The township is predominantly agricultural which is the main economic activity.[5]
History
In 1807, a group of about 400 Scottish Highlanders settled in the area, the same year the geographic township of Lochaber Gore was created. They came from the Highlands, near Lochaber and other parts of northern Scotland. Settlement was difficult, because income from agriculture was lower than the costs of importing manufactured products from Montreal.[5][6]
With the arrival of the logging industry, the settlers were able to practice agriculture during the summer, while working in the lumberjack camps during the winter, or to work in the various sawmills that developed along the Blanche River near Thurso. The logging industry also attracted many more settlers, including French Canadians, and settlement was well underway at the turn of the 19th to 20th century. The population became predominantly Francophone at the start of the 20th century.[5]
In 1891, the township municipality of Lochaber-Partie-Ouest was created when it was split off from Lochaber Township.[1]
Demographics
Historical census populations – Lochaber-Partie-Ouest
Year
Pop.
±%
1986
504
—
1991
470
−6.7%
1996
477
+1.5%
2001
460
−3.6%
2006
514
+11.7%
2011
646
+25.7%
2016
856
+32.5%
2021
926
+8.2%
Source: Statistics Canada
Lochaber-Partie-Ouest
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Lochaber-Partie-Ouest had a population of 926 living in 336 of its 358 total private dwellings, a change of 8.2% from its 2016 population of 856. With a land area of 57.39 km2 (22.16 sq mi), it had a population density of 16.1/km2 (41.8/sq mi) in 2021.[7]
Canada census – Lochaber-Partie-Ouest community profile
