Laval (Quebec)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Laval
Laval Town Hall
Laval Town Hall
Laval Coat of Arms
coat of arms 		Flag of Laval
flag
Motto : Unité, progrès, grandeur (German unity, progress, size )
Location in Quebec
Laval (Quebec)
Laval
Laval
State : CanadaCanada Canada
Province : Quebec
Administrative region : Laval
Coordinates : 45 ° 36 ′  N , 73 ° 43 ′  W Coordinates: 45 ° 36 ′  N , 73 ° 43 ′  W
Height : 27  m
Area : 247.09 km²
Residents : 401,553 (as of 2011)
Population density : 1,625.1 inh / km²
Time zone : Eastern Time ( UTC − 5 )
Municipality number: 65005
Postal code : H7A-H7Y
Area code : +1 450
Mayor : Marc Demers
Website : www.ville.laval.qc.ca

Laval is a city in the southwest of the Canadian province of Québec . It is located immediately north of Montreal on the Île Jésus . The city is at the same time a territorial equivalent of a regional municipality and one of 17 administrative regions of the province. With 401,553 inhabitants (2011) on an area of ​​247.09 km², Laval is the third most populous municipality in Québec. The present city was created in 1965 through the merger of 14 parishes.

geography

Most of the urban area is located on the Île Jésus , which is the second largest island in the Hochelaga archipelago with an area of ​​242 km² . It is surrounded by the Rivière des Prairies to the south and east and by the Rivière des Mille Îles to the west and north . Both are estuaries of the Ottawa , the most important tributary of the Saint Lawrence River . In the far south-west, the Île Jésus meets the Lac des Deux Montagnes . The urban area also includes several small islands in the two rivers. These include the Îles-Laval , the Île Paton and the Île du Mitan in the Rivière des Prairies, as well as the Île Turcotte, the Île Locas and the Île Saint-Joseph in the Rivière des Mille Îles. The main island is rural in the north and east; the urban areas are in the center as well as on the south and west banks.

Opposite the Rivière des Prairies is the Île de Montréal with the megacity of Montreal . Neighboring communities on the opposite bank of the Rivière des Mille Îles, the so-called Rive-Nord , are Deux-Montagnes , Saint-Eustache , Boisbriand , Rosemère , Lorraine , Bois-des-Filion and Terrebonne when viewed from southwest to northeast .

history

The French King Louis XIII. transferred the main island, then known as Île Montmagny, to the Jesuit order on January 15, 1636 . For this reason, the name Île Jésus soon caught on. The settlement by French colonists began in the 1670s. In 1672 the island passed into the possession of the royal secretary François Berthelot, who three years later ceded it to François de Montmorency-Laval (in exchange for the Île d'Orléans ). This transferred his rights in 1680 to the Séminaire de Québec , which ruled the island until 1854 .

The establishment of the first parish (Saint-François-de-Sales on the eastern tip of the island) took place in 1702. Gradually, the island was settled in a westerly direction, which led to the establishment of further villages and parishes. Overall, the island remained strongly agricultural for over two centuries. While Sainte-Rose on the west bank was the administrative capital of the island, Saint-Martin on the south bank developed into the economic center. The first independently administered municipalities were founded in 1845. Specialized horticulture replaced subsistence farming and the Île Jésus was known as the “Garden of Montreal”. With the opening of the railroad in 1876, individual places turned into popular destinations for summer getaways and excursions for Montreal residents.

