Montreal

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Montreal Montréal —  City  — Ville de Montréal The skyline of Montreal seen from the Jacques Cartier Bridge. Flag Coat of arms Logo Motto: Concordia Salus ("well-being through harmony") City of Montreal and enclave municipalities Montreal Location in southern Quebec. Coordinates: 45°30′N 73°34′W / 45.500°N 73.567°W / 45.500; -73.567Coordinates: 45°30′N 73°34′W / 45.500°N 73.567°W / 45.500; -73.567 Country Canada Province Quebec Region Montreal RCM None Founded 17 May 1642 Constituted January 1, 2002 Boroughs List Ahuntsic-Cartierville Anjou Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce L'Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève LaSalle Lachine Le Plateau-Mont-Royal Le Sud-Ouest Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Montréal-Nord Outremont Pierrefonds-Roxboro Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie Saint-Laurent Saint-Léonard Verdun Ville-Marie Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension Government  • Type Montreal City Council  • Mayor Laurent Blanchard (interim)  • Federal riding List Ahuntsic Bourassa Hochelaga Honoré-Mercier Jeanne-Le Ber La Pointe-de-l'Île Lac-Saint-Louis LaSalle—Émard Laurier—Sainte-Marie Mount Royal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine Outremont Papineau Pierrefonds—Dollard Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie Saint-Laurent—Cartierville Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel Westmount—Ville-Marie  • Prov. riding List Acadie Anjou–Louis-Riel Bourassa-Sauvé Bourget Crémazie D'Arcy-McGee Gouin Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Jeanne-Mance–Viger LaFontaine Laurier-Dorion Marguerite-Bourgeoys Marquette Mercier Mont-Royal Nelligan Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Outremont Pointe-aux-Trembles Robert-Baldwin Rosemont Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne Saint-Laurent Sainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques Verdun Viau Westmount–Saint-Louis Area  • City 431.50 km2 (166.60 sq mi)  • Land 365.13 km2 (140.98 sq mi)  • Urban 1,545.30 km2 (596.64 sq mi)  • Metro 4,258.31 km2 (1,644.14 sq mi) Highest elevation 233 m (764 ft) Lowest elevation 6 m (20 ft) Population (2011)  • City 1,649,519  • Density 4,517.6/km2 (11,701/sq mi)  • Urban 3,407,963  • Urban density 2,205.4/km2 (5,712/sq mi)  • Metro 3,824,221 (2nd)  • Metro density 898.1/km2 (2,326/sq mi)  • Pop 2006-2011 1.8%  • Dwellings 813,819 Demonym Montrealer Time zone EST (UTC−5)  • Summer (DST) EDT (UTC−4) Postal code(s) H (except H7 for Laval) Area code(s) 514 and 438 Website www.ville.montreal.qc.ca

Montreal (i/ˌmʌntriːˈɒl/; French: Montréal , pronounced:  ( listen)) is a city in the Canadian province of Quebec. It is the largest city in the province, the second-largest in the country (after Toronto) and the fifteenth-largest in North America. Originally called Ville-Marie, or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city. On one theory, the name derives from mont Réal, as it was spelled in Middle French (Mont Royal in modern French). And yet, Cartier's 1535 diary entry, naming the mountain, refers to "le mont Royal". Another argument, mentioned by the Government of Canada on its web site concerning Canadian place names, is that the name Montreal was adopted because an early map of 1556 used the Italian name of the mountain, "Monte Real". The city is located on the Island of Montreal, which took its name from the same source as the city, and a few much smaller peripheral islands, the largest of which is Île Bizard.

As of 2011, the city of Montreal had a population of 1,649,519. Montreal's metropolitan area (CMA) (land area 4,259 square kilometres (1,644 sq mi)) had a population of 3,824,221 and a population of 1,886,481 in the urban agglomeration of Montreal, all of the municipalities on the Island of Montreal included.

