Sorel-Tracy
Sorel-Tracy is a city in southwestern Quebec and the geographical end point of the Champlain Valley at the confluence of the Richelieu River and the St. Lawrence River, on the western edge of Lac Saint-Pierre downstream and east of nearby Montreal; the population as of the Canada 2011 Census was 34,600. Its mayor is Serge Péloquin and it is the seat of the Pierre-De Saurel Regional County Municipality and the judicial district of Richelieu; the city is the result of a voluntary amalgamation in 2001 between two cities and Tracy. The Richelieu River separates the two communities. Sorel itself had annexed in 1992 the municipality of Saint-Pierre-de-Sorel which corresponds today to the southern part of its territory. Sorel was founded in 1642. Tracy was founded on February 10, 1954. Prior to 1954, Tracy was known as the parish municipality of Saint-Joseph de Sorel. Sorel-Tracy is known for its activities in the steel industry and metallurgy as well as for its ferry linking the city to the village of Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola.
The Battle of Sorel occurred on June 19, 1610, with Samuel de Champlain supported by the Kingdom of France and his allies, the Wyandot people, Algonquin people and Innu people that fought against the Mohawk people in New France. Sorel is the fourth oldest city in the province of Quebec, its formation began in 1642 when Charles Huault de Montmagny, first Governor and Lieutenant-Governor of New France, built Fort Richelieu here as a defense for settlers and river travellers against the Iroquois. In 1647, the original fort was destroyed by the Iroquois but it was rebuilt by the Carignan-Salières Regiment on the same site in 1665; the name Sorel comes from the first seigneur of Pierre de Saurel. He was in command of a regiment of the Carignan-Salières that came over in August 1665, he was granted a seigneury by King Louis XIV in 1672 though he had built a manor house four years prior. The name Tracy comes from Lieutenant General Alexander de Prouville, Sieur de Tracy, overall in command of the Carignan-Salières Regiment directly under the Governor.
It is in Sorel that the Christmas tree made its first appearance in North America on Christmas Eve in 1781. After the visit of Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester to Sorel in 1787 the town took the name of William-Henry, a name it retained until 1845, it is probable. Although merely a hamlet or village, this place was the scene of much activity. During 1776 large bodies of troops passed through and at times were stationed in the area. A letter from Governor Frederick Haldimand to Lord George Germain in October 1778, written from his camp in Sorel where fortifications were in progress, indicates his proposed use of the Seigniory,It is my intention therefore, if time and circumstances favour me, to make Sorel a place of strength with Permanent Works, as the importance of it deserves; the Seigneurie of this Place is vested in merchants residing in England and the Inhabitants of it, people remarkable for their courage and resolution, have distinguished themselves much by their attachment to the Government at a time the Rebels were Masters of that Country, in which account I think it would serve the King's interest to bestow some Public mark of favour upon them such as remitting them the Quitrents which they pay for their land, to the Seigneur, the Seigneurie being to be sold, the purchase would not exceed 13,000, having been offered for that sum, I submit to Your Lordship whether it would not be best to give orders to treat with the Proprietors, Messrs. Greenwood and Higgins in London, both for enabling me to effect the purchase...
The purchase was made in 1781 and Sorel became a clearing house for the steady stream of Loyalist refugees from the south. A certain number of them settled in Sorel. Another addition was Sorel being selected as one of the stations for "Military Invalids", or “Outside Chelsea Pensioners" as they were called; these old soldiers and their dependents, numbering several hundreds, were sent to Sorel under the medical care of Dr. Christopher Carter; the earliest efforts for the propagation of the Protestant religion in Canada were made in Sorel. The continued influx of Loyalists during the year 1783 into the Seigniory prompted the population to search out a permanent Minister, so at the end of the year, a petition was sent to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, begging them to send a Minister of the Gospel to reside in the Seigniory. Following the request, the Reverend John Doty embarked during the month of April 1784 at Gravesend and arrived at Quebec in June, at Sorel on 4 July 1784, where he celebrated Divine Service and preached his first sermon.
