Repentigny () is an off-island suburb of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located north of the city on the lower end of the L'Assomption River, and on the St. Lawrence River. Repentigny and Charlemagne were the first towns off the eastern tip of the Island of Montreal. Repentigny is part of the Lanaudière region.

Repentigny was also the western terminus of the Chemin du Roy, a road that extends eastward towards Quebec City.

History

In 1647, the area was granted as a seignory by Jean Talon to Pierre Legardeur de Repentigny. In 1670, the seignory was sold in part to Charles Aubert de La Chesnaye, while the son of Pierre Legardeur, Jean-Baptiste Legardeur de Repentigny, built a large dwelling at the mouth of the L'Assomption River in the remaining part of the seignory, marking the start of the settlement. During the town's first 250 years, Repentigny was only inhabited by a few hundred peasants, or habitants, and was an agricultural community. In 1677, the first population census only shows 30 inhabitants.

In 1845, the Parish Municipality of Repentigny was founded, abolished in 1847, and reestablished in 1855. Its first mayor was Benjamin Moreau in 1855. In 1857, it lost part of its territory when the Parish Municipality of Saint-Paul-l'Ermite (renamed to Le Gardeur in 1978) was formed.

In 1957, Repentigny changed its status from parish municipality to city.

Repentigny merged with its neighbouring city of Le Gardeur on June 1, 2002. The city's area grew from to and the population grew by 70%.

Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Repentigny 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.

Ethnicity In 2021, Repentigny was 81.4% white/European, 17.6% visible minorities, and 1.0% Indigenous. The largest visible minority groups were Black (9.9%), Arab (3.3%), and Latin American (2.2%).

Panethnic groups in the City of Repentigny (2001−2021)Panethnic group20212016201120062001 European 69,170 72,695 74,950 72,380 53,245 African 8,385 5,880 3,675 1,735 520 Middle Eastern 3,475 1,560 805 370 35 Latin American 1,895 1,230 650 425 115 Indigenous 885 820 575 310 135 Southeast Asian 420 405 320 230 75 East Asian 330 275 165 240 135 South Asian 65 65 45 10 10 Other/multiracial 355 190 160 50 20 Total responses 84,985 83,110 81,370 75,730 54,255 Total population 86,100 84,285 82,000 76,237 54,550 2021 ethnic originsPercentCanadian33.0%French n.o.s20.1%Québécois12.8%French Canadian6.8%Haitian6.3%Italian4.0%Irish3.7%Arab n.o.s1.8%African n.o.s1.6%Algerian1.4%Moroccan1.3%Caucasian (White) n.o.s1.3%First Nations n.o.s1.2%Scottish1.2%English1.1%Acadian1.0%Berber1.0%Note: Includes multiple responses

Language As of 2021, 85.8% of residents spoke French as their mother tongue. Other common first languages were Spanish (2.3%), Arabic (2.0%), Haitian Creole (1.8%), English (1.7%), Kabyle (0.7%), and Italian (0.6%). 1.6% of residents listed both French and a non-official language as mother tongues, while 0.9% listed both French and English.

Canada Census mother tongue - Repentigny, QuebecStatistics Canada: 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, 2021 census Census Total Year Responses Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop % 73,520 2.1% 85.79% 1,420 3.2% 1.66% 785 101.2% 0.92% 8,295 39.6% 9.68% 75,165 0.026% 89.73% 1,375 9.45% 1.64% 390 24.35% 0.46% 5,940 32,4% 7.04% 75,185 5.07% 92.21% 1,245 18.57% 1.53% 485 110.86% 0.59% 4,015 39.17% 4.92% 71,555 36.39% 93.86% 1,050 65.35% 1.37% 230 84% 0.3% 2,885 177.4% 3.78% 52,460 1.8% 96.17% 635 26.59% 1.16% 125 40.47% 0.23% 1,040 20.93% 1.91% 51,520 n/a 96.17% 865 n/a 1.61% 210 n/a 0.39% 860 n/a 1.61%

Religion In 2013, 70.3% of the population was Christian, down from 89.3% in 2011. 59.0% of residents were Catholic, 6.7% were Christian n.o.s, 1.6% were Protestant and 3.0% belonged to other Christian denominations or Christian-related traditions. Non-religious and secular people made up 23.3% of the population, up from 8.7% in 2011. 6.4% of residents followed other religions and spiritual traditions, up from 1.9% in 2011. The largest non-Christian religion was Islam, at 5.8% of the population.

