Saint-Jacques
Municipality
Cultural heritage sites: old post office and Louise-Pariseau house
Coat of arms
Nickname:  "The Acadian cradle of Lanaudière"
Location within Montcalm RCM
Saint-Jacques Location in central Quebec
Coordinates: 45°57′N 73°34′W / 45.950°N 73.567°W / 45.950; -73.567[1]
Country	Canada
Province	Quebec
Region	Lanaudière
RCM	Montcalm
Settled	Mid 18th-century
Constituted	May 20, 1998
Named after	Jacques Degeay
Government [2]
• Mayor	Josyanne Forest
• Federal riding	Montcalm
• Prov. riding	Rousseau
Area [2][3]
• Total	67.20 km2 (25.95 sq mi)
• Land	67.17 km2 (25.93 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[3]
• Total	4,302
• Density	64/km2 (170/sq mi)
• Pop (2016–21)	8.3%
• Dwellings	1,939
Time zone	UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Postal code(s)	J0K 2R0
Area code(s)	450 and 579
Highways[4]	R-158 R-341
Website	www.st-jacques.org

Saint-Jacques (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃ ʒak] ^ⓘ) is a 26 mi² (67.34 km²) rural municipality in the Lanaudière region of Quebec, Canada, part of the Montcalm Regional County Municipality with a population of 4,300 year-round residents.^[5][6] The municipality is notable for its natural beauty and horticulture. Officially founded in 1774 by thirty Acadian families who managed to escape by boat to Quebec after forced expulsion, Saint-Jacques is part of the region known as the "Acadian cradle of Lanaudière."^[7]

"The Great Upheaval" (Fr. "le Grand Dérangement") began in the fall of 1755 and lasted until 1778.^[8][9] "The first removals ... [of] approximately 7,000 people were from settlements around the Bay of Fundy" in present-day Nova Scotia.^[6] The majority were expelled by ship to the "continental colonies or France," but 225 fled south to Quebec.^[8] They would go on to found a handful of new Acadian villages, or “Little Cadies,” including Saint-Jacques, which is why the Saint-Jacques coat of arms uses the same colors as the Acadian flag.^[6][7][10]

Over the years, the territory has been known by various names:^[1]

• Saint-Jacques-de-la-Nouvelle-Acadie (ca. 1770)
• Saint-Jacques-de-l'Achigan (1832-1917)
• Saint-Jacques-de-Saint-Sulpice
• L'Achigan
• Nouvelle-Acadie
• Terres-Promises
• Saint-Jacques-de-Montcalm

The name Saint-Jacques was given in honour of Jacques Degeay (1717-1774), priest of L'Assomption from 1742 to 1774, who supported the Acadians in 1766.^[1]

Originally called Saint-Jacques-de-la-Nouvelle-Acadie to commemorate the Acadians' second pioneering effort and Father Jacques Degeay who helped them, the municipality provided the settlers key resources for living off the land.^[9][11][12] The site provided ready access to "hardwood ... with which [to] build homes, barns, poultry houses, hog barns, sheep pens.... ploughs, tables, chairs, or tool handles ... and "soft wood" — the white pine especially — [for] cabinets, hutches, bowls and shoes."^[9] Although the first houses, built in 1768, were wood, by the beginning of the 1800s, they were being built of stone, which was also plentiful.^[10][9] An oft-repeated adage explained such abundance this way: "Our fathers lost Acadia; In return, [we] found the richest lands of Lower Canada.... In [our] veins flow[s] the purest French blood."^[10]

In 1772, the parish of Saint-Jacques-de-l'Achigan was founded.^[1] That same year, the villagers hired a priest and, in 1775, they built their first church.^[12] Nine years later, they began cultivating tobacco, which became so essential it is pictured on one of the four quadrants of the municipality's coat of arms.^[9][13] Other agricultural crops followed: corn, grain, as well as dairy farms in the swine industry, vegetable farming, the farming of mink, and maple trees, eventually leading to the development of off-season industries and factories.^[9]

In 1835, its post office opened with the abbreviated name of Saint-Jacques. In 1845, the Parish Municipality of Saint-Jacques-de-Saint-Sulpice or L'Achigan was formed, but abolished in 1847 to become part of the County Municipality of L'Assomption. In 1855, the Parish Municipality of Saint-Jacques(-de-l'Achigan) was reestablished.^[1] By 1895, Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World Containing Notices of Over One Hundred and Twenty-five Thousand Places described Saint-Jacques this way:

SAINT JACQUES DE L’ACHIGAN, a post-village of Québec, co. of Montcalm, 13 miles N.N.W. of L'Assomption. It has a church, a convent, a brewery, &c. Pop. 800.^[14]

In 1912, the Village Municipality of Saint-Jacques-de-l'Achigan was created when it ceded from the parish municipality. Its name was shortened to Saint-Jacques in 1917, and 3 years later, the name of the parish municipality was also abbreviated.^[1]

In 1998, the village municipality and the parish municipality merged to form the new Municipality of Saint-Jacques.^[1]

Private dwellings occupied by usual residents (2021): 1,892 (total dwellings: 1,939)^[3]

Mother tongue language (2021):^[3]

• Saint-Jacques is a destination for outdoor activities such as snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and hiking.^[17]
• In addition to the Parc des Cultures, which uses arts, horticulture and ornament to memorialize the municipality's history, it also hosts the hiker-friendly Parc de la Coulée.^[17]
• The Maison de la Nouvelle-Acadie (Home of the New Acadia) is a small museum that traces the eight-part story of the Acadian arrival in Canada from 1604 to the foundation of Saint-Jacques in 1774.^[18]
• Several structures are listed on both the Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec and the Canadian Register of Historic Places:^[19][20]
  • l'ancien bureau de poste
  • l’église de Saint-Jacques
  • la maison Louise-Pariseau
  • le parc des cultures
  • le parc Grand-Pré
  • la maison de la Nouvelle-Acadie
  • le couvent des sœurs de Sainte-Anne
  • le centre culturel du Vieux-Collège

• Francis Cassidy (1827–1873), lawyer and Mayor of Montreal for three months, dying in office
• Bernard Landry (1937–2018), Premier of Quebéc from 2001–2003

• Official website