| L'Ancienne-Lorette | |
| Settlement Type: | City |
| Pushpin Map: | Canada Central Quebec |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in central Quebec |
| Pushpin Label Position: | left |
| Coordinates: | 46.7986°N -71.3625°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Canada |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Quebec |
| Subdivision Type2: | Region |
| Subdivision Name2: | Capitale-Nationale |
| Subdivision Type3: | RCM |
| Subdivision Name3: | None |
| Subdivision Type4: | Agglomeration |
| Subdivision Name4: | Quebec City |
| Established Title: | Settled |
| Established Date: | 1674 |
| Established Title1: | Constituted |
| Established Date1: | January 1, 2006 |
| Government Footnotes: | [1] |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Gaétan Pageau |
| Leader Title1: | Federal riding |
| Leader Name1: | Louis-Saint-Laurent |
| Leader Title2: | Prov. riding |
| Leader Name2: | La Peltrie |
| Area Footnotes: | [2] |
| Area Total Km2: | 7.70 |
| Area Land Km2: | 7.72 |
| Population Total: | 16970 |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Population Density Km2: | 2197 |
| Population Blank1 Title: | Pop 2016-2021 |
| Population Blank1: | 2.6% |
| Population Blank2 Title: | Dwellings |
| Population Blank2: | 7516 |
| Timezone: | EST |
| Utc Offset: | −5 |
| Timezone Dst: | EDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | −4 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code(s) |
| Postal Code: | G2E |
| Area Code: | 418 and 581 |
| Blank Name: | Highways |
L'Ancienne-Lorette (pronounced as /fr/) is a city in central Quebec, Canada. It is a suburb of and an enclave within Quebec City. It was merged with Quebec City on January 1, 2002, as part of a 2000–2006 municipal reorganization in Quebec, but, after a 2004 referendum, it was reconstituted as a separate city on January 1, 2006.
Its history dates to 1674, when a group of Huron (Wyandot) fleeing war with the Iroquois settled there under the protection of the French. It was founded as a mission village by the Jesuits. The Wyandot left after a few decades, and French settlers took over the land.
The Jesuit missionary Pierre Chaumonot in 1674 founded a settlement here when he built a chapel for the Huron (Wyandot). Following his third and final trip to the shrine of Loreto in Italy, Chaumonot was cured of a terrible headache. In gratitude, he placed the colony under the patronage of Our Lady of the Annunciation, but it is still commonly called Lorette.[3]
In 1697, the Huron left the village in search of better land for hunting and fishing. Afterward the site became known in French as Vieille-Lorette ("Old Loreto") or Ancienne-Lorette ("Former Loreto"). A new location became known as Nouvelle-Lorette ("New Loreto") or Jeune-Lorette ("Young Loreto"). That site roughly corresponds to the Loretteville of today. A year later in 1698, the Parish of Notre-Dame-de-l'Annonciation was established.[3]
In 1948, the place was incorporated as the village municipality of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. In 1967, it gained town status and took back its original name, L'Ancienne-Lorette, to distinguish itself from the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette Lac-Saint-Jean region.[3]
Until 1971, L'Ancienne-Lorette was the gateway to Quebec's International Airport. It used to be known as L'Ancienne-Lorette Airport. In 1971 the rural section of the town that included the airport was annexed by Sainte-Foy.
On January 1, 2002, L'Ancienne-Lorette was merged with Quebec City as part of a province-wide municipal reorganization and became part of the Laurentien borough of that city. After a 2004 referendum, it regained independent city status on January 1, 2006.
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, L'Ancienne-Lorette had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of 7.72km2, it had a population density of in 2021.[4]
According to the Canada 2021 Census:[5]
Population trend:[6]
In 2021, L'Ancienne-Lorette was 94.3% White, 1.6% Black, 1.2% Latin American and 1% Arab.
Quebecair Express, prior to its disestablishment, had its headquarters in the city.[7]