+1.4%
Year
Pop.
±%
1966
3,494
+0.3%
1971
3,447
−1.3%
1976
3,529
+2.4%
1981
3,732
+5.8%
1986
3,717
−0.4%
1991
3,793
+2.0%
Year
Pop.
±%
1996
3,815
+0.6%
2001
3,692
−3.2%
2006
3,706
+0.4%
2011
4,021
+8.5%
2016
3,971
−1.2%
2021
4,302
+8.3%
1996 Population based on revised count. Population amounts prior to 1998 are total of Saint-Jacques Village and Saint-Jacques Parish. Source: Statistics Canada[3][15]
Saint-Jacques is a destination for outdoor activities such as snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and hiking.[16]
In addition to the Parc des Cultures, which uses arts, horticulture and ornament to memorialize the municipality's history, it also hosts the hiker-friendly Parc de la Coulée.[16]
The Maison de la Nouvelle-Acadie (Home of the New Acadia) is a small museum that traces the eight-part story of the Acadian arrival in Canada from 1604 to the foundation of Saint-Jacques in 1774.[17]
^"1971 Census of Canada - Population Census Subdivisions (Historical)". Catalogue 92-702 Vol I, part 1 (Bulletin 1.1-2). Statistics Canada: 76, 139. July 1973.
.jpg)