Urbanization gradually began at the turn of the century ; in 1912 Laval-des-Rapides was the first municipality to be granted city status. Due to their convenient location as suburbs of Montreal, most of the parishes on the island experienced tremendous population growth in the decades that followed. Complex administrative structures led to a lack of planning security and duplication in the expansion of the infrastructure. In 1961, Saint-Martin, L'Abord-à-Plouffe and Renaud merged to form the town of Chomedey. In 1964 the provincial government set up a commission to solve intermunicipal problems. In its final report, the commission recommended that all municipalities be united. On August 6, 1965, the government issued a corresponding decree. The following 14 municipalities merged to form the city of Laval:

Laval had become the second most populous city in the province in one fell swoop. It is named after François de Montmorency-Laval, the first Roman Catholic bishop in Québec. Laval developed into an important industrial and service center. Large-scale agricultural areas and historic village centers have been preserved, however.

population

According to the 2011 census, Laval had 401,553 inhabitants, which corresponds to a population density of 1625.1 inh / km². 60.8% of the population stated French as their main language, the share of English was 7.0%. 0.9% said they were bilingual (French and English); 31.3% said they were bilingual and answered multiple questions. The most important non-official main languages ​​were Arabic (5.6%), Italian (4.2%), Greek (3.5%) and Spanish (2.9%). Only French spoke 36.6%. In 2001, 81.1% of the population were Roman Catholic , 6.3% Orthodox , 3.3% Protestant and 4.4% non-denominational.

Population development (figures before 1971 summarize the previously independent municipalities):

year 1871 1901 1931 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011
Residents 9,472 10,248 16,150 37,483 124,741 228.010 268,335 314,398 343.005 401,553

economy

Laval's economy is diversified, with an emphasis on high technology and the service sector . In the north and east of the island, the primary sector with quarries and farms is still present. In 2011 there were more than 10,000 different companies in Laval with more than 140,000 employees; Over a third of the population works in the city itself. The Laval Technopôle , the authority appointed by the city, is promoting the establishment of companies in six different areas , following the example of the Technopolis concept:

  • Agropôle - production, processing and distribution of food, as well as research in food technology
  • Cité de la Biotech - Research and development in the fields of life sciences and biotechnology
  • e-Pôle - development of software and IT services
  • Pôle Industriel - industrial companies in various sectors, as well as construction
  • Services and headquarters
  • Leisure and Tourism

Well-known companies based in Laval include Valeant (pharmaceuticals), Alimentation Couche-Tard (retail chain) and Multi-Marques (large bakeries). Carrefour Laval is the largest shopping center in the Montreal metropolitan area with more than 350 stores and a sales area of ​​over 115,000 m².

traffic

Five motorways cross the urban area. Four of them start in neighboring Montreal and head north. To the west is the Autoroute 13 (Autoroute Chomedey) to Boisbriand , which is also the shortest connection to the Montreal-Trudeau Airport in Dorval . This is followed by Autoroute 15 (Autoroute des Laurentides) towards Saint-Jérôme and Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts . The Autoroute 19 (Autoroute Papineau) is a short connection of local importance. The Autoroute 25 (Autoroute Louis-H.-Lafontaine) connects Laval Saint-Esprit and Longueuil . The car route 440 runs in a west-east direction, which acts as a crossbar connecting the four aforementioned motorways. Provincial roads of supraregional importance are route 117 to Rouyn-Noranda , route 125 to Saint-Donat and route 148 towards Gatineau .

Cartier metro station

From the Rive-Nord region and from the Île de Montréal , Laval can only be reached by road via bridges due to its island location. Seven road bridges each lead over the Rivière des Mille Îles and the Rivière des Prairies (see also the list of bridges and tunnels to the Île de Montréal ). A ferry operates between the Laval-sur-le-Lac district and the Île Bizard in the summer.

The center of the island is served by the AMT suburban railway line between Montreal and Saint-Jérôme (De La Concorde, Vimont and Sainte-Rose stations). Two other train stations (Île Bigras and Sainte-Dorothée) are in the extreme southwest on the AMT line from Montreal to Deux-Montagnes . The railway line from Laval to Mascouche and Trois-Rivières is currently only used for freight traffic.

The Société de transport de Laval operates a dense bus network with over forty lines. In 2007, Line 2 (orange line) of the Montreal Metro was extended to Laval. There are currently three stations in the city ( Cartier , De La Concorde and Montmorency ). There are plans to link line 2 with the other end of the line at Côte-Vertu and in this way to expand it into a ring line; together with a branch to Carrefour Laval, five new stations would be built in the city.

