Cacouna () is a municipality in the

Rivière-du-Loup Regional County Municipality Rivière-du-Loup is a regional county municipality in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of Quebec, Canada. Its most important city is Rivière-du-Loup, which contains more than half of the population. Major industries include pulp and paper, other ...

within the

Bas-Saint-Laurent The Bas-Saint-Laurent (Lower Saint-Lawrence), is an administrative region of Quebec located along the south shore of the lower Saint Lawrence River in Quebec. The river widens at this place, later becoming a bay that discharges into the Atlanti ...

region of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

. It is located on the south shore of the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

along Route 132. The municipality of Cacouna was created in March 2006 through the amalgamation of the municipality of Saint-Georges-de-Cacouna and the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

of Saint-Georges-de-Cacouna. With a population of 1900, Cacouna is noted for the quality and unique architectural heritage of its buildings and for the richness and diversity of its agricultural life. The deep water port of Gros-Cacouna is a vital asset in the region's future development. Cacouna is a member of the association The Most Beautiful Villages in Quebec. 'Cacouna' is also the name of an

Indian reserve In Canada, an Indian reserve (french: réserve indienne) is specified by the '' Indian Act'' as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." In ...

of the Quebec

Maliseet The Wəlastəkwewiyik, or Maliseet (, also spelled Malecite), are an Algonquian-speaking First Nation of the Wabanaki Confederacy. They are the indigenous people of the Wolastoq ( Saint John River) valley and its tributaries. Their territory ...

Nation, located in the administrative region of Bas-Saint-Laurent.

History

The land had been occupied since 1721, by a number of families. After the deportation of

Acadians The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the de ...

from Quebec in 1758, several Acadians established residence on the land, living as squatters. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, with the construction of the railway to

Rivière-du-Loup Rivière-du-Loup (; 2021 population 20,118) is a small city on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec. The city is the seat for the Rivière-du-Loup Regional County Municipality and the judicial district of Kamouraska. Its one of ...

and the Maritime provinces, several wealthy Anglophone families from Montreal and Toronto built luxury villas in Cacouna, some of which still stand today. In the summer, the village was as a site of beachgoing, celebration and relaxation for these vacationers, providing employment to villagers working in the service industry. The vacationers began to slowly leave Cacouna during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. Shipowner and banker

Sir Montagu Allan Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Hugh Andrew Montagu Allan, (October 13, 1860 – September 26, 1951) was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He was the principal heir of his father, Sir Hugh Allan, and became deputy chairman of the family-owned A ...

had Château Montrose, his summer home, built at Cacouna in 1900. In 1941 Château Montrose was sold to the

Order of Friars Minor Capuchin The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. O.F.M. Cap.) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of Three " First Orders" that reformed from the Franciscan Friars Minor Observant (OFM Obs., now OFM ...

. Cacouna is also the birthplace of

Mario Dumont Mario Dumont (born May 19, 1970) is a Canadian television personality and former politician in Quebec, Canada. He was a Member of the National Assembly of Quebec (MNA), and the leader of the Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ), from 1994 to ...

, former leader of the

Action démocratique du Québec Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

Toponymy

Many see in the name 'Cacouna' Cree words, kakwa or kakoua, meaning porcupine or dwelling or dwelling place of porcupine. The actual location of Cacouna, however, puts this interpretation in doubt as the Cree have never visited this region. The Montagnais could have given the area its name during one of their crossings of the

in the past, as the word kaku also means porcupine in their language. More likely, though, the name could have come from the Maliseet word kakona. The name 'Saint George' was retained by Bishop Plessis in 1809 at the request of Malcolm Fraser, lord of Murray Bay (La Malbaie) from 1733 to 1815. Saint George, an officer martyred in Palestine in 303 AD, is a patron of the English people and his battle against the dragon has been represented multiple times in art.

Environment

A large part of the banks of the Saint Lawrence river in the eastern half of the village is bordered by public land, managed by the

Canadian Wildlife Service The Canadian Wildlife Service or CWS (french: Service canadien de la faune), is a Branch of the Department of the Environment (Environment and Climate Change Canada), a department of the Government of Canada. November 1, 2012 marked the 65th an ...

. The property is divided into two parts: * The Gros-Cacouna marsh is an ornithological site that covers nearly including a portion of the peninsula near the Gros-Cacouna harbour. Almost of trails allow visitors to discover many species of birds in their natural habitat, most notably waterfowl, such as the

black guillemot The black guillemot or tystie (''Cepphus grylle'') is a medium-sized seabird of the Alcidae family, native throughout northern Atlantic coasts and eastern North American coasts. It is resident in much of its range, but large populations from the ...

double-crested cormorant The double-crested cormorant (''Nannopterum auritum'') is a member of the cormorant family of water birds. It is found near rivers and lakes, and in coastal areas, and is widely distributed across North America, from the Aleutian Islands in A ...

greater snow goose The snow goose (''Anser caerulescens'') is a species of goose native to North America. Both white and dark morphs exist, the latter often known as blue goose. Its name derives from the typically white plumage. The species was previously placed ...

common eider The common eider (pronounced ) (''Somateria mollissima''), also called St. Cuthbert's duck or Cuddy's duck, is a large ( in body length) sea-duck that is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia. It breed ...