Government

List of former mayors:

Benjamin Moreau (1855–1858) Louis Thouin (1858–1862) Ulric Deschamps (1862–1864) Antoine Deschamps (1864–1866) François Grenier (1866–1870) Amédée Meunier (1870–1875) Absalon Thouin (1875–1877) Joseph Hétu (1877–1880) Joseph Grenier (1880–1882) Napoléon Thifault (1882–1887) Eusèbe Juneau (1887–1899) Joseph-Napoléon Thouin (1899–1904) Ménard Nantais (1904–1905) Joseph Deschamps (1905–1908) J.-Oscar Beaudoin (1908–1911, 1929–1932, 1933–1935) Napoléon Provost (1911–1915) Stanilas Coiteux (1915–1919) Hector Grenier (1919–1929) Ulric Deschamps (1932–1933, 1935–1941) Jean-Baptiste Deschamps (1935) Rosaire Deschamps (1941–1949, 1953–1960) Agapit Nantais (1949–1953) Robert Lussier (1960–1968) Louis-Philippe Picard (1968–1987) Jacques Dupuis (1987–1993) Alain Brien (1993–1997) Chantal Deschamps (1997–2021) Nicolas Dufour (2021–present)

Culture and events Repentigny is home of many festivities: Festival de Feu et de Glace (Festival of Fire and Ice, a winter fest), January–February. Festival de spectacles jeune-public de Lanaudière (Youth theatre fest), early July. Rendez-Vous Estival (Summer Rendez-Vous, a theme park with familial activities and rock shows), early August. Festival Gospel (Gospel Fest, International gospel choirs fest), mid-August. National de Soccer (Soccer Nationals, 18- level national soccer event), mid-August. Internationaux de Tennis junior du Canada Banque Nationale (National Bank Junior Tennis Internationals of Canada, the biggest sports event in the city), late August-early September Fête du Petit-Village (Little town fest, cultural rendez-vous in the old Saint-Paul-l'Ermite sector), every two autumns. The Fête Nationale du Québec, la St-Jean, brings many activities, such as shows and performances on stage in L'île Lebel. Many outdoor shows and movie projections

Infrastructure Repentigny is the central point for transit in South-Central Lanaudière. Its Centre d'Échange Rive Nord-Est (Northeastern Shore Transit Exchange Centre), administered by Réseau de transport métropolitain, is the main infrastructure for transit in the region. Unlike a bus terminal, no departures are available from the Centre d'Échange, but transfers from one circuit to the other are possible. 9 of the 10 RTCR de la MRC de L'Assomption transit system circuits travel via Centre d'Échange, in addition to the 2 CRTL regional lines. Thus, Repentigny is directly connected to Terrebonne, Charlemagne, L'Assomption, Montreal, Montréal-Est, Saint-Sulpice, Lavaltrie, Lanoraie, Sainte-Geneviève-de-Berthier, Berthierville, La Visitation-de-l'Île-Dupas, Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola, Saint-Paul-d'Industrie, Crabtree, Sainte-Marie-Salomé and Joliette.

The city of Repentigny takes part in the L'Assomption MRC public transportation network effort and pan-regional Lanaudière Regional Transport Commission, linking all of the Regional County Municipalities of Lanaudière, even the northernmost ones. In addition there is the MRC Les Moulins.

Repentigny is connected to Montreal's Central Station by commuter rail via the Repentigny Station of Réseau de transport métropolitain's Mascouche Line.

Education Commission scolaire des Affluents operates francophone public schools

Centre de formation professionnelle des Riverains (1971) Centre la Croisée École primaire Alphonse-Desjardins (1951) École primaire de la Paix (1988) École primaire des Moissons (1982) École primaire du Moulin (1986) École primaire Émile-Nelligan (1971) École primaire Entramis (1986) École primaire Henri-Bourassa (1966) École primaire Jean-Duceppe (1992) École primaire Jean-XXIII (1959) École primaire la Majuscule (1998) École primaire la Passerelle (1957) École primaire la Tourterelle (1991) École primaire le Bourg-Neuf (1989) École primaire Longpré (1962) École primaire Louis-Fréchette (1965) École primaire Louis-Joseph-Huot (1960) École primaire Marie-Victorin (1961) École primaire Pie-XII (1961) École primaire St-Paul (1956) École primaire Tournesol (1981) École primaire Valmont-sur-Parc (2016) École secondaire Félix-Leclerc (1992) École secondaire Jean-Baptiste-Meilleur (1963) École secondaire Jean-Claude-Crevier (1948) École secondaire l'Horizon (1988)

Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board operates anglophone public school Franklin Hill Elementary School (2004)

Notable people Julie Brosseau, women's basketball player Les Cowboys Fringants, Québécois folk-pop band Marie Deschamps, Canadian Supreme Court Justice Benoît Hogue, former NHL hockey player Joseph Juneau, co-founder of Juneau, Alaska Solomon Juneau, founder of Milwaukee, the largest city in the US state of Wisconsin Maxim Lapierre, former NHL hockey player Pascal Leclaire, former NHL hockey player Thomas Meilleur-Giguère, soccer player for Pacific FC Karl Ouimette, soccer player for the Atlético Ottawa Marie-Ève Pelletier, former professional tennis player Samuel Piette, soccer player for CF Montréal Jason Pominville, former NHL hockey player Mike Ruiz, fashion photographer and judge for Cycle 3 of Canada's Next Top Model Aurélie Tran, artistic gymnast and member of the Canadian national team

See also List of cities in Quebec Municipal reorganization in Quebec North Shore (Montreal) Église Notre-Dame-des-Champs de Repentigny

Notes

References

External links

Official website