Cloridorme is a township municipality in the Gaspé Peninsula, Quebec, Canada. Cloridorme's economy is centred on fishing. Its population, according to the 2021 Canadian Census was 607. The township stretches for 16 kilometres (10 mi) along the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and includes Cloridorme Bay where the Little and Great Cloridorme Rivers have their mouths.
In addition to the village of Cloridorme itself, the township's territory also includes the communities of Cloridorme-Ouest, Petite-Anse, Pointe-à-la-Frégate, and Saint-Yvon.
Etymology
Archival documents indicate that "Chlorydormes" was a place in the Jersey Islands, near the village of St John. Emigrants from Jersey have contributed to the primary population of the Gaspé area, including Cloridorme that was settled by a community of fishermen from Jersey. In particular, a certain Lewis Gibaut, friend of Georges Godfray of Grand-Étang (a neighboring village of Cloridorme) and who worked for William Hyman and Sons, returned to die in Chlorydormes, St-John, Jersey.[4][5]
The name has been in use since at least the middle of the 18th-century, as indicated by its use on a map of 1755, and by the 19th-century, the name Les Chlorydormes was used for 2 bays on the coast (now Cloridorme Bay[6] and Petit-Cloridorme Cove[7] where the Grand-Cloridorme and Petit-Cloridorme Rivers empty into the St. Lawrence respectively). The spelling modification and change from plural to singular occurred at the end of the 19th century.[1]
History
Village of Cloridorme in 1940
The area was first settled in 1838 by people from Montmagny. In 1853, a mission was set up, called Sainte-Cécile-de-Cloridorme. In 1871, the geographic township was formed, the following year the post office opened (called Chlorydormes, and changed to Cloridorme in 1921), and the year after that, the mission became a parish. In 1885, the Township Municipality of Cloridorme was established.[1]
In 1957, the township lost a portion of its territory when Petite-Vallée became a separate incorporated municipality.[8]
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Cloridorme had a population of 607 living in 315 of its 382 total private dwellings, a change of -9.5% from its 2016 population of 671. With a land area of 158.74 km2 (61.29 sq mi), it had a population density of 3.8/km2 (9.9/sq mi) in 2021.[3]
^"1971 Census of Canada - Population Census Subdivisions (Historical)". Catalogue 92-702 Vol I, part 1 (Bulletin 1.1-2). Statistics Canada: 76, 139. July 1973.