French is the city's official language and is also the language spoken at home by 56.9% of the population in the city of Montreal proper, followed by English at 18.6% and 19.8% other languages (as of 2006 census). In the larger Montreal Census Metropolitan Area, 67.9% of the population speaks French at home, compared to 16.5% who speak English. 56% of the population are able to speak both English and French. Montreal is the second largest primarily French-speaking city in the world, after Paris.

Montreal was called "Canada's Cultural Capital" by Monocle and recently was named a UNESCO City of Design. Historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population and economic strength by Toronto in the 1970s. Today it remains an important centre of commerce, aerospace, finance, pharmaceuticals, technology, design, culture, tourism, film and world affairs.

In 2009, Montreal was named North America's number one host city for international association events, according to the 2009 preliminary rankings of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA). In 2012, QS World University Rankings ranked Montreal the 10th-best place in world to be a university student.

History

Further information: History of Montreal and Timeline of Montreal history

Archaeological evidence demonstrates that various First Nations native people occupied the island of Montreal as early as 4,000 years ago. By the year AD 1000, they had started to cultivate maize. Within a few hundred years, they had built fortified villages. The Saint Lawrence Iroquoians, a people distinct from the Iroquois nations of the Haudenosaunee then based in present-day New York, established the village of Hochelaga at the foot of Mount Royal centuries before the French arrived. Archeologists have found evidence of their habitation there and at other locations in the valley since at least the 14th century. The French explorer Jacques Cartier visited Hochelaga on October 2, 1535, and estimated the population of the native people at Hochelaga to be "over a thousand people".

Seventy years later, the French explorer Samuel de Champlain reported that the St. Lawrence Iroquoians and their settlements had disappeared altogether from the St. Lawrence valley. This is believed due to outmigration, epidemic of European diseases, or intertribal wars. In 1611 Champlain established a fur trading post on the Island of Montreal, on a site initially named La Place Royale. At the confluence of Petite Rivière and St. Lawrence River, it is where present-day Pointe-à-Callière stands. In 1639 Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière obtained the Seigneurial title to the Island of Montreal in the name of the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal to establish a Roman Catholic mission to evangelize natives. Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve was the governor of the colony, which was established on May 17, 1642. In 1689, the English–allied Iroquois attacked Lachine on the Island of Montreal, committing the worst massacre in the history of New France.

Ville-Marie became a centre for the fur trade and a base for further French exploration in North America. By the early 18th century, the Sulpician Order was established there. To encourage French settlement, they wanted the Mohawk to move away from the fur trading post at Ville-Marie. They had a mission village, known as Kahnewake, south of the St. Lawrence River. The fathers persuaded some Mohawk to make a new settlement at their former hunting grounds north of the Ottawa River. This became Kanesatake. In 1745 several Mohawk families moved upriver to create another settlement, known as Akwesasne. All three are now Mohawk reserves in Canada. The Canadian territory was ruled as a French colony until 1760, when it was surrendered to Great Britain after their victory in the Seven Years War.

Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The opening of the Lachine Canal permitted ships to bypass the unnavigable Lachine Rapids, while the construction of the Victoria Bridge established Montreal as a major railway hub. The leaders of Montreal's business community had started to build their homes in the Golden Square Mile from about 1850. By 1860, it was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada.

The Montreal Harbour in 1889.

Montreal was the capital of the Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, but lost its status when a Tory mob burnt down the Parliament building to protest the passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill. For strategic reasons, the government established Ottawa as the capital, as it was located more in the interior of the nation.

Saint Jacques Street (formerly St. James Street), in 1910

After World War I, the Prohibition movement in the United States led to Montreal becoming a destination for Americans looking for alcohol. Unemployment remained high in the city, and was exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.

During World War II, Mayor Camillien Houde protested against conscription and urged Montrealers to disobey the federal government's registry of all men and women. The government at Ottawa was furious over Houde's stand and held him at a prison camp until 1944. That year the government decided to institute conscription to be able to expand the armed forces. (see Conscription Crisis of 1944).

