Jean-Drapeau is a station on the Yellow Line of the Montreal Metro rapid transit system, operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM). It is situated on the Île Sainte-Hélène, an island in the Saint Lawrence River, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The station was named after Jean Drapeau, mayor of Montreal from 1954 to 1957 and 1960 to 1986, who is often given credit for the construction of the Metro, and for securing both Expo 67 and the 1976 Summer Olympics.
The station was originally named Île Sainte-Hélène, after the island on which it is located, until it was renamed in Drapeau's honour in May 2001.
It is a normal side platform station.
Jean Drapeau, CC GOQ (18 February 1916 – 12 August 1999) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as mayor of Montreal from 1954 to 1957 and 1960 to 1986. During his tenure as mayor he was responsible for the construction of the Montreal Metro system and the Place des Arts concert hall, for conceiving Expo 67, for securing the 1976 Summer Olympics, and for helping to bring Major League Baseball to Montreal with the creation of the Montreal Expos.
Although he is remembered as a visionary, Drapeau's mishandling of the construction of the Olympic Games facilities resulted in massive cost overruns and left the city with a debt of over $1 billion that has taken its citizens over thirty years to fully pay off.
The son of Joseph-Napoléon Drapeau and Alberta (Berthe) Martineau, Jean Drapeau was born in Montreal in 1916. His father, an insurance broker, city councilor and election worker for the Union nationale, introduced him to politics. Jean Drapeau studied law at the Université de Montréal.