Gatineau

Gatineau
City
Ville de Gatineau
Gatineau downtown area
Coat of arms Logo
Motto(s): Fortunae meae, multorum faber[1] ("Maker of my fate and that of many others")
Location of Gatineau (red) with adjacent municipalities
Gatineau Location of Gatineau in Quebec
Coordinates: 45°29′N 75°39′W / 45.483°N 75.650°W / 45.483; -75.650Coordinates: 45°29′N 75°39′W / 45.483°N 75.650°W / 45.483; -75.650[2]
Country	Canada
Province	Quebec
Region	Outaouais
RCM	None
Constituted	1 January 2002
Government[3]
• Type	Gatineau City Council
• Mayor	Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin
• Federal riding	Gatineau / Hull—Aylmer / Pontiac / Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation
• Prov. riding	Chapleau / Gatineau / Hull / Papineau / Pontiac
Area[3][4]
• City	381.30 km2 (147.22 sq mi)
• Land	342.98 km2 (132.43 sq mi)
• Metro[5]	2,999.90 km2 (1,158.27 sq mi)
Population (2016)[6]
• City	276,245
• Density	773.7/km2 (2,004/sq mi)
• Metro	332,057
• Metro density	104.8/km2 (271/sq mi)
• Pop 2011–2016	4.1%
• Dwellings	125,608
Time zone	UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Postal code(s)	J8L, J8M, J8P, J8R, J8T, J8V, J8X to J8Z, J9A, J9H to J9J, various K1A (Government Offices)
Area code(s)	819, 873
Highways A-5 A-50	Route 105 Route 148 Route 307 Route 315 Route 366
Bridges	Alexandra Portage Chaudière Prince of Wales Champlain Macdonald-Cartier
Website	gatineau.ca

Gatineau (/ˈɡætɪnoʊ/; French: [ɡatino]), officially Ville de Gatineau, is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is the fourth-largest city in the province after Montreal, Quebec City, and Laval. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, together with which it forms Canada's National Capital Region. As of 2016, Gatineau had a population of 276,245,^[6] and a metropolitan population of 332,057.^[7] The Ottawa–Gatineau census metropolitan area had a population of 1,323,783.^[8]

Gatineau is coextensive with a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) and census division (CD) of the same name, whose geographical code is 81. It is the seat of the judicial district of Hull.^[9]

History[edit]

The current city of Gatineau is centred on an area formerly called Hull, the oldest European colonial settlement in the National Capital Region. This area was mostly not developed until after the American Revolutionary War, when the Crown made land grants to Loyalists for resettlement in Upper Canada.

Hull was founded on the north shore of the Ottawa River in 1800 by Philemon Wright at the portage around the Chaudière Falls just upstream (or west) from where the Gatineau and Rideau rivers flow into the Ottawa. Wright brought his family, five other families, and twenty-five labourers^[10] to establish an agricultural community. They considered the area a mosquito-infested wilderness. But soon after, Wright and his family took advantage of the large lumber stands and became involved in the timber trade. The original settlement was called Wrightstown, and was later renamed as Hull. In 2002, after amalgamation, it was part of a larger jurisdiction named the City of Gatineau.

In 1820, before immigrants from Ireland and other parts of Great Britain arrived in great numbers, Hull Township had a population of 707, including 365 men, 113 women, and 229 children. The high number of men were related to workers in the lumber trade. In 1824, there were 106 families and 803 persons. During the rest of the 1820s, the population of Hull doubled, owing to the arrival of Ulster Protestants. By 1851, the population of the County of Ottawa was 11,104, of which 2,811 lived in Hull Township. By comparison, Bytown had a population of 7,760 in 1851. By 1861, Ottawa County had a population of 15,671, of which 3,711 lived in Hull Township.

Gradually French Canadians also migrated to the Township; their proportion of the population increased from 10% in 1850, to 50% in 1870, and 90% in 1920.^[11]

The Gatineau River, like the Ottawa River, was a basic transportation resource for the draveurs, workers who transport logs via the rivers from lumber camps until they arrived downriver. (The Gatineau River flows south into the Ottawa River, which flows east to the St. Lawrence River near Montreal.) The log-filled Ottawa River, as viewed from Hull, was featured on the back of the Canadian one-dollar bill; the paper money was replaced by a dollar coin (the "loonie") in 1987. The last of the dwindling activity of the draveurs on these rivers ended a few years later.

Ottawa was founded after Hull, as the terminus of the Rideau Canal. This was built under the command of Col. John By as part of fortifications and defences constructed after the War of 1812 against the United States. Originally named Bytown, Ottawa was not designated as the Canadian capital until the mid-19th century, after the original parliament in Montreal was torched by a rioting mob of Anglo-Canadians on 25 April 1849. Its greater distance from the Canada–US border also made the new parliament less vulnerable to foreign attack.