This is the date of the foundation of the Anglican parish in Sorel and the first Anglican mission in Canada. The chapel where the faithful united was a wooden building located at the end of King Street, a few steps from the Richelieu market; this building had served as a military storehouse. At the beginning of the 19th century, Sorel was the home of fur traders. In 1819, the town's presbytery was declared dangerously unfit; the character of the town, would change over the next few decades, due to the arrival of two influential figures. In the 1820s, Sorel was the site of the Governor General of Lower Canada's governor's house, occupied George Ramsay, the Lord Dalhousie (after whom Dalhous
Trois-Rivières
Trois-Rivières is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River across from the city of Bécancour. It is part of the densely populated Quebec City–Windsor Corridor and is halfway between Montreal and Quebec City. Trois-Rivières is the cultural hub of the Mauricie region; the settlement was founded by French colonists on July 4, 1634, as the second permanent settlement in New France, after Quebec City in 1608. The city's name, French for three rivers, is named for the fact the Saint-Maurice River has three mouths at the Saint Lawrence River. In the English language this city was known as Three Rivers. Since the late 20th century, when there has been more recognition of Quebec and French speakers, French was made an official language, the city is referred to as Trois-Rivières in both English and French; the anglicized name still appears in many areas of the town, bearing witness to the influence of English settlers in the town.
The city's inhabitants are known as Trifluviens. Trois-Rivières is the name of a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality of Quebec, coextensive with the city of Trois-Rivières, its geographical code is 371. Together with the regional county municipality of Les Chenaux, it forms the census division of Francheville; the municipalities within Les Chenaux and the former municipalities that were amalgamated into Trois-Rivières constituted the regional county municipality of Francheville. Trois-Rivières is the seat of the judicial district of the same name; the Trois-Rivières metropolitan area includes the city of Bécancour, situated on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River across the Laviolette Bridge; the name of Trois-Rivières, which dates from the end of the 16th century, was used by French explorers in reference to the three channels in the Saint-Maurice River formed at its mouth with the Saint Lawrence, as it is divided by two islands and Saint-Quentin island. The city occupies a location known to the French since 1535, when Jacques Cartier, in a trip along the St. Lawrence, stopped to plant a cross on Saint-Quentin island.
But the Three Rivers name is used for the first time in 1599 by Sieur François Gravé Du Pont, a geographer under Champlain, whose records confirmed the name in 1603. As Sieur Gravé Du Pont sailed upriver toward Montreal, he saw what appeared to be three separate tributaries, he did not know two large islands divide the course of the Saint-Maurice River in three parts where the latter flows into the St. Lawrence River. For thousands of years, the area that would become known as Trois-Rivières was frequented by Indigenous peoples; the historic Algonquin and Abenaki peoples used it as a summer stopping place. They would fish and hunt here, as well as gather nuts; the area was rich in resources. The French explorer Jacques Cartier described the site while on his second journey to the New World in 1535; the name "Trois-Rivières", was not given until 1599, by Captain Dupont-Gravé, first appeared on maps of the area dated 1601. In 1603, while surveying the Saint-Lawrence River, Samuel de Champlain recommended establishing a permanent settlement in the area.
Such a village was started on July 1634, by the Sieur de Laviolette. Additional inhabitants of the early city of Trois-Rivières include: Quentin Moral, Sieur de St. Quentin; the city was the second to be founded in New France. Given its strategic location, it played an important role in the colony and in the fur trade with First Nations peoples; the settlement became the seat of a regional government in 1665. Ursuline nuns first arrived at the settlement in 1697, where they founded the first school and helped local missionaries to Christianize the local Aboriginals and developing class of Métis. French sovereignty in Trois-Rivières continued until 1760, when the city was captured as part of the British conquest of Canada during the Seven Years' War. Sixteen years on June 8, 1776, it was the theatre of the Battle of Trois-Rivières during the American Revolutionary War. Trois-Rivières continued to grow in importance throughout this period and beyond. In 1792 it was designated as the seat of a judicial district.
