Beaupré is a ville in the Canadian province of Quebec, located in La Côte-de-Beaupré Regional County Municipality. The town is along the Saint Lawrence River and Route 138 at the mouth of the Sainte-Anne-du-Nord River.
Mont-Sainte-Anne, the highest skiing station in the eastern part of Canada, is located in Beaupré. It is also one of the town's major sport attractions.
The area has been inhabited since the beginning of the New France colony. In the 17th century, Breton sailors, when landing on the coastal plains, reputedly exclaimed: "Oh! le beau pré" ("Oh! the beautiful meadow"). The fused form of Beaupré has been in use since at least 1636 when the Beaupré Company was established. Its parish formed out of two of the oldest parishes of Quebec, Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré and Saint-Joachim. Its population in 1666 was 533 inhabitants, comparable to Quebec with 547 inhabitants.[4]
In 1928, the place was incorporated as the Parish Municipality of Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire but its name was changed to Beaupré that same year in order to avoid confusion with several other namesake parishes.[1] In 1962, the parish municipality gained town status and became Ville de Beaupré.[1]
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Beaupré had a population of 4,117 living in 1,859 of its 2,812 total private dwellings, a change of 9.7% from its 2016 population of 3,752. With a land area of 22.97 km2 (8.87 sq mi), it had a population density of 179.2/km2 (464.2/sq mi) in 2021.[5]
Population trend:[6]
Mother tongue:
One of the region's major employers, AbitibiBowater closed its plant there in October 2009.[7] On 13, the city authorized the destruction of the old 1927 plant following various soliciting attempts.