By 1951, Montreal's population had surpassed one million people. The Saint Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, allowing vessels to bypass Montreal. In time this development led to the end of the city's economic dominance as businesses moved to other areas. During the 1960s there was continued growth, including the World's Fair known as Expo 67, and the construction of Canada's tallest skyscrapers, new expressways and the subway system known as the Montreal Metro.

The 1970s ushered in a period of wide-ranging social and political changes, stemming in large part from the concerns of the French-speaking majority about the conservation of their culture and language, given the traditional predominance of the English-Canadian minority in the business arena. The October Crisis and the 1976 election of the Parti Québécois, supporting sovereign status for Quebec, resulted in the departure of many businesses and people from the city. In 1976, Montreal was the host of the Olympics. During the 1980s and early 1990s, Montreal experienced a slower rate of economic growth than many other major Canadian cities.

Montreal was merged with the 27 surrounding municipalities on the Island of Montreal on January 1, 2002. The merger created a unified city of Montreal covering the entire island. There was great resistance from the suburbs to the merger, with the perception being that it was forced on the mostly English suburbs by the Parti Québécois. As expected, this move proved unpopular and several mergers were later rescinded. Several former municipalities, totaling 13% of the population of the island, voted to leave the newly unified city in separate referendums in June 2004. The demerger took place on January 1, 2006, leaving 15 municipalities on the island, including Montreal. De-merged municipalities remain, however, affiliated with the city through an agglomeration council that collects taxes from them to pay for numerous shared services.

The 21st century has brought with it a revival of the city's economic and cultural landscape. The construction of new residential skyscrapers, two super-hospitals (both of which are the largest in Canada), the creation of the Quartier des Spectacles, reconstruction of the Turcot Interchange, reconfiguration of the Decarie and Dorval interchanges, gentrification of Griffintown, subway line extensions and the purchase of new subway cars, the complete revitalization and expansion of Montreal-Trudeau International Airport, the completion of Quebec Autoroute 30, and the construction of a new toll-bridge to Laval are helping Montreal move into the 21st century.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Montreal

Montreal is located in the southwest of the province of Quebec. The city proper covers most of the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. The port of Montreal lies at one end of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, which is the river gateway that stretches from the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean. Montreal is defined by its location in between the Saint Lawrence river on its south, and by the Rivière des Prairies on its north. The city is named after the most prominent geographical feature on the island, a three-head hill called Mount Royal, topped at 232 m above sea level.

Montreal is at the centre of the Montreal Metropolitan Community, and is bordered by the city of Laval to the north, Longueuil, Saint-Lambert, Brossard, and other municipalities to the south, Repentigny to the east and the West Island municipalities to the west. The anglophone enclaves of Westmount, Montreal West, Hampstead, Côte Saint-Luc, the Town of Mount Royal and the francophone enclave Montreal East are all entirely surrounded by the city of Montreal.

Climate

Montreal lies at the confluence of several climatic regions and enjoys four distinct seasons. Usually, its climate is classified as humid continental (Köppen climate classification: Dfa).

Bonsecours Market in autumn.

Montreal's summers are humid, and range from warm to hot, with a daily average of 21 to 22 °C (70 to 72 °F) in July; temperatures in excess of 30 °C (86 °F) are not uncommon. Conversely, cold fronts can bring crisp, windy weather in the early and later parts of summer.

Winter in Montreal usually brings cold, snowy, windy, and, at times, icy weather, with a daily average of around −10 °C (14 °F) in January. However, some winter days rise above freezing, allowing for rain on an average of 4 days in January and February each. Usually, snow cover lasts more or less from the first or second week of December until the last week of March. On average, there are 8.2 nights below −20 °C (−4 °F), and while the temperature does not fall to −30 °C (−22 °F) every year, the wind chill can easily make the temperature feel this low.

Spring and fall are pleasantly mild but prone to drastic temperature changes; spring even more so than fall. April tends to be mild and sunny whereas May is rather warm and quite wet. Late season heat waves as well as "Indian summers" are possible as well as snow storms in November and March.

