H�bertville, Quebec (Canada) (original) (raw)

A diagonal tricolour on a rising diagonal, green over blue over yellow, with a 6-rayed gold sunburst in the green field and an illustration of two pioneers in red in the lower fly.

The municipality of H�bertville (2,441 inhabitants in 2011; 261.44 sq. km) is located in the County Regional Municipality of Lac-Saint-Jean-Est, administrative region of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean.

H�bertville is named for the priest Nicolas-Tolentin H�bert (1810-1888), the son of Jean-Baptiste H�bert, a Patriot representative jailed in Montreal in 1837. In the middle of the 19th century, H�bert, appointed in 1840 priest of the Saint-Pascal parish in Kamouraska, founded the "Association des comt�s de L'Islet-Kamouraska", aimed at increasing arable lands and at preventing immigration of the locals to the USA. In summer 1849, H�bert set up an expedition with 44 men to explore the lands granted by the government; during three months, they cleared the forest to open a trail between Laterri�re and the Aunaies waterfall; this was the onset of the K�nogami Trail, later on the first road linking Saguenay and Lac-Saint-Jean. In spring 1850, H�bert came back with 75 men, who set up camps and increased the trail beyond the waterfall. Fourteen men decided to overwinter on the site, cutting timber to build a sawmill and a grain mill, and building a chapel. The first permanent colonists settled the place with their families in 1851. For the next eight years, H�bert visited the place, which the colonists had named for him, every summer, ordering in 1854 the building of a bigger chapel uphill. The chapel was replaced in 1881 by the today's church, the first stone church built in the Lac-Saint-Jean area. The parish of H�bertville was officially established in 1860 with Calixte H�bert, the founder's nephew, as its first Mayor (1860-1875). This was the first parish in Lac-Saint-Jean, therefore H�bertville is considered as the cradle of colonization of the region. The original territory of H�bertville was subsequently split with the erection of the daughter parishes of M�tabetchouan, Saint-G�d�on, Alma, Saint-Bruno, H�bertville-Station and Lac-�-la-Croix. H�bertville was established as a village in 1881, with the notary S�verin Dumais as his first Mayor (1881-1890).

The flag of H�bertville is divided green-yellow by a broad ascending diagonal blue stripe. A yellow six-rayed, half-sun is placed in the green part. Two red silhouettes are placed in the yellow part. Green represents the mountains, blue represents the lakes and water courses, yellow represents grains and harvest. The six rays of the sun represent the six daughters parishes formed in H�bertville. The silhouettes are taken from the monument dedicated to H�bert, representing the founder and a clearer (photo,http://www.hebertville.qc.ca/dcouvrir-hbertville/histoire-et-patrimoine/43-sites--dcouvrir. The flag was officially unveiled in 1999 during the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the village.

Ivan Sache, 1 July 2012