Lebel-sur-Quévillon is a charming city nestled in the Canadian province of Quebec. This city, located on Route 113 in the Jamésie region, is approximately 88 kilometres north of Senneterre and about 200 kilometres southwest of Chibougamau. Although surrounded by the local municipality of Eeyou Istchee James Bay, it is not a part of it. The city, which had a population of 2,187 as per the Canada 2016 Census, is served by the Lebel-sur-Quévillon Airport. The hamlet of Rapide-des-Cèdres also falls within its municipal boundary.
Lebel-sur-Quévillon is situated 88 kilometres northeast of Senneterre and 151 kilometres northeast of Val-d'Or. It is accessible via route 113, which links Lac Saint-Jean to Abitibi via Chapais and Chibougamau. The village is entirely enclosed by Eeyou Istchee James Bay and is located on a peninsula at the southwest of Quevillon Lake. This heart-shaped lake, 12.6 kilometres in length, is mainly supplied by the Wilson River, which empties on the north-east shore of the lake.
The name "Lebel" honours Jean-Baptiste Lebel, a forestry contractor born in 1887 who worked tirelessly to establish a paper mill in the north of the province. The lake lends the second part of its name to the city. Lac Quévillon is named in honour of Louis-Amable Quévillon, an architect and sculptor of religious objects.
The town was built on the Quevillon Lake Peninsula to accommodate employees of the Dominion Tar Pulp and Chemical Plant (Domtar). The first inhabitants arrived in August 1966, and by 1971, the population reached 3000 inhabitants, swelling to 4300 with the surrounding villages. The city has seen its share of labour disputes, strikes, and closures, most notably the permanent closure of the Domtar pulp mill in 2008. However, the city has also seen growth and development, with significant investment in Domtar in 1994 and the opening of the Langlois mine by Canadian company Cambior. In 2012, the former Domtar plant was purchased by Fortress Paper, creating 333 direct jobs and 400 indirect jobs.
As per the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Lebel-sur-Quévillon had a population of 2,091 living in 942 of its 1,161 total private dwellings. This was a change of -4.4% from its 2016 population of 2,187. With a land area of 44.41 km2, it had a population density of 47.1/km2 in 2021. The majority of the population speaks French as their first language, with English being the first language for 1% of the population.
Lebel-sur-Quévillon experiences a humid continental climate bordering closely on a subarctic climate. Summers are short but warm with cool nights and plentiful rainfall. Winters are long, bitterly cold, and very snowy, with yearly snowfall averaging 225.6 cm. Precipitation peaks from July to September, with July being the wettest month of the year.
