Shigawake
Template:Use Canadian English Script error: No such module "Settlement short description".Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters".Expression error: Unexpected < operator.
Shigawake is a municipality in the Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine region of the province of Quebec in Canada. Shigawake is bordered to the west by Saint-Godefroi and to the east by Port-Daniel–Gascons.
The place name is taken from the river that flows through the village and is of Mi'kmaq origin, meaning either "land of the rising sun" or "white water".[1]
The Municipality of Shigawake has an eight kilometre stretch of coastline behind high red cliffs on the Gaspe Coast. It has been officially designated as an Anglophone community among the largely Francophone population of Quebec. The community is only home to, among many small houses, a municipal building, the Anglican church of St Paul's (built in the 1860s), and a former Rectory converted to the Community Centre. The United Church was decommissioned in 2012, formerly the site of a temperance hall.
Shigawake has held the Shigawake Fair annually since 1909, also now paired with the Shigawake Music Festival which has showcased local talent.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Shigawake is also the site of Seagro, an organic fertiliser and composting firm.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
The oldest farmhouse on the entire coast continuously inhabited by one family, the Old Homestead, was built early in the first decade of the 1800s.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". The founding of Shigawake is described in The Alford Saga, an eight book series of a romantic adventures by Paul Almond, an officer of the Order of Canada.
The area's fields, once so productive, are now used mainly for hay and its forests for harvest of sawlogs and firewood.[2]Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
History
It is believed that the first settlers were probably sailors on a ship transporting slaves at the end of the 18th century.[1]
In 1864, its post office opened, and the parish was formed in 1873. But it was only on December 15, 1924, more than 50 years afer, that Shigawake was officially created by splitting away from the Township of Saint-Godefroy.[1][3]
Demographics
<templatestyles src="Module:Historical populations/styles.css"/>Script error: No such module "Historical populations".
Mother tongue (2021):[4]
- English as first language: 58.2%
- French as first language: 37.3%
- English and French as first language: 4.5%
- Other as first language: 0%
Government
List of former mayors:[3]
<templatestyles src="Div col/styles.css"/>
- John A. Le Callais (1925–1929)
- Claude A. Skene (1929–1933)
- James P. Robinson (1933–1935, 1937–1941)
- Garvin Almond (1935–1937)
- Earle Almond (1941–1949)
- Edmund Vautier (1949–1953)
- Gillis Hayes (1953–1957)
- George Sullivan (1957–1973)
- Garry Hayes (1973–1987)
- Kenneth Duguay (1987–2013)
- Denzil Ross (2013–2017)
- Colette Dow (2017–2021)
- Rolande Couture-Beebe (2021–present)
Notable people
Major Sydney Valpy Radley-Walters of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers has lived in Shigawake, who in World War II was credited with putting out of action 18 enemy tanks and assault guns.[5]
See also
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Paul Almond - Author of 8 books based on a decade of research on the founding of Shigawake - http://www.paulalmond.com
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Cite error: Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
External links
- Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".