Notre Dame de Lourdes

Notre Dame de Lourdes, Manitoba, incorporated as a village in 1963, population 683 (2011c), 589 (2006c). The Village of Notre Dame de Lourdes is situated on the northeast slope of the Pembina Hills, 130 km southwest of WINNIPEG. French Canadians homesteaded in the area in 1881, followed by French and Swiss immigrants 1890-91. The main settlement began under Dom Paul Benoît of the Chanoines Réguliers de l'Immaculée-Conception, who surveyed the Roman Catholic mission of Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes in 1890. He returned the following year with settlers and fellow priests who established a church, a monastery and schools for boys and for aspirants to the priesthood.

Over the next 4 years, 5 groups of settlers and priests followed, including the Chanoinesses Régulières des Cinq Plaies du Sauveur, who began a convent in 1895. The clerics from Notre-Dame served in surrounding parishes, and the Chanoinesses developed new convents. Dom Benoît left the parish in 1910 and many of his companions became secular priests. The Chanoines remained at Notre-Dame until 1948.

One of Canada's few bilingual communities, nearly all of the residents are still either French-speaking or bilingual. Today the village is a service and commercial centre.