It was founded in 1670 by Jean-Baptiste Le Gardeur, son of Seigneur Pierre Le Gardeur. During the town's first 250 years, Repentigny was only inhabited by a few hundred peasants, or habitants, and was an agricultural community. In 1677, the first population census only shows 30 inhabitants. Its first mayor was Benjamin Moreau 1855.
Repentigny merged with its neighbouring city of Le Gardeur on June 1, 2002. The city's area grew from 29 to 69 km2 and the population grew by 70%.
Repentigny was also the western terminus of the Chemin du Roy, a road that extends eastward towards Quebec City.
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Repentigny had a population of 86,100 living in 34,174 of its 34,710 total private dwellings, a change of 2.2% from its 2016 population of 84,285. With a land area of 61.52 km2 (23.75 sq mi), it had a population density of 1,399.5/km2 (3,624.8/sq mi) in 2021.[4]
In 2021,[5] Repentigny was 81.4% white/European, 17.6% visible minorities, and 1.0% Indigenous. The largest visible minority groups were Black (9.9%), Arab (3.3%), and Latin American (2.2%)
85.8% of residents spoke French as their mother tongue. Other common first languages were Spanish (2.3%) Arabic (2.0%), Haitian Creole (1.8%) English (1.7%), Kabyle (0.7%), and Italian (0.6%). 1.6% of residents listed both French and a non-official language as mother tongues while 0.9% of listed both French and English.
In 2013, 70.3% of the population was Christian, down from 89.3% in 2011.[6] 59.0% of residents were Catholic, 6.7% were Christian n.o.s, 1.6% were Protestant and 3.0% belonged to other Christian denominations or Christian-related traditions. Non-religious and secular people made up 23.3% of the population, up from 8.7% in 2011. 6.4% of residents followed other religions and spiritual traditions, up from 1.9% in 2011. The largest non-Christian religion was Islam, at 5.8% of the population.
Canada Census Mother Tongue - Repentigny, Quebec[7]
Census
Total
French
English
French & English
Other
Year
Responses
Count
Trend
Pop %
Count
Trend
Pop %
Count
Trend
Pop %
Count
Trend
Pop %
2021
85,690
73,520
2.1%
85.79%
1,420
3.2%
1.66%
785
101.2%
0.92%
8,295
39.6%
9.68%
2016
84,285
75,165
0.026%
89.73%
1,375
9.45%
1.64%
390
24.35%
0.46%
5,940
32,4%
7.04%
2011
81,535
75,185
5.07%
92.21%
1,245
18.57%
1.53%
485
110.86%
0.59%
4,015
39.17%
4.92%
2006
76,237
71,555
36.39%
93.86%
1,050
65.35%
1.37%
230
84%
0.3%
2,885
177.4%
3.78%
2001
54,550
52,460
1.8%
96.17%
635
26.59%
1.16%
125
40.47%
0.23%
1,040
20.93%
1.91%
1996
53,570
51,520
n/a
96.17%
865
n/a
1.61%
210
n/a
0.39%
860
n/a
1.61%
Arts and culture
Repentigny is home of many festivities :
Festival de Feu et de Glace (Festival of Fire and Ice, a winter fest), January–February.
Festival de spectacles jeune-public de Lanaudière (Youth theatre fest), early July.
Rendez-Vous Estival (Summer Rendez-Vous, a theme park with familial activities and rock shows), early August.
Festival Gospel (Gospel Fest, International gospel choirs fest), mid-August.
National de Soccer (Soccer Nationals, 18- level national soccer event), mid-August.
Internationaux de Tennis junior du Canada Banque Nationale (National Bank Junior Tennis Internationals of Canada, the biggest sports event in the city), late August-early September
Fête du Petit-Village (Little town fest, cultural rendez-vous in the old Saint-Paul-l'Ermite sector), every 2 autumns.
The city of Repentigny takes part in the L'Assomption MRC public transportation network effort and pan-regional Lanaudière Regional Transport Commission, linking all of the Regional County Municipalities of Lanaudière, even the northernmost ones. In addition there is the MRC Les Moulins.[8]