The lowest temperature in Environment Canada's books was −37.8 °C (−36 °F) on January 15, 1957, and the highest temperature was 37.6 °C (100 °F) on August 1, 1975, both at Dorval International Airport.

Before modern weather record keeping (which dates back to 1871 for McGill), a minimum temperature almost 5 degrees lower was recorded at 7am on January 10, 1859, where it registered at −43.6 °F (−42 °C).

Annual precipitation is around 980 mm (39 in), including an average of about 225 cm (89 in) of snowfall, which occurs from November through March. Thunderstorms are common beginning in the late spring through summer to the early fall period; additionally, tropical storms or their remnants can cause heavy rains. Montreal averages 2,029 hours of sunshine annually, with summer being the sunniest season, though slightly wetter than the others in terms of total precipitation.

Climate data for Montreal (McGill) Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Record high °C (°F) 12.8 (55) 15.0 (59) 25.0 (77) 30.0 (86) 32.8 (91) 34.8 (94.6) 36.1 (97) 35.6 (96.1) 32.8 (91) 28.9 (84) 22.2 (72) 15.0 (59) 36.1 (97) Average high °C (°F) −5.4 (22.3) −3.7 (25.3) 2.4 (36.3) 11.0 (51.8) 19.0 (66.2) 23.7 (74.7) 26.6 (79.9) 24.8 (76.6) 19.4 (66.9) 12.3 (54.1) 5.1 (41.2) −2.3 (27.9) 11.1 (50.9) Daily mean °C (°F) −8.9 (16) −7.2 (19) −1.2 (29.8) 7.0 (44.6) 14.5 (58.1) 19.3 (66.7) 22.3 (72.1) 20.8 (69.4) 15.7 (60.3) 9.2 (48.6) 2.5 (36.5) −5.6 (21.9) 7.37 (45.25) Average low °C (°F) −12.4 (9.7) −10.6 (12.9) −4.8 (23.4) 2.9 (37.2) 10.0 (50) 14.9 (58.8) 17.9 (64.2) 16.7 (62.1) 11.9 (53.4) 5.9 (42.6) −0.2 (31.6) −8.9 (16) 3.6 (38.5) Record low °C (°F) −33.5 (−28.3) −33.3 (−27.9) −28.9 (−20) −17.8 (0) −5 (23) 1.1 (34) 7.8 (46) 6.1 (43) 0.0 (32) −7.2 (19) −27.8 (−18) −33.9 (−29) −33.9 (−29) Precipitation mm (inches) 73.6 (2.898) 70.9 (2.791) 80.2 (3.157) 76.9 (3.028) 86.5 (3.406) 87.5 (3.445) 106.2 (4.181) 100.6 (3.961) 100.8 (3.969) 84.3 (3.319) 93.6 (3.685) 101.5 (3.996) 1,062.6 (41.836) Rainfall mm (inches) 28.4 (1.118) 22.7 (0.894) 42.2 (1.661) 65.2 (2.567) 86.1 (3.39) 87.5 (3.445) 106.2 (4.181) 100.6 (3.961) 100.8 (3.969) 82.1 (3.232) 68.9 (2.713) 44.4 (1.748) 834.9 (32.87) Snowfall cm (inches) 45.9 (18.07) 46.6 (18.35) 36.8 (14.49) 11.8 (4.65) 0.4 (0.16) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 2.2 (0.87) 24.9 (9.8) 57.8 (22.76) 226.4 (89.15) Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm) 15.8 12.8 13.6 12.5 12.9 13.8 12.3 13.4 12.7 13.1 15.0 16.2 164.1 Avg. rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm) 4.3 4.0 7.4 10.9 12.8 13.8 12.3 13.4 12.7 12.7 11.5 6.5 122.2 Avg. snowy days (≥ 0.2 cm) 13.6 11.1 8.3 3.0 0.14 0 0 0 0 0.62 5.3 12.0 53.9 Mean monthly sunshine hours 99.2 119.5 158.8 181.7 229.8 250.1 271.6 230.7 174.1 138.6 80.4 80.7 2,015.2 Source: Environment Canada (sun 1961–1990)

Architecture

Main article: Architecture of Montreal View of the Basilica from Place d'Armes La Joute on Place Jean-Paul Riopelle in the Quartier international de Montréal.

