Rapides-des-Joachims
Municipality
Nickname(s): 
Swisha, The Swisha
Location within Pontiac RCM
Location within Pontiac RCM
Rapides-des-Joachims is located in Western Quebec
Rapides-des-Joachims
Rapides-des-Joachims
Location in western Quebec
Coordinates: 46°12′N 77°41′W / 46.200°N 77.683°W / 46.200; -77.683[1]
CountryCanada
ProvinceQuebec
RegionOutaouais
RCMPontiac
Settled17th century
ConstitutedJanuary 1, 1955
Government
[2]
 • MayorDoug Rousselle
 • Federal ridingPontiac
 • Prov. ridingPontiac
Area
[2][3]
 • Total257.36 km2 (99.37 sq mi)
 • Land238.90 km2 (92.24 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[3]
 • Total141
 • Density0.6/km2 (2/sq mi)
 • Pop (2016-21)
Decrease 9.6%
 • Dwellings
117
Time zoneUTC−5 (EST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
Postal code(s)
J0X 3M0
Area code613
HighwaysNo major routes
Websitewww.rapidesdesjoachims.ca

Rapides-des-Joachims is a municipality and village in western Quebec, Canada, part of Pontiac County in the Outaouais region. The village is situated on Rapides-des-Joachims Island (l'île de Rapides-des-Joachims) on the Ottawa River, about 100 km northwest of Fort-Coulonge. It is also known as Swisha.

Rapides-des-Joachims is isolated from the rest of Quebec's road network because the only paved road link to the village is through Rolphton, Ontario. It is the only community on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River between Sheenboro and Témiscaming.[4] Because it is also isolated from Quebec's telecommunications network, the community is part of Rolphton's telephone exchange area, and is consequently served by Ontario's area code 613 rather than Quebec's area code 819.

History

Rapides-des-Joachims before construction of the dam. The Ontario/Quebec border is represented as a dashed line on the Ottawa River.

The site had long been inhabited by the indigenous people before Europeans arrived. The explorers and voyageurs of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries would travel on the Ottawa River to the west and at the foot of the rapids, they would have established a resting place and may have given it the name of an explorer.[5]

It was a busy place during the seventeenth century, when a mission post was set up along the river where a Hudson's Bay Company trading post had been established at the foot of the "Long Rapids", as they were called at the time.[5]

But the place was called Rapides des Joachims de l'Estang in a memorandum of 1686 by Jacques-René de Brisay, Governor of New France, to Marquis de Seignelay, and named Portage de Joachim de l'Estan on a map of Franquelin of 1688. Another document from 1699 shows Joachim de l'Estang.[5] The Joachims are sons of Michel Mathieu Brunet dit Lestang, colonist who arrived in New France on 20 August 1657.

However, both in Quebec and in Ontario, the name Swisha, Sweshaw, or Shesha Rapids has also long been used for this location as a map of 1790 indicates. Swisha is an obvious distortion of the French pronunciation of "Joachim".[5]

In 1863, Stanislas Drapeau described Rapides des Joachims and Rapides des Deux Joachims as "the most important place for navigation on the Ottawa River and flourished thanks to the logging industry."[5]

By 1871 it had become a small village complete with a telegraph office of the Montreal Telegraph Company. The river steamers had to stop here because it was the head of navigation on the Ottawa River. In 1886 the Oblate Fathers built a frame church in the village, which was used until 1922, when a new church was built.[6]

In 1948, the construction of a dam and hydro-electric station began and the rapids which gave the town its name disappeared.

The municipality was incorporated in 1955 when it was formed out of the Sheen-Esher-Aberdeen-Malakoff United Townships. It adopted its present name of Rapides-des-Joachims, which had already been assigned to the post office created about 100 years earlier in 1853.[5] Its first mayor was J.H. Madore. Subsequently in 1960, the territory of the former Aberdeen Township was added to the municipality.[6]

Geography

The municipality covers a vast sparsely populated area characterized by boreal forest, lakes, and streams. Prior to the construction of a hydro-electric dam in 1950, the village's site was not an island. The rising water flooded the old river bed from the north through Lake McConnell.[7] The dam can be bypassed on one of the Ottawa Navigable Waterway bypasses, connecting the Pembroke stretch of the Ottawa River to the upstream section to Mattawa.[6]

Climate

Rapides-des-Joachims has a humid continental climate with four distinct seasons. Summers are warm to hot, with significant rainfall. Winters are cold for its low latitude, with significant snowfall.

Climate data for Rapides-des-Joachims
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 8.0
(46.4)		 15.0
(59.0)		 21.0
(69.8)		 31.0
(87.8)		 38.9
(102.0)		 36.0
(96.8)		 39.0
(102.2)		 37.5
(99.5)		 34.5
(94.1)		 28.0
(82.4)		 18.3
(64.9)		 13.5
(56.3)		 39.0
(102.2)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) −6.7
(19.9)		 −3.4
(25.9)		 3.0
(37.4)		 11.1
(52.0)		 19.2
(66.6)		 24.0
(75.2)		 26.3
(79.3)		 24.9
(76.8)		 19.6
(67.3)		 12.0
(53.6)		 4.0
(39.2)		 −3
(27)		 10.9
(51.6)
Daily mean °C (°F) −12.1
(10.2)		 −9.7
(14.5)		 −3.3
(26.1)		 4.9
(40.8)		 12.3
(54.1)		 17.3
(63.1)		 19.8
(67.6)		 18.7
(65.7)		 14.0
(57.2)		 7.3
(45.1)		 −0.1
(31.8)		 −7.5
(18.5)		 5.1
(41.2)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) −17.6
(0.3)		 −16.0
(3.2)		 −9.6
(14.7)		 −1.3
(29.7)		 5.4
(41.7)		 10.5
(50.9)		 13.3
(55.9)		 12.4
(54.3)		 8.4
(47.1)		 2.4
(36.3)		 −3.7
(25.3)		 −12
(10)		 −0.6
(30.9)
Record low °C (°F) −40.0
(−40.0)		 −37
(−35)		 −37
(−35)		 −19.0
(−2.2)		 −8
(18)		 −2
(28)		 3.5
(38.3)		 0.0
(32.0)		 −3.0
(26.6)		 −11.1
(12.0)		 −27.2
(−17.0)		 −35.5
(−31.9)		 −40
(−40)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 60.9
(2.40)		 52.5
(2.07)		 56.7
(2.23)		 60.8
(2.39)		 83.7
(3.30)		 89.0
(3.50)		 83.7
(3.30)		 89.9
(3.54)		 86.6
(3.41)		 87.0
(3.43)		 77.4
(3.05)		 66.6
(2.62)		 894.7
(35.22)
Source: Environment Canada[8]