Nothing remains of the original 1800 settlement of Hull. The downtown Vieux-Hull sector was destroyed by a terrible fire in 1900; it also burnt down the original pont des Chaudières (Chaudière Bridge). The bridge was rebuilt to join Ottawa to Hull at Victoria Island.

In the 1940s, during World War II, Hull, along with various other regions within Canada, such as the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, and Île Sainte-Hélène, was the site of prisoner-of-war camps.^[12] Hull's prison was identified only by a number, as were Canada's other war prisons.^[12][13] The prisoners of war (POWs) were organized by nationality and status: civilian or military status.^[12] In the Hull camp, POWs were mostly Italian and German nationals detained by the government as potential threats to the nation during the war. As a result of the Conscription Crisis of 1944, Canadians who had refused conscription were interned in the camp.^[12] The prisoners were required to perform hard labour, which included farming and lumbering the land.^[12]

During the 1970s and early 1980s, the decaying old downtown core of Hull was redeveloped. Old buildings were demolished and replaced by a series of large office complexes. In addition some 4,000 residents were displaced, and many businesses uprooted along what was once the town's main commercial area.^[14]

On 11 November 1992, Ghislaine Chénier, Mayoress by interim for the city of Hull, unveiled War Never Again, a marble stele monument that commemorates the cost of war for the men, women and children of the city of Hull.^[15]

Amalgamation[edit]

As part of the 2000–06 municipal reorganization in Quebec, the five municipalities that constituted the Communauté urbaine de l'Outaouais were merged on 1 January 2002 to constitute the new city of Gatineau. They were:

• Aylmer
• Buckingham
• Hull
• Gatineau
• Masson-Angers

Although Hull was the oldest and most central of the merged cities, the name Gatineau was chosen for the new city. The main reasons given were that Gatineau had more residents, and this name was strongly associated with the area: it was the name of the former county, the valley, the hills, the park and the main river within the new city limits. Some argued that the French name of Gatineau was more appealing to the majority French-speaking residents.

Since the former city of Hull represents a large area distinct from what was formerly known as Gatineau, some people refer to "Vieux Hull".^{[citation needed]} The name "Hull" was often informally used to refer to the entire urban area on the northern shore of the river facing Ottawa. In other areas of Quebec, the National Capital Region was often referred to as "Ottawa-Hull".^{[citation needed]}

After the 2003 election, the new Liberal government of Jean Charest passed Bill 9, which created a process by which former municipalities could be reconstituted. Contrary to Charest's election promise of full de-amalgamation, Bill 9 restored only selected powers to the de-merged cities (e.g., animal control, garbage pickup, local street maintenance, some cultural facilities). The bigger expenses (e.g., police, fire, main streets, expansion programs) and the majority of the taxes remained in the hands of urban agglomerations. These are controlled by the central merged city because their larger populations give them greater voting weight. 10% of the eligible voters in each former municipality would have to sign a "register" in order to hold a referendum on de-amalgamation.

Residents of Aylmer, Buckingham, Hull and Masson-Angers all surpassed this threshold in seeking a referendum on de-merge. A simple majority of "yes" votes, based on a turnout of at least 35%, is needed to de-merge. All of the above jurisdictions had the required turnout, and all rejected the de-merger.^[16]

Former Municipality	# of Yes votes	Yes vote (%)	Total votes	Turnout (%)
Aylmer	7,412	26.48	12,844	45.89
Buckingham	1,779	20.27	4,302	49.02
Hull	7,820	15.71	19,885	39.94
Masson-Angers	2,563	34.8	3,900	52.88

Economy[edit]

A number of federal and provincial government offices are located in Gatineau, due to its proximity to the national capital, and its status as the main town of the Outaouais region of Quebec.

A policy of the federal government to distribute federal jobs on both sides of the Ottawa River led to the construction of several massive office towers to house federal civil servants in downtown Gatineau; the largest of these are Place du Portage and Terrasses de la Chaudière, occupying part of the downtown core of the city. Some government agencies and ministries headquartered in Gatineau are the Public Works and Government Services Canada, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, Environment Canada, Transportation Safety Board of Canada.^[17]

The following federal government departments have their main offices in Gatineau:

• Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada
• Canadian Heritage
• Employment and Social Development Canada
• Environment Canada (includes offices of Parks Canada)

• Public Works and Government Services Canada

The following agencies have their main offices in Gatineau.

