Matapédia (French pronunciation: [matapedja]; former name: Saint-Laurent-de-Matapédia) is a municipality at the southern tip of the Gaspé Peninsula, in eastern Quebec, Canada.

[6] Another source from the late nineteenth century indicates that the Mi'kmaq named the area Magabegeak which means "roughly flowing".

[1] The feat of colonization was no simple act, the entire valley had undergone immense forest fires at the middle of the 19th century, with building woods scarce.

[15] According to a commissioned report, a thousand square miles of forest had burned in the 1864 blaze, and even worst, the river had flooded in 1865.

[18] The economy is mainly focused on the local geography, with activities such as salmon fishing,[19] fly tying,[20][21] hunting[22] and tourism.

[23] Fishing remains an important part of the Matapédia economy and heritage, conservation efforts have been made to help the Atlantic salmon in both rivers, such as protection of breeding grounds.

Notable floods (natural disasters[31]) have occurred in:[32] Since 1962, the Environment Canada hydrologic station located on the upper portion of the Restigouche River has reported substantial increases of water flow, sometimes at over 400% above previous levels.

Furthermore, the clear cut land lacks the naturally occurring moss which would help colloidal suspension in soil and retention.

To safeguard these pools for future generations, the wildlife reserve Rivières-Matapédia-et-Patapédia was established on a part of its course to protect this resource.

[47] The Matapédia municipal council consists of a mayor and six councilors elected in rotating block every four years without territorial division.

In the 2021 Canadian federal election, the incumbent Kristina Michaud of the Bloc Québécois was re-elected to represent the population Matapédia in the House of Commons of Canada.