Alma (

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

Town population: 30,331; CA Population 33,018; UA Population 26,016) is a town in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, in the Canadian province of

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 thirtee ...

Geography

Alma is located on the southeast coast of

Lac Saint-Jean Lac Saint-Jean (Canadian French: ) is a large, relatively shallow lake in south-central Quebec, Canada, in the Laurentian Highlands. It is situated north of the Saint Lawrence River, into which it drains via the Saguenay River. It covers an area ...

where it flows into the

Saguenay River __NOTOC__ The Saguenay River () is a major river of Quebec, Canada. It drains Lac Saint-Jean in the Laurentian Highlands, leaving at Alma and running east; the city of Saguenay is located on the river. It drains into the Saint Lawrence River. ...

, in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of

, Canada, approximately 175 km north of

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

. Alma is the seat of

Lac-Saint-Jean-Est Regional County Municipality Lac-Saint-Jean-Est is a regional county municipality in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada. The seat is Alma. In 2016, 99.3% reported that they spoke French most often at home, according to the census. Subdivisions There are ...

. Alma is the second city in population in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region after the city of Saguenay. Alma is the seat of the judicial district of Alma.

History

The present town of Alma was formed in 1962 from the merging of four villages: Isle-Maligne, Naudville, Riverbend and St-Joseph d'Alma. The oldest of the villages, St-Joseph-d'Alma, was founded in 1867 by Damase Boulanger. The area became an important industrial centre during the 1920s and 1930s with the construction of a hydro-electrical power station on the Grande-Décharge River, a paper mill (Price) and an aluminum smelting plant (

Alcan Alcan was a Canadian mining company and aluminum manufacturer. It was founded in 1902 as the Northern Aluminum Company, renamed Aluminum Company of Canada in 1925, and Alcan Aluminum in 1966. It took the name Alcan Incorporated in 2001. During t ...

), all of which are still in activity today. In 2002, Alma merged with the Municipality of Delisle. Both modern day Alma and St-Joseph d'Alma are named after the

Battle of the Alma The Battle of the Alma (short for Battle of the Alma River) was a battle in the Crimean War between an allied expeditionary force (made up of French, British, and Ottoman forces) and Russian forces defending the Crimean Peninsula on 20Septemb ...

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population 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 sli ...

conducted by Statistics Canada, Alma 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. Population trend: * Population in 2021: 30,915 * Population in 2011: 30,904 (2006 to 2011 population change: 3%) * Population in 2006: 29,998 * Population total in 2001: 30,126 ** Alma (''ville''): 25,918 ** Delisle (municipality): 4,208 * Population in 1996: ** Alma (''ville''): 26,127 ** Delisle (municipality): 4,256 * Population in 1991: ** Alma (''ville''): 25,910 ** Delisle (municipality): 4,281 Mother tongue: * English as first language: 0.5% * French as first language: 98.5% * English and French as first language: 0.1% * Other as first language: 0.9%

Transportation

Alma is serviced by the Alma Airport, located 4.1 km to the south of the town.

Notable people

* Camille Bedard, hockey player * Chris Boucher, basketball player for the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

Lucien Bouchard Lucien Bouchard (; born December 22, 1938) is a Canadian lawyer, diplomat and retired politician. Minister for two years in the Mulroney cabinet, Bouchard then led the emerging Bloc Québécois and became Leader of the Opposition in the Ho ...

, former premier of Québec * Guy Cloutier, producer and artist manager * Guillaume Desbiens, hockey player * Charles Hudon, hockey player for the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

Pierre Lapointe Pierre Lapointe (born 23 May 1981) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. His work largely follows in the tradition of French chanson, though he is influenced by modern pop music. Defining himself as a "popular singer", he has built an egocentric pe ...

, singer * Émilie Fortin Tremblay (1872-1949), one of the first white women to cross the Chilkoot on the way to the Yukon gold fields *

François-Louis Tremblay François-Louis Tremblay (born November 13, 1980) is a Canadian retired short track speed skater and five-time Olympic medallist who competed at the 2002, 2006, and 2010 Winter Olympics. François-Louis Tremblay is one of only three Canadian men ...

, Olympic gold medallist short-track speed skater *

Mario Tremblay Joseph Daniel Mario Tremblay (born September 2, 1956) is a former professional ice hockey player and former coach in the National Hockey League (NHL). As a player, he was a five-time Stanley Cup winner with the Montreal Canadiens. He was honou ...

, hockey player and former coach of the

References

External links

Ville d'Alma
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Quebec