The place name is taken from the river that flows through the village and is of Mi'kmaq origin, meaning either "land of the rising sun" or "white water".[1]
The Municipality of Shigawake has an eight kilometre stretch of coastline behind high red cliffs on the Gaspe Coast. It has been officially designated as an Anglophone community among the largely Francophone population of Quebec. The community is only home to, among many small houses, a municipal building, the Anglican church of St Paul's (built in the 1860s), and a former Rectory converted to the Community Centre. The United Church was decommissioned in 2012, formerly the site of a temperance hall.
Shigawake has held the Shigawake Fair annually since 1909, also now paired with the Shigawake Music Festival which has showcased local talent.[citation needed]
Shigawake is also the site of Seagro, an organic fertiliser and composting firm.[citation needed]
The oldest farmhouse on the entire coast continuously inhabited by one family, the Old Homestead, was built early in the first decade of the 1800s.[citation needed] The founding of Shigawake is described in The Alford Saga, an eight book series of a romantic adventures by Paul Almond, an officer of the Order of Canada.
The area's fields, once so productive, are now used mainly for hay and its forests for harvest of sawlogs and firewood.[4][not specific enough to verify]
History
It is believed that the first settlers were probably sailors on a ship transporting slaves at the end of the 18th century.[1]
In 1864, its post office opened, and the parish was formed in 1873. But it was only on December 15, 1924, more than 50 years afer, that Shigawake was officially created by splitting away from the Township of Saint-Godefroy.[1][5]
Notes: 2011 income data for this area has been suppressed for data quality or confidentiality reasons. References: 2021[6] 2016[7] 2011[8] earlier[9][10]
