Saint-Jacques, Quebec

Nickname: 45°57′N 73°34′W / 45.950°N 73.567°W / 45.950; -73.567^[1]CountryCanadaProvinceQuebecRegionLanaudièreRCMMontcalmSettledMid 18th-centuryConstitutedMay 20, 1998Named forJacques DegeayGovernment • MayorJosyanne Forest • Federal ridingMontcalm • Prov. ridingJolietteArea • Total67.20 km² (25.95 sq mi) • Land67.17 km² (25.93 sq mi)Population • Total4,302 • Density64/km² (170/sq mi) • Pop (2016–21) 8.3% • Dwellings1,939Time zoneUTC−5 (EST) • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)Postal code(s)Area code(s)450 and 579Highways^[4] R-158 R-341Websitewww.st-jacques.org

Saint-Jacques (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃ ʒak] ^ⓘ) 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]

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]

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]

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]

Private dwellings occupied by usual residents (2021): 1,892 (total dwellings: 1,939)^[3]

Mother tongue (2021):^[3]

• English as first language: 0.6%
• French as first language: 97.1%
• English and French as first language: 0.9%
• Other first language: 1.3%

• 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]
• Several structures are listed on both the Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec and the Canadian Register of Historic Places:^[18][19]
  • l'ancien bureau de poste
  • l’église de Saint-Jacques
  • la maison Louise-Pariseau
  • le parc des cultures
  • le parc Grand-Pré
  • la maison de la Nouvelle-Acadie
  • le couvent des sœurs de Sainte-Anne
  • le centre culturel du Vieux-Collège

French-language Schools		English-language Schools
Governance	Commission scolaire des Samares	The Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board
Elementary	École de Grand-Pré[20]	Joliette Elementary School in Saint-Charles-Borromée[21]
High School	École Saint-Louis-de-France[22]	Joliette High School in Joliette[23]

• Francis Cassidy (1827–1873), lawyer and Mayor of Montreal for three months, dying in office
• Bernard Landry (1937–2018), Premier of Quebéc from 2001–2003
• Marcel Dugas [fr] (1883–1943)
• Gisèle Ricard (1944–2021), composer

Cities/townsMunicipalities