• Transportation Safety Board of Canada (under Transport Canada)
• Passport Canada (under Citizenship and Immigration Canada)
• Competition Bureau, the Canadian Patent Office and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (under Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada)

In addition to housing a significant portion of federal government offices, the city is also an important regional centre for the Outaouais region. The city serves as the location for the Superior Court of the District of Gatineau, which encompasses all neighbouring municipalities. It also houses 2 of the region's major hospitals as well as numerous provincial colleges.

Gatineau boasts a relatively undiversified economy relative to its neighbouring city, Ottawa, just on the other side of the river. A majority of jobs are accounted for between the federal government, construction and service industries. There is however a large effort to modernize the economy in the region thanks to recent initiatives in the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem. The Innovation Gatineau Institute is a regional innovation centre that boasts co-working space as well as startup incubation and acceleration programs to spur innovative business creation. Michael-Anthony Clement is currently the CEO of the Innovation Gatineau Institute.

Recreation[edit]

Two important tourist attractions located in Gatineau are the Canadian Museum of History and the Casino du Lac-Leamy. In August, the Casino hosts an international fireworks competition which opposes four different countries with the winner being awarded a Prix Zeus prize for the best overall show (based on several criteria)^[18] and can return in the following year. At the beginning of September, on Labour Day weekend, Gatineau hosts an annual hot air balloon festival which fills the skies with colourful gas-fired passenger balloons.

There are many parks. Some of them are well gardened playgrounds or resting spaces while others, like Lac Beauchamp Park, are relatively wild green areas which often merge with the woods and fields of the surrounding municipalities. Streams of all sizes run through these natural expanses. Most of the city is on level ground but the Northern and Eastern parts lie on the beginnings of the foothills of the massive Canadian Shield, or Laurentian Mountains. These are the "Gatineau Hills", and are visible in the background of the companion picture. One of Gatineau's urban parks, Jacques Cartier Park, is used by the National Capital Commission during the popular festival, Winterlude.

Nightlife within the city of Gatineau is mostly centered in the "Vieux-Hull" sector behind the Federal office complexes of downtown. The area features many bars and restaurants within a stone's throw from Ottawa. It is a popular spot for young Ontarians as the legal drinking age in Quebec is 18 (as opposed to Ontario's 19).

Education[edit]

The city contains a campus of the Université du Québec, the Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO).

It is also the home of two provincial junior colleges (or CEGEPs): the francophone Cégep de l'Outaouais and the anglophone Heritage College. There is also the private junior college Nouvelles-Frontières located on the administration site of UQO.

The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) has a campus in Gatineau.

The main French-language school boards in Gatineau are the Commission scolaire des Portages-de-l'Outaouais, the Commission scolaire au Coeur-des-Vallées and the Commission scolaire des Draveurs. There are also three private high schools : the all-girl Collège Saint-Joseph, and the Collège Saint-Alexandre and École secondaire Nouvelles-Frontières (high school).

Primary and secondary education in English is under the supervision of the Western Quebec School Board.

Transportation[edit]

The Gatineau-Ottawa Executive Airport is Gatineau's municipal airport, capable of handling small jets. There are Canada customs facilities for aircraft coming from outside Canada, a car rental counter and a restaurant. The airport has a few regularly scheduled flights to points within Quebec, but most residents of Gatineau use the nearby Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport or travel to Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in Montreal.

Ottawa and Gatineau have two distinct bus-based public transit systems with different fare structures, OC Transpo and the Société de transport de l'Outaouais. Tickets are not interchangeable between the two, however passes and transfers from one system to the other do not require payment of a surcharge on any routes.

Many Gatineau highways and major arteries feed directly into the bridges crossing over to Ottawa, but once there the roads lead into the dense downtown grid or into residential areas, with no direct connection to The Queensway. This difficulty is further magnified by the lack of a major highway on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River connecting Gatineau to Montreal, the metropolis of the province; most travellers from Gatineau to Montreal first cross over to Ottawa, and use Ontario highways to access Montreal. However, it is expected that since Autoroute 50 has been completed,^[19] the new link between Gatineau and the Laurentides popular tourist area may serve as part of a Montreal by-pass by the north shore for Outaouais residents.

Key roads[edit]

Gatineau City Council[edit]

The Gatineau Municipal Council (French: Le conseil municipal de Gatineau) is the city's main governing body. It is composed of 17 city councillors and a mayor.

Judicial role[edit]

The city serves as the seat of the judicial district of Gatineau, which encompasses the entirety of the city of Gatineau as well as several outerlying municipalities such as Chelsea, Cantley and Pontiac. The superior court serving the Outaouais region is located in Gatineau across from City Hall on the corner of Laurier and Hôtel-de-Ville. Most of the law firms that represent local businesses throughout the region are also based in Gatineau.

