Mont-Laurier, Quebec
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Mont-Laurier () is a town and incorporated municipality in western
Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
, Canada, located on the banks of the
Lièvre River The Lièvre River (, ) is a river in western Quebec which flows south from the Mitchinamécus reservoir and empties into the Ottawa River at Masson-Angers. The river is long and drains an area of . The river's name is an adaptation of its forme ...
(''Rivière du Lièvre''), a tributary of the
Ottawa River The Ottawa River (, ) is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word "to trade", as it was the major trade route of Eastern Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border betw ...
. Known as the "Capital of the Haute-Laurentides", the motto of the town is ''Laurus elationis praemium'', which translates to "Lift the laurels of reward". The
demonym A demonym (; ) or 'gentilic' () is a word that identifies a group of people ( inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place ( hamlet, village, town, city, region, ...
for its inhabitants is ''Lauriermontois''. According to the
2021 Canadian census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canada, 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%, whic ...
, the population of Mont-Laurier is 14,180. It is the seat of
Antoine-Labelle Regional County Municipality Antoine-Labelle () is a regional county municipality located in the Laurentides region of Quebec, Canada. Its seat is Mont-Laurier. It is named for Antoine Labelle. Subdivisions There are 28 subdivisions within the RCM: ;Cities & Towns (2) * ...
and the
judicial district A judicial district or legal district denotes the territorial area for which a legal court (usually a district court) has jurisdiction. By continent Europe Austria In texts concerning Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Aus ...
of Labelle.


History

The territory was originally inhabited by Oueskarinis, a sub tribe of
Algonquians The Algonquians are one of the most populous and widespread North American indigenous American groups, consisting of the peoples who speak Algonquian languages. They historically were prominent along the Atlantic Coast and in the interior reg ...
. The European settlers came from
Sainte-Adèle Sainte-Adèle () is a municipality in Quebec, Canada, and is part of the Les Pays-d'en-Haut Regional County Municipality. It lies on Route 117 about north-west of Montreal. Its tourism-based economy centres on its skiing and hotel industry. Sai ...
in 1866, and the place was originally called ''Rapide-de-l'Orignal'' (English: Moose Rapids) in 1885, by Solime Alix. The name referred to, according to a legend, a panicked moose that made a huge leap at a waterfall on the
Lièvre River The Lièvre River (, ) is a river in western Quebec which flows south from the Mitchinamécus reservoir and empties into the Ottawa River at Masson-Angers. The river is long and drains an area of . The river's name is an adaptation of its forme ...
. On Octobre 14, 1909, the place was incorporated as the Village Municipality of Mont-Laurier by separating from the Township Municipality of Campbell (founded in 1900). It was named in honour of Canadian Prime Minister
Sir Wilfrid Laurier Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier (November 20, 1841 – February 17, 1919) was a Canadian lawyer, statesman, and Liberal politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. The first French Canadian prime min ...
. Just before the founding of the village municipality, the railway from Montreal through the
Laurentides The Laurentides (, ) is a region of Quebec. While it is often called the Laurentians in English, the region includes only part of the Laurentian Mountains. It has a total land area of and its population was 589,400 inhabitants as of the 2016 C ...
reached Mont-Laurier, with the first train arriving on September 15, 1909. Two months later the station was completed. As the terminus of the railway, it served as transit point for passengers and a center for receiving and shipping goods, handling between 100 and 125 freight cars every week. Freight wagons from Montreal brought coal, oil, or any other merchandise, while returning wagons were full of wood and animals. In 1940, a road from Mont-Laurier to
Abitibi Abitibi may refer to: Election districts in Canada * Abitibi—Témiscamingue (electoral district) * Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou * Abitibi (provincial electoral district) Places in Canada * Abitibi Canyon, Ontario, community on th ...
was built. This facilitated the growth of the trucking industry. Increased use of the road in the 1960s led to the decline of the railroad. In 1950, Mont-Laurier changed statutes and became a ''ville''. In 1971, it merged with the Township Municipality of Brunet (that succeeded Campbell Township in 1953). On November 13, 1981, the ''P'tit train du Nord'' made its last passenger trip to Mont-Laurier, followed by the end of freight transport towards the end of the 1980s. In 2003, Mont-Laurier merged with the neighbouring towns Des Ruisseaux and
Saint-Aimé-du-Lac-des-Îles Saint-Aimé-du-Lac-des-Îles () is a municipality in the Laurentides region of Quebec, Canada, part of the Antoine-Labelle Regional County Municipality. The village itself is located just off Quebec Route 309 at the southern end of Lake of Isla ...
, with the name Mont-Laurier being chosen for the combined municipality. Following a 2004 demerger referendum vote, Saint-Aimé-du-Lac-des-Îles left Mont-Laurier in 2006 to be reconstituted as an independent municipality. The de-amalgamation did not affect Des Ruisseaux, which remains part of Mont-Laurier.


