Rivière-du-Loup explained

Rivière-du-Loup
Settlement Type:City
Pushpin Map:Canada Eastern Quebec
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in eastern Quebec
Coordinates:47.8333°N -101°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Type1:Province
Subdivision Type2:Region
Subdivision Name2:Bas-Saint-Laurent
Subdivision Type3:RCM
Subdivision Name3:Rivière-du-Loup
Established Title:Settled
Established Date:1850 as Fraserville
Established Title1:Constituted
Established Date1:December 30, 1998
Leader Title:Mayor
Leader Name:Mario Bastille
Leader Title1:Federal riding
Leader Name1:Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup
Leader Title2:Prov. riding
Leader Name2:Rivière-du-Loup–Témiscouata
Area Total Km2:138.40
Area Land Km2:83.74
Area Urban Km2:20.17
Area Metro Km2:543.02
Population Total:20118
Population As Of:2021
Population Density Km2:240.2
Population Urban:19081
Population Density Urban Km2:945.8
Population Metro:30025
Population Density Metro Km2:55.3
Population Blank1 Title:Pop 2016-2021
Population Blank1: 3.1%
Population Blank2 Title:Dwellings
Population Blank2:10045
Timezone:EST
Utc Offset:−5
Timezone Dst:EDT
Utc Offset Dst:−4
Postal Code Type:Postal code(s)
Postal Code:G5R
Area Code:418 and 581
Blank Name:Highways

Blank Info:


Rivière-du-Loup (in French pronounced as /ʁivjɛʁ dy lu/; 2021 population 20,118) is a small city on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec. The city is the seat for the Rivière-du-Loup Regional County Municipality and the judicial district of Kamouraska.[1] Its one of the largest cities in Bas-Saint-Laurent.

History

The city was named after the nearby river, whose name means Wolf's River in French. This name may have come from a native tribe known as "Les Loups" ("The Wolves") or from the many seals, known in French as loup-marin (sea wolves), once found at the river's mouth.

Rivière-du-Loup was established in 1673 as the seigneurie of Sieur Charles-Aubert de la Chesnaye. The community was incorporated as the village of Fraserville, in honour of early Scottish settler Alexander Fraser, in 1850, and became a city in 1910. The city reverted to its original name, Rivière-du-Loup, in 1919.

Between 1850 and 1919, the city saw large increases in its anglophone population. Most of them left the region by the 1950s. Only 1% of the population still speaks English as its first language.

In fall of 1950 Rivière-du-Loup was the site of a nuclear accident. A United States Air Force B-50 was returning a nuclear bomb to the United States. The bomb was released due to engine troubles, and then was destroyed in a non-nuclear detonation before it hit the ground. The explosion scattered nearly 100 pounds (45 kg) of uranium (U-238).

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Rivière-du-Loup had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of 83.74km2, it had a population density of in 2021.[2]

Arts and culture

Notable events in the city include the annual Festival Vues dans la tête de... film festival.[3]

Infrastructure

Rivière-du-Loup is a traditional stopping point between Quebec City, the Maritimes and the Gaspé Peninsula. The Trans-Canada Highway turns south here, transferring from Autoroute 20 to Autoroute 85 and continuing southwards to Edmundston, New Brunswick.

There is a ferry that crosses the river (fleuve St Laurent) to Saint-Siméon on the north shore.

The city is also served by the Rivière-du-Loup Airport (IATA airport code YRI). The town can also be reached by Via Rail on the train named The Ocean, between Montreal and Halifax.

Media

Television

Rivière-du-Loup is an unusual television market, as each of its stations has two transmitters in the city. The city's hilly terrain causes residents of the lower, western portions of the city to experience frequent signal dropout. That makes it all but impossible for a television station to serve the entire area with a single transmitter. Accordingly, each station in the city has both a primary transmitter and a "nested" low-power rebroadcaster to serve viewers in the western part of the city who cannot receive the primary signal.

Until August 2021, the city was served by Canada's only triple-stick operation, in which all three of its licensed stations are owned by the same company, Télé Inter-Rives. This would be pared down to a twin-stick following the closedown of CKRT-DT in August 2021.

OTA virtual channel (PSIP)OTA actual channelVidéotron CableCall signNetworkNotes
9.19 (VHF)4CIMT-DTTVAMaintains low-power rebroadcaster on UHF channel 41
29.129 (UHF)5CFTF-DTNoovoMaintains low-power rebroadcaster on VHF channel 11

Defunct station:

Rivière-du-Loup is a mandatory market for digital television conversion; Télé Inter-Rives converted all of its transmitters to digital prior to the deadline of August 30, 2011.

Unlike most larger cities in Quebec, Rivière-du-Loup has no local Télé-Québec outlet, though Rimouski's CIVB-DT is available on the Vidéotron system in Rivière-du-Loup. Following the closedown of CKRT-DT, Radio-Canada would be seen on Vidéotron from CJBR-DT Rimouski.

Radio

Notable people

Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada's first prime minister, had a summer home in Rivière-du-Loup.

People born there include:

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www2.publicationsduquebec.gouv.qc.ca/dynamicSearch/telecharge.php?type=2&file=/D_11/D11_A.HTM Territorial Division Act
  2. Web site: Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories, and census subdivisions (municipalities), Quebec . . February 9, 2022 . August 29, 2022.
  3. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/596002/festival-film-riviereduloup "Un festival du film à Rivière-du-Loup"
  4. Web site: APRIL, Danielle (1949) . Dictionnaire historique de la sculpture québécoise au XXe siècle . 14 December 2018.