Police service[edit]

The 250-man Service de police de la Ville de Gatineau provides day-to-day policing for the city, with other agencies such as the SQ and the RCMP assisting as necessary. They are also responsible for patrolling sections of the highways located within the city limits. The Service de police is equipped with a CID unit, marine unit, drugs unit, gang suppression unit, and a tactical unit (Groupe d'endiguement et d'arrestation à risque, or GEAR). Patrol officers are armed with Smith & Wesson M&P .40 calibre pistols. The Service de police uses the same vehicles as similar police forces throughout North America.

Media[edit]

Gatineau is the city of licence for several television and radio stations serving the National Capital Region, which is a single media market. Many of the Ottawa-Gatineau region's TV and FM broadcast stations transmit from Camp Fortune just north of Gatineau. All of the stations licensed directly to Gatineau broadcast in French.

Weekly newspapers published in Gatineau include Le Bulletin d'Aylmer (bilingual) and The West Quebec Post. Gatineau does not have its own daily newspaper, but is served by daily newspapers published in Ottawa, including the French Le Droit and the English Ottawa Citizen and Ottawa Sun.

Sports[edit]

• Gatineau Olympiques of the QMJHL (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League)
• Gatineau Jr. Olympiques (also known as Gatineau Junior Express) are a Canadian Junior ice hockey team based in Gatineau, Quebec. They play in the National Capital Junior Hockey League (NCJHL) since 2006.
• FC Gatineau, a semi-professional soccer team in the Première Ligue de soccer du Québec (PLSQ).
• Gatineau Vikings, Canadian football team
• Hull-Volant de Gatineau, a junior elite baseball team of the Ligue de Baseball Junior Élite du Québec.
• L'Intrépides de Gatineau, are a Midget AAA hockey team.
• La Machine de l'Outaouais: a Kin-Ball team of the ligue Senior élite de Kin-Ball du Québec.

Population and demographics[edit]

Division of population by sector in the city of Gatineau. Gatineau   45.4% Hull   29.2% Aylmer   15.9% Buckingham   5.1% Masson-Angers   4.3%

According to the 2011 census the city of Gatineau had a population of 265,349. This was an increase of 9.6% compared to 2006. Most of the population live in the urban cores of Aylmer, Hull and the former Gatineau. Buckingham and Masson-Angers are more rural communities. Gatineau is the fourth largest city in Quebec after Montreal, Quebec City and Laval.

The Quebec part of Ottawa-Gatineau Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) – which includes various peripheral municipalities in addition to Gatineau – had a total population of 314,501.

The following statistics refer to the Quebec portion of the Ottawa – Gatineau CMA (as it was defined in the 2006 census):

Aboriginal status: First Nations comprise 2.7% of the population.^[20]

Languages: Counting both single and multiple responses, French was a mother tongue for 80.0% of residents in 2006, English for 13.9%, Arabic for 1.7%, Portuguese for 1.1% and Spanish for 1.0%.^[21] (Figures below are for single responses only.)^[22]

Census	Gatineau Pop.	Hull Pop.
1871	x	3,800
1881	x	6,890
1891	x	11,264
1901	x	13,993
1911	x	18,222
1921	x	24,117
1931	x	29,433
1941	2,822	32,604
1951	5,771	43,483
1961	13,022	56,929
1971	22,321	63,580
1981	74,988	56,225
1991	92,284	60,707
2001	102,898	66,246
2006	242,124	x
2011	265,349	x
2016	276,245	x

Mother tongue	Population	Percentage
French	220,970	78.5%
English	35,580	12.6%
Arabic	4,450	1.6%
Portuguese	2,845	1.1%
Spanish	2,820	1.0%
Chinese	1,205	0.4%
Serbo-Croatian	635	0.2%
Romanian	620	0.2%
German	590	0.2%
Berber	475	0.2%
Polish	465	0.2%
Italian	445	0.2%
Haitian Creole	380	0.1%
Russian	370	0.1%
Kirundi	350	0.1%
Persian	345	0.1%
Lao	290	0.1%
Bosnian	250	0.1%
Dutch	235	0.1%
Serbian	230	0.1%
Kinyarwanda	225	0.1%
Hungarian	220	0.1%

Religion: About 83% of the population identified as Roman Catholic in 2001 while 7% said they had no religion and 5% identified as Protestant (1.3% Anglican, 1.3% United, 0.7% Baptist, 0.3% Lutheran, 0.2% Pentecostal, 0.2% Presbyterian). About 1% of the population identified as Muslim, 0.5% as Jehovah's Witnesses, 0.3% as Buddhist, and 0.2% as Eastern Orthodox.^[23]

