Paspébiac comes from the Mic-Mac name “Tchakibiac” which means “broken sand bar” or “pointed end of stop”, depending on the consulted reference. Il can also mean “piece of land sticking out into the sea”, referring to the long triangular sans bar magnificently stickiing out into the sea which has already enticed sailors and which forms a true natural protection zone for boats.

On November 10th 1707, governor Vaudreuil and the treasurer Raudot grant a seigniory (2 leagues head-on on 3 leagues deep from Paspébiac pointed end) to Pierre Haimard (1674-1724). He donated half of the seigniory, on July 28th, 1723, to Louis Gosselin, his wife’s son, and the other half to Simon Haimard, his brother. The first settlers arrive in 1755 and they come from Acadie, from Normandy, from the Basque country and from Jersey Island. This place is selected by Charles Robin (1743-1824), in 1783, to install one of the first sedentary fishing posts of the Gaspésie peninsula and to locate, in Paspébiac, his company’s administrative centre which exploits fishing posts along the Baie-des-Chaleurs area and on the lower North Coast.

The first baptism recorded in Paspébiac took place in 1747 and the first enumeration in 1777 points out 16 families (75 persons among whom 47 children). The parish, dedicated to “Notre-Dame-de-la-Purification”, is founded in 1796 and the first resident missionary is Rev François-Xavier Tessier in 1845. The parish’s canonical erection takes place on March 28th, 1860 the very same year the first church is built. The first resident parish priest, Rev Charles-Godefroi Fournier, arrives in 1861. A new church is built in 1879, the other one having been demolished.

Civic organization begins only in 1877 with the election of Mr. John P. Legrand as first mayor. On May 30th, 1922, further to a long battle about the taxation rate, the municipality is divided into two: Paspébiac and Paspébiac-Ouest. They will again be merged on August 20th, 1997 and the city status will be granted on May 1st, 1999.

On April 19th, 1957, a violent fire destroys the second church. Bishop Albini LeBlanc, of Gaspé, uses this opportunity to divide the parish of Paspébiac and and to create the St Pie X parish, in 1958. The actual church will be rebuilt only in 1960 by contractor Marcel Montreuil according to plans prepared by architect Edgar Courchesne.

The building is rectangular with a protroding chancel and a flat apse. Outside walls are covered with stone while the internal walls are covered with plaster. The vault, covered with acoustical tiles, forms a polygonal arch.

11B, boulevard Gérard-D. Lévesque, Paspébiac
QC, CA
G0C 2K0