Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean (, ) is a region in
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...
, Canada. It contains the
Saguenay Fjord
Saguenay Fjord National Park (french: parc national du Fjord-du-Saguenay) is a provincial park located in Quebec, Canada. In the regions of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Charlevoix, Côte-Nord, and Bas-Saint-Laurent, the park is situated along the ...
, the estuary of the
Saguenay River, stretching through much of the region. It is also known as Sagamie in French, from the first part of "Saguenay" and the last part of "Piekouagami", the
Innu
The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period ( French for "mountain people", English pronunciation: ), are the Indigenous inhabitants of territory in the ...
name (meaning "flat lake") for
Lac Saint-Jean, with the final "e" added to follow the model of other existing region names such as
Mauricie,
Témiscamie,
Jamésie
Jamésie is a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) of Nord-du-Québec, Canada.
Its geographical code is 991 and together with Kativik TE and Eeyou Istchee TE it forms the administrative région and census division (CD) ...
, and
Matawinie
Matawinie is a regional county municipality in the region of Lanaudière in southwestern Quebec, Canada. Its seat is Rawdon. The population according to the 2021 Canadian Census was 55,500.
Subdivisions
There are 27 subdivisions within the ...
. With a land area of 98,712.71 km
2 (38,113.9 sq mi), the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean is, after the
Nord-du-Québec and
Côte-Nord
Côte-Nord (, ; ; land area ) is the second-largest administrative region by land area in Quebec, Canada, after Nord-du-Québec. It covers much of the northern shore of the Saint Lawrence River estuary and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence past T ...
regions, the third-largest of
Quebec regions in the area.
This region is bathed by two major watercourses, Lac Saint-Jean and the
Saguenay River, both of which mark its landscape deeply and have been the main drives of its development in
history
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
. It is also irrigated by several other large watercourses. Bordered by forests and mountainous massifs, the southern portion of the region constitutes a fertile enclave in the
Canadian Shield called the
Saguenay Graben. Both the scenery and the cultural sites and activities of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean attract tourists every year. Lac Saint-Jean is a popular vacation destination in the summer for residents of the more urban regions of Quebec.
Etymology
The name Saguenay is possibly derived from the
Innu
The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period ( French for "mountain people", English pronunciation: ), are the Indigenous inhabitants of territory in the ...
word "Saki-nip" which means "where water flows out".
Population
The
population
Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction usi ...
of the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region was 275,552 at the
Canada 2021 Census
The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the 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%, which is sl ...
, representing 3.2% of Quebec's population. It is concentrated primarily in three clusters: the city of
Saguenay (pop. 144,723), the city of
Alma (pop. 30,331) and the agglomeration of
Roberval (pop. 9,840),
Saint-Félicien (pop. 10,089) and
Dolbeau-Mistassini (pop. 13,718).
Saguenay, the region's largest city, is located slightly west of the
fjord
In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icel ...
, mostly south of the river. It makes up 52.5% of the region's population.
Flag
The flag was incorporated in 1938 on the
centenary of the first settlers' arrival in 1838 and was created by Mgr. Victor Tremblay, a local historian. The four colours represent the four elements of the richness of Saguenay: the grey cross represents aluminum, which is an important product of local industry; the red border represents the inhabitants' labour; green, at the top represents the forest; and yellow, at the bottom, represents agriculture.
Administrative divisions
Following the Saguenay
municipal reorganization in 2002, the region now counts 49
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...
(including
unorganized territories).
Regional county municipalities
*
Le Fjord-du-Saguenay Regional County Municipality
Le Fjord-du-Saguenay (''The Fjord of the Saguenay iver') is a regional county municipality in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada. Its seat is Saint-Honoré, which is also its most populous municipality.
It is named for the ...
(pop. 21,600)
*
Lac-Saint-Jean-Est Regional County Municipality (pop. 52,741)
*
Le Domaine-du-Roy Regional County Municipality (pop. 31,285)
*
Maria-Chapdelaine Regional County Municipality (pop. 24,793)
Equivalent territory
*
Saguenay (pop. 144,746)
Native reserve
*
Mashteuiatsh
Mashteuiatsh is a First Nations reserve in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada, about north from the centre of Roberval. It is the home to the Pekuakamiulnuatsh First Nation. It is located on a headland jutting out on the we ...
within Le Domaine-du-Roy, (pop. 2,213
Montagnais)
Demographics
In the
2021 Census of Population conducted by
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultu ...
, the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
The median age is 47.2, as opposed to 41.6 for all of Canada.
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
was the
mother tongue of 98.0% of residents in 2021. The next most common mother tongues were
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
at 0.6%, followed by
Spanish at 0.4% and the related languages of
Atikamekw and
Innu
The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period ( French for "mountain people", English pronunciation: ), are the Indigenous inhabitants of territory in the ...
at 0.3% total. 0.4% reported both English and French as their first language. Additionally there were 0.1% who reported both French and a non-official language as their mother tongue.
As of 2021,
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
comprised 5.1% of the population and visible minorities contributed 1.5%. The largest visible minority groups in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean are Black (0.7%), Arab (0.2%), and Latin American (0.2%). The region is home to 555 recent immigrants (i.e. those arriving between 2016 and 2021). 190 of them come from
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, and 180 come from various African countries, with
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the ...
leading at 75 recent immigrants.
In 2021, 73.4% of the population identified as
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, while 19.2% said they had no religious affiliation.
Muslims
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
were the largest religious minority, making up 0.3% of the population.
Counting both single and multiple responses, the most commonly identified ethnocultural ancestries were:
''(Percentages may total more than 100% due to rounding and multiple responses).''
Major communities
School districts
Each
school service centre
The school service centre (french: centre de services scolaire) is the model of public french school self-governance, which replaced school boards in 2020, in the province of Québec ( Canada), appointed by the Ministry of Education.
Autonomy
Ea ...
(
french
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
:centre de services scolaire) give services to five school distics of 20 in the region:
* Centre de services scolaire de la Jonquière
* Centre de services scolaire du Lac-Saint-Jean
* Centre de services scolaire du Pays-des-Bleuets (
Maria-Chapdelaine,
Le Domaine-du-Roy
Le Domaine-du-Roy ''(The King's Domain)'' is a regional county municipality in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada. Its seat is in Roberval, and it is named for the King of France, who owned the land at the time of the colonizat ...
,
Mashteuiatsh
Mashteuiatsh is a First Nations reserve in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada, about north from the centre of Roberval. It is the home to the Pekuakamiulnuatsh First Nation. It is located on a headland jutting out on the we ...
and
Saint-Ludger-de-Milot)
* Centre de services scolaire des Rives-du-Saguenay (
Le Fjord-du-Saguenay Regional County Municipality
Le Fjord-du-Saguenay (''The Fjord of the Saguenay iver') is a regional county municipality in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada. Its seat is Saint-Honoré, which is also its most populous municipality.
It is named for the ...
(except Larouche, Saint-Ambroise, Bégin),
Sagard
Sagard is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Rügen district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.
History
Sagard is first mentioned in 1250 as ''Zagard''. The name of the municipality of Sagard comes from the Slavic and means something lik ...
and
Saguenay (except Jonquière))
The whole region is part of the anglophone district
Central Quebec School Board
The Central Québec School Board (CQSB; french: Commission scolaire Central Québec) is an English-language school board in the province of Quebec, Canada, with its headquarters at 2046 chemin Saint-Louis, Quebec City. It is one of nine English-la ...
.
See also
*
List of Quebec regions
*
List of people from Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean
*
List of historic places in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean
References
*
External links
Portail du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-JeanOfficial website
saguenay lac st jeanTourisme Alma
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean