St. Albert is a suburban city in Alberta, Canada, next to the Sturgeon River, northwest of the City of Edmonton, the provincial capital. It was originally settled as a Métis community, and is now the second-largest city in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region. St. Albert first received its town status in 1904 and was reached by the Canadian Northern Railway in 1906.Edmonton Bulletin, September 27, 1906. Originally separated from Edmonton by several miles of farmland, the 1980s expansion of Edmonton's city limits placed St. Albert immediately adjacent to the larger city on St. Albert's southern and eastern sides.
History
St. Albert was founded in 1861 as a Métis settlement by Father Albert Lacombe, OMI, who built a small chapel, the Father Lacombe Chapel, in the Sturgeon River valley. The chapel still stands to this day on Mission Hill in St. Albert. The original settlement was named Saint Albert by Bishop Alexandre-Antonin Taché, OMI, after Lacombe's name saint, Saint Albert of Louvain. Originally, although Lacombe had intended to found the mission at Lac Ste. Anne, the soil proved infertile, thus he moved the settlement to what would become St. Albert. This location offered several advantages, notably its easy access to supplies of wood and water, in addition to its excellent soil, it being a regular stopping-point for First Nations peoples on their travels, and its proximity to Fort Edmonton, where the priests could purchase necessary supplies and minister to Catholic workers. A few years later, a group of Grey Nuns would follow Lacombe from Lac Ste. Anne. More Métis from Lac Ste. Anne arrived in 1863 and, by December 1864, the population was roughly 300. In 1870, localised outbreaks of smallpox had spread northward into St. Albert, killing 320 of the area's then-900 residents.
St. Albert was previously the site of two Indian residential schools as part of the Canadian Residential School System. The St. Albert Indian Residential School ("Youville") was located on Mission Hill within the St. Albert city limits and was operated by the Roman Catholic Church from October 22, 1873, to June 30, 1948, after being relocated from the Lac Ste. Anne Mission, the site of its original founding. The Edmonton Indian Residential School ("Poundmaker") was located approximately 6 km east of St. Albert's current downtown area, and was operated by the Methodist Church from March 1, 1924, to June 30, 1968, later becoming the home of the Poundmaker Lodge rehabilitation centre. Between the two schools, 53 students are known to have died under unknown or dubious circumstances while in attendance. A healing garden, named Kâkesimokamik, was opened on September 15, 2017, as part of the truth-and-reconciliation process between the city of St. Albert and survivors (and their descendants) of the residential school system.
During the late 20th and early 21st centuries, it was mistakenly assumed that the community had been named after St. Albert the Great, due to incorrectly-printed information in the 1985 history of St. Albert, The Black Robe's Vision,The Black Robe's Vision published by amateur historians of the St. Albert Historical Society. This led to the City of St. Albert erroneously promoting St. Albert the Great as the community's "patron saint", even erecting a statue of the incorrect saint in the downtown area. However, the misconception was not corrected until 2008. The original chapel has since become an historic site, staffed with historical interpreters, and is open to the public during the summer season.
Also located in St. Albert is the St. Albert Grain Elevator Park, featuring two historic grain elevators; the original grain elevator was constructed in 1906 by the Brackman-Ker Milling Company, with the other being built later, in 1929, by The Alberta Wheat Pool company. The original 1906 elevator was originally red in colour, but has faded with time to a metallic silver. There is also a reproduction of the original 1909 railway station housed at Grain Elevator Park, erected in 2005. On Madonna Drive stands the Little White School House, which is open to the public. Arts and Heritage – St. Albert maintains the site, as well as the Grain Elevators and other heritage buildings, in addition to other sites under-restoration in the city. In June 2009, the City Council approved a multi-staged plan for the heritage sites, featuring the restoration of the grain elevators and the opening of both a Métis and French Canadian farm on adjacent lots by the River.
Economy St. Albert has an active and skilled labour force with a low unemployment rate of 4.3%. In 2011, 67.5% of the 40,560 adults aged 25 years and over in St. Albert had completed some form of postsecondary education, compared with 59.6% at the national level.
Of the population aged 25 years and over in St. Albert, 31.7% had a university certificate or degree. An additional 24.3% had a college diploma and 11.6% had a trades certificate.
The share of the adult population that had completed a high school diploma as their highest level of educational attainment was 23.7%, and 8.8% had completed neither high school nor any postsecondary certificates, diplomas or degrees.
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the City of St. Albert had a population of 68,232 living in 25,938 of its 27,019 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 65,589. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
In the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the City of St. Albert had a population of 65,589 living in 23,954 of its 24,446 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2011 population of 61,466. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016.
The population of the City of St. Albert according to its 2018 municipal census is 66,082, a change of from its 2016 municipal census population of 64,645.
Ethnicity In 2021, 83.4% of residents were white/European, 11.1% were visible minorities and 5.5% were Indigenous. The largest visible minority groups were Filipino (3.1%), South Asian (1.7%), Black (1.5%), Chinese (1.3%), and Arab (1.0%). + Panethnic groups in the City of St. Albert (2001–2021)Panethnic group20212016201120062001 European 55,835 55,850 54,260 53,185 49,305 Indigenous 3,685 2,830 2,205 1,640 1,220 Southeast Asian 2,335 1,630 835 320 530 South Asian 1,170 915 875 470 490 East Asian 1,120 900 810 745 605 African 1,035 800 530 245 260 Middle Eastern 775 770 450 435 205 Latin American 605 370 285 155 85 Other/multiracial 380 350 235 165 70 Total responses 66,945 64,415 60,480 57,345 52,770 Total population 68,232 65,589 61,466 57,719 53,081
Language As of 2021, 86.0% of residents spoke English as their mother tongue in 2021. The next most common first languages were French (2.6%), Tagalog (1.5%), German (0.8%), Spanish (0.7%) Ukrainian (0.6%), Chinese languages (0.6%), and Arabic (0.5%). 1.3% of the population listed both English and a non-official language as mother tongues, while 0.7% listed both English and French.
Religion According to the 2021 census, 55.4% of residents were Christian, down from 68.3% in 2011. 27.9% were Catholic, 13.6% were Protestant, 8.3% were Christian n.o.s, 1.4% were Christian Orthodox and 4.2% belonged to other Christian denominations and Christian-related traditions. 41.3% were non-religious or secular, up from 28.8% in 2011. All other religions and spiritual traditions accounted for 3.0% of the population. The largest non-Christian religions were Islam (1.6%) and Hinduism (0.4%).
Arts and culture Located in the heart of downtown, St. Albert Place is the focal point of many community events and activities. Designed by world-renowned Canadian architect Douglas Cardinal, its sculptural symmetry mimics the curves of the Sturgeon River that runs behind it. There are no corners; only curves. Built in 1984, St. Albert Place was designed as a "people place", housing a unique combination of civic government and cultural activity. Currently it houses the St. Albert Public Library, Musée Héritage Museum, Visual Arts Studio and Arden Theatre, as well as City Hall and associated city government services. The Musée Héritage Museum celebrates and explores the story of St. Albert through a variety of programs which seek to preserve the community's history for the future. The museum houses both permanent and temporary exhibits and also contains a Children's Discovery Room and gift shop. The archives at the museum consist of over 6,500 artifacts, 1,100 programming objects, 70 linear metres of textual record, around 3,000 pre-1948 photographs and thousands of post-1948 photographs. The museum is operated by Arts and Heritage St. Albert.
St. Albert has a rich arts scene. St. Albert is home to a writers' guild and painters' guild and renowned bands like Social Code and Tupelo Honey hail from St. Albert. The Arden Theatre is a popular venue for many plays and musical performances.
The St. Albert public art gallery, Art Gallery of St. Albert is a focal point of St. Albert's downtown. The gallery is housed in the historical Banque d'Hochelaga building in the heart of downtown St. Albert. The gallery features monthly exhibitions, a variety of public programs and also runs an annual art auction in St Albert. The Art Gallery of St. Albert is one of the stops on the St. Albert ArtWalk. The gallery is operated by Arts and Heritage St. Albert.
St. Albert is also notable for its Aboriginal heritage. The city is home to the Michif Institute founded by former Senator Thelma Chalifoux, dedicated to preserving and spreading knowledge of the city's Métis background. The Musée Héritage Museum contains many Métis artifacts. Many of the street signs in the city's downtown core are also trilingual, written in French and Cree in addition to English, as a tribute to the city's multiracial and multilinguistic origins. A current city project is to replace English-only signs with trilingual versions as the English-only versions wear out.
In 2008, NBC decided to film portions of its new horror/suspense anthology series Fear Itself in St. Albert's downtown and river valley.
St. Albert also has a St. Albert Children's Theatre group putting on two large musicals a year with many summer camps to participate in.
St. Albert is home to the St. Albert Community Band, whose motto is "Music is for Life!"
Festivals and events
The Kinsmen Rainmaker Rodeo starts with a parade that winds its way through the heart of St. Albert. After the parade, the rodeo begins, with rodeo events, midway, and musical performances.
The Outdoor Farmers' Market, held in downtown St. Albert, is Western Canada's largest outdoor farmers' market, attracting 10,000 to 15,000 people every Saturday from June to October. You can find locally grown fresh produce, handmade products and crafts and listen to the music of the buskers.
As many as 6,000 participants come to St. Albert to enjoy Rock'n August, a five-day festival held to celebrate the rumbles of chrome pipes and the rim shots of classic Rock and Roll music.
Other annual events include the St. Albert Rotary Music Festival, and Mambos & Mocktails, a 3-hour jazz concert played every December at Bellerose Composite High School by the jazz band and choir.
St. Albert also host an annual Harvest Festival at the St. Albert Grain Elevator Park.
The Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Festival, held at the Arden Theatre is one of the largest dance festivals of its kind in North America. It is hosted annually by the Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Company and generally takes place during the second weekend in May.
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