Minganie Regional County Municipality

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Minganie (Template:IPA) is a regional county municipality on the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. Its territory includes Anticosti Island.

Toponymy

File:012 035 Ile Mingan Niapiscau.jpg
Gulf of St. Lawrence, Niapiskau island, Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve

Both the largest (128,473 km²) and the second least populated, the regional county municipality of Minganie extends from Labrador to the middle of the Honguedo Strait in the St. Lawrence River and includes the hinterland of Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent RCM and Anticosti Island.

Construction workers, transport workers, miners, fishermen and trappers are also found there in larger proportions than in Quebec in general.<ref name="Minganie, toponymy">Template:Cite web</ref>

The origins of Minganie's population can be traced to Innu, Acadian and Gaspesians pioneers and its new residents who arrived via Route 138 (The Whale Route - Route Jacques-Cartier), opened in 1976.<ref name="Visit Minganie">Template:Cite web</ref>

Administration

The RCM administration is seat is Havre-Saint-Pierre. It has an area of Template:Convert according to Quebec's Ministère des Affaires municipales, des Régions et de l'Occupation du territoire (which includes coastal, lake, and river water territory),<ref name="caveat"/> or a land area of Template:Convert according to Statistics Canada. Its population in the 2021 Canadian census was 6,467.<ref name="sc2021"/> The majority live in Havre-Saint-Pierre.<ref name="mamrot"/>

Minganie and the neighbouring Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent Regional County Municipality are grouped into the single census division of Minganie—Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent (known as Minganie–Basse-Côte-Nord before 2010). The combined population at the 2021 Canadian census was 9,849.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Until 2002, Minganie RCM encompassed the entire lower north shore right up to Blanc-Sablon. In 2002, it lost all the coastal communities east of the Natashquan River when the Basse-Côte-Nord Territory was formed. In July 2010, the RCM lost another 44% of its territory when the (uninhabited) Petit-Mécatina unorganized territory was transferred to the newly created Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent Regional County Municipality, which superseded Basse-Côte-Nord.<ref name=modification>Template:Citation</ref>

Overview of the region

Several portions of territory on the Minganie are dedicated specifically to the protection and maintenance of heritages.

Subdivisions

There are 9 subdivisions and 2 native reserves within the RCM:<ref name="mamrot"/>

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Municipalities (8)

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Unorganized Territory (1)

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Native Reserves (2)
(not associated with RCM)

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Demographics

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Transportation

Sea - Air - Ground

Until the arrival of The Whale Route (Route 138)<ref name="along the Whale Route">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Whales Online">Template:Cite web</ref> in 1976 and 1996, the only regular means of access to the area was the boat service maintained during the navigation season by Clarke Steamship Company, Ltd.<ref name="The Clarke Steamship Co Ltd">Template:Cite web</ref> The regularity of the service becomes more and more uncertain from the month of September, depending on the date of the arrival of winter with its snow, ice, storms and fog. However, it is possible to reach the area by chartering seaplanes that can easily land under favourable atmospheric conditions in many deep bays and on windward waters sheltered by islands.<ref name="The North Shore of the St. Lawrence, from Aguanish to Washicoutai Bay, Saguenay County">Template:Cite web</ref>

Route & trails

Highways and numbered routes that run through the RCM, including external routes that start or finish on its borders.<ref>Official Transport Quebec Road Map</ref> Template:Col-begin Template:Col-4

  • Autoroutes
    • None

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  • Secondary Highways
    • None

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  • External Routes
    • None

Template:Col-end In 2024, the Côte-Nord region is part of the network of the 33 000 km of trails of The Federation of Snowmobile Clubs of Quebec and La Minganie Snowmobile Club, based in Les Escoumins,<ref name="La Minganie Snowmobile Club">Template:Cite web</ref> offer detailed interactive maps on the different circuits and their points of services.

River basins

File:Chute - rivière Manitou 3.jpg
Falls on the Manitou River
File:Rivière Natashquan.jpg
Natashquan River near its mouth

There are a number of large rivers that flow in a generally north–south direction through Minganie to enter the Gulf. Near the coast the river basins tend to narrow in towards the river mouth, and between their mouths are areas that drain into the Gulf through smaller streams. From west to east, the larger river basins, which may cover parts of Labrador, Sept-Rivières or Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent, are:<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

River Basin size Mouth coordinates Map link
km2 sq. mile
Bouleau Template:Convert Template:Coord EFPVK
Sault Plat Template:Convert Template:Coord EIBXJ
Tortue Template:Convert Template:Coord EIHTJ
Manitou Template:Convert Template:Coord EHDEJ
Chaloupe Template:Convert Template:Coord EFVQV
Sheldrake Template:Convert Template:Coord EIDHB
Tonnerre Template:Convert Template:Coord EIHQL
Jupitagon Template:Convert Template:Coord EGURN
Magpie Template:Convert Template:Coord EHCNP
Saint-Jean Template:Convert Template:Coord EIACM
Mingan Template:Convert Template:Coord EHGSU
Romaine Template:Convert Template:Coord EHXDD
Ours Template:Convert Template:Coord EHMZM
Corneille Template:Convert Template:Coord EFZNQ
Piashti Template:Convert Template:Coord EHQDT
Quetachou Template:Convert Template:Coord EHTZO
Véronique Template:Convert Template:Coord EIKWH
Watshishou Template:Convert Template:Coord EIMMB
Little Watshishou Template:Convert Template:Coord EIMMC
Pashashibou Template:Convert Template:Coord EHOAQ
Nabisipi Template:Convert Template:Coord EHJDV
Aguanish Template:Convert Template:Coord EKVRE
Natashquan Template:Convert Template:Coord EHJNH

Flora

File:Conrad Kirouac avec chardon de Mingan en 1928.jpg
Frère Marie-Victorin (1885–1944), Mingan archipelago 1928, in hand, the C. minganense (large pale plant, with flower heads gathered in a mass surpassed by the leaves

With the exception of a few enclaves, the ecological region of Minganie is mainly covered by large Spruce forests and a few laricinin fields (Larix laricina (Du Roi) K. Koch). There are also White spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss.), Dwarf birch (Betula glandulosa Minchx), Rough alder (Alnus rugosa (DuRoi Spreng.) and Trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michaux).<ref name="Region Mingan Islands">Template:Cite web</ref>

Brothers Marie-Victorin and Rolland Germain F.E.C. explored the region from 1924 to 1928. Their work has raised awareness in the scientific community of the enormous value of the Mingan Archipelago. Since then, other scientists have added to the ecology and phytogeography knowledge of this sector.<ref name="Flore laurentienne Anticosti-Minganie">Template:Cite web</ref>

The vegetation of the Mingan Islands belongs to the Chibougamau-Natashquan boreal forest region, which is dominated by Black spruce. The high latitude and low altitude, combined with the proximity of the cold currents of Labrador, explain the subarctic vegetation specific to the Minganie.

The entirely calcareous nature of the horizontal stratified rocks, which make up the Anticosti - Minganie, exerts a profound influence on the structure of the flora and on the choice of species.

Remarkable for its richness, the flora includes 350 vascular plants including the presence of two rare taxa: Cirsium foliosum var. Minganense and Cypripedium passerinum var. Minganense. Sixty species are new to the list of Minganie harvests compiled by Marie-Victorin and Rolland-Germain (1969). There were also 150 bryophytes and 152 lichens, 29 of which were additions to the Nouveau Catalogue des lichens, published by Lepage (1972).<ref name="Flora Mingan Island">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Rare plants">Template:Cite web</ref>

Overwiew of the diversity

Fauna

File:Ursus americanus PO 01.jpg
Ursus americanus. - Ours noir. - (Black Bear)

Terrestrial mammals

During the summers of 1964 and 1965, during geological research, Jean Depatie with a team of geologists and students, assisted by 3 canoemen and lumberjacks, plus a cook, explored 440 square miles of a territory stretching from Sept-Îles to Blanc Sablon, in the Lac à l'Ours region. In the field, scientists noted an abundance of Canadian beavers, a few otters and American mink, many hares, partridges and a multitude of ducks. Caribou and moose are scarce while black bears and red foxes abound.<ref name="Preliminaty Report on L'Ours lake area,">Template:Cite web</ref>

Marine mammals

File:Rorqual 070.jpg
Whale watching, with members of the Mingan Island Cetacean Study (MICS) team 2004<ref name="Mingan Island Cetacean Study">Template:Cite web</ref>

The waters of the St. Lawrence Estuary are internationally recognized as a vital feeding ground for rare or common species of marine mammals.

Birds

Many species of birds can be observed in the Côte-Nord region and the Mingan RCM, including Havre-Saint-Pierre and in Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve

See also

References

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