Visible minorities: The 2001 census found that 4.3% of the population self-identified as having a visible minority status, including, among others, about 1.3% who self-identified as Black, about 1.0% self-identifying as Arab, 0.5% as Latin American, 0.4% as Chinese, 0.3% as Southeast Asian, 0.2% as South Asian, and about 0.1% as Filipino. (Statistics Canada terminology is used throughout.)^[24]

Canada 2006 Census		Population	% of Total Population
Ethnicity group Source:[25]	White	217,290	7001905000000000000♠90.5%
	Black	5,715	7000240000000000000♠2.4%
	Arab	3,835	7000160000000000000♠1.6%
	First Nations	3,240	7000140000000099999♠1.4%
	Métis	2,590	7000110000000000000♠1.1%
	Latin American	2,415	7000100000000000000♠1%
	Chinese	1,515	6999600000000000000♠0.6%
	Southeast Asian	1,235	6999500000000000000♠0.5%
	South Asian	455	6999200000000000000♠0.2%
	West Asian	375	6999200000000000000♠0.2%
	Mixed visible minority	315	6999100000000000000♠0.1%
	Filipino	195	6999100000000000000♠0.1%
	Korean	160	6999100000000000000♠0.1%
	Japanese	110	5000000000000000000♠0%
	Other visible minority	85	5000000000000000000♠0%
	Inuit	55	5000000000000000000♠0%
Total population		239,980	100%

(Percentages may total more than 100% due to rounding and multiple responses).

Immigration: The area is home to more than five thousand recent immigrants (i.e. those arriving between 2001 and 2006), who now comprise about two percent of the total population. 11% of these new immigrants have come from Colombia, 10% from China, 7% from France, 6% from Lebanon, 6% from Romania, 4% from Algeria, 3% from the United States and 3% from Congo.^[26]

Internal migration: Between 2001 and 2006 there was a net influx of 5,205 people (equivalent to 2% of the total 2001 population) who moved to Gatineau from outside of the Ottawa – Gatineau area. There was also a net outmigration of 630 anglophones (equivalent to 2% of the 2001 anglophone population). Overall there was a net influx of 1,100 people from Quebec City, 1,060 from Montreal, 545 from Saguenay, 315 from Toronto, 240 from Trois-Rivières, 225 from Kingston, and 180 from Sudbury.^[27]

Ethnocultural ancestries: Canadians were able to self-identify one or more ethnocultural ancestries in the 2001 census. (Percentages may therefore add up to more than 100%.) The most common response was Canadian / Canadien and since the term 'Canadian' is as much an expression of citizenship as of ethnicity these figures should not be considered an exact record of the relative prevalence of different ethnocultural ancestries. 43.1% of respondents gave a single response of Canadian / Canadien while a further 26.5% identified both Canadian / Canadien and one or more other ethnocultural ancestries. 10.4% of respondents gave a single response of French, 1.1% gave a single response of Portuguese, 1.0% gave a single response of Irish, 0.9% gave a single response of Lebanese, 0.8% gave a single response of English, 0.7% gave a single responses of Québécois and 0.7% gave a single response of North American Indian. According to Statistics Canada, counting both single and multiple responses, the most commonly identified ethnocultural ancestries were: 70.7% North American, 37.8% French, 14.3% British Isles, 4.5% Aboriginal, 4.0% Southern European, 3.8% Western European, 1.9% Arab, 1.7% Eastern European, 1.0% East and Southeast Asian, 0.8% African, 0.7% Latin, Central and South American, 0.7% Caribbean and 0.5% Northern European.

Communities[edit]

The larger communities within Gatineau are:

Notable people[edit]

• Phillippe Aumont
• Eva Avila
• Daniel Brière
• Daniel Lanois
• Andrew Leamy (1816–1868), a pioneer industrialist and community leader in Lower Canada.
• Champlain Marcil (1920–2010), photojournalist.
• Stéphane Richer
• Denis Savard
• Maxim Tissot
• Philemon Wright (1760–1839), founder of Hull.

See also[edit]

• List of regional county municipalities and equivalent territories in Quebec
• Chemin de fer de l'Outaouais
• Hull–Chelsea–Wakefield Railway
• List of cities in Quebec
• List of crossings of the Ottawa River
• List of mayors of Gatineau
• Municipal reorganization in Quebec
• Twin cities

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gatineau.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Gatineau.

• City of Gatineau website
• Official website of the City of Gatineau Youth Commission