For over a century and a half, Montreal was the industrial and financial centre of Canada. The variety of buildings included factories, elevators, warehouses, mills, and refineries which today provide a legacy of historic and architectural interest, especially in the downtown area and the Old Port area. There are 50 National Historic Sites of Canada in Montreal, more than any other city in Canada.

Today there are also many historic buildings in Old Montreal still in their original form: Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, Bonsecours Market, and the impressive 19th‑century headquarters of all major Canadian banks on St. James Street (French: Rue Saint Jacques). Saint Joseph's Oratory, completed in 1967, Ernest Cormier's Art Deco Université de Montréal main building, the landmark Place Ville Marie office tower, the controversial Olympic Stadium and surrounding structures, are but a few notable examples of 20th century architecture.

Pavilions designed for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, popularly known as Expo 67, featured a wide range of architectural designs. Though most pavilions were temporary structures, several remaining structures have become Montreal landmarks, including the geodesic dome U.S. Pavilion, now the Montreal Biosphere, as well as Moshe Safdie's striking Habitat 67 apartment complex.

The Montreal Metro is filled with a limited amount of public artwork by some of the biggest names in Quebec culture.

In 2006 Montreal was named a UNESCO City of Design, only one of three design capitals of the world (with the others being Berlin and Buenos Aires). This distinguished title recognizes Montreal's design community. Since 2005 the city has been home for the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda); the International Design Alliance (IDA).

Montreal's Underground City (officially RÉSO or La Ville Souterraine in French) is the set of interconnected complexes (both above and below ground) in and around Downtown Montreal.

Neighbourhoods

Main article: List of neighbourhoods in Montreal A view of Saint Catherine Street in Downtown Montreal. Entrance gate to Montreal's Chinatown on Saint Laurent Boulevard.

The city of Montreal is composed of 19 large boroughs which are further subdivided into smaller neighbourhoods. The boroughs are Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Anjou, Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Lachine, LaSalle, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Le Sud-Ouest, L'Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève, Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montréal-Nord, Outremont, Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles, Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, Saint-Laurent, Saint-Leonard, Verdun, Ville-Marie and Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension. Many of these boroughs were previously independent cities that merged with Montreal in January 2002 following the 2002 Municipal Reorganization of Montreal.

The borough with the most neighbourhoods is Ville-Marie, which includes the city's downtown, the historical district of Old Montreal, Chinatown, the Gay Village, the Latin Quarter, the recently gentrified Quartier international and Cité Multimédia as well as the Quartier des Spectacles which is currently under development. Other neighbourhoods of interest in the borough include the affluent Golden Square Mile neighbourhood at the foot of Mount Royal and the Shaughnessy Village/Quartier Concordia area home to thousands of students at Concordia University. The borough also comprises most of Mount Royal Park, Saint Helen's Island, and Île Notre-Dame.

The Plateau Mont-Royal borough has historically been a working-class francophone area. The largest neighbourhood is the Plateau (not to be confused with the whole borough), which is currently undergoing considerable gentrification, and a 2001 study deemed it as Canada's most creative neighbourhood because artists comprise 8% of its labour force. The neighbourhood of Mile End in the northwestern part of the borough, has historically been a very multicultural area of the city, and features two of Montreal's well-known bagel establishments, St-Viateur Bagel and Fairmount Bagel. The McGill Ghetto is located in the extreme southwestern portion of the borough, its name being derived from the fact that it is home to thousands of McGill University students and faculty members.

The Sud-Ouest borough was home to much of the city's industry during the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century. The borough historically included Goose Village and is home to the traditionally working-class Irish neighbourhoods of Griffintown and Pointe-Saint-Charles as well as the low-income neighbourhoods of Saint-Henri and Little Burgundy.

