The following is a list of the types of local and supralocal territorial units in Quebec, Canada, including those used solely for statistical purposes, as defined by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, Regions and Land Occupancy and compiled by the Institut de la statistique du Québec.
Not included are the urban agglomerations in Quebec, which, although they group together multiple municipalities, exercise only what are ordinarily local municipal powers.
A list of local municipal units in Quebec by regional county municipality can be found at List of municipalities in Quebec.
All municipalities (except cities), whether township, village, parish, or unspecified ones, are functionally and legally identical. The only difference is that the designation might serve to disambiguate between otherwise identically named municipalities, often neighbouring ones. Many such cases have had their names changed, or merged with the identically named nearby municipality since the 1950s, such as the former Township of Granby and City of Granby merging and becoming the Town of Granby in 2007.
Municipalities are governed primarily by the Code municipal du Québec (Municipal Code of Québec, R.S.Q. c. C-27.1), whereas cities and towns are governed by the Loi sur les cités et villes (Cities and Towns Act, R.S.Q. c. C-19) as well as (in the case of the older ones) various individual charters.
The very largest communities in Quebec are colloquially called cities; however there are currently no municipalities under the province's current legal system classified as cities. Quebec's government uses the English term town as the translation for the French term ville, and township for canton.[1] The least-populated towns in Quebec (Barkmere, with a population of about 60, or L'Île-Dorval, with less than 10) are much smaller than the most populous municipalities of other types (Saint-Charles-Borromée and Sainte-Sophie, each with populations of over 13,300).
| Abbreviation | French term | English translation | Description | Lists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CT | French: Municipalité de canton | Township municipality | All or part of the territory of a township (townships were originally only a land surveying feature) set up as a municipality. | List of township municipalities in Quebec |
| CU | French: Municipalité de cantons unis | United township municipality | Municipality composed of several townships. | List of united township municipalities in Quebec |
| M | French: Municipalité | Municipality | Territory administered by an authority established under the laws governing municipalities. | List of municipalities (not otherwise specified) in Quebec |
| P | Parish municipality | The territory of a religious parish established as a municipality. | List of parish municipalities in Quebec | |
| V | French: Ville[2] | Town | Municipality legally established as a town. | List of towns in Quebec |
| VL | French: Municipalité de village | Village municipality | Territory of a village established as a municipality separate from a surrounding parish or township municipality. | List of village municipalities in Quebec |
The title city (French: cité code=C) still legally exists, with a few minor differences from that of ville. However it is moot since there are no longer any cities in existence. Dorval and Côte Saint-Luc had the status of city when they were amalgamated into Montreal on January 1, 2002 as part of the municipal reorganization in Quebec;[3] however, when re-constituted as independent municipalities on January 1, 2006, it was with the status of town (French: ville) (although the municipal government of Dorval still uses the name Cité de Dorval).
Prior to January 1, 1995, the code for municipalité was not M but rather SD (sans désignation; that is, unqualified municipality).[4]
| Abbreviation | French term | English translation | Description | Lists | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IRI (R) | Réserve indienne | Indian reserve | Territory reserved for Indians under the Indian Act. | List of Indian reserves in Quebec | |
| TC | Terre réservée aux Cris (1-A) | Land reserved for the Cree | Territory reserved for the use and benefit of the Cree population. Associated with a Cree village (VC) of the same name. | List of Cree and Naskapi territories in Quebec | |
| TI | Terre de la catégorie I pour les Inuits | Category I land for the Inuit | Territory reserved for the use and benefit of the Inuit population. Associated with a northern village (VN) of the same name. | List of northern villages and Inuit reserved lands in Quebec | |
| TK | Terre réservée aux Naskapis (1-AN) | Land reserved for the Naskapi | Territory reserved for the use and benefit of the Naskapi (Innu) population. Associated with a Naskapi village (VK) of the same name. | List of Cree and Naskapi territories in Quebec | |
| VC | Municipalité de village cri (Terre 1-B) | Cree village municipality | A primarily Cree village with a Cree local authority established by the Cree Villages and the Naskapi Village Act. | List of Cree and Naskapi territories in Quebec | |
| VK | Municipalité de village naskapi (Terre 1-BN) | Naskapi village municipality | A primarily Naskapi (Innu) village with a Naskapi local authority established by the Cree Villages and the Naskapi Village Act. | List of Cree and Naskapi territories in Quebec | |
| VN | Municipalité de village nordique | Northern village municipality | A village with an Inuit local authority established by the Act respecting Northern villages and the Kativik Regional Government. | List of northern villages and Inuit reserved lands in Quebec |
Prior to 2004, there was a single code, TR, to cover the modern-day TC and TK. When the distinction between TC and TK was introduced, it was made retroactive to 1984, date of the federal Cree-Naskapi (of Quebec) Act (S.C. 1984, c. 18).
| Abbreviation | French term | English translation | Description | Lists | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Arrondissement | Borough | Subdivision of some local municipalities. | List of boroughs in Quebec | |
| S-É (EI) | Établissement amérindien | Indian settlement | Village or hamlet the majority of whose population is Amerindian and situated on lands without any particular legal status. | List of Indian settlements in Quebec |
There is also a different kind of submunicipal unit, unconstituted localities, which is defined and tracked not by the Quebec Ministry of Municipal Affairs but by Statistics Canada.
| Abbreviation | French term | English translation | Description | See also | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARg | Regional government | Regional civil administration of a large, sparsely populated area representing Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal residents alike. | Kativik Regional Government | ||
| CM | Metropolitan community | Administration bringing together the municipalities of a metropolitan area, larger than an urban agglomeration and not necessarily a multiple of RCMs and TEs. | Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal Communauté métropolitaine de Québec | ||
| MRC | Regional county municipality (RCM) | A territory comprising municipalities and sometimes unorganized territories, governed by an authority determined by law. | List of regional county municipalities and equivalent territories in Quebec | ||
| TÉ | Territory equivalent to an RCM | A statistical unit created to cover areas of Quebec not belonging to an RCM. | List of regional county municipalities and equivalent territories in Quebec |