Chicoutimi

2025-06-08T02:17:04Z

2001:8003:747E:6B00:EDF0:66F1:A14:7CEF: /* Notable people */

{{Short description|Borough of Saguenay, Quebec, Canada}}
{{About|the city in Quebec|the submarine|HMCS Chicoutimi (SSK 879)}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox settlement
|name = Chicoutimi
|settlement_type = [[Boroughs of Saguenay, Quebec|Borough]]
|official_name =
|other_name =
|native_name =
|nicknames = Queen of the North, Saguenay Queen, Saguenay metropolis, Saguenay kingdom capital, Conventions city<br /><br /><small>(Reine du Nord, Reine du Saguenay, Métropole du Saguenay, Capitale du royaume du Saguenay, Ville des congrès)</small>
|motto =
|image_skyline = Chicoutimi - Centre-ville Est.jpg
|imagesize =
|image_caption = Downtown Chicoutimi
|coordinates = {{coord|48|25|40|N|71|03|33|W|region:CA-QC_type:city(65000)|display=inline,title}}
|image_flag =
|flag_size =
|image_seal =
|seal_size =
|image_shield = Blason ville ca Chicoutimi 1917 (Québec).svg
|shield_size =
|image_blank_emblem =
|blank_emblem_size =
|image_map = Arrondissements de Saguenay.png
|mapsize =
|map_caption =
|subdivision_type = Country
|subdivision_name = Canada
|subdivision_type1 = [[Provinces and territories of Canada|Province]]
|subdivision_name1 = [[Quebec]]
|subdivision_type2 = Region
|subdivision_name2 = [[Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean]]
|subdivision_type3 = City
|subdivision_name3 = [[Saguenay, Quebec|Saguenay]]
|leader_title = Borough president
|leader_name = Michel Tremblay
|website = [http://www.ville.saguenay.qc.ca/maville/Vie+politique+municipale/viePolitique/conseil_arr_chicoutimi.htm Borough Council of Chicoutimi]
}}

'''Chicoutimi''' ({{IPAc-en|ʃ|ᵻ|ˈ|k|uː|t|ᵻ|m|i}} {{respell|shih|KOO|tim|ee}}, {{IPA|fr|ʃikutimi|lang}}) is the most populous [[list of boroughs in Quebec|borough]] ([[arrondissement]]) of the city of [[Saguenay, Quebec|Saguenay]] in [[Quebec]], Canada.

It is situated at the [[confluence]] of the [[Saguenay River|Saguenay]] and [[Chicoutimi River|Chicoutimi]] rivers. During the 20th century, it became the main administrative and commercial centre of the [[Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean]] region. In 2002 it merged into the new city of [[Saguenay, Quebec|Saguenay]] and forms the heart of the 5th-largest urban area of the province of Quebec. At the 2021 census, its population was 69,004.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ville.saguenay.ca/fr/decouvrir-saguenay/population-statistiques-et-territoire|title=Population, statistiques et territoire|author=Service des systèmes et technologies de l'information de la Ville de Saguenay et Promotion Saguenay|access-date=2014-07-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714192855/http://ville.saguenay.ca/fr/decouvrir-saguenay/population-statistiques-et-territoire|archive-date=2014-07-14|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Pulperie de Chicoutimi.jpg|thumb|left|Old Chicoutimi Pulp Mill, an early 20th-century industrial complex in operation from 1898 to 1930]]
[[File:Chicoutimi, Quebec (1893).jpg|thumb|right|Chicoutimi, 1893]]
[[File:Chicoutimi - UQAC.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Université du Québec à Chicoutimi]] main buildings]]
What was ultimately to become the centre of the borough of Chicoutimi was first settled by French colonists in 1676 as a [[French colonization of the Americas|trading post]] in the [[fur trade]]. At that time, the Saguenay and the Chicoutimi rivers had been used as waterways by the [[Innu people|Montagnais tribes]] for centuries. The name ''Chicoutimi'' derives from the {{langnf|moe||the end of the deep water}}. After the British seized Lower Canada, the Chicoutimi trading post continued to operate only until 1782, as the fur trade had moved further west of the Great Lakes.

The city of Chicoutimi was officially incorporated in 1845 as a municipality by Peter McLeod, a [[Métis]] timber contractor who built a sawmill there in 1842. The town was designated in 1855 as the seat of Chicoutimi County and the seat of the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Chicoutimi]] in 1878.

The arrival of the [[Canadian National Railway]] in 1893 stimulated the growth of Chicoutimi's [[Pulp and paper industry|pulp and paper industries]], particularly mechanical pulp production. The railway also built [[Chicoutimi station]], which served the city until 1988. The Chicoutimi Pulp Co. was founded in 1896 backed by [[French-Canadian]] investors. The Chicoutimi Pulp Mill became the biggest producer of mechanical pulp in Canada by 1910.

Since the [[Great Depression]], the city has become an administrative and commercial centre. New centres of education and culture were established: in 1967, the [[Conservatoire de musique de Saguenay]]; and in 1969, the [[Université du Québec à Chicoutimi]]. The city also played host to the Quebec Summer Games in 1972.

In the municipal amalgamations of 1976, Chicoutimi annexed the neighbouring towns of Chicoutimi-Nord and Rivière-du-Moulin. In a much larger round of [[Municipal reorganization in Quebec]] in 2002, the cities of Chicoutimi, [[Jonquière]], [[La Baie, Quebec|La Baie]], Lac-Kénogami, [[Laterrière, Quebec|Laterrière]], Shipshaw and part of [[Tremblay, Quebec|Tremblay]] merged to form the new city of [[Saguenay, Quebec|Saguenay]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20061230022729/http://stat.gouv.qc.ca/publications/referenc/pdf/modfev02.pdf ISQ – Redirection]</ref> Chicoutimi became a borough of Saguenay.

