Alma, Quebec, Canada

🇨🇦 Alma is a town in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, in the Canadian province of Quebec.

History The present town of Alma was formed in 1962 from the merging of four villages: Isle-Maligne, Naudville, Riverbend and St-Joseph d'Alma. The oldest of the villages, St-Joseph-d'Alma, was founded in 1867 by Damase Boulanger. The area became an important industrial centre during the 1920s and 1930s with the construction of a hydro-electrical power station on the Grande-Décharge River, a paper mill (Price) and an aluminum smelting plant (Alcan), all of which are still in activity today.

In 2002, Alma merged with the Municipality of Delisle. Both modern day Alma and St-Joseph d'Alma are named after the Battle of the Alma.

Geography Alma is located on the south-east coast of Lac Saint-Jean where it flows into the Saguenay River, in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada, approximately 175 km north of Quebec City. Alma is the seat of Lac-Saint-Jean-Est Regional County Municipality. Alma is the second city in population in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region after the city of Saguenay.

Alma is the seat of the judicial district of Alma.

Demographics With a land area of 194.92 km² (75.26 sq mi), it had a population density of 155.6/km² (403.0/sq mi) in 2021. Mother tongue: • English as first language: 0.5% • French as first language: 98.5% • English and French as first language: 0.1% • Other as first language: 0.9%.

Transport Alma is serviced by the Alma Airport, located 4.1 km to the south of the town.