Mont-Laurier () is a town and incorporated municipality in western Quebec, Canada, located on the banks of the Lièvre River (Rivière du Lièvre), a tributary of the Ottawa River. Known as the "Capital of the Haute-Laurentides", the motto of the town is Laurus elationis praemium, which translates to "Lift the laurels of reward". The demonym for its inhabitants is Lauriermontois.

According to the 2021 Canadian census, the population of Mont-Laurier is 14,180. It is the seat of Antoine-Labelle Regional County Municipality and the judicial district of Labelle.

History

The territory was originally inhabited by Oueskarinis, a sub tribe of Algonquians. The European settlers came from Sainte-Adèle in 1866, and the place was originally called Rapide-de-l'Orignal (English: Moose Rapids) in 1885, by Solime Alix. The name referred to, according to a legend, a panicked moose that made a huge leap at a waterfall on the Lièvre River. On Octobre 14, 1909, the place was incorporated as the Village Municipality of Mont-Laurier by separating from the Township Municipality of Campbell (founded in 1900). It was named in honour of Canadian Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier.

Just before the founding of the village municipality, the railway from Montreal through the Laurentides reached Mont-Laurier, with the first train arriving on September 15, 1909. Two months later the station was completed. As the terminus of the railway, it served as transit point for passengers and a center for receiving and shipping goods, handling between 100 and 125 freight cars every week. Freight wagons from Montreal brought coal, oil, or any other merchandise, while returning wagons were full of wood and animals. In 1940, a road from Mont-Laurier to Abitibi was built. This facilitated the growth of the trucking industry. Increased use of the road in the 1960s led to the decline of the railroad.

In 1950, Mont-Laurier changed statutes and became a ville. In 1971, it merged with the Township Municipality of Brunet (that succeeded Campbell Township in 1953). (Dfb). It is strongly influenced by its inland position, with significant differences between the warm summers and the very cold winters. Precipitation is high year-round, causing significant snow cover in winter.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Mont-Laurier 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.

|1911 |752

|1921 |2211

|1931 |2394

|1941 |2661

|1951 |4701

|1956 |5486

|1961 |5859

|1966 |6140

|1971 |8240

|1976 |8565

|1981 |8405

|1986 |7937

|1991 |7862

|1996|8007

|2001|7365

|2006|13405

|2011|13779

|2016|14116

|2021|14180

{| class="wikitable"

!colspan="19"|Canada Census Mother Tongue – Mont-Laurier, Quebec

  • Coursol, Luc, Histoire de Mont-Laurier, 1940–1990, Les éditions Luc Coursol, 1991.
  • Ville de Mont-Laurier