Contrecoeur


Contrecœur is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River. The population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 9,480. Contrecœur is approximately northeast of Montreal and is accessible via Autoroute 30, the main road from the southwest, which continues on to Sorel-Tracy.

History

In 1672, Antoine Pécaudy de Contrecœur, a soldier of the Carignan-Salières Regiment, originally from Saint-Chef, Isère, France, was granted a seigneury by King Louis XIV. He and 68 other pioneers founded the town in 1681, and it is named in his honour. A migratory bird sanctuary is located near the town on Contrecœur Island. Contrecœur is currently twinned with Saint-Chef, in southeast France, and has been since 1993.
The steel mill in Contrecoeur-West was in 1994 privatised by the Quebec government. The initial owner of Norambar was Stelco, until Mittal purchased it in 2004. The steel mill in Contrecoeur-Est, Sidbec-Dosco, was privatised in 1994 into Ispat International. Mittal purchased that too, and merged with Arcelor to form ArcelorMittal in 2006. The Contrecoeur-West and Contrecoeur-East were administratively merged into ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Contrecoeur 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.
Population trend:
  • Population in 2021: 9,480
  • Population in 2016: 7,887
  • Population in 2011: 6,252
  • Population in 2006: 5,678
  • Population in 2001: 5,222
  • Population in 1996: 5,331
  • Population in 1991: 5,501
  • Population in 1986: 5,553
  • Population in 1981: 5,449

    Education

operates francophone public schools, including:
  • École des Coeurs-Vaillants
  • École Mère-Marie-Rose
The Riverside School Board operates anglophone public schools, including: