# Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade

Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade (French pronunciation:) is a municipality located on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, in Les Chenaux RCM, Mauricie region, Quebec, Canada.

## History

On October 29, 1672, an area of 1.5 lieue by 1 lieue (around 4.8 km by 3.2 km) deep at the Sainte-Anne River was granted by Intendant Jean Talon as a seignory to Edmond de Suève and Thomas Tarieu de Lanouguère (or Lanaudière). An increase of 3 lieues was granted to Marguerite Denis, widow of Thomas Tarieu, by Governor Frontenac and Intendant Champigny on March 4, 1697. The islands were added to the seignory on April 6, 1697, and confirmed on October 30, 1700. The order of January 8, 1710, dismissed the co-seigneur François Chorel de Saint-Romain d'Orvilliers and granted the islands to Pierre-Thomas Tarieu de la Pérade, son of Thomas Tarieu and husband of Madeleine de Verchères, a Quebec heroine who, at 14 years of age, successfully defended her parents' fort against a band of Iroquois. Following another increase granted in April 1735 to Pierre-Thomas Tarieu, the Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade Seignory came to be named after him.
In 1693, the Parish of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade was formed. In 1820, the post office opened. In 1845, the parish municipality was established, abolished two years later during provincewide municipal restructuring, and reestablished in 1855. In 1912, the village itself separated from the parish municipality and was incorporated as the Village Municipality of La Pérade.
In May 1989, the village and parish municipalities merged again to form the new Municipality of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade. On December 31, 2001, it was transferred from the Francheville Regional County to the new Les Chenaux Regional County, following the creation of the new City of Trois-Rivières and the dissolution of the Francheville RCM.

## Geography

Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade stretches on each side of the Sainte-Anne River, until its confluence with the St. Lawrence River.
The main accesses are the Félix-Leclerc highway (Autotoure 40) and the Chemin du Roy that stretches from Montreal to Quebec City, a historic segment of Quebec Route 138. The Sainte-Anne River is no longer navigable since the silting caused by the Saint-Alban 1894 Landslide.
The centerpiece of the municipality is the Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade church, a Roman Catholic temple located at the intersection of rue Sainte-Anne and boulevard Lanaudière (Chemin du Roy or Route 138), facing the Sainte-Anne River (Les Chenaux), its architecture is inspired by that of the Notre-Dame Basilica (Montreal).
In 2021, Statistics Canada counted a population of 2,031 people and 978 private dwellings. The area of the municipality was 109.28 square km, the population density was 18.6 people per square kilometer.

## Demographics

Population trend:
| Year | Population | Population change | Population change % |
| 1991 | 2,213 | N/A | N/A |
| 1996 | 2,181 | -32 | -1.46% |
| 2001 | 2,151 | -30 | -1.39% |
| 2006 | 1,991 | -160 | -8.04% |
| 2011 | 2,072 | +81 | +4.07% |
| 2016 | 2,019 | -53 | -2.63% |
| 2021 | 2,031 | +12 | +0.59% |
Private dwellings occupied by usual residents: 978 (total dwellings: 1,109)

## Attractions
### Tommy cod fishing

In the heart of the village, as soon as the ice freezes in December, the mouth of the Sainte-Anne River becomes the world capital of Tommy Cod fishing. During Tommy Cod season, officially from the 26th of December to the 14th of February, thousands of tourists come to Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade for ice fishing and a small fishing village is built on the frozen waters of the Sainte-Anne River which then forms a link between the shores.

### Environmental protection

The Grondines and Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade swamp is one of the last remaining large, treed swamps on the river. It extends along seven kilometres of shoreline in the Estuary of St. Lawrence. The swamp is home to several endangered species, including plants that are endemic to the freshwater estuary.
Since 2008, the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has participated in the restoration of 40 hectares of the Grondines and Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade marsh, where 2,500 trees have been planted. In 2018, the project attempted to raise awareness among the local population of the richness of the environment and to encourage actions to protect it, including a conference on birds of prey, guided tour on the ornithology and entomology of the area, guided tour on the facilities favorable to wildlife, and school outings.