Demographics

Population

Canada census – Rapides-des-Joachims community profile
202120162011
Population141 (-9.6% from 2016)156 (-6.6% from 2011)167 (% from 2006)
Land area238.90 km2 (92.24 sq mi)242.81 km2 (93.75 sq mi)242.86 km2 (93.77 sq mi)
Population density0.6/km2 (1.6/sq mi)0.6/km2 (1.6/sq mi)0.5/km2 (1.3/sq mi)
Median age56.0 (M: 58.0, F: 54.8)51.7 (M: 52.8, F: 50.2)47.8 (M: 49.5, F: 45.8)
Private dwellings117 (total)  124 (total)  96 (total) 
Median household income$.N/A$44,928$.N/A
Notes: Income data for this area has been suppressed for data quality or confidentiality reasons. 2011 population amended.[9]
References: 2021[10] 2016[11] 2011[12] earlier[13][14]
Historical Census Data - Rapides-des-Joachims, Quebec
YearPop.±%
1976 205—    
1981 192−6.3%
1986 176−8.3%
1991 183+4.0%
1996 185+1.1%
YearPop.±%
2001 197+6.5%
2006 172−12.7%
2011 167−2.9%
2016 156−6.6%
2021 141−9.6%
Source: Statistics Canada[15]

Language

Canada Census Mother Tongue - Rapides-des-Joachims, Quebec[15]
Census Total
French
English
French & English
Other
Year Responses Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop %
2016
160
 55 Steady 0.0% 34.4% 105 Increase 23.8% 65.6% 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% 0 Decrease 100% 0.0%
2011
135
 55 Decrease 21.4% 40.7% 80 Decrease 20.0% 59.3% 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% 5 Increase n/a% 0.0%
2006
170
 70 Increase 14.3% 41.2% 100 Decrease 25.9% 58.8% 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0%
2001
195
 60 Steady 0.0% 30.8% 135 Increase 3.7% 69.2% 0 Decrease 100.0% 0.0% 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0%
1996
200
 60 n/a 30.0% 130 n/a 65.0% 10 n/a 5.0% 0 n/a 0.0%

Economy

Rue Principale (Main street)

Since Rapides-des-Joachims provides access to vast tracts of wilderness, including ZEC Dumoine, it depends largely on the hunting and fishing business. It is the long-time base of a charter float plane company (Air Swisha, formerly Bradley Air Service/First Air), operating a de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver.

The economy depends also on logging and the Commonwealth Plywood Mill.

Local government

List of former mayors:

  • Jean-Paul Dupuy (1987-1989 & 1993-1997)
  • Gérald Dagg (... –2005)
  • Dale Lévesque (2005–2009)
  • James Gibson (2009–2021)
  • Doug Rousselle (2021–present)

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Banque de noms de lieux du Québec: Reference number 52352". toponymie.gouv.qc.ca (in French). Commission de toponymie du Québec.
  2. 1 2 "Répertoire des municipalités: Rapides-des-Joachims". www.mamh.gouv.qc.ca (in French). Ministère des Affaires municipales et de l'Habitation. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  3. 1 2 "Rapides-des-Joachims, Municipalité (MÉ) Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Government of Canada - Statistics Canada. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  4. ↑ Transports Quebec, carte routière officielle du Québec
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Commission de topomymie du Québec" (in French). Retrieved 2007-11-15.
  6. 1 2 3 "Pontiac MRC Gateway - Rapides-des-Joachims". Archived from the original on 2008-01-17. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
  7. ↑ Kennedy, Clyde C. The Upper Ottawa Valley, Renfrew County Council, Pembroke, 1970.
  8. ↑ "Rapide Des Joachims Climate Normals". Environment Canada. Government of Canada. 25 September 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  9. ↑ "Corrections and updates: Population and dwelling count amendments, 2011 Census". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Statistics Canada. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  10. ↑ "2021 Community Profiles". 2021 Canadian Census. Statistics Canada. February 4, 2022. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
  11. ↑ "2016 Community Profiles". 2016 Canadian Census. Statistics Canada. August 12, 2021. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
  12. ↑ "2011 Community Profiles". 2011 Canadian Census. Statistics Canada. March 21, 2019. Retrieved 2014-01-30.
  13. ↑ "2006 Community Profiles". 2006 Canadian Census. Statistics Canada. August 20, 2019.
  14. ↑ "2001 Community Profiles". 2001 Canadian Census. Statistics Canada. July 18, 2021.
  15. 1 2 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 census
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