Other notable neighbourhoods in Montreal include the multicultural areas of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Côte-des-Neiges in the Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough, as well as Little Italy in the borough of Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, home of Montreal's Olympic Stadium in the borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.

Old Montreal Main article: Old Montreal Place Jacques-Cartier at night during winter.

Old Montreal (French: Vieux-Montréal) is a historic area located southeast of downtown containing many different attractions such as the Old Port of Montreal, Place Jacques-Cartier, Montreal City Hall, the Bonsecours Market, Place d'Armes, Pointe-à-Callière Museum, the Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, and the Montreal Science Centre.

Architecture and cobbled streets in Old Montreal have been maintained or restored and are frequented by horse-drawn calèches carrying tourists. Old Montreal is accessible from the downtown core via the underground city and is served by several STM bus routes and metro stations, ferries to the South Shore and a network of bicycle paths.

The riverside area adjacent to Old Montreal is known as the Old Port. The Old Port was the former site of the worldwide Port of Montreal, but its shipping operations have been moved further east to its current larger site, leaving the former location as a recreational and historical area maintained by Parks Canada. The new Port of Montreal is now Canada's largest container port and the largest inland port on Earth.

Mount Royal Main article: Mount Royal Beaver Lake on Mount Royal.

The mountain is the site of Mount Royal Park (French: Parc du Mont-Royal), one of Montreal's largest greenspaces. The park, most of which is wooded, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York's Central Park, and was inaugurated in 1876.

The park contains two belvederes, the more prominent of which is the Kondiaronk Belvedere, a semicircular plaza with a chalet, overlooking Downtown Montreal. Other features of the park are Beaver Lake, a small man-made lake, a short ski slope, a sculpture garden, Smith House, an interpretive centre, and a well-known monument to Sir George-Étienne Cartier. The park hosts athletic, tourist and cultural activities.

The mountain is home to two major cemeteries, Notre-Dame-des-Neiges (founded in 1854) and Mount Royal (1852). Mount Royal Cemetery is a 165 acres (67 ha) terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont. Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery is much larger, predominantly French-Canadian and officially Catholic. More than 900,000 people are buried there.

Mount Royal Cemetery contains more than 162,000 graves and is the final resting place for a number of notable Canadians. It includes a veterans section with several soldiers who were awarded the British Empire's highest military honour, the Victoria Cross. In 1901 the Mount Royal Cemetery Company established the first crematorium in Canada.

The first cross on the mountain was placed there in 1643 by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the founder of the city, in fulfilment of a vow he made to the Virgin Mary when praying to her to stop a disastrous flood. Today, the mountain is crowned by a 31.4 m-high (103 ft) illuminated cross, installed in 1924 by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and now owned by the city. It was converted to fibre-optic light in 1992. The new system can turn the lights red, blue, or purple, the last of which is used as a sign of mourning between the death of the Pope and the election of the next.

A panorama of Downtown Montreal and part of its metropolitan area taken from the Chalet du Mont Royal at the top of Mount Royal

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Montreal Population of Montreal, and Metropolitan Area by year Year City Island Metropolitan Pre-merger 1871 107,225 — 174,090 1881 140,747 — 223,512 1891 216,650 — 308,169 1901 267,730 — 393,665 1911 467,986 536,191 594,812 1921 618,506 724,205 774,330 1931 818,577 1,003,868 1,064,448 1941 903,077 1,116,800 1,192,235 1951 1,036,542 1,320,232 1,539,308 1961 1,257,537 1,747,696 2,215,627 1971 1,214,352 1,959,180 2,743,208 1981 1,018,609 1,760,122 2,862,286 1991 1,017,666 1,775,871 3,127,242 2001 1,039,534 1,812,723 3,426,350 Post-merger 2006 1,620,693 1,854,442 3,635,571 2011 1,649,519 1,886,481 3,824,221

According to Statistics Canada, at the 2006 Canadian census the city of Montreal proper had 1,620,693 inhabitants. A total of 3,635,571 lived in the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) at the same 2006 census, up from 3,451,027 at the 2001 census (within 2006 CMA boundaries), which means a population growth of +1.05% per year between 2001 and 2006. In the 2006 census, children under 14 years of age (621,695) constituted 17.1%, while inhabitants over 65 years of age (495,685) numbered 13.6% of the total population.

