Sept-Îles (, , ) is a city 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 of eastern

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, ...

. Along with Brador and Blanc-Sablon, Sept-Îles is one of the oldest places in the province. The population was 24,569 as of the

2021 Canadian census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canada, Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, whic ...

. The town is called Uashat, meaning "bay" in Innu-aimun. The city is well known for having major iron companies like Iron Ore Company of Canada and SFP Pointe-Noire iron ore transport service company. The city relies heavily on the

iron industry Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's ...

. Sept-Îles has among the highest average wages and the highest average wage increases. It is among the northernmost places with a paved connection to the rest of Quebec's road network. The only settlements on the paved road network that are farther north are Fermont, Radisson and

Chisasibi Chisasibi (; meaning Great River) is a village and Classification of municipalities in Quebec#Aboriginal local municipal units, Cree reserved land (TC) on the eastern shore of James Bay, in Eeyou Istchee, an equivalent territory (ET) in Nord-d ...

, the latter two of which are in the extreme western part of the province at the north end of the James Bay Road. The only other settlements at higher latitudes in the province are mostly isolated

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 ...

, Innu, or

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 ...

villages, with access limited to seasonal gravel roads. Sept-Îles is the seat of the judicial district of Mingan. The city is also home to the most highly attended recreational volleyball tournament in the province: the ''Tournoi Orange'', which consists of 405 teams and close to 800 volleyball games.

History

The first inhabitants of the area were varying cultures of aboriginal peoples. The ''Montagnais'' or Innu people, who call it ''Uashat'' ("Great Bay"), have lived there since before the time of European encounter.

Jacques Cartier Jacques Cartier (; 31 December 14911 September 1557) was a French maritime explorer from Brittany. Jacques Cartier was the first Europeans, European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, wh ...

sailed by the islands in 1535 and made the first written record of them, calling them the ''Ysles Rondes'' ("Round Islands"). He was not the first European in the area, as he encountered

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

fishermen who came annually from Europe for whaling and cod fishing. Early European economic activity in Sept-Îles was based on fishing and the

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...

. In 1650, Jean de Quen founded a mission there, called L'Ange- Gardien. By 1658, a fur trade post existed there, established by La Compagnie des Habitants, and Louis Jolliet established another trading post in 1679. Great Britain took over Canada from France in 1763 after its victory in 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 in 1802, the North West Company (NWC) took over the post. When the North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) merged in 1821, Sept Iles (also known as Seven Islands) became a HBC post. When its lease expired in 1822, it was closed. The post operated again from 1831 to 1859. The HBC opened a store in a new location in 1870. Eglise de Sept-Iles vers 1880

In 1875, the parish of Saint-Joseph-des-Sept-Îles was created, and in 1886, its post office opened under the English name "Seven Islands" (which was francized to "Sept-Îles" in 1933). Lacking road access at the time, the town got its first pier in 1908. The City of Sept-Îles was incorporated in 1951, on the 300th anniversary of the first Catholic Mass held in the village. The modern Sept-Îles was built rapidly during the construction of the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway, the railway link to the northern town of Schefferville. The railway was built between 1950 and 1954 by the Iron Ore Company of Canada.

Iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

mined near Schefferville and Wabush,

Labrador Labrador () is a geographic and cultural region within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the primarily continental portion of the province and constitutes 71% of the province's area but is home to only 6% of its populatio ...

, was transported on this railway and shipped from the Port of Sept-Îles. Shipment of the important new commodity resulted in investments that turned this into a major port. In 1952, the HBC built a new store, which was extended in 1954, and expanded with a groceteria in 1956 and a distribution warehouse in 1959. With the iron ore business, the Sept-Îles deep-water seaport was second in Canada only to

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

in terms of yearly tonnage. The huge engineering project led to a major increase in population, and housing was quickly built to accommodate them. The town grew from 2,000 inhabitants in 1951 to 14,000 in 1961, and 31,000 in 1981. The decline in worldwide iron ore prices in recent decades has since caused employment and population to decrease. On January 11, 1986, the HBC store closed. During the early 1990s, some new jobs accompanied the construction and operation of the new Aluminerie Alouette inc. aluminum processing plant. Construction for Phase 1 began in September 1989, and operation started in 1992. Construction of Phase 2 began in 2003. In February 2003, the city amalgamated with the municipalities of Gallix and Moisie. The city includes the neighbourhoods of Arnaud, Clarke-City, De Grasse, de la Pointe, de la Rivière, Ferland, La Boule, Lac Labrie, Matamec, Plages, Pointe-Noire and Val-Marguerite.

Geography

Located on 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 ...

, between the Sainte-Marguerite and Moisie

rivers A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside 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 its course if it ru ...

, Sept-Îles lies on the shore of a deep-water bay fronted by a seven-island archipelago, about east of

Baie-Comeau Baie-Comeau () is a city in the Côte-Nord region of the province of Quebec, Canada. It is located on the shores of the St. Lawrence River, and is the seat of Manicouagan Regional County Municipality. It is near the mouth of the Manicouagan Ri ...

. The bay constitutes a natural harbour. The seven islands referred to in its name are named: * ''La Grosse Boule'' ("the big ball") * ''La Petite Boule'' ("the small ball") * ''La Grande Basque'' ("the large Basque", named after the visiting

fishermen) * ''La Petite Basque'' ("the small Basque") * ''Île Manowin'' (from the Montagnais ''manouane'' meaning "where eggs are picked") * ''Île du Corossol'' (named after the French ship ''Corossol'' wrecked on the island in 1693; site of a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

and a bird sanctuary) * ''Îlets Dequen'' (a group of tiny islands named after Jean de Quen who founded the local Catholic mission in 1650) The archipelago is under provincial jurisdiction, with some parts administered by the federal government or by individuals. There are two First Nations reserves in the area: Uashat in the western city proper, and Maliotenam in the east near the Moisie River.

Climate

Sept-Îles has a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Dfc'') bordering on a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(''Dfb'') despite being located at around only 50 degrees latitude. The two main seasons are summer and winter, as spring and autumn are very short transition seasons lasting only a few weeks. Winters are long, very cold, and snowy, lasting from late October to late April, but milder than more inland locations, with a January high of and a January low of . Overall precipitation is unusually high for a subarctic climate, and snow totals correspondingly heavy, averaging per season, with an average depth of annually or from December to April inclusive. Summers are mildly warm, with a July high of ; summers thus display stronger maritime influence than do winters. Precipitation is significant year-round, but it is lowest from January to March. The highest temperature ever recorded in Sept-Îles was on 18 June 2020. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 29 January 1913. The coldest temperature was recorded at Clarke City, which was the primary weather station for the area until records began at Sept-Îles Airport in September 1944.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Sept-Îles had a population of , living in of its total private dwellings, a change of -3.3% from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. At the Census Agglomeration level in the 2021 census, the agglomeration of Sept-Îles (consisting of Sept-Îles, Maliotenam, and Uashat) had a population of 27,729, living in 12,293 of its 13,878 total private dwellings, a change of -2.8% from its 2016 population of 28,534. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. In 2021, the median age was 44.4, and French was the mother tongue of 92.5% of residents. The next most common mother tongues were English at 2.8%, followed by Innu at 1.4%. 1.1% reported both English and French as their first language. Additionally there were 0.4% who reported both French and a non-official language as their mother tongue. As of 2021,

Indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

comprised 4.2% of the population, mostly

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

, and visible minorities accounted for 2.4%. The largest visible minority groups in Sept-Îles were Black (0.9%), Filipino (0.4%), and Latin American (0.3%). The area was home to 170 recent immigrants (i.e. those arriving between 2016 and 2021), who comprised about 0.7% of the total population. 105 of them were from various African countries. In 2021, 70.4% of the population identified as

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, while 22.5% said they had no religious affiliation.

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

were the largest religious minority, making up 0.8% of the population.

Economy

Iron ore concentrate from IOC activities in Labrador City are transported by the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway and are shipped to many markets around the world from Sept-Îles port facilities. Iron ore from Wabush and Bloom Lake is also shipped at Point Noire port facilities. The Aluminerie Alouette, in activity since 1992, has a large part in the local employment since construction started in 1989. Since its major expansion that started in 2005, it is now the largest primary aluminum smelter in the Americas. As a service centre for northeastern Québec, Sept-Îles economy is also powered by many jobs in the services sector. Prior to its disestablishment, Air Gaspé was headquartered in Sept-Îles.

Tourism

Since 2009, Sept-Îles has been part of the Saint-Laurent destination circuit, which has nine international cruise ports. On a larger scale, an alliance is being created with other ports in northeastern America and Canada under the auspices of Canada New England. The international cruises in Sept-Îles are led by the non-profit organization Destination Sept-Îles Nakauinanu.M The organization's mission is to enable the various public and private bodies to enjoy a permanent structure, in the form of a one-stop shop, enabling them to work jointly on the development and promotion of the City of Sept-Îles and from its surroundings to international cruise lines. The main partners involved in the development of international cruises are the city of Sept-Îles, the Port of Sept-Îles, the and Innu Takuaikan Uashat Mak Mani-Utenam. As of 2018, more than 55,000 international visitors have visited the port of call. Cunard, P & O Cruises, Cruise and Maritime Voyages, Phoenix Reisen, Holland America Line, Oceania Cruises, Regent Seven Seas, Silversea, Saga Cruises, Crystal Cruises,

Norwegian Cruise Line Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) is an American cruise line founded in Norway in 1966, headquartered in Miami, Florida, and incorporated in the Bahamas. It is the List of cruise lines, fourth-largest cruise line in the world by passengers, controlling ...

, Pearl Seas Cruises and Transocean Tours are among the clients of the port. On September 7, 2019, when Royal Caribbean Line made its maiden call overnight, this was a safe haven for avoiding Hurricane Dorian.

