New Carlisle is a town in the Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine region of Quebec, Canada. It best known as the boyhood home of René Lévesque although he was born in Campbellton, New Brunswick. Its population is approximately 1,336, approximately two-thirds of whom are anglophone and the remainder francophone. New Carlisle is located on the Baie des Chaleurs. New Carlisle is the seat of Bonaventure Regional County Municipality, the judicial district of Bonaventure, and the regional base for the Ministry of Transports Quebec, which has an operations centre on the outskirts of town. New Carlisle has a post office, primary and high schools, five different churches and many services. Via Rail mothballed its operations between Matapédia and New Carlisle sometime around 2010.

History

Originally a Mi'kmaq site called Antagoetjoitog, meaning "at the Black's", the site of the town was selected in 1784 by the Lieutenant-Governor of the jurisdictional District of Gaspe, Nicholas Cox. The town as is thought to have been named after Cox's home town, possibly Carlisle in England. Soon after the name was changed from "Carlisle" to "New Carlisle". The original settlers of 1784 were discharged soldiers of British Army regiments and Loyalists claimants. In 1842, the geographic Cox Township was proclaimed. It was also known as Petit-Paspébiac in the 19th century. The area was first incorporated as the Township Municipality of Cox in 1845, dissolved in 1847, but reestablished again in 1855. On February 1, 1877, the Township Municipality of Cox was dissolved and divided into the Municipalities of New Carlisle and Paspébiac. The town was the scene of the capture of German spy Werner von Janowski, who was dropped from a nearby U-boat in November, 1942.

Geography

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Demographics

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Language

Mother tongue (2021):

Notable people