Montréal (Verdun/Île-des-Soeurs)

The former city of Verdun has been a Montreal borough since 2002. Contrary to popular belief, the borough is not named after the commune of Verdun, France, but after the village of Saverdun, in Ariège – the birthplace of Zacharie Dupuis, who would one day cross the Atlantic and found Verdun in 1671. Surely Dupuis had no idea that at one point in the 20th century, Verdun would be the third most populous city in all of Quebec! Over time, Verdun attracted many new immigrants from the British Isles, and boasted the highest recruitment rate in Canada during both Great World Wars. In the 1980s, Verdun fell into a period of decline in part due to its ageing buildings, but is now undergoing a welcome era of revitalization