In 1852, the Roman Catholic church made. In 1816, Captain A. G. Douglas, a former adjutant at the British military college at Great Marlow, recommended a military college for Catholic and Protestant boys be established at Trois-Rivières, he proposed it operate in a disused government house and he would be superintendent. Douglas' college was intended as a boarding school to educate the young sons of officers, amongst others, in Latin, English language, French Language, Geography and Mathematics; this preceded the founding of the Royal Military College of Canada in 1876. In 1908, the greater part of the city of Trois-Rivières was destroyed by a fire. Among the surviving buildings were the Ursuline Monastery and the De Tonnancour Manor; as a result of the destruction, a major redesign and renovation of the city was undertaken, including the widening and renewal
Baie-du-Febvre, Quebec
Baie-du-Febvre is a municipality in the Nicolet-Yamaska Regional County Municipality of Quebec, Canada. The population as of the Canada 2011 Census was 1,010; the municipality lies on the south shore of a section of the Saint Lawrence River. Population trend: Mother tongue language Baie-du-Febvre has its own independent telephone company, the Corporation de Téléphone de la Baie. Baie-du-Febvre, located on the southern shore of Lac Saint-Pierre, is well known as a haven for migrating snow geese. Many birdwatching enthusiasts fall to observe them; the town takes great pride in this aspect of its natural heritage, has established an interpretation centre to teach visitors about the geese, their migration and the local biosphere. Apart from a protected area close to the river, Limited hunting of snow geese is permitted. List of municipalities in Quebec Lorenzo de Nevers Baie-du-Febvre official web site Baie-du-febvre Interpretation Centre Corporation de Téléphone de la Baie
United States
The United States of America known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U. S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D. C. and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico; the State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean; the U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The diverse geography and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century; the United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution, which began in 1775, the subsequent Declaration of Independence in 1776; the war ended in 1783 with the United States becoming the first country to gain independence from a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, with the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, being ratified in 1791 to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties; the United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century, acquiring new territories, displacing Native American tribes, admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848. During the second half of the 19th century, the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery.
By the end of the century, the United States had extended into the Pacific Ocean, its economy, driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution, began to soar. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a global military power; the United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Sweeping civil rights legislation, notably the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, outlawed discrimination based on race or color. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in the Space Race, culminating with the 1969 U. S. Moon landing; the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world's sole superpower. The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation, it is a representative democracy.
The United States is a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States, other international organizations. The United States is a developed country, with the world's largest economy by nominal GDP and second-largest economy by PPP, accounting for a quarter of global GDP; the U. S. economy is post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge-based activities, although the manufacturing sector remains the second-largest in the world. The United States is the world's largest importer and the second largest exporter of goods, by value. Although its population is only 4.3% of the world total, the U. S. holds 31% of the total wealth in the world, the largest share of global wealth concentrated in a single country. Despite wide income and wealth disparities, the United States continues to rank high in measures of socioeconomic performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP, worker productivity.
The United States is the foremost military power in the world, making up a third of global military spending, is a leading political and scientific force internationally. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America in honor of the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci; the first documentary evidence of the phrase "United States of America" is from a letter dated January 2, 1776, written by Stephen Moylan, Esq. to George Washington's aide-de-camp and Muster-Master General of the Continental Army, Lt. Col. Joseph Reed. Moylan expressed his wish to go "with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain" to seek assistance in the revolutionary war effort; the first known publication of the phrase "United States of America" was in an anonymous essay in The Virginia Gazette newspaper in Williamsburg, Virginia, on April 6, 1776. The second draft of the Articles of Confederation, prepared by John Dickinson and completed by June 17, 1776, at the latest, declared "The name of this Confederation shall be the'United States of America'".
The final version of the Articles sent to the states for ratification in late 1777 contains the sentence "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be'The United States of America'". In June 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the phrase "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" in all capitalized letters in the headline of his "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence; this draft of the document did not surface unti
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations based in Paris. Its declared purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through educational and cultural reforms in order to increase universal respect for justice, the rule of law, human rights along with fundamental freedom proclaimed in the United Nations Charter, it is the successor of the League of Nations' International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation. UNESCO has 11 associate members. Most of its field offices are "cluster" offices covering three or more countries. UNESCO pursues its objectives through five major programs: education, natural sciences, social/human sciences and communication/information. Projects sponsored by UNESCO include literacy and teacher-training programs, international science programs, the promotion of independent media and freedom of the press and cultural history projects, the promotion of cultural diversity, translations of world literature, international cooperation agreements to secure the world's cultural and natural heritage and to preserve human rights, attempts to bridge the worldwide digital divide.
