Shawville is a town located in the

Pontiac Regional County Municipality Pontiac () is a regional county municipality in the Outaouais region of Quebec, Canada. Campbell's Bay is the county seat. It should not be confused with the municipality of Pontiac, which is located in the neighbouring Les Collines-de-l'Outaoua ...

in the administrative region of

Outaouais 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, Quebec, Cantley and the Papineau Regional County Municipal ...

in western

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.

History

At the end of the 1860s, a group of citizens from Clarendon Centre, under the leadership of James Shaw (1818–1877), separated the municipality from the township of Clarendon. While they had originally planned on naming the new entity "Daggville," after the name of a pioneer family, they opted instead to name it "Shawville" after James Shaw promised to donate of land to the new municipality. Shawville was officially established in 1874 and was populated by Irish Protestant immigrants. John Dale Jr, who was mayor of Clarendon at the time, resigned to become the first mayor of the newly formed township of Shawville in 1874. The municipality has a Methodist church that was built in Shawville in 1835, while the Catholic Parish of Saint-Alexandre-de-Clarendon opened its doors in 1840. This church would later be renamed Sainte-Mélanie and still later as Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur in 1917. In recent times, Shawville has been the site of several conflicts between local shopkeepers and the

Office québécois de la langue française The (, OQLF; ) is an agency of the Quebec provincial government charged with ensuring legislative requirements with respect to the right to use French are respected. Established on 24 March 1961 by the Liberal government of Jean Lesage, the ...

over the province's language laws.

Geography

The town is an

enclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is so ...

within the municipality of Clarendon. Shawville is situated approximately west of

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, directly across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region of Quebec and is also p ...

and southeast of

Fort-Coulonge Fort Coulonge () is a village in the Pontiac Regional County Municipality in western Quebec, Canada, at the mouth of the Coulonge River. It is the francophone centre of the otherwise largely (57%) anglophone Pontiac MRC, with 79.6% listing Frenc ...

Demographics

Population

Language

Shawville is a majority

anglophone The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the largest language ...

(with over 85 percent of its residents listing English as their first language in the

2021 Canadian census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canada, 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%, whic ...

) and

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

(75%) community. This is unusual in Quebec, a province that is majority French-speaking and

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Culture

The town is characterized by its red-brick buildings. Unlike most municipalities in Quebec, it has no

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 ...

. Shawville is home to an

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

, a

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

, a regional hospital, and the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada (SRPC) national head office. Its businesses are mostly small and family-run. The Shawville Fair, held the first weekend in September, is the town's major event. It has run every year since 1856 and includes typical

county fair An agricultural show is a public event exhibiting the equipment, animals, sports and recreation associated with agriculture and animal husbandry. The largest comprise a livestock show (a judged event or display in which breeding stock is exhib ...

features such as livestock shows, auctions, truck pulls, demolition derbies, art/craft/hobby shows, diverse food stands and a midway. In recent years, it has drawn headline entertainers such as

Terri Clark Terri Lynn Sauson, known professionally as Terri Clark (born August 5, 1968) is a Canadian country music singer who has had success in both Canada and the United States. Signed to Mercury Records in 1995, she released her self-titled debut that ...

Stompin' Tom Connors Charles Thomas "Stompin' Tom" Connors, Order of Canada, OC (February 9, 1936 – March 6, 2013) was a Canadian country music, country and folk music, folk singer-songwriter. Focusing his career exclusively on his native Canada, he is credited wi ...

Paul Brandt Paul Rennée Belobersycky (born July 21, 1972), known professionally as Paul Brandt, is a Canadian country music artist. Growing up in Calgary, he was a pediatric nurse at the time of his big break. In 1996, he made his mark on the country music ...

April Wine April Wine is a Canadian rock band formed in 1969 and based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, led by singer-guitarist-songwriter Myles Goodwyn until his death in 2023. April Wine first experienced success with their second album, ' ...

Dean Brody Dean Brody (born August 12, 1975) is a Canadian country music artist from British Columbia. He has won 16 CCMA Awards and 2 JUNO Awards. Originally signed to Broken Bow Records in 2008, Brody made his debut later that year with the single "Br ...

and

Corb Lund Corb Lund (born January 29, 1969) is a Canadian country and western singer-songwriter from Taber, Alberta, Canada. He has released twelve albums, three of which are certified gold. Lund tours regularly in Canada, the United States and Australia, ...

, with total attendance reaching around 50,000. It did not run for the first time in its history in 2020, amid the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Sports

Shawville is represented in the

Eastern Ontario Junior B Hockey League The Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League is a Junior ice hockey league operating in Eastern Ontario, Canada. The league is sanctioned by Hockey Eastern Ontario and Hockey Canada and acts as a junior B league to the Central Canada Hockey League. ...

by the Shawville Pontiacs.

Local government

List of former mayors: * Albert Armstrong (...–2013) * Sandra A. Murray (2013–2021) * Bill McCleary (2021–present)

Notable people

Famous people from Shawville include the former general manager of the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. The Senators compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Di ...

, Bryan Murray,

Terry Murray Terry Rodney Murray (born July 20, 1950) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and the former head coach of the Washington Capitals, Philadelphia Flyers, Florida Panthers and Los Angeles Kings. Playing career Murray was born in Shaw ...

(current assistant coach of the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Con ...

and former coach of the

L.A. Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The Kings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. The team was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack ...

Tim Murray Timothy Patrick Murray (born June 7, 1968) is an American lawyer and member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party who served as the 71st Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, lieutenant governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2 ...

(former general manager of the

), NHL legend Frank "The Shawville Express" Finnigan and race horse owner and lawyer Clay Horner. Former

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

referee Blaine Angus also comes from the area. Ray Harris, a prominent singer-songwriter in the

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

area, was raised in Shawville and later wrote the song ''Shawville Girl''. Robert Taylor Telford, who founded the Alberta city Leduc in 1891, was born in Shawville in 1860.

References

External links

Official town site
{{authority control Incorporated places in Outaouais Municipalities in Quebec Quebec Anglophone culture