Asbestos, Quebec


Asbestos is a town in the Estrie region of southeastern Quebec, Canada on the Nicolet River. Asbestos is the seat of Les Sources Regional County Municipality, formerly known as the Asbestos Regional County Municipality. The town covers an area of 29.67 square kilometres, including land acquired due to the merger of the City of Asbestos with the Municipality of Trois-Lacs on December 8, 1999.
At the 2011 census, 7,096 people resided in Asbestos. It is situated in the centre of a square formed by the cities of Drummondville, Sherbrooke and Victoriaville, and the Nicolet River to the north. It is the site of the Jeffrey mine, until recently the world's largest asbestos mine, which has long been the town's largest employer, and of the now-closed Magnola magnesium refinery. It was the site of the famous 1949 Asbestos Strike.

History

During the 1960s the town was thriving and it could afford to expand and invest in its infrastructure and artistic patrimony. It provided itself with a new modern town-hall whose main hallway was adorned with a grand mural by the artist Denis Juneau, as well as some ceramic pieces in the church by the famed ceramist Claude Vermette.
In late 2011, Canada's remaining two asbestos mines, Lac d'Amiante du Canada and the Jeffrey mine, halted operations. In June 2012, a $58 million loan was promised by the Quebec government to restart and operate the Jeffrey mine for the next 20 years. In September 2012, before the loan funds were delivered, the Parti Québécois defeated the Quebec Liberal Party in the Quebec provincial election. The Parti Québécois followed through with an election promise to halt asbestos mining and to cancel the $58 million loan, and put funding toward economic diversification in the area.
At various times since the decline of asbestos mining, residents and politicians in the area have proposed changing the town's name due to its negative connotations; however, past proposals often failed, with people involved in the debate noting that because the town is predominantly francophone and the mineral is referred to as amiante rather than asbestos in French, its residents do not associate the town's name with the stigma around the mineral. A name change plan was approved by the municipal council in November 2019 and is set to take effect in 2020, with the new name chosen by a public poll.

Demographics

Population

Language