Already in the 17th century, the taste for adventure and freedom, combined with the appeal of natural resources, attracted explorers and coureurs des bois. Trading posts were established in the 1670’s north of Abitibi River and Témiscamingue Lake (Algonquin words respectively meaning “midpoint water” and “deep water”). In those days, White people were only in transit to trade, explore or evangelise.

From the Ground Up: Témiscamingue

The middle of the 19th century saw the beginning of logging in Témiscamingue’s rich forests. At the same time, the Oblate missionaries founded missions to evangelise the Anishnabek. One of them, Father Moffet, was the first one to attempt cultivating this virgin soil. His success was such that, in 1886, he presided over the foundation of Ville-Marie, the region’s first permanent white establishment. In this wake, many parishes were founded in Témiscamingue, attracting settlers determined to make a living as farmers and loggers.

All Aboard to Abitibi!

In the early 1900’s, Canada’s Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier initiated a somewhat daring project to build a railroad connecting Quebec City to Winnipeg through Northern Québec and Ontario, over the land transferred to Canada by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1898. The transcontinental railroad was completed in 1913, after a few colonisation centres had already been established (Amos, La Sarre, Macamic, Barraute, Senneterre). The government’s and clergy’s efforts to populate this promised land were fairly successful in terms of demography: the population went from 329 people in 1912 to 11,823 in 1921. The least we can say is that people had a lot of faith in the future: in 1923, a monumental church of Byzantine style was built in Amos at a time when the streets were of mud and electric power still to come… Settlers arrived from all over Québec, each one with his own personal history, but all contributed to writing the history of Abitibi.

Abitibi Gold Fever

The commissioning of the railroad coincided with the first explorations by the Geological Survey of Canada and the Québec Mining Office, which were soon followed by hordes of prospectors. The discovery of a huge copper deposit on the shores of Osisko Lake lead to the creation of the Noranda Company in 1925; the following year saw the foundation of Noranda, an orderly and quiet company town, and Rouyn, a chaotic and noisy boomtown of squatters and adventurers.

In 1934, a quick rise in the gold price triggered a kind of madness among industry owners and fortune seekers, which lead to the foundation of Bourlamaque, Val-d'Or, Malartic, Cadillac and McWatters. These towns underwent a phenomenal growth, attracting many disappointed farmers from rural Abitibi villages as well as immigrants from Eastern Europe countries fleeing from poverty, which again demonstrates that the region is a preferred host country for anyone wishing to live or start a new life here. Finally, the colonisation schemes of the 1930’s connected the three settlement areas, i.e. Témiscamingue and the rural and mining sectors of Abitibi.

The Coming of Age of a New Region

Mining development in the Nord-du-Québec region, hydro development in James Bay and relations with the Crees periodically give a new impetus to Abitibi-Témiscamingue. Sudden fluctuations in the economy sometimes negatively affect the region but it always recover. The establishment of a military base in Val-d'Or and a radar station in Senneterre have boosted these areas’ economy. Furthermore, the opening of the Cégep (College) and the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, respectively in 1967 and 1983, now allow people, institutions and enterprises to combine knowledge with inventiveness and courage.

New History is Written Everyday Day…

Nowadays, more and more people choose this land of freedom for reasons of self-realisation. We can understand why. In the past ten years, health services have greatly improved in terms of access and quality, the economy has increasingly diversified, the cultural scene has featured prominently and new technologies have abolished distances, so to speak. People from across the world choose to come and live here and make it their home, while sharing the treasures of their own culture. Because this is the very essence of Abitibi-Témiscamingue: drawing its strength from the contribution of all those who choose to live here!