Duvernay or Saint-François and Saint-Vincent-de-Paul for a family: schools, parks, commutes and compromises (2026)

Living · Family duel · Duvernay or Saint-François and Saint-Vincent-de-Paul · October 13, 2026

Two neighbouring areas seen with children: schools, parks, commutes, and the compromise that decides between Duvernay and Saint-François and Saint-Vincent-de-Paul.

Duvernay or Saint-François and Saint-Vincent-de-Paul for a family, side by side. Duvernay: The sector falls under the Centre de services scolaire de Laval and the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board. No train or metro: Duvernay is lived by car, and the Pie-IX Bridge is saturated at rush hour. Saint-François and Saint-Vincent-de-Paul: The sector falls under the Centre de services scolaire de Laval and the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board. Rural and quiet: no train, no metro, no condos or shopping street; everything is by car. For families who want a large house on a large lot, quiet streets and quick access to eastern Montreal and the North Shore; for those looking for a recent house in Val-des-Brises. For families who want space, countryside twenty kilometres from downtown and a great park, at eastern Laval's lowest price; for those working in eastern Montreal or Terrebonne via Highway 25.

Duvernay or Saint-François and Saint-Vincent-de-Paul for a family: two neighbouring areas, the same questions on both sides. Schools, parks, commutes and the compromise each one asks of a family, taken from our neighbourhood guides and from what families tell us after the visits. The figures are those published by the APCIQ for the second quarter of 2026; nothing is embellished.

Duvernay with children

Schools in Duvernay

• The sector falls under the Centre de services scolaire de Laval and the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board.
• The Cité-de-la-Santé hospital (Vimont) is Laval's hospital; Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur and Hôpital Fleury, in Montreal, are across the bridge.

Parks and neighbourhood life in Duvernay

• The Centre de la nature, Laval's great park with its lake, farm and trails, is at the sector's limit in Saint-Vincent-de-Paul; within Duvernay, the Val-des-Brises park, the boulevard Lévesque banks and neighbourhood parks with arenas and pools.
• Shops are on boulevard de la Concorde, boulevard Vanier and near Highway 25; the Carrefour Laval is a few kilometres away via the 440.

Commutes from Duvernay

• Duvernay has neither metro nor train station: STL buses reach the Cartier terminus and Montmorency metro.

What a family has to accept in Duvernay

• No train or metro: Duvernay is lived by car, and the Pie-IX Bridge is saturated at rush hour.
• Supply is thin (77 houses active): you must be ready to offer fast, often in competition.

Saint-François and Saint-Vincent-de-Paul with children

Schools in Saint-François and Saint-Vincent-de-Paul

• The sector falls under the Centre de services scolaire de Laval and the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board.
• The Cité-de-la-Santé hospital (Vimont) is Laval's hospital; Montréal-Nord's and Ahuntsic's hospitals are across the Pie-IX bridge.

Parks and neighbourhood life in Saint-François and Saint-Vincent-de-Paul

• The Centre de la nature (lake, farm, trails, winter sliding) is Laval's great park and the east's leisure heart; the banks of both rivers and neighbourhood parks complete the offer.
• Shops are on boulevard de la Concorde East, boulevard Lévesque and montée Masson; big-box stores are toward Highway 25 and in Duvernay.

Commutes from Saint-François and Saint-Vincent-de-Paul

• The sector has neither metro nor station: STL buses reach the Cartier terminus and Montmorency metro.

What a family has to accept in Saint-François and Saint-Vincent-de-Paul

• Rural and quiet: no train, no metro, no condos or shopping street; everything is by car.
• Highway 25 to Montreal is tolled, and the eastern bridges are saturated at rush hour.

Head to head, for a family

Our verdict

Duvernay: For families who want a large house on a large lot, quiet streets and quick access to eastern Montreal and the North Shore; for those looking for a recent house in Val-des-Brises. Saint-François and Saint-Vincent-de-Paul: For families who want space, countryside twenty kilometres from downtown and a great park, at eastern Laval's lowest price; for those working in eastern Montreal or Terrebonne via Highway 25.

The compromise that most often decides between the two, seen with children. On one side, no train or metro: Duvernay is lived by car, and the Pie-IX Bridge is saturated at rush hour. On the other, rural and quiet: no train, no metro, no condos or shopping street; everything is by car. The family that accepts one of the two more easily has found its neighbourhood. The full family portrait of each is in Living in Duvernay with a family and Living in Saint-François and Saint-Vincent-de-Paul with a family; the general duel, all profiles together, is in Duvernay or Saint-François and Saint-Vincent-de-Paul: the pros and cons.

What to check street by street before choosing

• The school catchment of the exact address, elementary and high school, with the school service centre: it changes from one street to the next in both areas.
• The real commute on a Tuesday morning, with the detour by the daycare or the school, from each shortlisted street.
• The flood zone and insurability, if the street is near a river, a canal or the St. Lawrence.
• Noise at rush hour: highway, rail line, flight corridor, commercial artery, schoolyard.

Frequently asked questions

Written by the Loaa & Manseur team from our Living in Duvernay and Living in Saint-François and Saint-Vincent-de-Paul guides and from what families tell us after the visits; no figure is added to those published by the APCIQ, and ranking schools is not our trade. The other neighbourhood duels seen with children are in neighbourhood against neighbourhood for a family.

Our proof, not our promises

The Loaa & Manseur team, led by Lotfi Manseur and Loaa Al Daow, is the number 1 team at RE/MAX Platine in 2024 and 2025, 6th RE/MAX team in Quebec, 15th in Canada and in the global top 50 of large residential teams according to the official RE/MAX ranking, computed on actual transactions. Its Google profile counts more than 220 reviews with a 4.9 rating. Its offices are at 55 avenue de l'Équinoxe in Brossard, one bridge from the island, and every broker's licence can be checked in the OACIQ public register. Three things to verify yourself before calling us, and to demand of any other broker.

Also available in French: version française de ce guide.

Published September 7, 2026 by the Loaa & Manseur team, the number 1 team at RE/MAX Platine in 2024 and 2025, 6th RE/MAX team in Quebec, 15th in Canada and in the global top 50 according to the official RE/MAX ranking. Tell us about your project.