Rigaud is located at the northwestern part of the Suroît region, which is part of the Montérégieadministrative region, on the Ontario-Quebec border. Across the Ottawa River lies the Laurentides region. Neighbouring municipalities are Hudson, Vaudreuil-Dorion, Sainte-Marthe, Très-Saint-Rédempteur, East Hawkesbury and Pointe-Fortune. The municipality located across Ottawa River is Saint-André-d'Argenteuil. The geographic location of Rigaud, at the head of the Ottawa River and then between the Montreal and Ottawa metropolitan areas, has contributed largely to its economic development throughout its history. Rigaud's land area is 99 km². The relief is composed, on the North side, of the Ottawa River plain and, on the South side, of Mount Rigaud. The Ottawa River and Mount Rigaud are the main elements in the landscape. The plain is partly used for agricultural purposes and partly in bush. Mount Rigaud covers an area of 47 km². A lot of rock pieces scatter the woods all over the mountain. It is a moraine shaped by a glacier that, by moving, broke up from the bedrock of the Canadian Shield, fragments that it disaggregated and rounded by rolling over them, moving them and leaving them in this basin, some thousand years ago, at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation.
Demographics
Population
Language
Attractions
Rigaud Mountain
The main attraction is Mont-Rigaud, a hill with downhill ski runs, a private school, a monastery, and a shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The mountain is also home to an unusual, natural rock garden known as the "champs de patates", so named because of the local legend that it was once a potato field, turned to stone by God because the farmer worked on Sunday. On the opposite side of the mountain is a residential community known as "Mountain Ranches." The middle to upper-middle class community features large, mostly secluded building lots in a wooded setting that draws residents because of its isolated tranquility and privacy. As such, it was the hiding place for fugitive Charlie Wilson, one of the leaders of the notorious 1963 Great train robbery in England. This area was also known for its "tree farms" in the 1960s and 1970s, providing a tax shelter for the well off, until the tax laws were later changed to require harvesting of those "tree farms". The "Pitcairn Tree Farm", was one such example. Also located in Rigaud is the training center for the Canada Border Services Agency. The communities of Dragon and Rigaud are found within the city.
Transportation
The Rigaud station was the former terminus of the AMTcommuter train to downtown Montreal. On 1 July 2010, service to Rigaud was discontinued, as the town was unable to pay the $300,000 annual fee to the AMT to allow service to continue to the town. After that date, the rail line ends at Hudson. The town is served by the 61 bus from Exo La Presqu’Île.
Education
operates Francophone schools.
École de l'Épervière
Some areas are served by École Sainte-Marthe in Sainte-Marthe