People of European ethnicities formed the largest cluster of ethnic groups in Montreal. The largest reported European ethnicities in Montreal according to the 2006 census were French 23%, Italians 10%, Irish 5%, English 4%, Scottish 3%, and Spanish 2%. Some 26% of the population of Montreal and 16.5% that of Greater Montreal, are members of a visible minority (non-white) group, up from 5.2% in 1981.

The most numerous minorities are Blacks (7.7%), Arabs (4.3%), Latin Americans (3.4%), South Asians (3.2%), and Chinese (3%). Visible minorities are defined by the Canadian Employment Equity Act as "persons, other than Aboriginals, who are non-white in colour."

According to a recently published report by the city of Montreal, the island is expected to number 1,991,200 by 2012, with 3.9 million in the Greater Montreal Area, an increase of 15.8% over 2001. However, in 2009, the Greater Montreal Area is estimated to number 3.86 million people, suggesting that the area surpass the four million threshold by 2012. According to StatsCan, by 2030, the Greater Montreal Area is expected to number 5,275,000 with 1,722,000 being visible minorities.

In terms of mother language (first language learned), the 2006 census reported that in the Greater Montreal Area, 66.5% spoke French as a first language, followed by English at 13.2%, while 0.8% spoke both as a first language. The remaining 22.5% of Montreal-area residents are allophones, speaking languages including Italian (3.5%), Arabic (3.1%), Spanish (2.6%), Creole (1.3%), Chinese (1.2%), Greek (1.2%), Portuguese (0.8%), Romanian (0.7%), Vietnamese (0.7%), and Russian (0.5%). In terms of additional languages spoken, a unique feature of Montreal among Canadian cities, noted by Statistics Canada, is the working knowledge of both French and English possessed by most of its residents.

Italianate, 2nd Empire Homes on Saint Louis Square in Le Plateau-Mont-Royal.

The Greater Montreal Area is predominantly Roman Catholic; however, weekly attendance in Quebec is among the lowest in Canada. Historically Montreal has been a centre of Catholicism in North America with its numerous seminaries and churches, including the Notre-Dame Basilica, the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. Some 84.6% of the total population is Christian, largely Roman Catholic (74.5%), primarily due to descendants of original French settlers, and others of Italian and Irish origins.

Protestants which include Anglican, United Church of Canada, Lutheran, owing to British and German immigration, and other denominations number 7.0%, with a further 3.0% consisting mostly of Orthodox Christians, fuelled by a large Greek population. There are also a number of Russian Orthodox parishes.

Islam is the largest non-Christian religious group, with 100,185 members, the second-largest concentration of Muslims in Canada. The Jewish community in Montreal has a population of 88,765. In cities such as Côte Saint-Luc and Hampstead, Jewish people constitute the majority, or a substantial part of the population. As recently as 1971 the Jewish community in Greater Montreal was as high as 109,480. Political and economic uncertainties led many to leave Montreal and the province of Quebec.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Montreal

Montreal has the second-largest economy among Canadian cities based on GDP and the largest in Quebec. The city is today an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, world affairs and is the headquarters of the Montreal Exchange.

Tour de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Tower) in the Quartier international de Montréal

Montreal industries include aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, printed goods, software engineering, telecommunications, textile and apparel manufacturing, tobacco, petrochemicals, and transportation. The service sector is also strong and includes civil, mechanical and process engineering, finance, higher education, and research and development. In 2002, Montreal ranked as the 4th largest centre in North America in terms of aerospace jobs.

