It is also interesting to note that many people, who say they are from Montreal, may in fact not live in Montreal proper. The Metropolitan Community of Montreal is made up of Montreal and four surrounding areas, the north shore, the south shore, and the cities of Laval and Longueuil. To outsiders, people in those areas will often say that they are from Montreal. 

Further complicating things is the fact that the city of Montreal does not take up the entire island of Montreal, though for five years it was. Prior to 2001, Montreal was made up of 27 independent cities as well as the city of Montreal and formed what was known as the Montreal Urban Community. Under the leadership of the provincial government and the Parti Québécois, all 28 cities were merged together to form one city.

After the merger, the city was broken down into several areas known as boroughs or arrondissements in French. This new Montreal had 27 boroughs which does coincide with the number of cities there used to be, however those cities did not automatically become individual boroughs as some of them were broken down and given to separate boroughs.

Many people did not like this new merger which helped the Liberal Party of Quebec get elected in 2003 as they promised to allow the former municipalities to demerge from Montreal if they wished. In June 2004, 14 of those municipalities choose this option but it took until January 1, 2022 for the demerger to be finalized. At this time, the island of Montreal has 15 communities and Montreal proper now has 19 boroughs.

The following graphic shows the different boroughs and independent cities on the island of Montreal.

To learn more about each borough, just click on their names:  

• Ahuntsic-Cartierville
• Anjou, Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Lachine, LaSalle, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Le Sud-Ouest, L'Île-Bizard-Sainte-Geneviève, Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montréal-Nord, Outremont, Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Rivière-des-Prairies-Pointe-aux-Trembles, Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie, Saint-Laurent, Saint-Léonard, Verdun, Ville-Marie, Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension.

The independent cities are: Baie-D'Urfé, Beaconsfield, Côte Saint-Luc, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Dorval, Hampstead, Kirkland, L'Île-Dorval, Montréal-Est, Montréal West, Mount Royal, Pointe-Claire, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Senneville, Westmount.