Hérouxville
Hérouxville | |
|---|---|
Turtle River, South St-Pierre row | |
Location within Mékinac RCM | |
| Coordinates: 46°40′N 72°37′W / 46.667°N 72.617°W | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Quebec |
| Region | Mauricie |
| RCM | Mékinac |
| Founded | 1897 |
| Constituted | April 13, 1904 |
| Named after | Joseph-Euchariste Héroux |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Bernard Thompson |
| • Federal riding | Saint-Maurice—Champlain |
| • Prov. riding | Laviolette |
| Area | |
• Total | 53.03 km2 (20.47 sq mi) |
| • Land | 54.72 km2 (21.13 sq mi) |
| Population (2021) | |
• Total | 1,367 |
| • Density | 25.0/km2 (65/sq mi) |
| • Pop 2016-2021 | 7.0% |
| • Dwellings | 685 |
| Time zone | UTC−5 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
| Postal code(s) | |
| Area code(s) | 418 and 581 |
| Highways | R-153 |
| Website | www.municipalite .herouxville.qc.ca |
Hérouxville (French pronunciation: [eʁuvil]; formerly called Saint-Timothée [sɛ̃ timɔte]) is a parish municipality in the Mékinac Regional County Municipality in the administrative region of Mauricie, in the province of Quebec, Canada. Its watershed is mainly part of the Batiscanie.
Hérouxville is directly on the route to Saint-Tite and the Festival western de Saint-Tite, in addition to being the northeast gateway to Mauricie, a region renowned for its lush forests and quaint villages.
Hérouxville is small rural farming parish. Its main economic activity is agriculture; forestry and recreational tourism are part of the local economy. Hérouxville also offers its visitors throughout the year the facilities and services of:
- Camp Val Notre-Dame, a family vacation and reunion camp,
- Domaine Tavibois, a rest and healing center.
According to the revised development plan of the Mékinac Regional County Municipality, effective February 27, 2008, Hérouxville had 104 chalets, 22 farms operating in 1685 hectares under cultivation, 13 shops/services and 3 industrial facilities.
Since 2007 the name of Hérouxville has been known in the lexicon of Quebec as shorthand for intolerance, after the town's councillors instituted a "code of conduct" for an immigrant population which did not exist, in a move which was widely perceived as xenophobic and racist.
The name "Saint-Timothé" was assigned to this Catholic mission, as Tite, Thècle and Timothé were disciples of St. Paul in the first century. The origin of the name "Hérouxville" was a nod of respect to Father Joseph-Euchariste Héroux (1863-1943), founder of this Catholic parish. He exercised his priestly work from 1897 to 1899 in the mission of Saint-Timothé. He opened the civil registers. Through his work, he contributed to the canonical constitution of the parish of Saint-Timothée, on September 15, 1903.
Founded in 1898, the post office in the village was named "Saint-Timothé d'Hérouxville", to pay tribute to Father Héroux. The civil erection of the municipality, as of 13 April 1904, was formalized by publication in the official gazette of Quebec, confirming the name of "Municipality of the Parish of Saint-Timothé". Historically, in popular usage, the terms "Saint-Timothé" and "Hérouxville" were often juxtaposed to designate the town, the village, the station, the post office, the municipality, the school board, etc. This double appellation proved confusing in the public mind. The spelling "Timothée" varied according to the authors or sources: Thimothée, Thimothé, Timothé, etc. In addition, two areas of Montérégie (QC) use the toponym Saint-Timothée, creating occasional errors for deliveries.
To avoid these toponymic confusions, the municipality adopted in 1983 the designation "Saint-Timothé de Hérouxville". The "Commission de toponymie du Québec" (Geographical Names Board of Québec) formalized the toponym "Hérouxville" on January 9, 1986.