The following is a list of the types of local and supralocal territorial units in Quebec, Canada, including those used solely for statistical purposes, as defined by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, Regions and Land Occupancy and compiled by the Institut de la statistique du Québec.
Not included are the urban agglomerations in Quebec, which, although they group together multiple municipalities, exercise only what are ordinarily local municipal powers.
A list of local municipal units in Quebec by regional county municipality can be found at List of municipalities in Quebec.
Local municipalities
All municipalities (except cities), whether township, village, parish, or unspecified ones, are functionally and legally identical.[citation needed] The only difference is that the designation might serve to disambiguate between otherwise identically named municipalities, often neighbouring ones.[citation needed] Many such cases have had their names changed, or merged with the identically named nearby municipality since the 1950s, such as the former Township of Granby and City of Granby merging and becoming the Town of Granby in 2007.[citation needed]
Municipalities are governed primarily by the Code municipal du Québec (Municipal Code of Québec, R.S.Q. c. C-27.1),[1] whereas cities and towns are governed by the Loi sur les cités et villes (Cities and Towns Act, R.S.Q. c. C-19)[2] as well as (in the case of the older ones) various individual charters.[citation needed]
The very largest communities in Quebec are colloquially called cities; however there are currently no municipalities under the province's current legal system classified as cities.[citation needed] Quebec's government uses the English term town as the translation for the French term ville, and township for canton.[3] The least-populated towns in Quebec (Barkmere, with a population of about 60, or L'Île-Dorval, with less than 10) are much smaller than the most populous municipalities of other types (Saint-Charles-Borromée and Sainte-Sophie, each with populations of over 13,300).[citation needed]
| Abbreviation | French term | English translation | Description | Lists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CT | Municipalité de canton | Township municipality | All or part of the territory of a township (townships were originally only a land surveying feature) set up as a municipality.[citation needed] | List of township municipalities in Quebec |
| CU | Municipalité de cantons unis | United township municipality | Municipality composed of several townships.[citation needed] | List of united township municipalities in Quebec |
| M | Municipalité | Municipality | Territory administered by an authority established under the laws governing municipalities.[citation needed] | List of municipalities (not otherwise specified) in Quebec |
| P | Municipalité de paroisse | Parish municipality | The territory of a religious parish established as a municipality.[citation needed] | List of parish municipalities in Quebec |
| V | Ville[4] | Town[3] | Municipality legally established as a town.[citation needed] | List of towns in Quebec |
| VL | Municipalité de village | Village municipality | Territory of a village established as a municipality separate from a surrounding parish or township municipality.[citation needed] | List of village municipalities in Quebec |
The title city (French: cité code=C) still legally exists, with a few minor differences from that of ville.[citation needed] However it is moot since there are no longer any cities in existence.[citation needed] Dorval and Côte Saint-Luc had the status of city when they were amalgamated into Montreal on January 1, 2002 as part of the municipal reorganization in Quebec;[5] however, when re-constituted as independent municipalities on January 1, 2006, it was with the status of town (French: ville) (although the municipal government of Dorval still uses the name Cité de Dorval).[citation needed]
Prior to January 1, 1995, the code for municipalité was not M but rather SD (sans désignation; that is, unqualified municipality).[6]
Aboriginal local municipal units
| Abbreviation | French term | English translation | Description | Lists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IRI (R) | Réserve indienne | Indian reserve | Territory reserved for Indians under the Indian Act.[citation needed][a] | List of Indian reserves in Quebec |
| TC | Terre réservée aux Cris (1-A) | Land reserved for the Cree | Territory reserved for the use and benefit of the Cree population. Associated with a Cree village (VC) of the same name.[citation needed][b] | List of Cree and Naskapi territories in Quebec |
| TI | Terre de la catégorie I pour les Inuits | Category I land for the Inuit | Territory reserved for the use and benefit of the Inuit population. Associated with a northern village (VN) of the same name.[citation needed] | List of northern villages and Inuit reserved lands in Quebec |
| TK | Terre réservée aux Naskapis (1-AN) | Land reserved for the Naskapi | Territory reserved for the use and benefit of the Naskapi (Innu) population. Associated with a Naskapi village (VK) of the same name.[citation needed][c] | List of Cree and Naskapi territories in Quebec |
| VC | Municipalité de village cri (Terre 1-B) | Cree village municipality | A primarily Cree village with a Cree local authority established by the Cree Villages and the Naskapi Village Act.[citation needed][b] | List of Cree and Naskapi territories in Quebec |
| VK | Municipalité de village naskapi (Terre 1-BN) | Naskapi village municipality | A primarily Naskapi (Innu) village with a Naskapi local authority established by the Cree Villages and the Naskapi Village Act.[citation needed][c] | List of Cree and Naskapi territories in Quebec |
| VN | Municipalité de village nordique | Northern village municipality | A village with an Inuit local authority established by the Act respecting Northern villages and the Kativik Regional Government.[citation needed] | List of northern villages and Inuit reserved lands in Quebec |
Prior to 2004, there was a single code, TR, to cover the modern-day TC and TK.[citation needed] When the distinction between TC and TK was introduced, it was made retroactive to 1984, date of the federal Cree-Naskapi (of Quebec) Act (S.C. 1984, c. 18).[citation needed]
Territories equivalent to local municipalities
| Abbreviation | French term | English translation | Description | Lists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NO | Territoire non organisé | Unorganized territory | A territory that has not been organized under a local municipality and is administered directly by a supralocal authority.[citation needed] | List of unorganized territories in Quebec |
Submunicipal units
| Abbreviation | French term | English translation | Description | Lists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Arrondissement | Borough | Subdivision of some local municipalities.[citation needed] | List of boroughs in Quebec |
| S-É (EI) | Établissement amérindien | Indian settlement | Village or hamlet the majority of whose population is Amerindian and situated on lands without any particular legal status.[citation needed][d] | List of Indian settlements in Quebec |
There is also a different kind of submunicipal unit, unconstituted localities, which is defined and tracked not by the Quebec Ministry of Municipal Affairs but by Statistics Canada.[citation needed]
Supralocal units
| Abbreviation | French term | English translation | Description | See also |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARg | Administration régionale | Regional government | Regional civil administration of a large, sparsely populated area representing Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal residents alike.[citation needed] | Kativik Regional Government |
| CM | Communauté métropolitaine | Metropolitan community | Administration bringing together the municipalities of a metropolitan area, larger than an urban agglomeration and not necessarily a multiple of RCMs and TEs.[citation needed] | Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal Communauté métropolitaine de Québec |
| MRC | Municipalité régionale de comté | Regional county municipality (RCM) | A territory comprising municipalities and sometimes unorganized territories, governed by an authority determined by law.[citation needed] | List of regional county municipalities and equivalent territories in Quebec |
| TÉ | Territoire équivalent à une MRC | Territory equivalent to an RCM | A statistical unit created to cover areas of Quebec not belonging to an RCM.[citation needed] | List of regional county municipalities and equivalent territories in Quebec |
See also
References
Notes
External links
- Quebec provincial legislation
- An Act respecting municipal territorial organization (also in French)
- An Act respecting Northern villages and the Kativik Regional Government (also in French)
- The Cree Villages and the Naskapi Village Act (also in French)
- An Act respecting the Cree Regional Authority (also in French)
- An Act respecting Cree, Inuit and Naskapi native persons (also in French)
- An Act respecting the land regime in the James Bay and New Québec territories (also in French)
- Federal legislation
- Other
- Répertoire des municipalités (look up the entry for any municipality)
- Liste complète des types d'entités et leurs définitions (Commission de toponymie)