Lavaltrie is a city located within the

D'Autray Regional County Municipality D'Autray is a regional county municipality in the Lanaudière region of Quebec, Canada. Its seat is Berthierville. The municipality has a land area of 1,249.30 km2 and its population was 42,189 inhabitants as of the 2016 Census. Its largest ...

in the southern part of the region of

Lanaudière Lanaudière (, ) is one of the seventeen administrative regions of Quebec, Canada, situated immediately to the northeast of Montreal. It has a total population ( 2016 Census) of 494,796 inhabitants, an increase of 4.9% over the 2011 census. Geogr ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada, northeast of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

outside the suburban sprawl of the North Shore (i.e., the suburbs located north of

Laval Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxem ...

). The population was 13,267 as of the Canada 2011 Census within a land surface area of about 70 square kilometres, with the majority of the territory being used for agricultural activities

History

The origins of Lavaltrie go back to the 17th century.

Jean Talon Jean Talon, Count d'Orsainville (; January 8, 1626 – November 23, 1694) was a French colonial administrator who served as the first Intendant of New France. Talon was appointed by King Louis XIV and his minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to ...

, the

intendant An intendant (; pt, intendente ; es, intendente ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In ...

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spai ...

, gave parcels of land (known as manors) to various lords. The land where Lavaltrie is now situated was given to a lieutenant, Sieur la Valtrie, by Talon in 1672. In the 18th century, land occupants built a new roadway along the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...

linking Montreal and Quebec City, named the

Chemin Du Roy The Chemin du Roy (; French for "King's Highway" or "King's Road") is a historic road along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. The road begins in Repentigny and extends almost eastward towards Quebec City, its eastern terminus ...

and now known as

Quebec Route 138 Route 138 is a major highway in the Canadian province of Quebec, following the entire north shore of the Saint Lawrence River past Montreal to the temporary eastern terminus in Kegashka on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The western terminus is in El ...

. For many decades, Lavaltrie was located in the centre of a large series of manors owned by lords intended to develop the agricultural sector

Mostly a rural area until the second half of the 20th century, Lavaltrie has developed steadily due to the growing suburbs of Montreal.

Demographics

In the 2021 Canadian census, 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, Lavaltrie had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Transportation

Lavaltrie's location near Autoroute 40 and Route 138 gives easy access to Montreal,

and the northern crown area of the Greater Montreal area. A-40 also gives Lavaltrie direct links to

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

and

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

to the east and

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

to the west. Autoroute 31 and Route 131 which ends at the junction of the A-40 in Lavaltrie gives the area easy access to more remote and rural regions of the Lanaudière region. However, even though located beside the Saint Lawrence River on its north, the city does not have a direct access to the south with the closest links being Autoroute 25 via the Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine Tunnel in Montreal to the west or the

Berthierville Berthierville ()(also called Berthier-en-haut, and legally called Berthier before 1942) is a town located between Montreal and Trois-Rivières on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada. Berthierville is the seat of D'Autray ...

- Sorel ferry to the east ( Autoroute 55 in Trois-Rivières via the

Laviolette Bridge The Laviolette Bridge ( French: ''pont Laviolette'') is an arch bridge connecting the city of Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada to Bécancour on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River via Autoroute 55. Overview Laviolette Bridge is the only ...

being the closest roadway link to its east).

Politics

* Source

Mayor

* Christian Goulet

Education

Commission scolaire des Samares The Centre de services scolaire des Samares is a francophone school district headquartered in Saint-Félix-de-Valois, in the Canadian province of Quebec.

operates francophone public schools: * École primaire de la Source * École primaire des Eaux-Vives * École primaire Jean-Chrysostôme-Chaussé * École primaire des Amis-Soleils * École Secondaire de la Rive The

Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board The Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board (SWLSB, french: Commission scolaire Sir-Wilfrid-Laurier, CSSWL) is a school board headquartered in Rosemère, Quebec in Greater Montreal. It officially came into existence in July 1998 when English-language sc ...

operates anglophone public schools, including: * Joliette Elementary School in

Saint-Charles-Borromée Saint-Charles-Borromée, Quebec ( 2021 Population 15,285) is a city in southwest-central Quebec, Canada, on the l'Assomption River. In Joliette Regional County Municipality, Saint-Charles-Borromée has the Maison Antoine-Lacombe, a heritage hom ...

Joliette High School Joliette High School (JHS, french: École secondaire Joliette) is a public anglophone secondary school in Joliette, Quebec. Operated by the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board, it is the sole anglophone high school in Lanaudière. it has about 265 st ...

Joliette Joliette is a city in southwest Quebec, Canada. It is approximately northeast of Montreal, on the L'Assomption River and is the seat of the Regional County Municipality of Joliette. It is considered to be a part of the North Shore of Greate ...

Joliette High School Zone Sec 1-5
"

. Retrieved on September 5, 2017.

References

External links

*
Website of the City of Lavaltrie
{{authority control Cities and towns in Quebec Incorporated places in Lanaudière Greater Montreal Quebec populated places on the Saint Lawrence River