Saint-Augustin is a municipality and settlement in

Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent Regional County Municipality Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent is a regional county municipality in the Côte-Nord region of far-eastern Quebec, Canada. It includes all communities along the Gulf of Saint Lawrence between the Natashquan River and the Newfoundland and Labrador border. ...

in the

Côte-Nord Côte-Nord (, ; ; land area ) is the second-largest administrative region by land area in Quebec, Canada, after Nord-du-Québec. It covers much of the northern shore of the Saint Lawrence River estuary and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence past Tadous ...

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 thirtee ...

, Canada, known by its large English-speaking population as St. Augustine. Its territory stretches along the

Gulf of Saint Lawrence , image = Baie de la Tour.jpg , alt = , caption = Gulf of St. Lawrence from Anticosti National Park, Quebec , image_bathymetry = Golfe Saint-Laurent Depths fr.svg , alt_bathymetry = Bathymetry ...

, whereas the settlement itself is located on a peninsula in the Saint Augustin Bay at the mouth of the Saint-Augustin River. On the opposite shore of this river is the

Innu The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period ( French for "mountain people", English pronunciation: ), are the Indigenous inhabitants of territory in the ...

settlement of

Pakuashipi Pakuashipi (Pakua Shipi, or Pakua Shipu in Innu-aimun and St-Augustin Indian Settlement) is an Innu community in the Canadian province of Quebec, located on the north shore of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in the Côte-Nord region. It is on the we ...

. The majority of its inhabitants are

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...

, descendants of

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

and Europeans, many of whom still practice subsistence activities such as hunting, fishing, wood cutting, trapping and wild berry gathering, using both traditional and modern technologies.

History

The area was originally inhabited by

and

tribes, who were mostly displaced once Europeans began to exploit the area. In the late 17th century, a French post may have been established on Vieux Poste Island. Circa 1720, a trading post was established around which the settlement formed. It was first identified as Saint-Augustin–Saguenay, named after

Augustin le Gardeur de Courtemanche Augustin le Gardeur de Courtemanche (December 16, 1663 – June 29, 1717) was a Canadian soldier and ambassador from Labrador. Biography Born in Quebec City on December 16, 1663, Augustin le Gardeur de Courtemanche joined the military in 1690, serv ...

(1663–1717) who in 1702 was granted the land concession "from the river called Kegaska up to the one named Kesesakion" for a period of 10 years and who was the King's Commander of the Labrador coast in 1714. The place experienced a slow growth until the lower North Shore was opened to settlement circa 1820, attracting English, American, Quebec, and Newfoundland fishing families to its rich stocks of seal, salmon and cod. They mixed with the remaining indigenous people, and their descendants, the Métis, occupied at one point some 40 different fishing communities on the shores of the area's numerous islands and bays, including Spoon Cove, Anse du Portage, Havre Saint-Augustin, and Ile Saint-Augustin. In 1870, the

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...

, then owned by the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

, was rebuilt and became the site of thriving hunting, fishing, and trading business. In 1893, its post office opened. By 1986, Saint-Augustin had 833 inhabitants. It separated from the Municipality of

Côte-Nord-du-Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent Côte-Nord-du-Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent is a municipality (Quebec), municipality in the regional county municipality of Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent Regional County Municipality, Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent in the Côte-Nord Quebec region, region of the ...

and was incorporated as the Municipality of Saint-Augustin in 1992, becoming effective on January 1, 1993.

Demographics

Population

Language

References

External links