Kipawa is a village and municipality in western Quebec, Canada, in the Témiscamingue Regional County Municipality. It is located at the south end of Lake Kipawa, adjacent to the Kebaowek Reserve.
In addition to the community of Kipawa itself located on the namesake lake, the municipality also includes the community of Tee Lake (originally called Gendreau at the end of the 19th century),[4] and surrounds the Indian Reserve of Kebaowek.
Kipawa is a variant of the Algonquin word Kebaowek which means "closed water", referring to the many closed-off bays and passages of Lake Kipawa.[1] Another theory claims that it means "getting off" or "disembarkation", or the location where one can pick up supplies or trade.[5]
Its main employer is the Commonwealth Plywood Company.
History
The land including and surrounding Lake Kipawa and Kipawa Village has been inhabited for centuries by the Algonquin people. The first Europeans to come into the Kipawa basin were fur traders and missionaries.
The area was logged in the second half of the 19th century, and the railroad was built in the 1880s, with its stations known as Kipawa Station et Kipawa Junction.[1]
On January 1, 1985, the Municipality of Kipawa was created out of previously unincorporated area.[6]
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Kipawa had a population of 446 living in 214 of its 325 total private dwellings, a change of -10.6% from its 2016 population of 499. With a land area of 35.58 km2 (13.74 sq mi), it had a population density of 12.5/km2 (32.5/sq mi) in 2021.[3]
^"Interview with Mike McKenzie and Francis Robinson". Témiscaming 1921-1996: nos racines, notre histoire (in French). Book Committee: Louise Forget, Yolande Dumas, Julienne Cécire, Thérese Gélineau, Ken Collins, Ross Sparling, Philippe Barette, Shirley McCullock, Marjorie Brown, Linda Lamarhe, Pierre Bérubé, Gerry Jones, Peter McCulloch, Lois Lynn. Témiscaming?: s.n. 1996. p. 358. ISBN9782980420603. OCLC936856576.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
