Rouyn-Noranda, with a population of 42,313 as of 2021, is a city located on Osisko Lake in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec, Canada. The city is coextensive with a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) and census division (CD) of Quebec, bearing the same name and geographical code 86.
The city of Rouyn, named after Jean-Baptiste Rouyn, a captain in the Régiment Royal Roussillon of Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, emerged after the discovery of copper in 1917. Noranda, a contraction of "North Canada", was later established around the Horne mine and foundry. Both were officially constituted as cities in 1926 and merged in 1986. Since 1966, Rouyn and Noranda have been the capital of the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region. The city is also home to the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) since 1983. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rouyn-Noranda was established on February 9, 1974, by Pope Paul VI, with Mgr. Jean-Guy Hamelin as its first bishop.
As part of the 2000–2006 municipal reorganization in Quebec, the municipalities of the former Rouyn-Noranda Regional County Municipality amalgamated into the new City of Rouyn-Noranda on January 1, 2002. These included Arntfield, Bellecombe, Beaudry, Cadillac, Cléricy, Cloutier, D'Alembert, Destor, Évain, Lac-Montanier, Lac-Surimau, McWatters, Mont-Brun, Montbeillard, Rapides-des-Cèdres, Rollet, and the former Rouyn-Noranda.
According to the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Rouyn-Noranda had a population of 42,313 living in 19,282 of its 20,874 total private dwellings. With a land area of 5,963.57 km2, it had a population density of 7.1/km2 in 2021. Native French speakers make up about 95% of the city's population.
Since 1982, Rouyn-Noranda has been host to the International Cinema Festival of Abitibi-Témiscamingue and since 2003, the host of the Emerging Music Festival in Abitibi-Témiscamingue. Notable cultural figures from Rouyn-Noranda include singer-songwriter Richard Desjardins, actors Paule Baillargeon, Anne Dorval and Bruce Greenwood, and science fiction writer Éric Gauthier. Rouyn-Noranda is also known as "La Capitale Nationale du Cuivre" (or the National Copper Capital) due to its extensive copper deposits and mining activities.
One of the notable attractions in Rouyn-Noranda is the St. George Russian Orthodox Church. Erected between 1955 and 1957 by the Russian community, this church with traditional architecture offers guided tours explaining the celebration of Mass and the history of immigrant communities and their role in local history.
Rouyn-Noranda is served by the Rouyn-Noranda Airport and has a small public transit system of four bus routes serving the urban area. The primary highways through the city are the north–south Route 101 and the east–west Route 117, which is part of the Trans-Canada Highway system.