Transportation

The Sept-Îles Airport has connections all over Quebec and Labrador. General aviation

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...

s are served by Sept-Îles/Lac Rapides Water Aerodrome. Air Gaspé was based in Sept-Îles, but acquired by

Quebecair Quebecair was a Canadian airline that operated from 1947 until 1986. Quebecair was headquartered in Saint-Laurent, Quebec, now a part of Montreal. History Early years Quebecair began as Rimouski Airlines in 1947 and flew under that name un ...

in 1973. In the 1980s, continued airline restructuring led to Quebecair's being acquired by CP Air in 1986, which in turn was taken over by Canadian Airlines in 1987. Tshiuetin Rail Transportation also operates a

passenger rail A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line, as opposed to a freight train that carries goods. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) push-pull train, ...

service north to Emeril, Labrador (near Labrador City) which continues northward towards its terminus in Schefferville, Quebec. Groupe Desgagnés operates the Bella Desgagnés passenger and cargo ship along the lower St. Lawrence from Rimouski to Blanc-Sablon from mid-April to mid-January.

Media

Radio

* FM 90.1 - CKAU-FM-1,

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

(rebroadcasts CKAU-FM Maliotenam) * FM 94.1 - CKCN-FM,

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...

* FM 96.1 - CBRX-FM-2, Ici Musique (rebroadcasts CBRX-FM Rimouski) * FM 96.9 - CBSE-FM,

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent o ...

(rebroadcasts CBVE-FM

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 ...

) * FM 98.1 -

CBSI-FM CBSI-FM is a French language, French-language Canada, Canadian radio station located in Sept-Îles, Quebec, Sept-Îles, Quebec. Owned and operated by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Société Radio-Canada, it broadcasts on 98.1 Hertz, MHz wi ...

Ici Radio-Canada Première Ici Radio-Canada Première (formerly Première Chaîne) is a Canadian French-language radio network, the news and information service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known as Société Radio-Canada in French), the public broadcaster of ...

* FM 99.1 - CIPC-FM,

soft rock Soft rock (also known as light rock or mellow rock) is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, mel ...

Television

All terrestrial television stations in the Sept-Îles area are repeaters of stations and networks that originate elsewhere. These stations are available on the Cogeco cable system, which also offer a local cable channel, TVCogeco. The local Cogeco system also carries CBMT-DT ( CBC)

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

and CJBR-DT (

Ici Radio-Canada Télé Ici Radio-Canada Télé (stylized as ICI Radio-Canada Télé, and sometimes abbreviated as Ici Télé) is a Television in Canada, Canadian Canadian French, French-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by the Can ...

) Rimouski. Sept-Îles is not designated as a mandatory market for digital television conversion; only CFTF-TV and Télé-Québec announced their intentions to convert all their transmitters to digital, regardless of location. * Channel 5 / DT 20 - CFER-TV-2, TVA (rebroadcasts CFER-TV Rimouski) * Channel 7 /

PSIP The Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) is the MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group, a video and audio industry group) and privately defined program-specific information originally defined by General Instrument for the DigiCipher 2 system ...

7 - CFTF-DT-7, V (rebroadcasts CFTF-DT Rivière-du-Loup) * Channel 9 /

9 - CIVG-DT, Télé-Québec (rebroadcasts CIVM-DT Montreal)

Notable people

* Robert Michael Ballantyne, former-explorer who traded furs *

Pierre Bourgault Pierre Bourgault (January 23, 1934 – June 16, 2003) was a politician and essayist, as well as an actor and journalist, from Quebec, Canada. He is most famous as a public speaker who advocated sovereignty for Quebec from Canada. Biography ...

, Political activist and pioneer of the Quebec separatist movement tried to be elected in the Sept-Îles provincial district ( Duplessis) * Guy Carbonneau, Hall of Fame, former NHL defensive forward, former coach with the Montreal Canadiens * Karen Cliche, actress * Louis-Jean Cormier, vocalist and guitarist of the band Karkwa * Henry de Puyjalon, (1841–1905) scientist, pioneer in

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

* Pierre Duchesne, ex-

Lieutenant Governor of Quebec The lieutenant governor of Quebec (; , ) is the representative in Quebec of the monarch, who Monarchy in Quebec, operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the Canadian federalism, ten other jurisdictions of Canada. T ...

did his notary career in Sept-Îles * Steve Duchesne, former NHL defenceman * Karl Dykhuis, former NHL defenceman * Louis Jolliet, explorer * Margot Kidder, was born in 1948 as "a Stanton baby" * Guillaume LeBlanc, Olympic silver medalist in walking * Claude McKenzie, singer-songwriter and member of the group Kashtin * Bruno Pauletto, physiologist, athlete, businessman, coach, author * Myriam Sirois, actress * Denis Thériault, author, playwright and screenwriter * Florent Vollant, singer-songwriter and member of the group Kashtin * Rob Zettler, former NHL defenceman

Notes and references

* Dredge, L. A. ''Surficial Geology of the Sept-Îles Area, Quebec North Shore''. Ottawa, Canada: Geological Survey of Canada, 1983. * Faessler, Carl. ''Sept-Îles Area, North Shore of St. Lawrence, Saguenay County''. Québec: Dept. of Mines, Division of Geological Surveys, 1942.

External links

* *
Ville de Sept-Îles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sept-Iles, Quebec Cities and towns in Quebec Quebec populated places on the Saint Lawrence River Hudson's Bay Company trading posts Port settlements in Quebec