Geography

In addition to Mont-Laurier, the municipality also consists of the following population centres: Lac-Gatineau, Saint-Jean-sur-le-Lac, and Val-Limoges. Mont-Laurier is located on the banks of the Rivière du Lièvre, a tributary of the
Ottawa River The Ottawa River (, ) is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word "to trade", as it was the major trade route of Eastern Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border betw ...
, about from the
river delta A river delta is a landform, archetypically triangular, created by the deposition of the sediments that are carried by the waters of a river, where the river merges with a body of slow-moving water or with a body of stagnant water. The creat ...
. Its location in the
Laurentian Mountains The Laurentian Mountains, also known as the Laurentians or Laurentides, are a mountain range in Canada. The range is long and ranges in height from with peaks over . The Laurentian Mountains extend across Labrador and Quebec within the Laurent ...
places it at an altitude of 244 metres above mean sea level. It is surrounded by numerous lakes and mixed forests that support hunting, fishing and leisure, and the mainstay logging industry. Mont-Laurier is located roughly at the halfway point of the major roadway from
Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
to
Abitibi Abitibi may refer to: Election districts in Canada * Abitibi—Témiscamingue (electoral district) * Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou * Abitibi (provincial electoral district) Places in Canada * Abitibi Canyon, Ontario, community on th ...
, Route 117, about northwest of Montreal. Route 309 follows the Lievre and leads to
Gatineau, Quebec Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, directly across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region of Quebec and is also par ...
and
Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
, Ontario, to the south.


Climate

Mont-Laurier has a
humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...
(
Dfb DFB may refer to: Music * Dem Franchize Boyz, an Atlanta hip hop group * Dysfunctional Family BBQ, a New York festival Sport * DFB-Pokal, a football cup competition in Germany Organisations * Furka Steam Railway (), Switzerland * German Footbal ...
). It is strongly influenced by its inland position, with significant differences between the warm summers and the very cold winters. Precipitation is high year-round, causing significant snow cover in winter.


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 Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), 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 culture. It is headquartered in ...
, Mont-Laurier 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.


Economy

Mont-Laurier is the administrative and commercial centre of the Haute-Lievre area. Many residents are employed by the various governments, the schools and the hospital. Most of the economic activity is generated by tourism, road transport and forestry. There is some agriculture, mostly dairy farming, and dairy products manufacturing.


Government

Michel Adrien, a black immigrant to Canada from
Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...
, was elected mayor in 2003 with an 80% majority (in a town where more than 95% of the population are Caucasian, and less than 1% of the population are
Black Canadians Black Canadians () are Canadians of full or partial Afro-Caribbean or sub-Saharan African descent. Black Canadian settlement and immigration patterns can be categorized into two distinct groups. The majority of Black Canadians are descendants ...
). With no opponent running against him, Adrien was reelected through acclamation in 2005, 2007 and 2009. In addition to a mayoral leader, the municipality is governed by a city council.


Former mayors

List of former mayors: * Édouard Lemieux (1960-1964) * Michel Adrien (2003–2017) * Daniel Bourdon (2017–present)


Notable people

*
Sylvain Pagé Sylvain Pagé (born January 9, 1961) is a Canadian businessman and politician. Pagé is the current Member of National Assembly of Quebec for the riding of Labelle in the Laurentians, elected in 2001. He is a member of the Parti Québécois. B ...
, member of L'Assemblée nationale du Québec * Yvon Charbonneau, union leader *
Dan Cloutier Daniel Cloutier (born April 22, 1976) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender, who has recently taken on an Executive position with the Ontario Hockey League , OHL Guelph Storm, the team he completed his Junior Career. In his 10- ...
,
National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...
goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...
* Michel Melançon, drummer of "
Emerson Drive Emerson Drive was a Canadian country music band consisting of Brad Mates (lead vocals), Danick Dupelle (guitars, backing vocals), Mike Melancon (drums), and Dale Wallace (keyboards, backing vocals). The band was founded in 1995 as 12 Gauge, which ...
" *
Jocelyn Lemieux Jocelyn Jean-Marc Lemieux (born November 18, 1967) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played 597 games in the National Hockey League with seven teams over thirteen seasons before finishing his career with the Long Beach Ice D ...
, retired
NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...
Player *
Bobby Bazini Bobby Bazini (born Bobby Bazinet May 6, 1989) is a French Canadian singer-songwriter from Mont-Laurier, Quebec, Canada. He has released three studio albums and is currently signed to Universal Music Canada. Career 2009–2011: ''Better In Time' ...
, singer-songwriter


See also

*
List of cities in Quebec This is the list of municipalities that have the Classification of municipalities in Quebec, Quebec municipality type of city (Quebec), city (''ville'', code=V), an Administrative divisions of Quebec, administrative division defined by the Minist ...
*
Mont-Laurier Airport Mont-Laurier Airport is located west of Mont-Laurier, Quebec, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Oce ...
*
Parc Linéaire Le P'tit Train du Nord The Parc Linéaire Le P'tit Train du Nord () is a multiuse recreational rail trail located in Quebec, Canada. It runs through the Rivière du Nord valley. It originally was a railway line operated by Canadian Pacific Railway which operated it a ...
- railtrail to Mont-Laurier


References

*Coursol, Luc, ''Histoire de Mont-Laurier, 1940–1990'', Les éditions Luc Coursol, 1991.


External links


Ville de Mont-Laurier
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Quebec