An AP article on Sunday, addressing the problem of the increasingly "disenfranchised" Muslim population in Europe and their increased sense of alienation and discrimination in light of recent world events (and in this case focusing on the city of Aulnay-Sous-Bois, France), introduced a word, banlieue, to describe the problem areas thusly:

The northern end of Aulnay is a "banlieue," French for suburb and now code for any of the crime-plagued slums that ring large cities, whether in France or elsewhere in Europe.
Government employment figures make no ethnic breakdown, but economists see a wide gap between francois de souche," meaning European Frenchmen, and "les immigres," which refers essentially to Arabs and Africans, whether they are French citizens of long standing or have just arrived in the country.

It then goes on to use the word in an English context a number of times. I'm wondering how common banlieue is in Europe, if it is creeping into acceptance in a number of languages including English...and, if it is now in the process of making the same linguistic transition that the Spanish barrio has made as a full English adoption. And perhaps some of the ever-increasing French-speaking contingent of our board community can help us with the seeming wide nuance, and proper pronunciation, of this word.

Please note: the political matrix is provided as a key to understanding the word.

I have never heard the negative use of the word banlieue (suburb) or banlieusard(e) (suburbanite) that you mentioned and have never heard it used in English. Perhaps it is a European thing? I suppose it could be used this way in other parts of Canada as there is a tremendous variety in the French language across the country.

As used by Hugo in Les Miserables, it refers to the unsavory areas at the edges of the city, sparsely populated and poor.