Saint-Fran�ois-de-l'�le-d'Orl�ans, Quebec (Canada) (original) (raw)

Saint-Fran�ois-de-l'�le-d'Orl�ans (527 inhabitants in 2016; 2,896 ha) forms the northeastern most part of Orl�ans Island.
Orl�ans Island (7,082 inhabitants in 2016; 19,300 ha), located on river Saint-Lawrence, east of Quebec downtown, is self-styled "Traditional Quebec's microcosm and birth place of French-speaking people in North America". The island was named by Jacques Cartier and a tribute to King of France Henry II, Duke of Orl�ans.
The poet and singer F�lix Leclerc (1014-1988) settled in 1970 in Orl�ans Island, where his ancestors had a domain. He composed in 1975 "Le tour de l'�le", an ode to the island and also an independentist manifesto.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEpC34NyXA8
F�lix Leclerc, Le tour de l'�le

Saint-Fran�ois was established in 1679 in a part of the island where wild vines grew profusely, therefore the name of Bacchus Island originally coined by Cartier. The parish of Saint-Fran�ois-de-Sales was established in 1714. The municipality of the parish of Saint-Fran�ois was established in 1855, to be transformed to the municipality of Saint-Fran�ois-de-l'�le-d'Orl�ans on 20 December 2003.
The municipality's civil namesake is Fran�ois Berthelot, Count of Jouy and Saint-Laurent, Councillor at the Paris Parliament and lord of Orl�ans Island in 1675.
https://toponymie.gouv.qc.ca/ct/ToposWeb/fiche.aspx?no_seq=380551
Commission de toponymie Qu�bec
Ivan Sache, 29 March 2021

A proposal of flag for Saint-Fran�ois-de-l'�le-d'Orl�ans was submitted in March 2021 by a committee appointed in May 2019 by the Municipal Council.
Named "Point of fertile land moving forward into the estuary", the design uses graphic elements from the municipal coat of arms, the leek and the traditional house. The leek is allegorically represented as if it had grown to a tree whose shade protects the traditional house. The green field represents the fertile land, while the Saint-Lawrence is represented by the field in "Quebec" blue. The two oval spots represent �le aux Ruaux and �le Madame, two islands that are part of the municipality of Saint-Fran�ois-de-l'�le-d'Orl�ans.
The golden outline represent the foreshore, that is the intertidal zone above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide. These areas, known as "battures" ("estrans" in European French) are a significant ecosystemic component of the estuary of the Saint-Lawrence, highlighted by F�lix Leclerc in "Le tour de l'�le":
"Et en juillet
Le fleuve est ti�de
Sur les battures"
("And in July
The river is mild
On the foreshore").

https://www.quebechebdo.com/local/journal-lautre-voix/248940/projet-de-drapeau-municipal-a-saint-francois/
L'Autre Voix, 26 March 2021

The arms of Saint-Fran�ois-de-l'�le-d'Orl�ans are "Quarterly, 1. Or a leek sable, 2. Or a traditional house sable, 3. Or five strawberries sable in saltire, 4. Or a blue flag (purple iris) sable. A chief vert a map of Orl�ans Island of the same fimbriated or in fess. The shield surmounted by a roaster and leopard sable affronty ensigned by a crown of the same. Above a scroll or inscribed with the name of the municipality in letters sable. Below a scroll or inscribed with the French motto 'Contre vents et mar�es' [Against Winds and Tides] in letters sable."

Mostly grown in the northern part of the municipality, leek is the nickname (French, "poireau"; pl., "poireaux") of the inhabitants of Saint-Fran�ois-de-l'�le-d'Orl�ans.

https://msfio.ca/culture-sports-et-loisirs/armoiries/
Municipal website

Image from L'Autre Voix, 26 March 2021
https://www.quebechebdo.com/local/journal-lautre-voix/248940/projet-de-drapeau-municipal-a-saint-francois/

Ivan Sache, 29 March 2021