Shawville, Quebec

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Shawville main street.
Shawville main street.
Location within Pontiac RCM.
Location within Pontiac RCM.
Shawville is located in Western Quebec
Location in western Quebec.
Coordinates: 45°36′N 76°29′W﻿ / ﻿45.600°N 76.483°W﻿ / 45.600; -76.483Coordinates: 45°36′N 76°29′W﻿ / ﻿45.600°N 76.483°W﻿ / 45.600; -76.483[1]
Country  Canada
Province  Quebec
Region Outaouais
RCM Pontiac
Constituted January 1, 1874
 • Mayor Albert Armstrong
 • Federal riding Pontiac
 • Prov. riding Pontiac
 • Total 5.40 km2 (2.08 sq mi)
 • Land 5.40 km2 (2.08 sq mi)
Population (2011)[3]
 • Total 1,664
 • Density 308.1/km2 (798/sq mi)
 • Pop 2006-2011 Increase 4.9%
 • Dwellings 775
Time zone EST (UTC−5)
 • Summer (DST) EDT (UTC−4)
Postal code(s) J0X 2Y0
Area code(s) 819
Highways Route 148
Route 303

Shawville is a Canadian town located in the Pontiac Regional County Municipality in the administrative region of Outaouais in western Quebec.


At the end of the 1860s, a group of citizens from Clarendon Centre, under the leadership of James Shaw (1818-1877), separated the municipality from the township of Clarendon. While they had originally planned on naming the new entity "Daggville," after the name of a pioneer family, they opted instead to name it "Shawville" after James Shaw promised to donate 0.8 ha of land to the new municipality. Shawville was officially established in 1874 and was populated by Irish Protestant immigrants. Shaw, who had settled in the area in 1843, was the first mayor, serving from 1856 to 1877.

The municipality has a Methodist church that was built in Shawville in 1835, while the Catholic Parish of Saint-Alexandre-de-Clarendon opened its doors in 1840. This church would later be renamed as Sainte-Mélanie, and still later as Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur in 1917.[1]

In recent times, Shawville has been the site of several conflicts between local shopkeepers and the Office québécois de la langue française over the province's language laws.[citation needed]


The town is completely enclosed within the municipality of Clarendon. Shawville is situated approximately 75 kilometres (47 mi) west of Gatineau and 35 kilometres (22 mi) southeast of Fort-Coulonge.


The town is characterized by its red-brick buildings, and unlike nearly every other municipality in Quebec, does not have a Catholic church. Shawville is home to an elementary school, a high school, a regional hospital, and the SRPC national head office. Its businesses are mostly small and family run.

The Shawville Fair, held the first weekend in September, is the town's major event. It has run every year since 1856 and includes typical county fair features such as livestock shows, auctions, truck pulls, demolition derbies, art/craft/hobby shows, diverse food stands and a midway. In recent years, it has drawn headline entertainers such as Terri Clark, Stompin' Tom Connors, Paul Brandt, April Wine, Dean Brody and Corb Lund, with total attendance reaching around 50,000.



Historical Census Data - Shawville, Quebec[6]
Year Pop. ±%
1991 1,591 —    
1996 1,632 +2.6%
Year Pop. ±%
2001 1,582 −3.1%
2006 1,587 +0.3%
Year Pop. ±%
2011 1,664 +4.9%


Shawville is an overwhelmingly anglophone (with 85 per cent of its residents listing English as their first language in the Canada 2006 Census) and Protestant (75%) community.[4] This is unusual in Quebec, a province that is overwhelmingly French-speaking and Roman Catholic.

Mother tongue language (2006) [4]
Language Population Pct (%)
English only 1,265 84.62%
French only 180 12.04%
Both English and French 35 2.34%
Other languages 15 1.00%


Shawville is represented in the Eastern Ontario Junior B Hockey League by the Shawville Pontiacs.

Notable people[edit]

Famous people from Shawville include the current general manager of the Ottawa Senators, Bryan Murray, his brother Terry Murray (former coach of the L.A. Kings), NHL legend Frank "The Shawville Express" Finnigan and race horse owner and lawyer Clay Horner. Former NHL referee Blaine Angus also comes from the area.

See also[edit]


  1. ^ a b "Shawville (Municipalité)" (in French). Commission de toponymie du Québec. Retrieved 2012-04-02. 
  2. ^ a b "Shawville". Répertoire des municipalités (in French). Ministère des Affaires municipales, des Régions et de l'Occupation du territoire. Retrieved 2011-06-22. 
  3. ^ a b c "Shawville census profile". 2011 Census of Population. Statistics Canada. Retrieved 2012-04-02. 
  6. ^ Statistics Canada: 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 census

External links[edit]