Fermont is a mining city in Côte-Nord region, Quebec, Canada, near the Quebec-Labrador border about 23 km from Labrador City on Route 389, which connects to the Trans-Labrador Highway (Newfoundland and Labrador Route 500). It is the seat of the Regional County Municipality of Caniapiscau. Fermont (French contraction of "Fer Mont", meaning "Iron Mountain") was founded as a company town in the early 1970s to exploit rich iron ore deposits from Mont Wright, which is about 25 km to the west. The town is notable for the huge self-contained structure containing apartments, stores, schools, bars, a hotel, restaurants, a supermarket and swimming pool; the large building shelters a community of smaller apartment buildings and homes on its leeward side. Popularly known as The Wall (Le Mur), the structure was designed to be a windscreen to the rest of the town. It permits residents (other than mine workers) to never leave the building during the long winter, which usually lasts about seven months. The town, designed by Maurice Desnoyers and Norbert Schoenauer, was inspired by similar projects in Sweden designed by Ralph Erskine, notably that of Svappavaara, an iron mining town in Sweden. The building measures 1.3 km long and stands 15 m high.

History

Following the depletion of the Jeannine Lake Mine at Gagnon in the late 1960s, the Québec Cartier Mining Company began to develop the Mont Wright Mine. This was a large-scale project that involved mining, processing, and transporting iron ore. Some 1,600 employees would be needed, and the town of Fermont was constructed to house them and their families. By the end of 1972, the first people settled there. The same year, the Fermont post office opened, and in 1974, the place was incorporated as Ville de Fermont. The town, mine and wall were featured in the television crime drama series La Faille (2019).

Geography

Fermont is in an area of rounded hills and flat areas with peat bogs, wetlands and many lakes and small streams. The valleys show the influence of glacial action and contain undifferentiated glacial till and fluvioglacial deposits of sand and gravel. Lake Perchard, to the north of Fermont, supplies the town with drinking water. The Fermont waste water treatment plant discharges through lakes Daviault and Sans-Nom into Carheil Lake, in the Moisie River watershed. In April 2011 it was reported that water management experts in Sept-Îles were concerned about cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, that had been found in Carheil Lake and had potential to further affect the Moisie River. The bloom was due to phosphorus discharge from the treatment plant, which has since been reduced.

Climate

Fermont has a harsh subarctic climate (Köppen Dfc) with long, severe winters and short, mild summers. Although overall not as heavy as in most other parts of the Labrador Peninsula, snowfall is still heavy at around 2.9 m and average maximum depth of 85 cm which is actually deeper than some other North Shore locations with heavier snowfall like Sept-Îles.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Fermont had a population of 2,256 living in 976 of its 1,538 total private dwellings, a change of NaN% from its 2016 population of 2,474. With a land area of 451.12 km2, it had a population density of in 2021.

Languages

With French being the dominant language within the community, Fermont is the world's northernmost Francophone settlement of any considerable size, being located about one degree of latitude north of Dunkirk. Although fluency in French is common in Nunavik and other points north, most in that region have adopted English as their primary language for communication outside their communities. In addition, a Franco-Yukonnais community can be found in Dawson City, Yukon, but it forms only a minority of the total population. Fermont can also be considered the northernmost town to speak a Romance language.

Economy

The local economy is entirely dependent on the Mont Wright and Fire Lake mines owned by ArcelorMittal. Over 80% of municipal revenues come from mining operations. Average earnings for full-time workers was $63,982 in 2001, compared to $39,217 in Quebec as a whole. This went up to $70,102 in 2006, whereas the provincial average dropped to $37,722. The mine product is shipped to Port-Cartier on the Cartier Railway where it is converted to pellets. In 2006 the mine was affected by a labour dispute which lasted from early April to early June. It was amicably resolved with a six-year contract renewal. Because of the town's disproportionately high number of (relatively prosperous) men compared to women and the few entertainment options in Fermont's climate, the adult entertainment industry is extremely lucrative in Fermont, and strippers can make a substantial amount of money for their profession.

Local government

The city council is composed of a mayor and six city councillors. the mayor is Martin St-Laurent, and the councillors are Bernard Dupont, Danny Bouchard, Cindy Vignola, Marco Ouellet, Daniel Bergeron, and Shannon Power. List of former mayors:

Transportation

The Trans-Quebec–Labrador Route (route 389 on the Quebec side and route 500 on the Labrador side) is the only road access. Route 389 begins in Baie-Comeau and goes north along the Manicouagan Reservoir. The town is accessible by scheduled passenger airline service via the Wabush Airport located in Labrador West. The Cartier Railway connects Port-Cartier to the Mont-Wright mine, but it is only used for transporting iron ore concentrate and bulk equipment. The train no longer carries passengers.

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