The Algonquin toponym of the town is Ozawaconia Odena.[8]
History
Centrale Street in Val-d'Or in 1959
Gold was discovered in the area in 1923. The name of the town is French for "Valley of Gold." While gold is still mined in the area today, base metals, such as copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and lead (Pb) have become increasingly important resources. The ore is usually found in volcanic rocks that were deposited on the sea floor over 2.7 billion years ago. They are referred to as volcanic-hosted (or volcanogenic) massive sulphide deposits (VMS).[2]
The city is known for its vast parks, cycle tracks, and forests. Some other attractions include the City of Gold and the mining village of Bourlamaque, which were officially proclaimed historic sites in 1979.
The city hosted the Quebec Games in 1987. The local hockey team, the Val-d'Or Foreurs, have played in the QMJHL since 1993, winning the league championship in 1998, 2001 and 2014 to claim a spot in the Memorial Cup. They play at Centre Air Creebec. The Foreurs' mascot is called Dynamit, named after dynamite which was extensively used by the mining industry of Val-d'Or.
In the municipal reorganizations of January 1, 2002, Val-d'Or was merged with the neighbouring municipalities of Dubuisson, Sullivan, Val-Senneville and Vassan.[2]
The Radio-Canada investigative television program, Enquête, revealed in October 2015 numerous allegations of assault and sexual abuse of local aboriginal women by members of the provincial police, the Sûreté du Québec.[9] The news propelled the town into the national spotlight, causing Québec's Public Safety Minister, Lise Thériault, to suspend the officers and launch an independent investigation led by the Montréal police force.[10]
Geography
Val-d'Or is situated on the Canadian Shield at an elevation of 1100 feet (330m) above sea level. Although its name refers to a valley ("Val"), the city is actually situated on a vast, slightly undulating plain.
Val-d'Or is at the heart of a vast hydrographic network which includes to the north Lake Blouin, the head water of the Harricana River and to the south Baie Carrière, a reservoir which feeds the Ottawa River.[11]
Climate
Val-d'Or has a humid continental climate (Köppen Climate ClassificationDfb), closely bordering on a subarctic climate (Dfc) with warm, humid summers and severely cold winters. Winters are snowy with a January mean of −17.4 °C (0.7 °F). There are 18.4 days where the temperature will fall below −30 °C (−22.0 °F) although with the wind chill factored in, it can occasionally drop below −40 °C (−40.0 °F).[12] Snowfall totals are heavy, averaging 288 centimetres (113 in) with reliable snow cover from November to April.[12] Summers are warm with a July daily high of 23.7 °C (74.7 °F) though highs reach above 30.0 °C (86.0 °F) an average of 4.3 days per year. Val-d'Or receives 905 millimetres (36 in)
of precipitation per year which is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, though precipitation is heaviest during the warmest months. Val-d'Or receives 1853 hours of sunshine per or about 39.5 of possible daylight hours, ranging from a low of 19.2% in November to a high of 52.9% in July.
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Val-d'Or had a population of 32,752 living in 15,033 of its 15,884 total private dwellings, a change of 0.8% from its 2016 population of 32,491. With a land area of 3,536.84 km2 (1,365.58 sq mi), it had a population density of 9.3/km2 (24.0/sq mi) in 2021.[4]
Val-d'Or's proximity to the Abitibi gold belt has made it a large gold producer, being part of a region that produced 45 million ounces of gold since the 1930s.[18][19]
In 2012, Quebec Lithium Corp. re-opened a lithium mine which had operated as an underground mine from 1955–65, planning to carve an open pit mine over pegmatite dikes. the mine is about 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of Val d'Or, 38 kilometres (24 mi) southeast of Amos, and 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) km west of Barraute. Access to the mine is via paved road from Val d'Or.[20]
Transit and paratransit services within Val-d'Or are provided by a contractor.[24] Intercity bus service from and to Val-d'Or is provided by Autobus Maheux [fr].
Almost all media in Val-d'Or and the nearby city of Rouyn-Noranda serves both cities. Although the cities are far enough apart that radio and television stations in the area serve the cities from separate transmitters, almost every broadcast station in either city has a rebroadcaster in the other city. The only nominal exceptions are the cities' separate Énergie stations, although at present even these stations share the majority of their broadcast schedule.
Notable people
Yolette Lévy (1938–2018), Haitian-born Canadian politician and activist
