Sorel-Tracy
city in Montérégie, Quebec, Canada
Sorel-Tracy (; French: [sɔʁɛl tʁaˈsi]) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada and the geographical end point of the Champlain Valley. It is located at the confluence of the Richelieu River and the St. Lawrence River, on the western edge of Lac Saint-Pierre, downstream and northeast of Montreal. The population as of the Canada 2021 census was 35,165. Its mayor is Patrick Péloquin and it is the seat of the Pierre-De Saurel Regional County Municipality and the judicial district of Richelieu.
The city is the result of a voluntary merger in March 2000 between two former municipalities, Sorel and Tracy, which developed on opposite shores of the Richelieu River: Tracy on the west shore and Sorel on the east shore. Sorel itself had annexed in 1992 the municipality of Saint-Pierre-de-Sorel; today it forms the southern part of its territory.
Sorel was founded in 1642. Tracy was founded on February 10, 1954, but prior to that, it was a parish municipality known as Saint-Joseph de Sorel. (This is not to be confused with the town of Saint-Joseph-de-Sorel, an independent municipality north of Tracy).
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Sorel-Tracy” as city in Montérégie, Quebec, Canada. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as city in Montérégie, Quebec, Canada. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q142010. VIAF identifies the subject as 137159935. Authority coordinates are 46.033, -73.117. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2021, 2000, 1992 and 1642.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Sorel-Tracy”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Sorel-Tracy primary sources, Sorel-Tracy archive and Sorel-Tracy research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Sorel-Tracy”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Sorel-Tracy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.