Coteau-du-Lac is a small city in southwestern

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. It is on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River in the Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality. The name of the town comes from the French word ''Coteau'' which meant "slope" and from its location on the north shore of Lake Saint Francis. The National Historic Site of Canada of the

Coteau-du-Lac canal Coteau-du-Lac Canal is an 18th-century military canal in Canada located at the junction of the Delisle and Saint Lawrence Rivers in Quebec. The canal was the first work of its kind in North America, and is a National Historic Site of Canada, which ...

is the location of the first canal lock system in North America. The city has an

industrial park An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park ...

. The population was 7,044 as of the 2016 Canadian Census.

History

The place was mentioned in 1687 by

Marquis de Denonville A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman ...

. His record stated that "'' du Lac'' is a place where one stopped on the way to the ''Rapides d'en Haut''", referring to a small hillside (French: ''coteau'') on the north side of the St. Lawrence River near the mouth of Lake Saint Francis (French: ''lac Saint-François''). In 1779 the Coteau-du-Lac canal was constructed to bypass the numerous rapids between Lake Saint-Louis and Lake Saint-Francis. Two years later, a military detachment was stationed there. In 1789, its post office opened under the name Coteau-du-Lac. During the War of 1812, a fort was built to protect the canal. In 1832, the Parish of Saint-Ignace was created. The following year, the parish was civilly established under the name "Saint Ignace du Côteau du Lac". In 1845 it was formed into a municipality, but abolished in 1847. In 1855, it was reestablished as the Parish Municipality of Saint-Ignace-du-Côteau-du-Lac. In 1907, the Village Municipality of Côteau-du-Lac was formed out of Saint-Ignace-du-Côteau-du-Lac (orthography was later changed to "Coteau" without circumflex). These 2 entities merged again on 6 February 1982, to form the Municipality of Coteau-du-Lac, which changed statutes in 2007 to become a city. In mid-2013, around 120 people were temporarily evacuated, and 2 people died after an explosion in the local fireworks factory.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by Statistics Canada, Coteau-du-Lac 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.

Local government

List of former mayors (since formation of current municipality): * Joseph Henri Paul Fernand Desforges (1982–1989) * Pierre Chevrier (1989–1996) * Robert Sauvé (1996–2013) * Guy Jasmin (2013–2017) * Andrée Brosseau (2017–present)

Education

Commission Scolaire des Trois-Lacs operates Francophone schools. *École de Coteau-du-Lac (pavillons Académie-Wilson, de l'Éclusière, and Saint-Ignace) Lester B. Pearson School Board operates Anglophone schools. * Evergreen Elementary and Forest Hill Elementary (Junior Campus and Senior campus) in Saint-Lazare or Soulanges Elementary School in Saint-Télesphore

Notable people

* Jules Fournier (1884-1918) was a Canadian writer and newspaper owner

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coteau-Du-Lac, Quebec Cities and towns in Quebec Quebec populated places on the Saint Lawrence River Incorporated places in Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality