Les Îlets-Jérémie () is a settlement in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

of Colombier in the

Côte-Nord Côte-Nord (Region 09) (, ; ) is an List of regions of Quebec, administrative region of Quebec, on the Quebec-Labrador peninsula, Quebec-Labrador Peninsula, Canada. The region runs along the St. Lawrence River and then the Gulf of St. Lawrence, ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

of the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. Located on the north shore of the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawren ...

, the small community is named after the Jérémie Islets (French: ''Îlets Jérémie'') that are just off its shores and mark the western end of the Jérémie Islets Bay (French: ''baie des Îlets-Jérémie''). The

Innu The Innu/Ilnu ('man, person'), formerly called Montagnais (French for ' mountain people'; ), are the Indigenous Canadians who inhabit northeastern Labrador in present-day Newfoundland and Labrador and some portions of Quebec. They refer to ...

call the hamlet ''Ishkuamishkut'', meaning "where one expects

polar bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a large bear native to the Arctic and nearby areas. It is closely related to the brown bear, and the two species can Hybrid (biology), interbreed. The polar bear is the largest extant species of bear ...

". Its trading post was once considered as the best trading post on the North Shore. The islets were named in turn after a certain Noël Jérémie, or Lamontagne, who was born between 1629 and 1638, and died between 1694 and 1697. Around 1660, he established a trading and fishing company. In 1673, the first reference was made to the Îlets-Jérémie Post (later on also written as ''Îlets-à-Jérémie'' or ''Îlets-de-Jérémie'') by François de Crespieul. That year, Noël Jérémie was a clerk at the

Tadoussac Tadoussac () is a village municipality in La Haute-Côte-Nord RCM (Regional County Municipality), on the north shore of the maritime section of the estuary of St. Lawrence river, in Côte-Nord region, Quebec, Canada. Geography Tadoussac is ...

post, but he often went to the islands with his son Nicolas to conduct fur trade with the Innu of Betsiamites and vicinity. Nicolas became an interpreter and clerk of the

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 ...

, and wrote ''Relation du Détroit de la Baie d'Hudson'', published in 1720. He died at Quebec City in 1732. After periodic closures, the post became the property of the

North West Company The North West Company was a Fur trade in Canada, Canadian fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in the regions that later became Western Canada a ...

in 1802, that obtained a 20-year lease of the posts in the King's Domain. When the North West Company (NWC) and the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) merged in 1821, it was operated by the HBC for one year until the original NWC lease expired. The renewal of the 20-year lease was awarded to John Goudie, the highest bidder, but in 1831, the HBC reacquired the King's Posts by buying the lease from William Lampson. From 1849 to 1854, the post (spelled over time as Iles Jérémie, Islets-de-Jeremie, Isle de Jeremie, Ile-Jeremie, Isle Jeremie, and Jeremie's Post) was the administrative headquarters for all the King's Posts. It closed permanently in 1859 when the lease was terminated, and HBC operations were transferred to Betsiamites. The community on the mainland has existed at least since 1735 when the Saint Anne chapel was first built. French Jesuit Jean-Baptiste de la Brosse (1724–1782) taught the local Innu reading and writing skills in their own language. Consequently, the Innu of Les Îlets-Jérémie adopted the

Latin script The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

and exhibited an unexpected degree of literacy in the 18th century. A new chapel was built in 1765, that had disappeared by the end of the 19th-century. Its altar and other relics were rediscovered in the 1920s, and were housed in a new chapel, built in 1939 and modeled after the one in Tadoussac.

Notable people

Napoléon-Alexandre Comeau Napoléon-Alexandre Comeau (May 11, 1848 – November 17, 1923) was a self-taught naturalist and Canadian government official. The city of Baie-Comeau, Quebec, is named after him, as well as this city's history museum building. He was born in Le ...

, naturalist, was born there in 1846.

References

External links

Municipalité de Colombier
{{DEFAULTSORT:Les Ilets-Jeremie, Quebec Communities in Côte-Nord Ilets-Jeremie