Mascouche

Mascouche is a city near Montreal in Quebec, Canada. It is a suburb located outside the main city, sitting along the Mascouche River. About 51,183 people live in Mascouche, making it the 20th largest city in Quebec.

The name Mascouche comes from an Algonquin word meaning "bear plain." This connects the city to the nearby area called Les Maskoutains, which has a similar name. Mascouche is part of the Les Moulins Regional County Municipality, a group of nearby towns and cities that work together.

History

Mascouche, once called Saint-Henri-de-Mascouche, became a city on December 9, 1970, with Gilles Forest as its mayor.

In 2021, on June 21, the city was hit by a strong windstorm that caused damage.

Infrastructure

Montréal/Mascouche Airport was the largest regional airport in Quebec, located three kilometres southeast of the city. It is now replaced by CentrOparc, a business district designed to support urban growth around transportation.

The city is linked to Montreal by commuter rail through the Mascouche station on the Réseau de transport métropolitain’s Mascouche line, and major highways meet just south of the city centre. L'Étang-du-Grand-Coteau, an urban park in the city centre, is the same size as Mount Royal Park in Montreal.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population done by Statistics Canada, Mascouche had 51,183 people living in 19,981 of its 20,290 homes. This was a 9.6% increase from the 46,692 people who lived there in 2016. The area covers 106.89 km² (41.27 sq mi), with a population density of 478.8/km² (1,240.2/sq mi) in 2021.

Canada census – Mascouche community profile

References: 2021 2011

Canada Census Mother Tongue - Mascouche, Quebec
Census	Total	French				English			French & English				Other
Year	Responses	Count	Trend	Pop %	Count	Trend	Pop %	Count	Trend	Pop %	Count	Trend	Pop %
2016	46 375	42 740	7.03%	92.10%	1 150	12.17%	2.47%	355	120.0%	0.76%	1 840	39.39%	3.96%
2011	42,185	39,580	25.8%	93.82%	1,010	5.2%	2.39%	275	29.09%	0.65%	1,320	26.3%	3.13%
2006	33,600	31,470	13.4%	93.66%	960	17.1%	2.86%	125	40.5%	0.37%	1,045	111.1%	3.11%
2001	29,285	27,760	5.0%	94.79%	820	9.4%	2.80%	210	82.6%	0.72%	495	3.1%	1.69%
1996	27,930	26,430	n/a	94.63%	905	n/a	3.24%	115	n/a	0.41%	480	n/a	1.72%

Mayors

Mascouche has had several mayors over the years. The first mayor was André Duval, who served from 1955 to 1965. After him, Gilles Forest was mayor from 1965 to 1983. Bernard Patenaude took over from 1983 to 1992, followed by Richard Marcotte from 1992 to 2012. Denise Paquette was mayor for a short time from 2012 to 2013. The current mayor is Guillaume Tremblay, who has been in office since 2013.

Education

The Commission scolaire des Affluents runs French-speaking public schools in Mascouche. These include several primary schools such as L'école Aux 4 Vents and L'école De la Source, and secondary schools like École secondaire Le Prélude and École secondaire Du Coteau. There is also one professional school called École L'Impact.

The Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board operates English-speaking public schools. Pinewood Elementary School in Mascouche serves the western part, while Franklin Hill Elementary School in Repentigny serves the eastern part. Students in all areas can attend Rosemere High School in Rosemere.

Famous residents

Mascouche is the hometown of famous baseball player Éric Gagné.

It is also the hometown of Émilie Mondor, a Canadian Olympic athlete. She won two national championships in the women's 5,000 metres race.