Maniwaki, Quebec 5.41

Maniwaki is a town north of Gatineau and located north-west of Montreal, in the province of Quebec, Canada. The town is situated on the Gatineau River, at the crossroads of Route 105 and Route 107, not far south of Route 117 (Trans-Canada Highway). It is the administrative centre for La Vallée-de-la-Gatineau Regional County Municipality, Quebec.HistoryThe history of Maniwaki is closely linked to that of the adjacent Kitigan Zibi Reserve, because the Town of Maniwaki was developed on land that was originally part of this reserve. Its municipal lands were included in historical land claims by Kitigan Zibi; some of which were settled as recently as 2007.In the first half of the nineteenth century, Algonquins of the mission at Lake of Two Mountains, under the leadership of Chief Pakinawatik, came to the area of the Désert River. Shortly after in 1832, the Hudson's Bay Company followed them and installed a trading post at the confluence of the Désert and Gatineau Rivers. A decade later, Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate established the mission of Notre-Dame-du-Desert and, from 1849, they demanded of the authorities the demarcation of a township in order to establish a reserve for the Algonquins. The township limits are drawn in 1850 and given the name of Maniwaki by the Oblates at this time (Algonquian for "Mary's Land"). Soon after, wood merchants, farmers, trade workers, businessmen and professionals, drawn by the forest's wealth, came to live in Maniwaki. The Canadian Pacific Maniwaki subdivision linked Maniwaki with Wakefield and was abandoned in 1986.