It is a member of the United Nations Development Group. UNESCO's aim is "to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture and information". Other priorities of the organization include attaining quality Education For All and lifelong learning, addressing emerging social and ethical challenges, fostering cultural diversity, a culture of peace and building inclusive knowledge societies through information and communication; the broad goals and objectives of the international community—as set out in the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals —underpin all UNESCO strategies and activities. UNESCO and its mandate for international cooperation can be traced back to a League of Nations resolution on 21 September 1921, to elect a Commission to study feasibility; this new body, the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation was indeed created in 1922.
On 18 December 1925, the International Bureau of Education began work as a non-governmental organization in the service of international educational development. However, the onset of World War II interrupted the work of these predecessor organizations. After the signing of the Atlantic Charter and the Declaration of the United Nations, the Conference of Allied Ministers of Education began meetings in London which continued from 16 November 1942 to 5 December 1945. On 30 October 1943, the necessity for an international organization was expressed in the Moscow Declaration, agreed upon by China, the United Kingdom, the United States and the USSR; this was followed by the Dumbarton Oaks Conference proposals of 9 October 1944. Upon the proposal of CAME and in accordance with the recommendations of the United Nations Conference on International Organization, held in San Francisco in April–June 1945, a United Nations Conference for the establishment of an educational and cultural organization was convened in London 1–16 November 1945 with 44 governments represented.
The idea of UNESCO was developed by Rab Butler, the Minister of Education for the United Kingdom, who had a great deal of influence in its development. At the ECO/CONF, the Constitution of UNESCO was introduced and signed by 37 countries, a Preparatory Commission was established; the Preparatory Commission operated between 16 November 1945, 4 November 1946—the date when UNESCO's Constitution came into force with the deposit of the twentieth ratification by a member state. The first General Conference took place from 19 November to 10 December 1946, elected Dr. Julian Huxley to Director-General; the Constitution was amended in November 1954 when the General Conference resolved that members of the Executive Board would be representatives of the governments of the States of which they are nationals and would not, as before, act in their personal capacity. This change in governance distinguished UNESCO from its predecessor, the ICIC, in how member states would work together in the organization's fields of competence.
As member states worked together over time to realize UNESCO's mandate and historical factors have shaped the organization's operations in particular during the Cold War, the decolonization process, the dissolution of the USSR. Among the major achievements of the organization is its work against racism, for example through influential statements on race starting with a declaration of anthropologists and other scientists in 1950 and concluding with the 1978 Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice. In 1956, the Republic of South Africa withdrew from UNESCO saying that some of the organization's publications amounted to "interference" in the country's "racial problems." South Africa rejoined the organization in 1994 under the leadership of Nelson Mandela. UNESCO's early work in the field of education included the pilot project on fundamental education in the Marbial Valley, started in 1947; this project was followed by expert missions to other countries, for example, a mission to Afghanistan in 1949.
In 1948, UNESCO recommended that Member States should make free primary education compulsory and universal. In 1990, the World Conference on Education for All, in Jomtien, launched a global movement to provide basic education for a
Estuary of Saint Lawrence
The estuary of the Saint Lawrence in Quebec, Canada is the largest estuary in the world. The estuary of the St. Lawrence River is located downstream of the St. Lawrence River and upstream of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, it refers to the place where the fresh and salt waters mix between the gulf. The St. Lawrence Estuary begins at Lake Saint-Pierre and ends at the widening of the shores, at the height of Pointe-des-Monts, opposite Les Méchins, Quebec, it is divided into three sections: the St. Lawrence River estuary at Île d'Orléans, the middle estuary to the Saguenay Fjord, the maritime estuary to Pointe-des-Monts, Quebec; the St. Lawrence Estuary is characterized by a saline front at the eastern tip of Île d'Orléans; the zone of contact between fresh and salt water corresponds to a region of high concentrations of suspended matter causing a zone of maximum turbidity of a length that can vary from 70 to 120 kilometres, depending on the flow of the river. This zone of maximum turbidity is located between Île aux Coudres.