Culture

Cosmodrome

The Cosmodome is a science center (science museum) that deals with space travel and space in general. Scientific exhibitions on health are held in the Musèe Armand-Frappier. Can also be visited the hydroelectric plant Rivière-des-Prairies of Hydro-Québec . The Mondial Loto-Québec de Laval music festival has been held annually since 2005 ; With over 500,000 visitors, it is the world's largest festival for choral music .

education

Laval does not have its own university , but both the Université de Montréal (UdeM) and the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) each operate a campus in the city , both in the Laval-des-Rapides district. The UQAM campus was founded in 1983, the UdeM campus has existed since 2011.

At the middle school level there is a Cégep ( Collège d'enseignement général et professionnel ) in Laval , the Collège Montmorency . It combines preparation for university education and technical vocational school. Two school boards are responsible for kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, adult education and vocational education: the Commission scolaire de Laval for French-speaking students and the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board for English-speaking students.

Sports

Colisee de Laval

The Rocket de Laval ( English Laval Rocket ) are an ice hockey franchise that has been playing in the American Hockey League (AHL) since the 2017/18 season . It acts as the farm team of the Canadiens de Montréal from the National Hockey League and plays its home games in the newly built Place Bell .

The Colisée de Laval sports arena in the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul district , built in 1954, has a capacity of 3,500 spectators and is mainly used for ice hockey games. It is currently the home of the Braves de Laval in the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey (LNAH). Previous teams were the Saints de Laval in the Ligue de hockey junior majeur du Québec (LHJMQ), the Titan de Laval (LHJMQ) and the Chiefs de Laval (LNAH). The Colisée Laval is also used for basketball games by the Laval Kebs in the National Basketball League of Canada . The Comètes de Laval , a women's football club in the USL W-League , play their home games at the Center Sportif Bois-de-Boulogne.

Twin cities

The city maintains several twinning arrangements : since 1984 with Laval ( France ), since 1986 with Petach Tikwa ( Israel ) and since 2000 with Nice (France). There are also agreements on economic and cultural cooperation with more than a dozen other cities, including a. since 2005 with Klagenfurt ( Austria ).

Personalities

Web links

Commons : Laval (Québec)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Laval. Commission de toponymie du Québec, accessed January 17, 2014 (French).
  2. ↑ a b La seigneurie de l'Île Jésus. (No longer available online.) Société d'histoire et de généalogie de l'Île Jésus, 2010, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; Retrieved January 17, 2014 (French). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / shgij.org
  3. ↑ a b Survol de l'histoire de Laval. (No longer available online.) City of Laval, 2013, archived from the original on February 16, 2014 ; Retrieved January 17, 2014 (French). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.laval.ca
  4. ↑ Population profile of the municipality of Laval. In: 2011 Census. Statistics Canada , 2011, accessed January 17, 2014 (French).
  5. ↑ Population profile of the municipality of Laval. In: 2001 Census. Statistics Canada , 2001, accessed January 17, 2014 (French).
  6. ↑ Evolution historique de la population des municipalités au Québec. In: Données sociodémographiques en bref. Institut de la statistique du Québec, February 2008, accessed January 17, 2014 .
  7. ^ Laval, ville entrepreneuriale. City of Laval, 2013, accessed January 17, 2014 (French).
  8. ↑ Les Pôles. Laval Technopôle, 2014, accessed January 17, 2014 (French).
  9. ^ Traverse Laval-sur-le-Lac / Île-Bizard. Québec original, accessed January 17, 2014 (French).
  10. ↑ Métro: Laval réclame cinq nouvelles stations. (No longer available online.) Courrier Laval on May 26, 2011, archived from the original on July 20, 2011 ; Retrieved January 17, 2014 (French). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.courrierlaval.com
  11. ↑ Ententes économiques et villes jumelées. City of Laval, 2013, accessed January 17, 2014 (French).