Montérégie

The Montérégie, named after the mountains that are sporadically in the St. Lawrence River Valley, is a sort of "catch-all" tourism region rather than a distinct geographical or cultural area. The region is a mixture of Montreal suburbs and rural farming areas near the edges of Quebec.

Despite this, a few generalizations can be made about the region:

• In the 18th and 19th century, it was a military buffer region. Capturing Montreal was an American objective in the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Several battles were fought in the Montérégie, and the ancient forts that remain are interesting tourist attractions.
• As a mixture of suburban and rural areas, it is a swing political district. If you want to know which way the political wind is blowing in Quebec, ask people in the Montérégie.
• While most of the area is economically and culturally integrated with Montreal, the more rural towns were once isolated farming areas with their own traditions. If one digs hard enough, one can still find cultural relics from this era, such as the Brome County Fair.

The majority of the people living in the Montérégie speak French. There is a significant English-speaking population in the counties of Vaudreuil-Soulanges and Roussillon and near the American border. Most people in the western part and near Montreal can speak English, although fluency diminishes the further north and east you go. Traffic signs are in French, but are designed (with pictures and symbols) so that others can understand.

Kahnawake and Akwesasne Reserves have made efforts to increase the use of the Mohawk language, offering language classes and using it on community radio and in some public events. Most people on the reserves speak English, and French to a lesser extent.

Some people may speak a third language, especially near Montreal, but outside native reserves it is uncommon to hear them spoken on the street. A working knowledge of French or English will be almost essential to communicate with locals.

Driving through Montérégie, two unusual geographical features will strike you. First, the farmland is divided into long, thin strips, rather than large squares like everywhere else in North America. This is a legacy of Quebec's French colonial past. Farmhouses were built at the edges of these strips, along rows called "rangs". Second, the otherwise completely flat region has isolated mountains popping out of the ground at near regular intervals. This is what gives the region its name ("Mountain region"). One of the prettiest is Mont-Saint-Hilaire; its mixture of mountain, river, forest, and farms make it picturesque, especially when the leaves change colour in October. There are paths to go hiking on the mountain.

There are a few other features of Montérégie are pleasant to visit on a day trip from Montreal. Fort Chambly is a French fort dating from 1711 built to protect against the British. Fort Lennox National Historic Site is a British fort 22 km south of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu that was built in 1819 to protect against the Americans. The Coteau-du-Lac National Historic Site is about 40 km southwest of Montréal on the shores of the St. Lawrence River near Salaberry-de-Valleyfield. It features Canada’s first lock canal and the remains of a fort.

Lac Brome is a pretty lake for watersports, hiking, or shopping in the village of the same name.

The Brome Fair, held the first weekend of September, is the largest rural agricultural fair in Quebec.

Granby Zoo is the closest zoo to Montreal. It is home to nearly 1,500 animals from over 225 different species. If you have seen enough animals, head over to Parc Safari in Hemmingford, an African safari and kids' amusement park.

The International Hot Air Balloon Festival is held in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu every August. It attracts hundreds of balloons.

The Ormstown Fair is an agricultural fair held in mid-June in a small town southeast of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield.

The Kahnewake Pow-wow is held in the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory 16 km south of Montreal on Routes 132 & 138 (off Mercier Bridge) in July. Pow-wows offer a time for Indigenous peoples to get together and participate in visiting, singing, and dancing. It is also a chance for non-Indigenous friends and families to take part in inter-tribal dancing as a Powwow is considered a cultural sharing event for all to learn about Indigenous peoples and share ideas and information.

As maple trees grow in the area, maple syrup is popular and plentiful in March and April. Some maple farms operate as "sucreries" or "cabanes à sucre" (aka sugar shacks), where tourists can see how the maple syrup is collected, and taste some. These are also one of the few places in Quebec where tourists can get a traditional rural meal. (Most locals only eat traditional meals on special occasions such as Christmas Eve, due mostly to its high fat content and association with traditional ways.) Traditional meals include:

• tourtière, a pork and beef pie
• yellow split pea soup
• pancakes
• ham with maple syrup
• maple sugar pie
• "pouding chomeur", a light sweet cake, (literal translation: "pudding for the unemployed")
• taffee ("tire sur neige", maple syrup poured into snow, which freezes onto a popsicle stick)

Fine dining in the Montérégie is some of the best value in North America. Almost every town in the region has one or two good restaurants, usually with lower prices than those of Montreal. Usually, asking a local to point you to the most expensive restaurant in town will get you to the right place.

For a quick lunch, the ever-present "Saint-Hubert" chain of chicken restaurants is surprisingly good.

• Sucrerie de la Montagne (Mountain Sugar Shack), 300 Ch St Georges, Rigaud (Rigaud Mountain), ☏ +1 450-451-5204. Maple syrup farm with a year-round traditional-style restaurant, hayrides, and demonstrations on maple syrup production. 

The Montérégie is generally a low-crime area. Almost the whole area is served by the emergency number 911, which you can call to contact police, fire or ambulance services. The biggest danger is probably traffic accidents, especially in winter. There are long stretches of unlit and potentially icy roads; large farming fields on either side of a road can mean blowing snow and slippery patches. Many of the smaller routes with one lane in either direction have a speed limit of 90 km/h. Snow tires are required by law on vehicles during the winter months.

Some seedy bars in the Montérégie are labelled "danseuses". This is a euphemism for a strip club, many of which are actually brothels; steer clear if you want to avoid criminal elements.

Akwesasne Mohawk Reserve, in the southwest corner of Montérégie, extends into Ontario and New York. There are rare occurrences of confrontations with police in this area; police try to patrol for cross-border cigarette and alcohol smuggling and locals insist Quebec police have no authority on the reserve. This should not usually affect tourists, but is something of which to be alert.

• Laurentides
• Lanaudière
• Montréal
• Cantons-de-l'Est
• Centre-du-Québec
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• Eastern Ontario