Saint-Gabriel, Quebec
town in Lanaudière, Quebec, Canada
Saint-Gabriel (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃ ɡabʁijɛl]) is a town in the Lanaudière region of Quebec, Canada, part of the D'Autray Regional County Municipality. It is located on the shores of Lake Maskinongé, in the shadows of the Laurentian Mountains.
History
The first settlers were Loyalists, Irish, and Scottish, arriving around 1825 to the shores of Lake Maskinongé, where they formed a community that was known as Lake Maskinongé Settlement by 1827, and later as the Mission of Lac-Maskinongé. In 1837, the name Saint-Gabriel-du-Lac-Maskinongé came in use but was changed to Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon in 1840. This name refers to the angel Gabriel and the geographic township of Brandon that was proclaimed in 1827 and in which it is located.
In 1851, the Parish of Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon was founded and the post office opened that same year. In 1855, the Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon Parish Municipality was established and the town of Saint-Gabriel remained part of this parish municipality until 1892, when it separated and became the Village Municipality of Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon. In 1967, it changed its status and name to Ville de Saint-Gabriel by then Mayor Yvan Comeau.
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Saint-Gabriel had a population of 2,803 living in 1,366 of its 1,502 total private dwellings, a change of 6.2% from its 2016 population of 2,640. With a land area of 2.81 km2 (1.08 sq mi), it had a population density of 997.5/km2 (2,583.5/sq mi) in 2021.
“Saint-Gabriel, Quebec” enters the record as town in Lanaudière, Quebec, Canada. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Saint-Gabriel, Quebec and town can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Saint-Gabriel, Quebec” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Saint-Gabriel, Quebec and town provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q141371. VIAF identifies the subject as 154903455. The Library of Congress control number is n91006679. Authority coordinates are 46.294, -73.383. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1825, 1827, 1837 and 1840.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Saint-Gabriel, Quebec”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Saint-Gabriel, Quebec primary sources, Saint-Gabriel, Quebec archive and Saint-Gabriel research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Saint-Gabriel, Quebec”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Saint-Gabriel, Quebec” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.