The RM was created on January 1, 2015 via the amalgamation of the RM of Lorne and the villages of Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes and Somerset.[1] It was formed as a requirement of The Municipal Amalgamations Act, which required that municipalities with a population less than 1,000 amalgamate with one or more neighbouring municipalities by 2015.[2] The Government of Manitoba initiated these amalgamations in order for municipalities to meet the 1997 minimum population requirement of 1,000 to incorporate a municipality.[3]
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Lorne had a population of 2,904 living in 1,103 of its 1,199 total private dwellings, a change of -4.5% from its 2016 population of 3,041. With a land area of 923.03 km2 (356.38 sq mi), it had a population density of 3.1/km2 (8.1/sq mi) in 2021.[4]
