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The Pontiac
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GENERAL DESCRIPTION The Pontiac is a rural community situated in the western part of the Outaouais, to the North-West of the Hull-Aylmer region. The territory of our organization includes the Pontiac MRC Municipalities and the Pontiac Municipality (since April 1st 1998). The region is extending from the West of Aylmer to Rapides-des-Joachims, a small municipality situated in Quebec but can be reached by the Ontario side of the river. The area is about 15 500 km2 and has 21 municipalities, the vast majority (65%) including less of 1 000 inhabitants.
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POPULATION PROFILE AND LINGUISTIC PARTICULARITIES In the 1996 census, the population of our territory was 20 300 inhabitants, situated all along the Outaouais river. The most important characteristic is the distribution of the population by age groups. The consequence of the demographic disintegration and the migration of the youths towards the cities. The scattering of the population in the territory further complicates the question of social and economic development. In fact, the dispersion expresses itself in three different ways : the scattering on a lengthy territory, the grouping of small municipal units and the multiplicity of linguistic and ethnic groups. All in all, the communities are relatively isolated within themselves. On the linguistic level, the Pontiac region presents a unique character. The population of our territory is divided between francophones and anglophones, approximately 45-55. The population of Fort-Coulonge and Mansfield and Ile-du-Grand-Calumet is essentially French while Shawville and the surroundings, Chapeau and nearby villages is nearly entirely English. The regions of Campbell’s Bay, Otter Lake and the Pontiac municipality are essentially bilingual, with a predominance of the anglophone community. LEISURE ACTIVITIES Nature lovers are fulfilled. You can practice your favorite activities in a wild nature. You can easily watch our wildlife, practice your nautical sports, fish our numerous fish species, and even try to catch the biggest fish which lives in the river, take your bike and discover the region through its 94 km bicycle path and last but not least, try our numerous offered winter activities. LODGING Numerous lodging are available. If you prefer to live in a big town, choose Shawville, Campbell’s Bay or Fort-Coulonge. These villages are near our establishments. For example, you can rent a house at Shawville for about 430 $ a month, this includes 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom with shower and bath. Also, a home with a bedroom and full equipped, that means a dish washer for 350 $ a month. At the Grand-Calumet-Island, a bedroom with fridge, stove and electric heather for 275$ a month. Generally, rooms are located in individual houses. Houses are also available for sale at Shawville, Campbell’s Bay, Fort-Coulonge. You can find houses for sale for between 50 000 $ and 70 000 $. You can also find land for sale for good price depending the location, near the river or not. You can see ads on the website of the local newspaper The Equity. COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES AND SERVICES Commercial and service activity of the territory of the Pontiac Regional County Municipality is found, mostly, within four villages (Campbell's Bay, Chapeau, Fort-Coulonge/Mansfield, Shawville). Campbell's Bay provides services aimed towards the whole of the region. In fact the four centres regroup a little more than half of all the commercial activity and a little more than a third of the people and of residences on the territory. These centres offer goods and services such as food, car repairs, building materials, hardware and restaurants. These municipalities are equipped with more specialized services and businesses such as professional services, health services, education, retail sales, etc. The tertiary sector of commercial services and activities is currently on the rise with respect to the number of new businesses being established. Bryson, Davidson, Grand-Calumet, Otter Lake et Portage-du-Fort have one or both water and sewer services, these villages have an influence area and the potential to serve the equivalent of the territory in which they are located. Chichester, Ladysmith, Norway Bay, Bristol, Rapides-des-Joachims, Sheenboro, Waltham and Vinton are area where the service remains local. The commercial and service are concentrated by the proximity of the regional centres (Hull/Aylmer/Ottawa) and the intermediary centres (Renfrew/Pembroke). Retail food businesses are mainly of the convenience store type where one can buy basic food items. Let us emphasize however that in terms of grocery stores with large floor space, the territory has a total of four that are located in the Municipalities of Campbell's Bay, Fort-Coulonge and Shawville. Notice also the presence of a farmer market (follow the link of the Agripontiac website) at Shawville (once a week). these market are also available all around the East Ontario a few minutes from the Pontiac municipalities.
NEWSPAPERS Pontiac County is mostly supplied with the dailies from Ottawa and Pembroke, namely the Citizen and the Le Droit. Two Pontiac papers are published and they are the Equity, (an English weekly located in Shawville) and Journal du Pontiac (a biweekly bilingual paper located in Mansfield). ECONOMIC PROFILE The primary sector, the operation and extraction of primary resources are mostly concentrated on activities related to forestry operations and agriculture. (we have 17 forestry enterprises) The secondary sector of the territory is concentrated on activities of transformation of resources from the primary sector and in the area of building materials. The agriculture industry has a high potential. We note that approximately 75 % of agricultural land on the territory is suitable for large scale farming. The diary industry and the cattle rearing industry constituted the main activities of the agricultural industry in the Outaouais, in particular, beef cattle in the Pontiac. We also find farmers who practice the rearing of hogs, horses, sheep and poultry. Also they are farmers involved in hog breeding (hogs for fattening) and piglets. Market gardening crops such as vegetables in green houses, and in fields, and cultivation of berries, complete the range of agricultural activities. A potential for development discussed in many of the studies was identified as the operation of sugar bushes. Export Markets and maple products are currently under-exploited. Mining activities in the region used to be an important source of revenue for the Pontiac economy. Due to lack of funds, technical support and development, prospectors and extracting companies have ceased their operations. Some prospectors still remain established in the region of the Pontiac. 90 % of manufacturing jobs are in the forestry and pulp and paper sector. The strengths of the Pontiac are oriented around its nautical corridors, rafting activities around the Grand-Calumet-Island and hunting and fishing activities. They are a lot of things to do in these sector. The MRC Pontiac developed a 72 km of bicycle trail. It crosses the whole territory from Wyman to Waltham. With respect to sef-employment workers, we note that a little more than 6 % of all self-employed workers in the region are found in MRC Pontiac, that is 960 individuals. Self-employed workers represented 14.5 % of all categories of workers of this MRC, which is 4.4 percentage points more than the regional average.
We can say that many projects and services are still to be developed in the region in different and various sectors. Sources : Recensement du Canada, 1996 Local action plan for economy and employment prepared by the Local Development Centre of the Pontiac MRC, 2000-2002 SCHOOLS IN THE PONTIAC REGION
LUSKVILLE
QUYON
SHAWVILLE
Campbell’s Bay
OTTER LAKE
FORT-COULONGE
CHAPEAU
DAY CARE CENTRES
DAY CARE CENTRE TEBIZINAN At Luskville
DAY CARE CENTRE PICABOU
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