City of Sherbrooke votes 'Estrie' for official French name of Quebec's Eastern Townships

In a majority vote Tuesday, the city of Sherbrooke adopted a motion to request that the official French name of Quebec's Eastern Townships region remains Estrie. 

Council voted 10 to four in favour of keeping the name, instead of the original translation: Cantons-de-l'Est. Although several municipal councillors would have liked the city to refrain from taking a position considering the division in the population.

In July 2021, Quebec's minister of municipal affairs and housing, Andrée Laforest, and the minister responsible for the Estrie region, François Bonnardel, announced that the regional county municipalities of Brome-Missiquoi and Haute-Yamaska were being added to the territory.

That's when the Table des MRC de l'Estrie — a council of representatives from each regional county — asked for a rebrand.

Last year, the Commission municipale du Québec (CMQ) started surveying the people in the region to see which name they preferred. Individuals, groups and organizations had until Feb. 4 to submit written arguments.

Currently, Cantons-de-l'Est is almost always used for tourism and regional promotion, but public services, health resources and provincial documents generally refer to Estrie.

People who want to change the name from Estrie to Cantons-de-l'Est say the latter is more evocative of the region's history and scenery.

But Sherbrooke Mayor Évelyne Beaudin says the word Estrie is short and effective, and is also less of a mouthful when added on to official names, like the regional health authority. Minutes before the vote, she asked for elected officials to adopt a resolution.

"We are the capital of this region," she said. "We cannot remain silent in the face of this debate, for which we will be the first to be impacted."

She said the most important argument is that if the administrative region is not longer called Estrie, "it is the end of the word Estrie." 

Some elected officials, including Annie Godbout, city councillor for the Rock Forest district of the borough of Brompton–Rock Forest–Saint-Élie–Deauville, would have preferred that other possibilities be evaluated, such as keeping the name Estrien, but adopting the name Cantons-de-l'Est. 

City councillor for the University district Paul Gingues is among those who feel that officially adopting the name Estrie in 1981 was a mistake.

A virtual consultation was held Feb. 23 and the CMQ will hold in-person consultations March 14 in Sherbrooke, March 17 in Lac-Mégantic and March 22 in Granby, public health measures permitting.