The Great Whale River () is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

Nunavik Nunavik (; ; ) is an area in Canada which 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 homelan ...

, Quebec, Canada. It flows from Lac Saint-Luson through Lac Bienville west to Hudson Bay. While the lower section of the river (after Lac Bienville) has a very powerful current, with many

waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

s (up to or in height) and

rapids Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep stream gradient, gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Flow, gradient, constriction, and obstacles are four factors that are needed for a rapid t ...

, the upper section consists of a series of

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

s interconnected by steep rapids and ledges. Great Whale River also has a branch originating from

Caniapiscau Reservoir The Caniapiscau Reservoir () is a reservoir on the upper Caniapiscau River in the Côte-Nord administrative region of the Canadian province of Quebec. It is the largest body of water in Quebec and the second largest reservoir in Canada. The ...

. For

canoeists 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 paddles. In British English, the term ''canoe'' ca ...

, this is the easiest access (a bridge on the

Trans-Taiga Road The Trans-Taiga Road () is an extremely remote wilderness road in northern Quebec, Canada. It is long to Centrale Brisay and another along the Caniapiscau Reservoir, all of it unpaved. The road begins at (km 544 of the James Bay Road) and en ...

at Lac Montausier ). Both the northern village of

Kuujjuarapik Kuujjuarapik (also spelled Kuujjuaraapik; ''little great river'') is the southernmost northern village (Inuit community) at the mouth of the Great Whale River () on the coast of Hudson Bay in Nunavik, Quebec, Canada. Almost 1,000 people, mos ...

, whose inhabitants are mostly

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

, and the

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

village of

Whapmagoostui Whapmagoostui (, "place of the beluga") is the northernmost Cree village in Quebec, Canada, located at the mouth of the Great Whale River () on the coast of Hudson Bay in Nunavik. About 906 Cree with about 650 Inuit, living in the neighbourin ...

are situated at the mouth of the river, near the site of the former RCAF Station Great Whale River. The villages were formerly known collectively as "Great Whale River" and "Poste-de-la-Baleine." The portion between Lake Bienville and the mouth of the Coats River has also been called Abchigamich River, but this name was dropped in 1946 by the Commission de géographie du Québec. Also, the name has often been wrongly translated into French as ''Rivière de la Grande Baleine'' (not until 1962 did the Commission de géographie du Québec officially adopt the current ''Grande rivière de la Baleine'').

History

Establishing at Great Whale River Preliminary Camp 1922

The Great Whale River was a place favored by the Cree and Inuit for hunting

beluga Beluga may refer to: Animals *Beluga (sturgeon) * Beluga whale Vehicles * Airbus Beluga, a large transport airplane * Airbus BelugaXL, a larger transport airplane * Beluga-class submarine, a class of Russian SSA diesel-electric submarine * U ...

long before the arrival of Europeans. Even though both were nomadic, the mouth of the river was often an encampment site and served as unofficial border. The name of the river was recorded in 1744 in the

logbook A logbook (or log book) is a record used to record states, events, or conditions applicable to complex machines or the personnel who operate them. Logbooks are commonly associated with the operation of aircraft, nuclear plants, particle accelera ...

s of

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

employees Thomas Mitchell and John Longland, while exploring the bay's coast. The entry for July 25 made the first mention of the "Great White Whail River". It may have come from the Cree ''Whapmagoostui'', meaning River of the Whale, and referring to the hunting of white whale or beluga there. In the early 1970s, the state-owned provincial power utility

Hydro-Québec Hydro-Québec () is a Canadian Crown corporations of Canada#Quebec, Crown corporation public utility headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. It manages the electricity generation, generation, electric power transmission, transmission and electricity ...

planned to construct three

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

power stations on the Great Whale River as a part of the

James Bay Project The James Bay Project () involves the construction of a series of hydroelectricity, hydroelectric power stations on the La Grande River in northwestern Quebec, Canada by government-owned corporation, state-owned public utility, utility Hydro-Qué ...

.James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, ch. 8.1.3, pp. 114-115.
Although detailed planning for the project was only begun in 1986, opposition from Crees, Inuit, environmental organizations like

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

and the

Friends of the Earth Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of grassroots environmental organizations in 73 countries. About half of the member groups call themselves "Friends of the Earth" in their own languages; the others use other ...

and other activists led the

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

of Quebec,

Jacques Parizeau Jacques Parizeau (; August 9, 1930June 1, 2015) was a Canadian politician and economist who served as the 26th premier of Quebec from September 26, 1994, to January 29, 1996. Early life and career Parizeau was born in Montreal, Quebec, the s ...

, to announce in November 1994, that the project was suspended indefinitely. However, the project may still be revived in the future.

List of lakes on the upper section

*Lac Saint-Luson *Lac Girauday *Lac Lamberville *Lac Gournay *Lac Prieur *Lac Cognac *Lac Roman *Lac Poncy *Lac Molleville *Lac Chastenay *Lac Turreau *Lac Naudin *Lac Raguideau *Lac Bourgtalon *Lac Bouvante *Lac Novereau *Lac Decoigne *Lac Jacquemont *Lac Delaroche *Lac Sanchagrin *Lac Danneville *Lac Sablons *Lac Maravat *Lac Ducasse *Lac Laurac *Lac Chastenet *Lac Magne *Lac Maurel *Lac Louet *Lac Wasatimis *Lac Bienville *Lac Paimpoint

Gallery

Grande rivière de la baleine 1992 GB2 A.jpg Grande rivière de la baleine 1992 GB2 B.jpg Grande rivière de la baleine 1992.jpg Grande rivière de la baleine crépuscule 1992 A.jpg Grande rivière de la baleine 1992 GB3 B.jpg Grande rivière de la baleine 1992 GB1 A.jpg Grande rivière de la baleine 1992 GB3 C.jpg Seuil sur la Grande rivière de la baleine.jpg Whapmagoostui-Kuujjuarapik-riviere-de-la-baleine.jpg Vue de Whapmagoostui-Kuujjuarapik.jpg

Sources

The Great Whale Project

External links

The Atlas of Canada - Rivers

Environmental/development negotiations; stakeholder analysis. *
The Great Whale River Expedition 1991The Great Whale River Expedition 1997

''Acculturation of the Great Whale River Cree'' Manuscript
at Dartmouth College Library {{Authority control Rivers of Nord-du-Québec Tributaries of Hudson Bay Nunavik

History

List of lakes on the upper section

Gallery

See also

Sources

Further reading

External links