American black duck The American black duck (''Anas rubripes'') is a large dabbling duck in the family Anatidae. It was described by William Brewster in 1902. It is the heaviest species in the genus ''Anas'', weighing on average and measuring in length with an ...

and

Barrow's goldeneye Barrow's goldeneye (''Bucephala islandica'') is a medium-sized sea duck of the genus '' Bucephala'', the goldeneyes. This bird was named after Sir John Barrow. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek ''boukephalos'', "bullheaded", from ''bou ...

and shorebirds, such as the

black-bellied plover The grey plover or black-bellied plover (''Pluvialis squatarola'') is a large plover breeding in Arctic regions. It is a long-distance migrant, with a nearly worldwide coastal distribution when not breeding. Taxonomy The grey plover was forma ...

semipalmated plover The semipalmated plover (''Charadrius semipalmatus'') is a small plover. ''Charadrius'' is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. It derives from Ancient Greek ''kharadrios'' a bird found in ravines and ri ...

short-billed dowitcher The short-billed dowitcher (''Limnodromus griseus''), like its congener the long-billed dowitcher, is a medium-sized, stocky, long-billed shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It is an inhabitant of North America, Central America, the Caribbea ...

yellow rail The yellow rail (''Coturnicops noveboracensis'') is a small secretive marsh bird, of the family Rallidae that is found in North America. Taxonomy The yellow rail was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in ...

along with

Le Conte's sparrow LeConte's sparrow (''Ammospiza leconteii'') is one of the smallest New World sparrow species in North America.Terres, J.K. (1980). The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds. New York: Alfred A. Knopf It is a very secretive bird th ...

and

American white pelican The American white pelican (''Pelecanus erythrorhynchos'') is a large Aquatic animal, aquatic soaring bird from the order (biology), order Pelecaniformes. It breeds in interior North America, moving south and to the coasts, as far as Central Amer ...

among the many other species. * The Baie de l'Isle-Verte National Wildlife Area covers the majority of the land between the path at Rivière-des-Vases and the Saint Lawrence river estuary. The

Regional County Municipality The term regional county municipality or RCM (''french: municipalité régionale de comté, MRC'') is used in Quebec, Canada to refer to one of 87 county-like political entities. In some older English translations they were called county r ...

of Rivière-du-Loup also manages the public land bordering the estuary. There are trails and lookouts on hills overlooking the Saint Lawrence River that allow for a panoramic view of the region.

Port of Gros Cacouna

The port of Gros Cacouna is a deep-water seaport with a water depth of . It was inaugurated in 1981, after a wait of over 25 years due to regional proceedings. The quantity of raw material transhipped in the port has decreased significantly over the last ten years. In 1995, the port was mostly used to export 290,000 tonnes of forest and pulp and paper products. Yet, only 20,000 tons of these products were loaded in 2005. They were partially replaced by cement (100,000 tonnes in 2005) exported to the

Great Lakes region The Great Lakes region of North America is a binational Canadian–American region that includes portions of the eight U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin along with the Canadian p ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. The port is also used to unload cement imported from Brazil (50,000 tons in 2005), road salt from the

Magdalen Islands The Magdalen Islands (french: Îles de la Madeleine ) are a small archipelago in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with a land area of . While part of the Province of Quebec, the islands are in fact closer to the Maritime provinces and Newfoundlan ...

and various metal products. Since 2005, several wind turbine parts have also been transhipped in the port.

Cacouna Energy

A controversial project of building a methane terminal in the port of Gros Cacouna was announced on September 1, 2004. The project was proposed by ''Cacouna Energy'', a consortium of

TransCanada Pipelines TC PipeLines, LP () is a publicly traded master limited partnership. TC Energy owns 25.48% of the outstanding units and controls the general partner. TC PipeLines, LP manages and owns natural gas pipelines in the United States including 46.45% of ...

and

Petro-Canada Petro-Canada is a retail and wholesale marketing brand subsidiary of Suncor Energy. Until 1991, it was a federal Crown corporation (a state-owned enterprise). In August 2009, Petro-Canada merged with Suncor Energy, with Suncor shareholders rec ...

. According to the proposed scenario,

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the vol ...

would be imported from

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

to Gros-Cacouna, where it would be regasified and then distributed on the North-American market via a new gas pipeline. A joint review panel composed of the ''Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement'' and the

Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC; french: link=, Agence d'évaluation d'impact du Canada) is an agency of the Government of Canada responsible for federal environmental assessment process of major projects. It is part of the Environ ...

submitted its report on November 1, 2006. The panel concluded that the project would be unlikely to have significant environmental impacts as long as the panel's recommendations were followed and that mitigation measures were implanted. In 2008, the proponent announced that it would delay its methane terminal project indefinitely until the supply conditions of liquefied natural gas improved in the worldwide market."La Presse", Tout cela pour cela?,February 16, 2009
/ref>

Energy East proposal

On November 10, 2014, it was revealed by ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' that the terminus of the proposed petroleum pipeline called 'Energy East' would be located in Cacouna. TransCanada's target market for the goods is

TotalEnergies TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and ...

, a French petroleum refiner which is part-owned by the Desmarais family, who have interests in the oil sands of

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

. The oil would transit from the north shore of the St. Lawrence River at the

Quebec Bridge The Quebec Bridge (french: pont de Québec) is a road, rail, and pedestrian bridge across the lower Saint Lawrence River between Sainte-Foy (a former suburb that in 2002 became a western area of Quebec City) and Lévis, in Quebec, Canada. The p ...

, to reach the south shore at Levis, Quebec. The economics of trans-oceanic shipment is the chief reason for this new port installation.

References

External links

Site officiel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cacouna, Quebec Municipalities in Quebec Incorporated places in Bas-Saint-Laurent