Alma, Quebec

Alma (; 2021 Town population: 30,331; UA Population 20,274) is a town in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, in the Canadian province of Quebec.

History

The present town of Alma was formed in 1962 from the merging of four villages: Isle-Maligne, Naudville, Riverbend and St-Joseph d'Alma. In 2002, Alma merged with the Municipality of Delisle. The oldest of the villages, St-Joseph-d'Alma, was founded in 1867 by Damase Boulanger. Both modern day Alma and St-Joseph d'Alma are named after the Battle of the Alma.

The area became an important industrial centre during the 1920s and 1930s with the construction of a hydro-electrical power station on the Grande-Décharge River, a paper mill (Price) and an aluminum smelting plant (Alcan), all of which are still in activity today.

Geography Alma is located on the southeast coast of Lac Saint-Jean where it flows into the Saguenay River, in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada, approximately 175 km north of Quebec City. Alma is the seat of Lac-Saint-Jean-Est Regional County Municipality. Alma is the second largest city in population in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region after the city of Saguenay.

Alma is the seat of the judicial district of Alma.Territorial Division Act. Revised Statutes of Quebec D-11.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Alma had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Language As of the 2021 Census, 81% of residents in Alma reported their knowledge of official languages being French only. 18.8% had knowledge of both English and French, while a small number reported only knowing English (0.1%). English was the mother tongue for 0.4% of residents, while French was the mother tongue for 98.9%.

+Knowledge of Official Languages Language Count % English Only 20 0.1% French Only 24,315 81.0% Both English and French 5,655 18.8% Neither English nor French 20 0.1%

+Mother Tongue Language Count % English 125 0.4% French 29,550 98.9% Non-official language 215 0.7% English and French 85 0.3%

+First Official Language Spoken Language Count % English 115 0.4% French 29,855 99.5% English and French 25 0.1% Neither English nor French 20 0.1%

Ethnicity Visible minority and Aboriginal population (Canada 2021 Census) Population group Population % of total population White 28,015 Visible minority groupSource:, Community Profiles from the 2021 Census, Statistics Canada - Census Subdivision South Asian 0 Chinese 55 Black 185 Filipino 15 Arab 35 Latin American 30 Southeast Asian 35 West Asian 0 Korean 0 Japanese 0 Visible minority, n.i.e. 0 Multiple visible minority 10 Total visible minority population 375 Aboriginal groupSource:, Aboriginal Population Profile from the 2021 Census, Statistics Canada - Census Subdivision First Nations 350 Métis 500 Inuk 10 Aboriginal, n.i.e. 65 Multiple Aboriginal identity 10 Total Aboriginal population 935 Total population 29,325 100%

Infrastructure

Transportation Alma is serviced by the Alma Airport, located 4.1 km to the south of the town.

Sister cities

Alma has been twinned with Falaise, Calvados, France, since 1969.

Notable people Camille Bedard, hockey player Chris Boucher, basketball player for the Toronto Raptors Lucien Bouchard, former premier of Québec Guy Cloutier, producer and artist manager Guillaume Desbiens, hockey player Michel Harvey, hockey player for the Quebec Nordiques Charles Hudon, hockey player for the Ontario Reign Pierre Lapointe, singer Émilie Fortin Tremblay (1872–1949), one of the first white women to cross the Chilkoot on the way to the Yukon gold fields François-Louis Tremblay, Olympic gold medallist short-track speed skater Mario Tremblay, hockey player and former coach of the Montreal Canadiens

Alma, Quebec

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