Île Bigras is the largest of the four

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

s that make up the Îles-Laval

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

in the

Rivière des Prairies The Rivière des Prairies (; ), called the Back River in English, is a delta channel of the Ottawa River in southwestern Quebec, Canada. The Kanien'kehá:ka called it ''Skowanoti'', meaning "River behind the island". The river separates the citi ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. They all are part of the city of Laval since 1965. The Île Bigras was named in 1817 as ''Île Amesse'', after the name of its owner, Louis Amesse (other more recent maps have also shown the names ''Île Boiret'' and ''Île Boisvert''). The island was bought in 1890 by Émilien Bigras, who gave it his name. He was also the owner of the three other islands of the archipelago:

Île Pariseau Île Pariseau () is a small island located in the Rivière des Prairies across the river from Île Bizard and Montreal Island. The island is part of Îles Laval which is linked to Île Jésus ( Sainte Dorothée, Laval), Quebec, Canada ...

, Île Verte and Île Ronde. Thanks to the

Deux-Montagnes Deux Montagnes is French for "Two Mountains", and can represent: * Lac des Deux Montagnes, a lake in the Greater Montreal Area * Deux-Montagnes, Quebec, a municipality in Canada, named after the lake * Deux-Montagnes Regional County Municipality, ...

commuter train line and its station, the island is less than 30 minutes from

Downtown Montreal Downtown Montreal (French language, French: ''Centre-Ville de Montréal'') is the central business district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The district is situated on the southernmost slope of Mount Royal, and occupies the western portion of the ...

and

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

. It is also less than a quarter-hour from the

seasonal A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

reaction ferry A reaction ferry is a cable ferry that uses the reaction of the current of a river against a fixed tether to propel the vessel across the water. Such ferries operate faster and more effectively in rivers with strong currents. Types and modes of ...

that connects

Île Bizard Île Bizard () is an island near the Island of Montreal in the Hochelaga Archipelago region. It is one of the three populated islands within the city of Montreal, along with the Island of Montreal and Nuns' Island (Île des Soeurs). The islan ...

with

Laval-sur-le-Lac Laval-sur-le-Lac () is a small sector on the western part of Laval and was a separate city until the municipal mergers on August 6, 1965. This community contains North America's oldest French speaking private golf club, Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac, e ...

. A

park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail transport, r ...

at the station can accommodate several cars.

External links

Map of Île Bigras (Laval)

External links

See also