Search for "Hydro-Quebec"

Longueuil, Quebec, population 239,700 (2016 census), 231,409 (2011 census). Longueuil’s history dates to the 17th century with the settling of French colonists. It is today an important suburb of Montreal and is connected to the island of Montreal by the Jacques Cartier bridge and the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel-bridge. Longueuil is criss-crossed by major expressways linking metropolitan Montreal to Québec city, the Eastern Townships and northern New York State. The municipality of Longueuil is its own entity within the Longueuil agglomeration which includes other nearby cities.

Longueuil is situated on the ancestral territory of the Kanyen’kehà:ka. The land remains unceded and is considered Indigenous territory.

Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec, incorporated as a city 1960, population 48,899 (2016 census), 49,637 (2011 census). Dollard-des-Ormeaux is located on the northwest side of the Île de Montréal, near the Rivière des Prairies. It is bordered by the municipalities of Pierrefonds, Roxboro, St-Laurent, Kirkland, Pointe Claire and Dorval.

Brossard, Quebec, population 85,721 (2016 census), 79,273 (2011 census). Incorporated as a city in 1978, from 2002 to 2006 Brossard was a borough of Longueuil. Longueil was created by the amalgamation of eight distinct municipalities, including Brossard. In a 2004 referendum, Brossard residents voted to reconstitute their city. In 2006, Brossard again became its own municipality. Brossard is located on the South Shore of the St. Lawrence River, a short distance from the Champlain Bridge that links it to Montreal.

Sherbrooke, Quebec, incorporated as a city in 1852, population 161,323 (2016 census), 154, 601 (2011 census). Located 147 km east of Montreal, Sherbrooke is the principal city of the Eastern Townships. Situated in the heart of a region of lakes and mountains near Mont-Orford provincial park, it was for many years a commercial, industrial and railway centre. During the 1960s it also became a service centre. Sherbrooke is home to the region’s Catholic archdiocese and headquarters of the judicial district of Saint-François.

Thetford Mines, Quebec, incorporated as a city in 1905, population 16,174 (2016 census), 16,440 (2011 census). The city of Thetford Mines is located on the Bécancour River in the Appalachian Mountains, 107 km south of Quebec City. It was named after the town of Thetford in Norfolk, England. During the 20th century, it was one of the world’s largest asbestos mining and production centres.

Laval, Quebec, incorporated as a city in 1965, population 422,993 (2016 census), 401,553 (2011 census). Laval was formed by the merger of 14 municipalities: Chomedey, Duvernay, Laval-des-Rapides, Laval-Ouest, Pont-Viau, Sainte-Rose, Auteuil, Fabreville, Îles-Laval, Laval-sur-le-lac, Sainte-Dorothée, Saint-François, Saint-Vincent-de-Paul and Vimont. Laval is the third largest city in Quebec. It is located on Île Jésus, north of Île de Montréal. Laval is separated from Île de Montréal by the Rivière des Prairies and from the mainland to the north by the Rivière des Mille Îles. The city is named after François de Laval, the first Roman Catholic bishop of Quebec (1674-88) and onetime seigneur (1675-80) of Île Jésus.

There are 30 reserves in Quebec, held by 25 First Nations. In addition, there are 15 Inuit, 9 Cree and 1 Naskapi community whose lands fall under the jurisdiction of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement and the Northeastern Quebec Agreement. Because they are not governed by the Indian Act, these communities are technically not reserves. There are also five First Nations in Quebec that do not have reserve lands (Long Point First Nation, Communauté anicinape de Kitcisakik, Wolf Lake First Nation, Montagnais de Pakua Shipi and Nation MicMac de Gespeg). This is the largest number of First Nations without reserve land of any province. Finally, the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne has a reserve that is partly in Quebec, Ontario and New York state. As of 2018, there are 89,724 registered Indians in Quebec, 65 per cent of whom live on reserve.

Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, incorporated as a city in 1897, population 95,114 (2016 census), 92,394 (2011 census). The city of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu is located on the west bank of the upper portion of the Richelieu river, some 40 km southeast of Montreal.

Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu is located on the traditional territories of the Kanyen’kehà:ka and Abenaki. The land remains unceded and is considered Indigenous territory.

Tadoussac, Quebec, incorporated as a village in 1899, population 799 (2016 census), 813 (2011 census). Tadoussac is located at the confluence of the Saguenay and St. Lawrence rivers, 210 km northeast of Quebec City. In the Innu language, Totouskak means "breasts," a reference to the rounded hills found near the village.