During the summer of 1996, a record rainfall in the region caused [[Saguenay Flood|major flooding]] in the downtown, as well as outlying areas. Dams were overrun, many bridges were destroyed throughout the region. The total cost of the disaster was recorded as 1.5 billion Canadian dollars. The flood also killed seven people.

Chicoutimi's [[Town twinning|sister city]] is [[Camrose, Alberta|Camrose]], [[Alberta]].

==Geography and cityscape==
Chicoutimi is located in [[Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean]] region on the western end of the [[Saguenay Fjord National Park|Saguenay Fjord]]; most of the borough, including the downtown section, is on the south shore of the [[Saguenay River]]. It is the geographical centre of the [[Saguenay, Quebec|city of Saguenay]]; the [[Jonquière]] and La Baie boroughs adjoin on the west and east sides. Chicoutimi is about {{convert|200|km|mi|abbr=off}} north of [[Quebec City]] and {{convert|126|km|0|abbr=off}} northwest upriver from [[Tadoussac]], at the confluence of the [[St. Lawrence River]]. The former cities of Chicoutimi borough are Chicoutimi, [[Laterrière, Quebec|Laterrière]], Canton-Tremblay, Chicoutimi-Nord and Rivière-du-Moulin. They have maintained their names as wards in the amalgamated city.

The landscape of Chicoutimi consists of hills, valleys and plains, with the terrain becoming steeper near the Saguenay River. Its two major physical features are the [[Saguenay Graben]], a rift valley of the [[Laurentian Mountains|Laurentian Highlands]] in which the city spreads, and the Saguenay Fjord, the glacier-carved steep shores of the Saguenay River. [[Mount Valin]] at {{convert|3,215|ft|m|abbr=off}} is the tallest mountain of the region, and overlooks Chicoutimi {{convert|30|km|mi|abbr=off}} north-east. The Chicoutimi, Du Moulin and Valin rivers all empty in the Saguenay river in Chicoutimi.

{{wide image|Ville depuis la croix.JPG|900px|Panoramic view of the Saguenay River from St Anne's Cross (north shore) with downtown Chicoutimi in the background}}

==Culture==
[[File:Cénotaphe de Chicoutimi.jpg|right|thumb|[[Armand Vaillancourt]]'s Cenotaph in Chicoutimi]]

===Sports===
The city has been home to the [[QMJHL]]'s [[Chicoutimi Saguenéens]] since 1973. They play at the [[Centre Georges-Vézina]].

[[Cycles Devinci]] started here in 1987.

=== Professional hockey players from Chicoutimi ===
* [[Luc Dufour]]
* [[Johnny Gagnon]]
* [[Leo Gaudreault]]
* [[Sylvain Locas]]
* [[John Smrke]]
* [[Georges Vezina]]

==Law and government==
{{Main|Saguenay, Quebec}}
Residents of Chicoutimi are represented by three tiers of government. The first are the city councillors elected from [[single-member district]]s and the mayor elected [[at-large]] for the city of Saguenay. At the provincial tier, two elected members serve in the [[National Assembly of Quebec]] for the provincial ridings of [[Chicoutimi (provincial electoral district)|Chicoutimi]] and [[Dubuc (electoral district)|Dubuc]]. The federal representation consists of a members of parliament serving in the [[Parliament of Canada]] for the federal riding of [[Chicoutimi—Le Fjord]].

==Education==
{{See also|Université du Québec à Chicoutimi|Cégep de Chicoutimi}}

==International relations==
{{See also|List of sister cities in Canada}}

===Twin towns – sister cities===
Chicoutimi is [[Twin towns and sister cities|twinned]] with:
* {{flagicon|FRA}} [[Angoulême]], France<ref name="Angoulême twinnings">{{cite web |url=http://www.cncd.fr/frontoffice/bdd-region.asp?action=getRegion&id=21#tabs3 |title=National Commission for Decentralised cooperation |work=Délégation pour l'Action Extérieure des Collectivités Territoriales (Ministère des Affaires étrangères) |language=fr |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130805063216/http://www.cncd.fr/frontoffice/bdd-region.asp?action=getRegion&id=21%23tabs3 |archive-date=2013-08-05 |access-date=2017-12-01 }}</ref>

==Notable people==
* [[Marilyn Bergeron]]
* [[Johnny Gagnon]]
* [[Christian Genest]], Professor of Statistics, McGill University
* [[John Kricfalusi]]
* [[Kevin Lambert]], writer
* [[René Simard]]
* [[Charles Sirois]]
* [[Larry Tremblay]]
* [[Thomas-Louis Tremblay]]
* [[Georges Vézina]]
* [[Arthur Villeneuve]]
* [[Élisabeth Vonarburg]], author
* [[Jeanick Fournier]], singer and winner of [[Canada's Got Talent (season 2)|''Canada's Got Talent'' (season 2)]]

==References==
{{Portal|Canada}}

{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikivoyage|Chicoutimi-Jonquière}}
* {{in lang|fr}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20110611105804/http://www.ville.saguenay.qc.ca/maville/Vie%2Bpolitique%2Bmunicipale/viePolitique/conseil_arr_chicoutimi.htm Borough Council of Chicoutimi]
* {{in lang|fr}} [https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.ville.chicoutimi.qc.ca/ Municipality of Chicoutimi] (Archive)

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Populated places established in 1676]]
[[Category:Populated places disestablished in 2002]]
[[Category:Boroughs of Saguenay, Quebec]]
[[Category:Former cities in Quebec]]
[[Category:Hudson's Bay Company trading posts]]
[[Category:1676 establishments in French colonial empire]]

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Chicoutimi