The mechanisms of estuarine circulation associated with this environment make it a privileged site of primary and secondary production which shelters many fish nurseries. High environmental turbidity provides shelter against predators while larvae are maintained under optimum temperature and salinity conditions. Large variations in salinity and turbidity result in a wide variety of physicochemical conditions and planktonic communities on the river. An emblematic species is the beluga. In a spirit of citizen science and collaborative work, a census of estuary fish is underway, with a downloadable identification guide Quebec portal Maritime portal Rivers portal
Yamaska River
The Yamaska River is a river in southern Quebec, Canada. Sourcing water within the Eastern Townships, it ends its journey in Lake Saint-Pierre where it is a tributary to the Saint Lawrence River. Crossing nearly twenty municipalities in its course, it is intrinsically linked to life around it as it is a primary source of fresh water where it passes. Before exploitation, the river was rich with life. Urban and intensive agricultural use have made it one of the most polluted rivers in Quebec from agricultural waste and pesticides. Although the number of species of living organisms has decreased, a tenacious ecosystem still thrives along many parts of the Yamaska, some efforts are made by the citizens of various municipalities to alter human impact on the environments that connect to the stream; the Yamaska is used for recreational activities such as fishing and many navigate its waters, though it is not used for swimming. For many years the pollution issue has spawned environmental concern in places such as Granby, where citizens, environmental experts, municipal councilors, as well as groups and organizations work on conservation, study and communication of ways to change an individual's impact on the river's health.
These actions have led to the increase of community art and events aiming to speak for those who cannot animals and plants. The name Yamaska appeared in the 17th century, beforehand it was named "Rivière de Gennes" by Samuel de Champlain in 1609; when the lands known as seigneurie de Yamaska were granted to Michel Leneuf de La Vallière, the river's name was instead "rivière des Savanes". The word "Yamaska" could be sourced to Abenakis meaning "there are rushes off the coast" or "there is much hay", from yam or iyamitaw meaning off shore and much, askaw, meaning hay or rushes; this Amerindian name references baie de Lavalilière, at the river's mouth where vegetation grows abundantly in a marsh. The name could be from Algonquian hia muskeg, it means "river of the savannas" or "river with muddy waters"; because of the nebulous Amerindian origin, this naming has been deformed. It was named Rivière Yamaska 5 December 1968; the drainage basin of the Yamaska measures 4 784 km2. There are few bodies of water in the Yamaska's basin, only six are larger than one square kilometer, of these only three are natural: Brome and Waterloo lakes.
Starting at an altitude of 193 m north of lac Brome, it flows westward. After what it turns northward and enters the basses-terres du Saint-Laurent and meets its main tributary Rivière Noire at Saint-Damase, passing through its biggest agglomeration, Saint-Hyacinthe. Among its main tributaries are Noire, South-East Yamaska, North Yamaska rivers. Pot au Beurre River Petit Chenail River Saint-Louis River Salvail River South-West Yamaska River South-East Yamaska River North Yamaska River Rivière à la-Barbe Noire River le Renne River Jaune River Rouge River Chibouet River David River Brome-Missisquoi: Lac-Brome, Brigham, Farnham La Haute-Yamaska: Saint-Alphonse-de-Granby, Granby Rouville: Ange-Gardien, Saint-Césaire Les Maskoutains: Saint-Damase, Saint-Hyacinthe, Saint-Barnabé-Sud, Saint-Simon, Saint-Hugues, Saint-Louis, Saint-Marcel-de-Richelieu Pierre-De Saurel: Saint-Aimé, Saint-David, Yamaska Nicolet-Yamaska: Saint-François-du-Lac A varied fauna and flora exists along the Yamaska, reflecting the various regions it traverses.
Pollution has affected the nature that used to thrive in and around the river, reducing the number of species of fish from 70 to 33 between 1963 and 2003. The main fish cruising its waters are Cyprinidae. Species sought after for fishing include muskellunge, black bass, yellow perch and mud cat. Over the years the species added to the river for increase sport are the brown trout, rainbow trout, Sander, yellow perch, brown bullhead, smallmouth bass, brook trout. Inventories carried at Mont Yamaska allowed to observe over fifteen species of amphibians and reptiles (such as the painted turtle and Common Garter Snake (Thamnophis si
