Salaberry-de-Valleyfield () is a city in southwestern

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, in the Regional County Municipality of Beauharnois-Salaberry. The population as of 2021 was 42,410. The historic downtown is a major touristic centre for the area. Due to the presence of Lake St. Francis on the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawren ...

, St. Francis Bay in downtown, and of numerous rivers and canals all over the town, the city is nicknamed "The Venice of Quebec".

History

The actual city was founded in 1874, the first mayor was Moise Plante. The first settlers arrived in 1798. At that moment, the settlement was named Pointe-du-Lac (Lake Point). The colony was then renamed Saranac, then Sainte-Cécile. Salaberry-de-Valleyfield was officially named in 1874 after Colonel Charles de Salaberry who served with the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

army during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. "Valleyfield" came from the Valleyfield Mills, a

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt ...

south of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Valleyfield, founded in 1892. Salaberry-de-Valleyfield is also the seat of the

judicial district A judicial district or legal district denotes the territorial area for which a legal court (usually a district court) has jurisdiction. By continent Europe Austria In texts concerning Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Aus ...

of Beauharnois since 1901.

Merger

In 2002, the city of 26,170 amalgamated with the following communities (2001 Canada census figures): * Saint-Timothée (8,299) * Grande-Île (4,559)

Geography

Situated on Grande-Île, an island in the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrenc ...

, it is bordered at its western end by Lake Saint Francis, with the

Saint Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence (; 31 December 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the Persecution of Christians, persecution of the Christians that the Roman Empire, Rom ...

to the north and the Beauharnois Canal to its south. The Port of Valleyfield is on the canal.

Climate

Salaberry-de-Valleyfield has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

( Dfb) with warm summers and long, cold, and snowy winters.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), 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 culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield 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.

Government

The city council is composed of the mayor and eight city councillors. The municipal elections are held every four years. Each councillor stands for his/her district. List of former mayors: * Moise Laplante (1875–1878, 1880–1885, 1886–1890) * Alexander Anderson (1878–1880) * Zéphirin Boyer (1885–1886, 1890–1892) * John Hugh O'Sullivan (1892–1895) * Georges Madeiros Loy (1895–1899) * Narcisse Langevin (1899–1901) * Onésime Longtain (1901–1903) * Joseph Georges Henri Thibault (1903–1906) * James Alexander Robb (1906–1910) * Charles Ovide Ephrem Ostigui (1910–1912) * Noel Adélard Ostilly (1912–1916) * Stanislas Abraham Laroche (1916–1922) * Daniel Eusèbe Dion (1922–1924) * Joseph Donat Leboeuf (1924–1930) * Bernard Gustave Ludger Codebecq (1930–1932) * Olivier Philorum Billette (1932–1938) * Joseph Armand Larin (1938–1942) * Louis Major (1942–1944) * Joseph Abel Eugène Cauchon (1944–1948, 1960–1969) * Joseph Olivier Edmond Caza (1948–1954) * Joseph Mathias Louis Covignon (1954–1960) * Joseph-Henri Raphaël Barrette (1969–1975) * Marie Blanche Alberta Marcelle Besner-Trépanier (1975–1983) * Martinus Maria Petrus Mooijekind (1983–1987) * Joseph Eugène Gaetan Rousse (1987–1995) * Denis Lapointe (1995–2017) * Miguel Lemieux (2017–present)

Attractions

The Musée de Société des Deux-Rives (MUSO), which covers the economic and cultural history of the region, is located in the city. The city houses one of the 10 minor basilicas in Quebec. Cathedral-Basilica of Saint Cecilia, built in 1934–1935, is one of the largest churches in the country. The city has been the site of the Valleyfield Regattas since 1938. The event takes place every year at the beginning of July over a three-day period in the heart of the city on Bay Saint-François. It is an international hydroplane competition, in which power boats achieve speeds of up to 225 km/h. Attracting over 130,000 visitors per year, it also includes other cultural activities.

Education

* 9 daycare facilities * 3 pre-kindergarten centres * 12 elementary schools (some with daycare services), of which one is English-language. * 1 high school * 1 adult education centre * 1 vocational training centre * 1

CEGEP A CEGEP ( or ; , ; also written CÉGEP and cegep) is a publicly funded college providing general, professional, academic or a mix of programs; they are exclusive to the province of Quebec's education system. A loanword from French, it ori ...

: Collège de Valleyfield *1 French-language university centre

Gault Institute

The Gault Institute was created by Andrew Frederick Gault. He created this school during the time that the Gault Cotton Mills were up and running. To heat the school at one time he used underground pipes connecting from the school to the Cotton Mills since at the time there was no electricity.

Notable people

Lise Bacon Lise Bacon (born August 25, 1934) is a former Canadian politician who served as Deputy Premier of Quebec from 1985 to 1994. A member of the Quebec Liberal Party, she served as a Member of the National Assembly of Quebec (MNA) for the riding of ...

: Quebec politician * Line Beauchamp: Quebec politician * Jean-Luc Brassard: Olympic gold medalist in skiing * Pierre Cossette: television and Broadway producer * Mélodie Daoust: Olympics gold medalist in ice hockey * Suzanne Fortier: principal at McGill University * Armand Frappier: physician and microbiologist * Karla Homolka: serial killer * Vladimir Katriuk (1921–2015): alleged Nazi war criminal * Dominic Larocque: para ice hockey athlete * J. Albert Leduc:

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player and businessman * Paul-Émile Léger: cardinal of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

* Serge Marcil: politician and Minister of Employment in 1994 * Anne Minh-Thu Quach: MP for Beauharnois—Salaberry * Jean Ouimet: former leader of the Green Party of Quebec

References

External links

Salaberry-de-Valleyfield official website
{{authority control Cities and towns in Quebec Quebec populated places on the Saint Lawrence River Port settlements in Quebec Incorporated places in Beauharnois-Salaberry Regional County Municipality