^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Contrecœur, Quebec (Canada)

Municipalité de Contrecœur

image by Ivan Sache, 28 June 2012

City flag
Prior flag

See also:

City flag

The Town of Contrecœur (6,354 inhabitants in 2012; 6,156 ha) is located in Montérégie, 40 km east of Montreal. on the south bank of river St. Lawrence.

Contrecœur was founded in 1667 by Antoine Pécaudy de Contrecœur (1596-1688), Captain in the Carignan-Salières Regiment and first lord of Contrecœur. The parish register was inaugurated in 1668, this year being proclaimed in 1968 the foundation year of the town. On 29 October 1672, Intendant Jean Talon, representing the King of France, granted Antoine Pécaudy de Contrecœur a two square league domain; according to the 1681 census, the domain had 69 settlers and 80 acres of productive land. In 1688, the domain of Contrecœur was inherited by the founder's son, François-Antoine Pécaudy de Contrecœur (c. 1676-1743), a brilliant officer made Knight of the Order of Saint-Louis on 25 March 1738; the number of inhabitants rise to 138 in 1706 and 283 in 1739. His son Claude-Pierre Pécaudy de Contrecœur (1705-1775), also an officer, secured the French position in Ohio and was appointed a member of the Legislative Council short before his death, attending only one meeting; in 1765, the domain of Contrecœur counted 371 persons, 6,640 acres under cultivation, and 973 animals.
The Sainte-Trinité parish was established in November 1832; the local tradition says that the parish was named for Barbe Denys de la Trinité, Pécaudy's wife and first Dame of Contrecœur. The Municipality of the Parish of Sainte-Trinité de Contrecœur was founded in 1845, its territory matching the religious parish's territory. The Municipality of the Village of Contrecœur was eventually founded on 30 April 1902. The two municipalities merged in 1976, being subsequently incorporated in the MRC Marguerite-D'Youville, founded on 1 January 1982. Contrecœur was granted the status of Town in May 1997.
- http://www.ville.contrecoeur.qc.ca/cgi-bin/index.cgi?page=c4_1&langue=fra - Municipal website
Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online:
http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=538 - Antoine Pécaudy de Contrecœur
http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?id_nbr=1609 - François-Antoine Pécaudy de Contrecœur
http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=2131 - Claude-Pierre Pécaudy de Contrecœur

The town uses two flags, one with the municipal coat of arms and one with the municipal logo, on a white field in both flags. They are prescribed in the regulation on the use of the symbols of Contrecœur, adopted on 18 August 1986.

The flag with the logo shall be used on flags hoisted in the municipal parks and outside the multifunction center. The logo is shaped like a house, recalling the group of houses that form Contrecœur's early downtown. The white stripe recalls river St. Lawrence, the main source of economical and social expansion of the town. The heart (in French, "cœur") is the symbol of the pride of the town. The logo also includes letter "C", the initial of the name of the town and its "heart". Garnet red is a reference to the history of Contrecœur and to the valiant heart of its workers, merchants and inhabitants. Steel gray is a reference to the once and still significant contribution of steel industry* to the development of the town.
- http://www.ville.contrecoeur.qc.ca/cgi-bin/index.cgi?page=c1_4_0 - Municipal website

* The steel factories Sidbec-Docso (today, Mittal) and Stelco (today, Norambar) are among the main employers in the town, once also known for shoe industry.
Ivan Sache, 28 July 2012

Prior Flag

image by Luc Baronian

The flag with the municipal arms shall be hoisted in front of the Town Hall and inside the meeting room of the Municipal Council. The arms of Contrecœur are "Gules a bend or charged with three hearts of the first surrounded by two bunches of grapes of the second leaved of the same." The shield is surrounded dexter by a lion or and sinister by a griffin of the same, standing on a scroll or inscribed with the town's motto in letters sable "À CŒUR VAILLANT TOUT EST POSSIBLE" (To a Valiant Heart Everything Is Possible). The name of the town is written in Gothic-like characters under the scroll. The municipal arms are derived from the family arms of the founders of the town. The shield was inspired by the canting arms of the Pécaudy de Contrecœur family, "Gules a bend vert charged with three hearts or", a heart being a "cœur" in French. The grapes are derived from the arms of the arms of the Denys de la Trinité. The lion and the griffin originally supported the arms of the Pécaudy and Denys families.
- http://www.ville.contrecoeur.qc.ca/cgi-bin/index.cgi?page=c1_4_1 - Municipal website

Ivan Sache, 28 June 2012

Sometimes after June 2007, reports Le Sorel-Tracy Magazine, the Mayor of Contrecœur offered the municipal flag to two soldiers living in the town on their leave to Afghanistan. A colour photo of the ceremony shows the flag as white in proportions 1:2 with the city's coat of arms in the middle and the writing "Municipalité de Contrecoeur" in black "Gothic" letters placed below the arms. Both the motto on the scroll beyond the shield and the aforementioned writing are faultive, with "Contrecoeur" instead of "Contrecœur". On the motto, moreover, the grave accent on the "A" is missing, too (it should be "À").

Ivan Sache, 16 April 2009