The Port of Montreal is the largest inland port in the world handling 26 million tonnes of cargo annually. As one of the most important ports in Canada, it remains a trans-shipment point for grain, sugar, petroleum products, machinery, and consumer goods. For this reason, Montreal is the railway hub of Canada and has always been an extremely important rail city; it is home to the headquarters of the Canadian National Railway, and was home to the headquarters of the Canadian Pacific Railway until 1995.

Place Ville Marie, the RBC headquarters in Montreal, Quebec

The headquarters of the Canadian Space Agency is located in Longueuil, southeast of Montreal. Montreal also hosts the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, a United Nations body); the World Anti-Doping Agency (an Olympic body); the Airports Council International (the association of the world's airports – ACI World); the International Air Transport Association (IATA), IATA Operational Safety Audit and the International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (IGLCC), as well as some other international organizations in various fields.

The Montreal World Trade Centre west entrance on Victoria Square.

Montreal is also a centre of film and television production. The headquarters of Alliance Films and five studios of the Academy Award-winning documentary producer National Film Board of Canada are in the city, as well as the head offices of Telefilm Canada, the national feature-length film and television funding agency and Télévision de Radio-Canada. Given its eclectic architecture and broad availability of film services and crew members, Montreal is a popular filming location for feature-length films, and sometimes stands in for European locations. The city is also home to many recognized cultural, film and music festivals (Just For Laughs, Just For Laughs Gags, Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, and others), which contribute significantly to its economy. It is also home to one of the world's largest cultural enterprises, the Cirque du Soleil.

The video game industry is also booming in Montreal since 1997, coinciding with the opening of Ubisoft Montreal. Recently, the city has attracted world leading game developers and publishers studios such as Ubisoft Montreal, EA, Eidos Interactive, Artificial Mind and Movement, Strategy First, THQ, mainly because of the quality of local specialized labor, and tax credits offered to the corprations. Recently, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, a division of Warner Bros., announced that it would open a brand new video game studio in Montreal. Relatively new to the video game industry, it will be Warner Bros. first studio opened, not purchased, and will develop games for such Warner Bros. franchises as Batman and other games from their DC Comics portfolio. The new studio will create 300 jobs for the Montreal economy.

Air Canada Centre (French: Centre Air Canada), the headquarters of Air Canada

Montreal also plays an important role in the finance industry. The official legal corporate head offices of Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada, two of the five biggest banks in Canada, are still in Montreal with their operational corporate headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. The National Bank of Canada, the sixth largest bank in Canada, and Laurentian Bank of Canada are also headquartered in Montreal.

Several companies are headquartered in Greater Montreal Area including Rio Tinto Alcan, Desjardins Group, Bombardier Inc., Canadian National Railway, CGI Group, Air Canada, Air Transat, CAE, Saputo, Cirque du Soleil, Quebecor, Ultramar, Jean Coutu Group, Uniprix, Proxim, Domtar, Le Chateau, Power Corporation, Bell Canada. Standard Life, Hydro-Québec, AbitibiBowater, Pratt and Whitney Canada, Molson, Tembec, Canada Steamship Lines, Fednav, Alimentation Couche-Tard, SNC-Lavalin, MEGA Brands, Aeroplan, Agropur, Metro Inc., Astral Media, Laurentian Bank of Canada, National Bank of Canada, Transat A.T., VIA Rail, Novacam Technologies, INetVideo, Dollarama, Rona, AXA Canada, and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. Montreal had a GDP of C$145 billion (US$148 billion) in 2008, placing it 41st city in the world.

The Montreal Oil Refining Centre is the largest refining centre in Canada with companies like Petro-Canada, Ultramar, Gulf Oil, Petromont, Ashland Canada, Parachem Petrochemical, Coastal Petrochemical, Interquisa (Cepsa) Petrochemical, Nova Chemicals, and more. However, Shell has decided to close the refining centre in 2010, throwing hundreds out of work and causing an increased dependence on foreign refineries for eastern Canada.