'Île Bizard' is an island near the
Island of Montreal in the
Hochelaga Archipelago.
It was formerly a separate municipality named
L'Île-Bizard, but is now part of the city of
Montreal, in the borough of
L'Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève.
The
Jacques Bizard bridge connects it across the
Rivière des Prairies with
Sainte-Geneviève on the
Island of Montreal. There is also a very short
cable ferry connection to
Sainte-Dorothée on
Île Jésus (
Laval). This ferry does not operate in winter.
There is a large park in the interior of the island with nature trails.
[1] There is also a small beach at Pointe-aux-Carrières that faces the
Lac des Deux-Montagnes. The
Royal Montreal Golf Club is located on the island.
Historically named Île Bonaventure, by 1723 it had come to be named Île Bizard, after
Jacques Bizard, to whom it was conceded as a
fief (seigneurie) in 1678. See
Seigneurial system of New France.
Land has been reserved on the island for the future extension of
Autoroute 440 from Laval to connect with
Autoroute 40 at Chemin Ste-Marie. This will avoid having to drive on the
Autoroute 40 to get to
Autoroute 13 and
Autoroute 15 and provide another beltway around the city in addition to
Autoroute 30 on the South Shore.
However, the City of Montreal wants to keep these grounds as parks.
'Sports'
The PGA Golf Tour comes to l'île Bizard once in a while.
It is also notable that
Vincent Lecavalier, a current
NHL player was born on the island in 1980.
'Music'
The island is also hometown for the metal band
Frozen, the rock band
Simple Plan and the french punk-rockers
eXterio.