Mirabel

Mirabel is a Canadian city in Quebec, located in the Laurentians region, approximately 57 km northwest of Montreal. Exercising some regional county municipality (MRC) powers, it is one of the largest municipalities in southern Quebec.

The origin of the toponym "Mirabel" is still debated.

"Mirabel" could be an Occitan toponym composed of two elements: mira, meaning "look," and bèl, bèu, meaning "that which is beautiful." There is also a variant, Mirabeau. These Occitan toponyms would then correspond to the French place names Mirbel, Mirebel, and Mirebeau.

For its part, the Mirabel municipal administration maintains that around the 1870s, farmers in the region were advised to choose a name to identify their farms to facilitate mail delivery. Consequently, a Scottish major with two daughters, Myriam and Isabelle, chose the name Mirabel for his farm. Then, in 1886, the federal government entrusted the Canadian Pacific Railway with mail delivery, and shortly thereafter, it opened a post office at the corner of Côte Saint-Louis and Rang Saint-Hyacinthe. Mail was transported there via the Saint-Hermas train station, located on Rang Saint-Hyacinthe. The post office was then officially named Mirabel. A bypass road also bore the name Mirabel.

With a total area of ​​486.06 km², Mirabel is the largest municipality in the Greater Montreal area. This characteristic, resulting from the amalgamation of several municipalities in the 1970s during the construction of the monumental Montreal-Mirabel International Airport, explains, from an urban planning perspective, the heterogeneous character of Mirabel. Primarily agricultural, the city's population is distributed among various village centers. Furthermore, the urban areas of several neighbouring municipalities extend into its territory.

The city is roughly bordered by the Rivière du Nord (to the north), various roads and farmland (to the west and south), the Laurentian Autoroute (to the east), and the urban agglomeration of Saint-Jérôme (to the northeast). Its territory is crisscrossed by a network of roads and rural roads. It is traversed from north to south by Route Arthur-Sauvé (Route 148), Boulevard Curé-Labelle (Route 117), and the Laurentian Autoroute. From east to west, Highway 50 is the main artery.

Due to its significant agricultural activity, Mirabel is crossed by dozens of small streams, including the Rivière du Chêne. Mirabel also contains several forests and woodlands, including two large public parks: the Bois de Belle-Rivière Regional Park and the Domaine-Vert Park. Its terrain is rather flat, fluctuating around fifty meters and rarely exceeding 80 meters. In the southwest, in the Oka hills in the Saint-Benoît sector, Mirabel reaches a maximum altitude of 150 meters.