Saint-Émile-de-Suffolk

Saint-Émile-de-Suffolk is a municipality in the Outaouais region of Quebec, Canada, part of the Papineau Regional County Municipality. Until 1994 it was known as United Township Municipality of Suffolk-et-Addington.

Saint-Émile-de-Suffolk
Municipality
Motto(s):  Une municiplalité en Outaouais à découvrir. ("A municipality in Outaouais to discover")
Location within Papineau RCM
Saint-Émile-de-Suffolk Location in western Quebec
Coordinates: 45°56′N 74°55′W[1]
Country	Canada
Province	Quebec
Region	Outaouais
RCM	Papineau
Settled	1860s
Constituted	January 1, 1881
Government [2]
• Mayor	Hugo Desormeaux
• Federal riding	Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation
• Prov. riding	Papineau
Area [2][3]
• Total	59.20 km2 (22.86 sq mi)
• Land	55.68 km2 (21.50 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[3]
• Total	512
• Density	9.2/km2 (24/sq mi)
• Pop 2016-2021	7.3%
• Dwellings	416
Time zone	UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Postal code(s)	J0T 1K0, J0V 1Y0
Area code	819
Highways	R-323
Website	www.st-emile-de-suffolk.com

This farming community, 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Montebello, is often visited by cottage vacationers for hunting and fishing in the numerous lakes of the area.^[1]

Geography

The area is characterized by rugged terrain of the Laurentian Mountains, marked here and there by mountains that rise more than 400 meters (1,300 ft) above sea level.^[4] Its principal streams are the Little Rouge River and the Suffolk Creek that feeds it, the first being a tributary of the Petite-Nation River.^[5]

History

General store in St-Émile-de-Suffolk in 1920

Suffolk Township (named after the county in England) was already on the Gale and Duberger map of 1795, but not officially established until 1874.^[5] Municipally it was part of the United Township Municipality of Hartwell-et-Suffolk until 1880 when the municipality separated^[6] and the Township Municipality of Suffolk was formed, taking effect on January 1, 1881.

In 1885, Addington Township (named after Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth) ^[4] was merged with Suffolk Township, creating the United Township Municipality of Suffolk-et-Addington.^[1] This county consisted of Vinoy, Namur, Saint-Émile, Lac-des-Plages and part of Vendée.

In 1889, the Parish of Saint-Émile-de-Suffolk was formed. This name paid tribute to Émile Quesnel of Saint-Andre-Avellin, who had been particularly generous toward the early settlers of the area.^[1]

Piece by piece, portions of the united township were detached to form new municipalities: Vinoy in 1920 (which became part of Chénéville in 1996), Lac-des-Plages in 1950, and finally Namur in 1964.^[7]

In 1994, the name and status were changed to that of Municipality of Saint-Émile-de-Suffolk.^[1]

Demographics

Canada census – Saint-Émile-de-Suffolk community profile

	2021	2016	2011
Population	512 (+7.3% from 2016)	477 (-15.7% from 2011)	566 (5.4% from 2006)
Land area	55.68 km2 (21.50 sq mi)	56.68 km2 (21.88 sq mi)	58.40 km2 (22.55 sq mi)
Population density	9.2/km2 (24/sq mi)	8.4/km2 (22/sq mi)	9.7/km2 (25/sq mi)
Median age	54.4 (M: 55.2, F: 53.2)	54.6 (M: 54.8, F: 54.4)	49.5 (M: 50.0, F: 49.0)
Private dwellings	416 (total)	433 (total)	410 (total)
Median household income		$40,832

References: 2021^[8] 2016^[9] 2011^[10]

Historical census populations – Saint-Émile-de-Suffolk, Quebec

Year	Pop.	±%
1986	481	—
1991	491	+2.1%
1996	433	−11.8%
2001	528	+21.9%
2006	537	+1.7%
2011	566	+5.4%
2016	477	−15.7%
2021	512	+7.3%
Population amounts are not adjusted for boundary changes. Source: Statistics Canada

Local government

List of former mayors:

• Serge Carrière (2001–2005)
• Martin Blais (2005-2009)
• Michel Samson (2009-2013)
• Hugo Desormeaux (2013–present)

Education

Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board operates Anglophone public schools:

• Laurentian Regional High School in Lachute^[11]