Montreal, Quebec, incorporated as a city in 1832, population 1,704,694 (2016 c), 1,649,519 (2011 c). Montreal is Canada’s second largest city and is home to nearly half of the province of Quebec’s population. It is the metropolis of the province and was the most populous city in Canada for a century and a half. It is located in southwestern Quebec on Île de Montreal at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers. Montreal is a major industrial centre, commercial and financial metropolis, railway and maritime bridgehead, and one of the centres of francophone culture in North America. It is one of the world's great cities and enjoys international acclaim.

La Tuque, Quebec, incorporated 1911, population 11,001 (2016 census), 11,227 (2011 census). La Tuque is located on the Rivière Saint-Maurice, 165 km north of Trois-Rivières. The town was built at the start of the 20th century at the site of a former trading post. It owes its name to a mountain shaped like a triangular woolen hat, popularly known as a “tuque.” The town’s economy is driven in large part by the forestry industry.

Schefferville, Quebec, incorporated as a town in 1955, population 155 (2016 census), 213 (2011 census). Schefferville is located between Knob and Pearce Lakes, on Quebec’s border with Labrador, 510 km north of Sept-Îles.

Quebec is the largest province in Canada. Its territory represents 15.5 per cent of the surface area of Canada and totals more than 1.5 million km2. Quebec shares borders with Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland. The province also neighbours on four American states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. The name Quebec was inspired by an Algonquian word meaning “where the river narrows.” The French in New France used it solely to refer to the city of Quebec. The British were the first to use the name in a broader sense.

Val-des-Sources (formerly Asbestos), Quebec, incorporated as a village in 1899 and as a town in 1937, population 6,786 (2016 census), 7,096 (2011 census). The town of Val-des-Sources is located in the Eastern Townships region, 53 km north of Sherbrooke and 58 km southeast of Drummondville. Originally called Asbestos, the town was named after the mineral mined there from 1881 to 2011. During that time, Asbestos produced much of the world’s supply of the asbestos mineral, which is now banned in many countries because of its negative health effects. Asbestos was renamed Val-des-Sources in December 2020. Val-des-Sources is located on ancestral Abenaki lands. The land is unceded and is considered Indigenous territory.

St. Lawrence Lowland is a plain along the St. Lawrence River between Québec City in the east and Brockville, Ontario, in the west, including the Ottawa River valley west to Renfrew, Ontario.

Nunavik, the portion of land within the province of Quebec located north of the 55th parallel, covers approximately 500,000 km² (representing more than one-third of Quebec’s territory). For approximately 4000 years, Indigenous people have inhabited Nunavik, including Inuit who have made the region their homeland. Today, over 13,000 people live in Nunavik’s 14 villages spread along the Ungava Bay, Hudson Strait and Eastern Hudson Bay coasts.

St. Lawrence River, grand river and estuary, which together with the Great Lakes forms a hydrographic system that penetrates 3,058 km into North America.

The Quebec Act received royal assent on 22 June 1774. It revoked the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which had aimed to assimilate the French-Canadian population under English rule. The Quebec Act was put into effect on 1 May 1775. It was passed to gain the loyalty of the French-speaking majority of the Province of Quebec. Based on recommendations from Governors James Murray and Guy Carleton, the Act guaranteed the freedom of worship and restored French property rights. However, the Act had dire consequences for Britain’s North American empire. Considered one of the five “Intolerable Acts” by the Thirteen American Colonies, the Quebec Act was one of the direct causes of the American Revolutionary War (1775–83). It was followed by the Constitutional Act in 1791.

This is the full-length entry about the Quebec Act of 1774. For a plain language summary, please see The Quebec Act, 1774 (Plain-Language Summary).

In 1841, Britain united the colonies of Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada. This was in response to the violent rebellions of 1837–38. The Durham Report (1839) laid out the guidelines to create the new colony with the Act of Union in 1840. The Province of Canada was made up of Canada West (formerly Upper Canada) and Canada East (formerly Lower Canada). The two regions were governed jointly until Confederation in 1867. Canada West then became Ontario and Canada East became Quebec.

Lower Canada was a British colony from 1791 to 1840. Its geographical boundaries comprised the southern portion of present-day Quebec. In 1791, Britain divided the Province of Quebec into Upper Canada and Lower Canada. (See: Constitutional Act 1791.) Britain had followed a similar policy of territorial division twice before. Prince Edward Island was detached from Nova Scotia in 1769. The provinces of Cape Breton and New Brunswick were created in 1784 in response to the wave of Loyalist immigration (which also occurred in Quebec). In 1841, Upper Canada and Lower Canada were renamed Canada West and Canada East, respectively. They were united as the single colony of the Province of Canada.