Mirabel is a suburb of Montreal, located on the North Shore in southern Quebec.

Mirabel is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) and census division (CD) of Quebec, coextensive with the city of Mirabel. Its geographical code is 74. Prior to 2002, Mirabel was not only a city but also comprised the Mirabel Regional County Municipality.

The city is home to Montréal–Mirabel International Airport.

History

Mirabel was formed through the expropriation of private lands and the merger of 8 municipalities in 1971. The former municipalities were (with their individual founding dates in brackets): Saint-Augustin (1855); Saint-Benoît (1855); Saint-Hermas (1855); Saint-Janvier-de-Blainville (1855); Sainte-Scholastique (1855); Saint-Canut (1857); Sainte-Monique (1872), and Saint-Janvier-de-la-Croix (1959). Initially called Ville de Sainte-Scholastique but renamed Mirabel in 1973, the city was planned to become a vast transportation and industrial hub for Eastern Canada, with Montréal–Mirabel International Airport at its centre.

Montréal–Mirabel International Airport, which opened in 1975, never became a major aviation hub and the industrial parks never materialized, and in 2004, the airport closed to all scheduled commercial passenger traffic. It continues to operate as a cargo airport and handles a few charter passenger flights.

In 2000, about 10 km (3.9 sq mi) of Mirabel's territory was annexed by Lachute.

Geography

Communities

• 
  St-Benoit
• 
  St-Monique
• 
  St-Scholastique

Climate

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Mirabel had a population of 61,108 living in 24,795 of its 25,514 total private dwellings, a change of 21% from its 2016 population of 50,513. With a land area of 484.09 km (186.91 sq mi), it had a population density of 126.2/km (326.9/sq mi) in 2021.

In 2021, Mirabel was 91.8% white/European, 6.5% visible minorities and 1.7% Indigenous. The largest visible minority groups were Black (1.9%), Arab (1.6%), and Latin American (1.0%).

63.9% of residents were Christian, down from 87% in 2011. 56.7% were Catholic, 5.2% were Christian n.o.s, 0.4% were Protestant and 1.6% belonged to other Christian denominations and Christian-related traditions. Of non-Catholic denominations, the largest is Christian Orthodox at 0.7%. 33.6% of residents were non-religious or secular, up from 12.2% in 2011. 2.5% belonged to other religions, up from 0.8% in 2011. The largest non-Christian religions were Islam (1.9%) and Buddhism (0.4%).

90.8% of residents spoke French as their mother tongue. The next most common first languages were English (2.5%), Spanish (1.0%), Arabic (0.9%), and Portuguese (0.5%). 1.3% of residents listed both French and English as mother tongues, while 0.5% listed both French and a non-official language.

Mother Tongue	Population	Percentage
French	55,450	90.8%
English	1,520	2.5%
English and French	780	1.3%
French and a non-official language	295	0.5%
English and a non-official language	95	0.2%
English, French and a non-official language	110	0.2%
Spanish	615	1%
Arabic	575	0.9%
Portuguese	280	0.5%
Italian	155	0.3%
Romanian	125	0.2%
Dari	105	0.2%
Haitian Creole	75	0.1%

Canada Census Mother Tongue - Mirabel, Quebec
Census		Total		French				English				French & English				Other
Year		Responses		Count	Trend	Pop %		Count	Trend	Pop %		Count	Trend	Pop %		Count	Trend	Pop %
2021		61,040		55,450	16.6%	90.8%		1,520	44.8%	2.5%		780	126.1%	1.3%		2,765	110.3%	4.5%
2016		50,513		47,560	14.8%	94,3%		1,050	21.9%	2.1%		345	43.7%	0.7%		1,315	87.5%	2.6%
2011		41,810		40,050	20.7%	95.8%		820	60.8%	2.0%		240	33.3%	0.6%		700	16.7%	1.7%
2006		34,475		33,185	27.3%	96.3%		510	10.9%	1.5%		180	16.1%	0.5%		600	36.4%	1.7%
2001		27,115		26,060	20.6%	96.1%		460	2.2%	1.7%		155	6.9%	0.6%		440	66.0%	1.6%
1996		22,465		21,605	n/a	96.2%		450	n/a	2.0%		145	n/a	0.7%		265	n/a	1.2%

Economy

Airbus produces the Airbus A220 (formerly Bombardier CSeries) at the Montréal–Mirabel International Airport. Bell Helicopters (Bell Textron) also has its major manufacturing and final assembly plant near the airport.

Bombardier Aviation produced the Bombardier CRJ700 series (CRJ700, CRJ900 and CRJ1000) regional jetliners until early 2021 when the last CRJ was produced. The CRJ business was sold to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries but is no longer manufactured.

HydroSerre Mirabel has its headquarters in the town.

Education

Commission scolaire de la Seigneurie-des-Mille-Iles

The Commission scolaire de la Seigneurie-des-Mille-Îles (CSSMI), which operates Francophone public schools, serves the following parts of Mirabel: Saint-Augustin, Saint-Benoît, Sainte-Scholastique and a portion of Domaine-Vert.

• École primaire de la Clé-des-Champs
• École primaire des Blés-Dorés
• École primaire Girouard
• École primaire Prés fleuris
• École primaire Sainte-Scholastique

Other elementary schools serving sections of CCSMI Mirabel: Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption in Blainville and Terre-Soleil in Sainte-Thérèse. Secondary schools serving sections of CSSMI Mirabel: d'Oka in Oka, des Patriotes in Saint-Eustache, Henri-Dunant in Blainville, Jean-Jacques-Rousseau in Boisbriand, and Polyvalente Sainte-Thérèse in Sainte-Thérèse.

Commission scolaire de la Rivière-du-Nord

The Commission scolaire de la Rivière-du-Nord (CSRDN) operates Francophone public schools in other parts of Mirabel. They include:

• Secondary schools:
  • École secondaire de Mirabel (ESM)
  • Other secondary schools serving CSRDN sections include Polyvalente Lavigne in Lachute and Cap-Jeunesse, Émilien-Frenette, Polyvalente Saint-Jérôme, and Saint-Stanlislas in Saint-Jérôme
• Primary schools:
  • du Parchemin
  • à l'Unisson
  • aux Quatre-Vents
  • de la Croisée-des-Champs
  • Mer-et-Monde
  • Saint-Anne
  • Saint-Hermas
  • Other primary schools serving CSRDN Mirabel include Dubois, de l'Horizon-Soleil, Prévost, Saint-Jean-Baptiste, and Sainte-Thérèse-de-l'Enfant-Jésus in Saint-Jérôme and Jean-Moreau in Sainte-Sophie.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board

The Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board operates anglophone public schools in the area around Mirabel.

Secondary schools serving portions of Mirabel include:

• Lake of Two Mountains High School in Deux-Montagnes serves southern Mirabel
• Laurentian Regional High School in Lachute serves northern Mirabel
• Rosemère High School in Rosemère serves southeast Mirabel

Primary schools serving portions of Mirabel include:

• Laurentia Elementary School in Saint-Jérôme serves northern Mirabel
• Mountainview Elementary School and Saint Jude Elementary School in Deux-Montagnes serve southern Mirabel
• Pierre Elliot Trudeau Elementary School in Blainville serves southeast Mirabel

Sister cities

• Châlons-en-Champagne (France)

See also

• List of regional county municipalities and equivalent territories in Quebec
• Mirabel Aerospace Centre
• Saint Pierre River (Mirabel)
• Rivière aux Chiens (rivière des Mille Îles)