Pointe-Fortune (French pronunciation: [pwɛ̃t fɔʁtyn]) is a municipality in southwestern Quebec, Canada, on the Ottawa River (Rivière des Outaouais) in Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality, northwest of Montreal. The population at the 2021 Census was 582.
Pointe-Fortune is located on the right bank of the Ottawa River close to the Lake of Two Mountains. The locality borders the Ontario border, near the Carillon hydroelectric generating station. The municipality is located 65 km west of Montreal. Its territory is bounded to the west by the township of East Hawkesbury (Ontario) in the united counties of Prescott and Russell, to the north by the bay of Rigaud, to the east and to the south by the city of Rigaud. On the opposite shore of the lake of Two Mountains is the municipality of Saint-André-d'Argenteuil, in the Regional County Municipality of Argenteuil, in the Laurentides region.[5] The total area of the municipality is 9.54km2, with 8.09km2 being terrestrial.[2]
Pointe-Fortune is in the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands and its terrain is flat. The altitude is 24m on the shore of the Lake of Two Mountains and rises to 48m at the southeastern end of the territory. The low ground levels create several wetlands inland. The soil of Pointe-Fortune consists in the eastern part of a sector dating from the Cambrian composed of sandstone, conglomerate, limestone and dolomite (Potsdam sandstone, Brador and Forteau formations) and, in its western part, of an area of dolomite and sandstone from the Lower Ordovician (Beekmantown group and Romaine formation).
The area was part of the Seigneury of Rigaud, granted in 1732 to the brothers Pierre and François-Pierre Rigaud de Vaudreuil. Around 1750, they operated a trading post on a point in the Ottawa River, which later became known as Pointe Fortune. The name "Fortune" could refer to Colonel William Fortune who had received a 809 hectares (2,000 acres) concession in nearby Chatham Township at the end of the 18th century, or to Joseph Fortune, an early 19th century militiaman and surveyor.[1]
The municipality was formerly called Petites-Écorces and Petit-Carillon (referring to the larger Carillon directly across the Ottawa River), but in 1851, the post office opened under the English name of Point Fortune (modified to its current name in 1954).[1] In 1880, the Village Municipality of Pointe-Fortune was created out of territory ceded by Sainte-Madeleine-de-Rigaud.[6]In 2023, the village of Pointe-Fortune became a Municipality. [7]
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Pointe-Fortune had a population of 582 living in 258 of its 283 total private dwellings, a change of 0.3% from its 2016 population of 580. With a land area of 8.09 km2 (3.12 sq mi), it had a population density of 71.9/km2 (186.3/sq mi) in 2021.[9]
Macdonell-Williamson House,[15] which owes its existence to the fur trade and the Voyageurs, is located just west of the historical boundary marker, which still stands and marked the division between Upper and Lower Canada.
The Parish of Saint-François-Xavier-de-Pointe-Fortune celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2004.[1] The municipality was originally served by the Catholic parish of St. Francois Xavier, established in 1904, which eventually closed on December 24, 2014. The church was sold and is now privately owned.
List of former mayors:[6]
Commission Scolaire des Trois-Lacs operates Francophone schools.[16]
Lester B. Pearson School Board operates Anglophone schools.[18]
