Vachon River (french: Rivière Vachon,

Inuktitut Inuktitut (; , syllabics ; from , "person" + , "like", "in the manner of"), also Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the tree line, including parts of the provinces o ...

: ''Ikkatujaaq (seemingly shallow)'' or ''Qarnatulik (unknown meaning)'' or ''Avaluko (unknown meaning)'' Commission de toponymie du Québec - Topos sur le Web - Rivière Vachon
/ref>) is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

in the Arctic tundra of

Nunavik Nunavik (; ; iu, ᓄᓇᕕᒃ) comprises the northern third of the province of Quebec, part of the Nord-du-Québec region and nearly coterminous with Kativik. Covering a land area of north of the 55th parallel, it is the homeland of the I ...

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 ...

. It originates on Lac Laflamme at just north of

Pingualuit crater The Pingualuit Crater (french: Cratère des Pingualuit; from Inuit "pimple"), formerly called the "Chubb Crater" and later the "New Quebec Crater" (french: Cratère du Nouveau-Québec), is a relatively young impact crater located on the Ungava Pe ...

and finishes at where it joins Arnaud/Payne River. It was named after

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Alexander Vachon (1885–1953), rector of

Laval University Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxemb ...

in 1939 and from 1940 to 1953,

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of the

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

of Ottawa, Ontario. Despite the access and

paddling Paddling with regard to watercraft is the act of manually propelling a boat using a paddle. The paddle, which consists of one or two blades joined to a shaft, is also used to steer the vessel. The paddle is not connected to the boat (unlike in r ...

difficulties (long rapids and ledges) and extreme climatic conditions, river is occasionally paddled by

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the term ...

ists: * in 1978, 4 canoeists from Quebec, Canada, paddled Vachon upstream as access route to

Povungnituk River The Rivière de Puvirnituq (English: Puvirnituq River; formerly the Rivière de Povungnituk) is a river in Kativik, Nord-du-Québec, Quebec, Canada. Shows the course of the river highlighted on a topographic map. The river flows from its source ...

(French: Rivière Puvirnituq); * in 1985, the group of 4 canoeists (Pascal Dorémus, Jacques Lavoué, Olivier Barbier and Philippe Zanni) from

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

coming from

Puvirnituq Puvirnituq ( iu, ᐳᕕᕐᓂᑐᖅ) is a northern village (Inuit community) in Nunavik, on the Povungnituk River near its mouth on Hudson Bay in northern Quebec, Canada. Its population was 2,128 as of the 2021 Canadian census. Of all oth ...

, upstream

(French: rivière Puvirnituq); * in 2009, solo canoeist Eric Leclair from Quebec; * in 2010, the group of 4 canoeists (Lynette Chubb and Lester Kovac from

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

and Curt Gellerman and Wesley Rusk from the United States).Lester Kovac/Lynette Chubb
Vachon River 2010
River is inhabited by an important

Arctic char The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes and arctic and subarctic coastal waters. Its distribution is Circumpolar North. It spawns in freshwater and populatio ...

population harvested for subsistence by the

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 ...

Kangirsuk Kangirsuk (in Inuktitut: ᑲᖏᕐᓱᖅ/''Kangirsuq'', meaning "the bay") is an Inuit village in northern Nunavik, Quebec, Canada. It is north of Kuujjuaq, between Aupaluk and Quaqtaq. The community is only accessible by air (Kangirsuk Airport) ...

References

See also