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, 2^e Avenue	1914	738
Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc (Saint Joan of Arc)	1050, 5^e Avenue	1923	2,750
Saint-Sauveur (Holy Savior)	615, 123^e Rue	1947	5,695
Saint-André (Saint Andrew)	1795, 14^e 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, 120^e Rue	289
Saint-Georges (Saint George)	Elementary	975, 111^e Rue	175
Saint-Paul (Saint Paul)	Elementary	750, 125^e 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.