Shawinigan-Sud, Quebec

Shawinigan-Sud is a predominantly French-speaking settlement in the Mauricie area in Quebec, Canada, on the Saint-Maurice River. In 1996, its population was 11,804.[1]

History

Shawinigan-Sud was incorporated as a village in 1912 and was called Almaville until 1948. It developed primarily as a residential hub for Shawinigan. Its status was upgraded from village to town in 1961.

Prior to the municipal reorganization in Quebec in 2002, Shawinigan-Sud was a separate municipality in the Le Centre-de-la-Mauricie Regional County Municipality. In January 2002, it was merged into the new City of Shawinigan.

In colloquial language, the older and lower section of Shawinigan-Sud, closer to Saint-Maurice River, is called Almaville en bas. The rest of the community, which is built on higher ground, is known as Almaville en haut.

National Hockey League player Martin Gélinas grew up in Shawinigan-Sud.

Religion

Even though many of them are not church-goers, most residents of Shawinigan-Sud are Catholic. Four Catholic parishes exist on Shawinigan-Sud's territory. Those parishes are:

Parish Church Location Year of Foundation Number of Parishioners
Notre-Dame-de-la-Présentation (Our Lady of the Presentation) 825, 2e Avenue 1914 738
Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc (Saint Joan of Arc) 1050, 5e Avenue 1923 2,750
Saint-Sauveur (Holy Savior) 615, 123e Rue 1947 5,695
Saint-André (Saint Andrew) 1795, 14e Avenue 1952 3,375

The current church building of Notre-Dame-de-la-Présentation parish was completed in 1924. From 1942 to 1955, the structure was decorated with the artwork of painter Ozias Leduc and his assistant Gabrielle Messier.[2]

Members of the Baptist community attend church at Église Évangélique Baptiste De Shawinigan-Sud, located at 2500, route Lamothe.

A Society of St. Pius X retreat house can be found at 905, Rang St-Mathieu Est. It has been active since 1951.

Education

There are four public schools. All are under the supervision of the Commission scolaire de l'Énergie school board.

School Level Location Number of Students
École secondaire Val-Mauricie Secondary 1200, rue Val-Mauricie 1,372
Saint-André (Saint Andrew) Elementary 1350, 120e Rue 289
Saint-Georges (Saint George) Elementary 975, 111e Rue 175
Saint-Paul (Saint Paul) Elementary 750, 125e Rue 291

The École secondaire Val-Mauricie school has also had links with CISV International as it was used for a 4-week camp in the summer of 2004 which had children from Great Britain, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Brazil, Lebanon, Japan, Usa & Canada.

Mayors of Shawinigan-Sud

From 1912 until 2002, Shawinigan-Sud had its own mayor. The mayors of Shawinigan-Sud were:[3]

# Mayor Taking Office Leaving
1 Omer Landry 1912 1913
2 Hercule Lambert 1914 1925
3 Philippe Veilleux 1925 1927
4 Georges Gauthier 1927 1929
5 Gédéon Veilleux 1929 1935
6 Napoléon Boulanger 1935 1939
4 Georges Gauthier 1939 1941
7 Omer Leblanc 1941 1946
8 Gérard Garceau 1946 1947
9 Alcide Raîche 1947 1951
10 Charles-Édouard Lambert 1951 1955
11 Bruno Sigmen 1955 1957
12 Philippe Demers [4] 1957 1962
11 Bruno Sigmen 1962 1964
13 Louis-Philippe Lacoursière 1964 1970 [5]
14 Albert Landry 1970 1977
15 Gilles Grondin [6] 1977 1985
15 Claude Pinard [7] 1985 1989
16 Marcel Vézina 1989 1997
17 Maurice Héroux [8] 1997 2001

Footnotes
  1. Community Profiles, Statistics Canada, 1996
  2. Ozias Leduc, Un pur enchantement!, L’église Notre-Dame-de-la-Présentation Archived 2011-07-06 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Fabien LaRochelle, Shawinigan depuis 75 ans, 1976
  4. Demers was Union Nationale MNA for the district of Saint-Maurice from 1966 to 1973.
  5. Lacoursière died in office.
  6. Grondin was Liberal MP for the district of Saint-Maurice from 1986 to 1988.
  7. Pinard was PQ MNA for the district of Saint-Maurice from 1994 to 2007. He regained his seat in the 2008 provincial election.
  8. Héroux was a member of the City Council of Shawinigan from 2002 to 2005.


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