Côte Saint-Luc


Côte Saint-Luc, also spelled Côte-Saint-Luc, is a city located on the island of Montreal in Quebec, Canada.

History

Incorporated in 1903, Côte Saint-Luc grew from a town to a city, in 1958.
Throughout the 1920s, the town grew quickly and accepted many immigrant populations leaving Montreal, notably German-Jewish, Scottish, and British families, plus their descendants. By 1935, the population reached 5,000. Railway development and industrial activities were relocated to the north. An example of this is an old farmhouse, near the intersection of Westminster and Côte Saint-Luc, which today it is a strip mall.
After many years of debate and disagreement, Côte Saint-Luc agreed to the extension of Cavendish Blvd. in Côte Saint-Luc, most likely through an indirect route, to Cavendish Blvd. in the borough of Saint-Laurent, over the Canadian Pacific railyards.
Côte Saint-Luc was forced to merge with the city of Montreal on January 1, 2002, but was given the opportunity to demerge from the city in 2004. It was merged with its neighbouring suburbs of Hampstead and Montreal West to form the borough of Côte-Saint-Luc—Hampstead—Montréal-Ouest. In a referendum held on June 20, 2004 more than 87 percent of Côte Saint-Luc residents voted to demerge and Côte Saint-Luc was re-established as a separate city on January 1, 2006.

Government

The leaders of the demerger movement were all elected to the new city council, and Anthony Housefather was elected mayor. Following Housefather's election as the Member of Parliament for the Mount Royal riding, of which the city is a part, Mitchell Brownstein was acclaimed as Mayor on Friday, March 11, 2016. During a subsequent by-election to replace Brownstein's vacant seat, Sidney Benizri was elected as councillor, garnering 325 of the 771 votes cast.
The City Manager is Tanya Abramovitch and Nadia Di Furia the Associate City Manager and Director of Human Resources.
The City of Côte Saint-Luc is led by the mayor and eight councillors. The councillors are:
  1. Oren Sebag
  2. Mike Cohen
  3. Dida Berku
  4. Steven Erdelyi
  5. Mitch Kujavsky
  6. David Tordjman
  7. Sidney Benizri
  8. Ruth Kovac

    Public services

Côte Saint-Luc is served by a unique Emergency Medical Services first responder system. The only volunteer first responder service on the island of Montreal, the Emergency Medical Services respond to more than 3,000 calls for help every year. Advanced care and transportation to local hospitals is provided by Urgences-santé. In 2008–2009, the Montreal Fire Department implemented an island-wide first responder system. It was set to replace the Côte Saint-Luc EMS; however, the city fought to keep their system. A private member's bill was passed in the National Assembly of Quebec to exclude Côte Saint-Luc from the Montreal Fire Department.
Côte Saint-Luc also has a full-time Public Security Department that enforces municipal by-laws and in 2006 launched the Volunteer Citizens on Patrol program that allows residents to help deter crime.
The city's Eleanor London Côte Saint-Luc Public Library was named in honour of Eleanor London, the first librarian hired to set up whatever vision of a library she wanted. She continued in the capacity of chief librarian for 36 years. The Eleanor London Côte Saint-Luc Library is one of few libraries in North America that is open every day of the year.
The Cavendish Mall, now known as Quartier Cavendish, used to be a focal point with famous shopping areas such as Steinberg's, Eaton's and Discus. In recent years, part of the mall has been replaced with single family homes, townhouses and apartment buildings.

Geography

Along with Hampstead and Montreal West, Côte Saint-Luc forms an enclave within Montreal. Côte Saint-Luc also has two exclaves sandwiched between Hampstead and the city of Montreal. The larger one contains the residential development North of Hampstead and Decarie Square shopping centre, while the smaller one consists of just fifteen residential buildings on Macdonald Ave.

Demographics

The City of Côte Saint-Luc is a bilingual, multicultural community. Approximately 70 percent of the population speaks English as their home language and approximately 15 percent speak French as their home language with the other 15 percent of the population speaking another language at home. When divided amongst preferred official language of use, English is the preferred language of approximately 80 percent of the population and French 20 percent. The Jewish community makes up the largest ethnic community in Côte Saint-Luc, while the city also has a substantial Italian community.

Mother tongues

Statistics for the population according to mother tongue vary significantly from the statistics for home language, as well as also varying significantly from the statistics for official language usage. The 2006 census found that about 47% of residents had English as a mother tongue, while about 17% had French as a mother tongue. The next most common mother tongues were Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew, Romanian, Spanish, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, and Iranian.
Mother Tongue PopulationPercentage
English12,87540.52%
French6,03018.98%
English and French5101.61%
English and a non-official language2000.63%
French and a non-official language2600.82%
English, French and a non-official language1850.58%
Russian2,1756.85%
Persian1,4104.44%
Hebrew9352.94%
Romanian8852.79%
Spanish7202.27%
Italian6552.06%
Yiddish6101.92%
Arabic4901.54%
Tagalog4551.43%
Hungarian4401.38%
Korean2800.88%
Bulgarian2750.87%
Mandarin2350.86%
Polish2350.74%
German1650.52%
Portuguese1350.42%
Ukrainian1300.41%
Cantonese1150.36%

Mother Tongue PopulationPercentage
English13,34042.00%
French5,56517.52%
English and French4101.29%
Non-official languages11,59036.49%

Ethnic origin

Education

The Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys operates two Francophone primary schools—École de la Mosaïque and École des Amis-du-Monde—in Côte Saint-Luc. The English Montreal School Board operates a French immersion school—Merton School, John Grant and Mountainview High Schools and the Marymount Adult Centre. There are a number of private schools in the city, including JPPS-Bialik, Hebrew Academy, Maimonides and Yeshiva Yavne.

Notable people

Former residents of Côte Saint-Luc include politician and lawyer Irwin Cotler, actor William Shatner, and poet Irving Layton. Sidney Shoham, founding Rabbi of Beth Zion Congregation, spent more than 60 years as a resident and leader of the Côte Saint-Luc Jewish community. Other residents included Montreal Expos all-star catcher Gary Carter. Comedy screenwriter Ricky Blitt and older brother Barry Blitt, a magazine illustrator, were raised there. Author Gordon Korman grew up in Côte Saint-Luc, as did popular science author and cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker.