The term regional county municipality or RCM (French: municipalité régionale de comté, MRC) is used in the Canadian province of Quebec to designate one of 86 county-like political and geographic units. In most cases, they are also census divisions. Regional County Municipalities are a type of "Regional Municipality" For a list of RCMs and equivalent territories, see List of regional county municipalities and equivalent territories in Quebec.
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RCMs as political entities
RCMs as geographical units
For the most part, RCMs are also census divisions. However, RCMs, in their definition as political units, do not cover the entire territory of Quebec. The local municipalities of Quebec (and equivalent Aboriginal territories) not belonging to an RCM fall into the following categories:
- all Indian reserves;
- 14 cities and urban agglomerations which do not belong to any RCM because they themselves exercise some or all of the powers which are normally those of an RCM (a city or agglomeration in some cases exercises only some of these powers because some RCM powers are in turn delegated to a metropolitan community), namely the:
- urban agglomeration of Îles-de-la-Madeleine
- urban agglomeration of Quebec
- city of Lévis
- city of Shawinigan
- city of Trois-Rivières
- city of Sherbrooke
- urban agglomeration of Longueuil
- city of Laval
- urban agglomeration of Montreal
- city of Mirabel
- city of Gatineau
- city of Rouyn-Noranda
- urban agglomeration of La Tuque
- city of Saguenay;
- all the municipalities of the Nord-du-Québec administrative region;
- five non-Aboriginal municipalities and one Indian settlement along the Lower North Shore; and
- the parish municipality of Notre-Dame-des-Anges.
For provincial statistical purposes, the Institut de la Statistique du Québec uses the following system so that the entire territory of Quebec is covered. Indian reserves which would, but for their status as Indian reserves, belong to a certain RCM in the political sense are included in that RCM viewed instead as a geographical unit. The rest of the province is grouped into 17 "territories equivalent to an RCM" (French: territoires équivalents à une MRC or territoires équivalents, abbreviated TÉ). This is done as follows.
- The fourteen cities and urban agglomerations mentioned above each form their own TE, except that:
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- the TE of Quebec consists of the urban agglomeration of Quebec, the parish municipality of Notre-Dame-des-Anges and the Indian reserve of Wendake; and
- the TE of La Tuque consists of the urban agglomeration of La Tuque and three Indian reserves.
- The TE of Kativik is contained in the Nord-du-Québec region and consists of those municipalities under the jurisdiction of the Kativik Regional Government. The Kativik region comprises all northern villages and Inuit reserved lands, the only Naskapi village in the province, and two unorganized territories.
- The TE of Jamésie is that portion of the Nord-du-Québec region which is not in the Kativik TE. It consists of the five non-Aboriginal municipalities in the Nord-du-Québec region, all Cree villages and Cree reserved lands in the province, and the Indian settlement of Oujé-Bougoumou.
- The TE of Basse-Côte-Nord consists of the five non-Aboriginal municipalities and one Indian settlement on the Lower North Shore not belonging to an RCM, as well as the Indian reserve of La Romaine.
Thus the 86 RCMs (as geographical units including Indian reserves) and 17 TEs cover the entire province and do not overlap.
Census divisions
Census divisions (CDs) are used for statistical purposes by Statistics Canada. Quebec is divided into 98 CDs, each of which is assigned a unique two-digit geographical code. For the most part, census divisions consist of a single RCM or TE (territory equivalent to an RCM), exactly as defined above. The only exceptions are five census divisions consisting of two RCMs or TEs each. For a list, see List of regional county municipalities and equivalent territories in Quebec#Use as census divisions.
Geographical code of Quebec
All local municipalities, equivalent Aboriginal territories, Indian settlements and unorganized territories in Quebec are assigned a unique five-digit geographical code. The first two-digits are the code of the census division in which the municipality is located. For a list of all municipalities in Quebec together with their legal status, geographical code and date of incorporation, see List of the official municipalities of Québec, Institut de la Statistique du Québec (ISQ). Note that the ISQ includes the six Indian settlements in the list, whereas the Répertoire des municipalités of the Ministère des Affaires municipales et régionales does not list them as separate from the legal municipalities or unorganized territories in which they are located. Both sources include all other types of Aboriginal communities.
See also
- List of regional county municipalities in Quebec.
- Administrative subdivisions of Quebec
- Types of municipalities in Quebec
- Local government in Quebec
- Census geographic units of Canada
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Montreal · Quebec · Laval · Gatineau · Longueuil · Sherbrooke · Saguenay · Lévis · Trois-Rivières |
