Saint-Félicien is a charming city nestled in the Canadian province of Quebec. With a population of 10,226 as of 2023, this town is part of the Le Domaine-du-Roy Regional County Municipality in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region.
Saint-Félicien is beautifully situated on the western shores of Lac Saint-Jean, north of Roberval, near the mouth of the Ashuapmushuan River. The city is accessible from Chibougamau and northern Quebec via Quebec Route 167. For those coming from central and southern Quebec, Quebec Route 169 is the best route.
The town was founded in 1864 when the first settlers from Charlevoix and Chicoutimi arrived. It was officially recognized as a municipality in 1882, and the parish was established in 1884. In 1976, after a merger, it became a city. The region's economy was primarily driven by agriculture, saw wood, hunting, fishing, and dairy. The railroad started serving the area in 1917, and wood pulp became a significant contributor to the local economy in the 1970s.
In 1971, the Cégep de Saint-Félicien opened in the city, becoming the primary college for the city and neighbouring towns such as Normandin and Dolbeau-Mistassini. It is the only college in Québec that offers classes in forestry. In 1996, the municipality of Saint-Methode was merged with Saint-Felicien as part of a municipal re-organization in the area.
According to the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Saint-Félicien had a population of 10,089 living in 4,686 of its 5,169 total private dwellings. The median age was 48.4, and French was the mother tongue of 98.5% of residents. Indigenous peoples comprised 5.0% of the population, most of whom were First Nations, and visible minorities contributed 1.6%. The largest visible minority groups in Saint-Félicien are Black (0.8%), Southeast Asian (0.3%), and Latin American (0.3%).
In terms of religion, 74.0% of the population identified as Catholic, while 17.3% said they had no religious affiliation. Jehovah's Witnesses were the largest religious minority, making up 1.3% of the population.
The main attraction of Saint-Félicien is its 485-acre wildlife zoo, founded in 1960. The zoo is home to about 80 different species, including the polar bear, Arctic fox, Canada goose, snowy owl, Canada lynx, American black bear, grizzly bear, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, American bison, and the black-tailed prairie dog. Until 1994, the zoo housed various exotic animals, but today it contains almost exclusively species native to the boreal climate. In recent years, the zoo has acquired animal species living in boreal climates from all around the world, such as the Siberian tiger, Japanese macaque, red-crowned crane, and the Bactrian camel.
