Port-Menier, Quebec () is a fishing town at the western end of

Anticosti Island Anticosti () is an island located between the Jacques Cartier and Honguedo Straits, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in L'Île-d'Anticosti (Municipality), Minganie MRC, Côte-Nord, Quebec, Canada. UNESCO's World Heritage On September 19, 2023, ...

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, ...

, Canada, part of the L'Île-d'Anticosti municipality. The port village was built during the late 19th century by French chocolate maker

Henri Menier Henri Émile Anatole Menier (; July 14, 1853 – September 6, 1913) was a French businessman and adventurer and a member of the Menier family of chocolatiers. Born in Paris, he was the son of Émile-Justin Menier and grandson to Antoine Brutus ...

. The village is the hub of Anticosti Island. Its population doubles in the summer with seasonal workers and tourists. The economic mainstays are outdoor tourism, especially deer hunting, and forestry/logging. Services available in Port-Menier are: general and grocery stores, gas station, banking (Caisse populaire Desjardins), car rental (Location Sauvageau), restaurant, and lodging. Port-Menier can be reached via a ferry that runs between Sept-Îles, Port-Menier and

Havre-Saint-Pierre Havre-Saint-Pierre () is a municipality located on the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in Côte-Nord region, Minganie RCM, Quebec, Canada. History In 1857, a group of Acadian families arrived, in 1872, the Parish of Saint-Pierre-d ...

, as well as other destinations along the north shore of the

Saint 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. Lawrenc ...

. This service is operated by Relais Nordik and runs from April through January. The nearby Port-Menier Airport also provides transportation options for the town.

History

In 1680,

Louis Jolliet Louis Jolliet (; September 21, 1645after May 1700) was a French-Canadian explorer known for his discoveries in North America. In 1673, Jolliet and Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit Catholic priest and missionary, were the first non-Natives to explore ...

became the first owner and Seigneurial Lord of the entire Anticosti Island. Together with him, the first few settlers arrived on the island. But no significant development took place until 1895 when Henri Menier bought the island and hoped to set up a

seignory In English law, seignory or seigniory, spelled ''signiory'' in Early Modern English (; ; ), is the lordship (authority) remaining to a grantor after the grant of an estate in fee simple. '' Nulle terre sans seigneur'' ("No land without a lord") ...

that could be self-supporting. He first established a settlement at Bay Sainte-Claire in 1895 but the bay proved too shallow for the large ships he would need. In 1900, he moved the settlement to Ellis Bay and established Port-Menier along the waterfront with a 1,000 metre (1000 yard)

wharf A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...

. He invested a substantial amount of money to construct a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

to service the logging operations that harvested softwood timber for building lumber and

Wood pulp Pulp is a fibrous Lignocellulosic biomass, lignocellulosic material prepared by chemically, semi-chemically, or mechanically isolating the cellulose fiber, cellulosic fibers of wood, fiber crops, Paper recycling, waste paper, or cotton paper, rag ...

for the manufacture of paper products. The community was centred on a new

cannery Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container ( jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although unde ...

business designed to take advantage of the abundant supply of

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

and

lobster Lobsters are Malacostraca, malacostracans Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the family (biology), family Nephropidae or its Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on th ...

s. The town had its own hospital, school,

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church, general store, bank, bakery, hotel, plus homes and rooming houses for the workers, and a 30-room

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

n-style mansion for himself. Once completed, the island was home to 800 permanent residents, most of whom were

French Canadians French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French colonists first arriving in France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of French Canadians live in the provi ...

. Residents and businesses obtained supplies from a sailing ship Menier operated between

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

and the Gaspé, and obtained

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

from the mines at

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

. After Henri Menier's death, the island and the village remained in his family until 1926 after which it became property of a succession of logging companies. The village was thereby not much more than a

company town A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...

and saw little development. In 1974, the Quebec government bought the island and set up a working municipal council in 1984.

Waterway

Ports of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, on 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, ...

Shore: Blanc-Sablon, Harrington Harbor, Natashquan,

, Mingan, Port-Menier (

Cap-aux-Meules Cap-aux-Meules (, "Grindstone") is a List of former municipalities in Quebec, former village, now a sector of the municipality of Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec. It is located on Cap aux Meules Island (Grindstone Island), part of the Magdal ...

( Îles-de-la-Madeleine).

Education

Commission scolaire du Littoral The Centre de services scolaire du Littoral is a geographically-based school service centre in Quebec, Canada, with offices in Sept-Îles, Quebec, Sept-Îles and Chevery. Situated along the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the School Board territory consi ...

operates St-Joseph School (francophone).Schools and centers
."

. Retrieved on September 23, 2017.

In popular culture

Port-Menier was featured in the game

Assassin's Creed Rogue ''Assassin's Creed Rogue'' is a 2014 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Sofia and published by Ubisoft. It is the seventh major installment in the ''Assassin's Creed'' series, and is set alongside 2012's '' Assassin's Creed III'' and af ...

, released in (2014) by Ubisoft. The game takes place during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

, and the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

, and features many locations in the North Atlantic.

References

{{authority control Communities in Côte-Nord Menier family Anticosti Island Populated places established in the 19th century 19th-century establishments in Canada