Sainte-Mélanie, Quebec

Sainte-Mélanie (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃t melani]) is a municipality in the Lanaudière region of Quebec, Canada, part of the Joliette Regional County Municipality. It is located along the western shores of the L'Assomption River.

Sainte-Mélanie
Municipality
Rocher Lake, largest lake within the municipality
Location within Joliette RCM.
Sainte-Mélanie Location in central Quebec.
Coordinates: 46°08′N 73°31′W[1]
Country	Canada
Province	Quebec
Region	Lanaudière
RCM	Joliette
Constituted	July 1, 1855
Government [2]
• Mayor	Yves Beaulieu
• Federal riding	Joliette
• Prov. riding	Joliette
Area [2][3]
• Total	78.30 km2 (30.23 sq mi)
• Land	76.10 km2 (29.38 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[3]
• Total	3,250
• Density	42.7/km2 (111/sq mi)
• Pop 2016-2021	8.7%
• Dwellings	1,518
Time zone	UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Postal code(s)	J0K 3A0
Area codes	450 and 579
Highways	R-348
Website	www.sainte-melanie.ca

History

Sainte-Mélanie was formerly part of the territory of the Ailleboust Seignory, granted to Jean d'Ailleboust d'Argenteuil (1694-1785) in 1736. By 1800, Pierre-Louis Panet (1761-1812) was Lord of Ailleboust, whose daughter Charlotte-Mélanie Panet (1794-1872) may have been the source of the name Sainte-Mélanie, also a reference to Melania the Younger (383-439). Charlotte-Mélanie's husband, Marc-Antoine-Louis Lévesque (1782-1833), donated the land in 1814 for a chapel that was eventually built in 1830. The Parish of Sainte-Mélanie was founded in 1832, and four years later in 1836, the post office opened under the name Daillebout.^[4]

The municipality officially started in 1845, was soon after abolished, and reestablished in 1855 as Sainte-Mélanie-d'Ailleboust. In 1881, the post office was renamed to Sainte-Mélanie, and more than a century later in 1986, the municipality followed suit by also adopting this shortened name.^[4]

Demographics

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1991	2,282	—
1996	2,474	+8.4%
2001	2,633	+6.4%
2006	2,765	+5.0%
2011	2,892	+4.6%
2016	2,989	+3.4%
2021	3,250	+8.7%
Source: Statistics Canada[5]

Private dwellings occupied by usual residents: 1,394 (total dwellings: 1,518)

Mother tongue:

• English as first language: 0.9%
• French as first language: 97.8%
• English and French as first language: 0%
• Other as first language: 1.3%

Education

Commission scolaire des Samares operates francophone public schools, including:

• École Sainte-Hélène^[6]

The Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board operates anglophone public schools, including:

• Joliette Elementary School in Saint-Charles-Borromée^[7]
• Joliette High School in Joliette^[8]

Notable people from Sainte-Mélanie

• Aimé Pelletier (1914-2010), surgeon and well-known Quebec novelist, under the pen name of Bertrand Vac. Pelletier, who spent the majority of his professional career in Montreal, is interred with his ancestors at the Sainte-Mélanie cemetery.^[9]
• Louise-Amélie Panet (1789-1862), artist and poet, wife of the seigneur of Ailleboust [fr], died in Sainte-Mélanie;^[10] the public library there is named in her honour.^[11]

See also

• List of municipalities in Quebec