Sept-Îles, Quebec

Sept-Îles Ville de Sept-Îles
Aerial view of Sept-Îles
Coat of arms
Country	Canada
Province	Quebec
Region	Côte-Nord
Government
• Mayor	Ghislain Lévesque
• MP	Gérard Asselin
• MNA	Lorraine Richard
Area
• City	1,764.26 km2 (681.18 sq mi)
Population  (2006)
• City	25,514
• Density	14.5/km2 (38/sq mi)
• Urban	15.7
• Metro	27,827
Time zone	UTC-5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
Area code(s)	418/581
Website	Template:Fr Ville de Sept-Îles

Sept-Îles (pronounced , French for "Seven Islands") is a city in the Côte-Nord region of eastern Quebec, Canada. It is the northernmost town in Quebec with any significant population and among the northernmost locales with a paved connection to the rest of Quebec's road network. The only settlements on the paved road network which are farther north are Radisson and Chisasibi, both in the extreme western portion of the province at the north end of the James Bay Road. The remaining settlements at higher latitudes in the province are mostly isolated Cree, Innu, or Inuit villages with either no road access or only by seasonal gravel road. The population is 25,514 according to the 2006 census.

History and economy

The first inhabitants of the area were the "Montagnais" Innu people, who called it Uashat ("Great Bay"). Jacques Cartier 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 on the site however, as he encountered Basque fishermen who were coming yearly for whaling and cod fishing.

Early economic activity in Sept-Îles was based on fishing and the fur trade, with trading posts established by Louis Joliet in 1679, and by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1842. The village was incorporated into a municipality in 1885. The town, lacking road access at the time, 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 practically built overnight during the construction of the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway, 357-mile (575 km) railway link to the northern town of Schefferville between 1950 and 1954 by the Iron Ore Company of Canada. Iron ore mined near Wabush, Labrador was transported on this railway and shipped from the Port of Sept-Îles, then a deep-water seaport second in Canada only to Vancouver in terms of yearly tonnage. This huge engineering project led to a major population boom: from 2,000 inhabitants in 1951 to 14,000 in 1961, and 31,000 in 1981. However, the decline in worldwide iron ore prices has since caused employment and population to shrink.

Alouette Aluminum

A moderately successful attempt was made to revive the town during the early nineties, with the foundation of the Aluminerie Alouette aluminum processing plant. Construction for Phase 1 began in September 1989, and operation started in 1992. Construction of Phase 2 began in 2003.

The city amalgamated with the communities of Gallix and Moisie in 2002. The city also includes the neighbourhoods of Arnaud, Clarke, De Grasse, de la Pointe, de la Rivière, Ferland, La Boule, Lac Labrie, Matamec, Plages, Pointe-Noire and Val-Marguerite.

The Sept-Îles Airport has connections all over Quebec and Labrador. General aviation seaplanes are served by Sept-Îles/Lac Rapides Water Aerodrome.

Geography

Located on the north shore of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, between the Sainte-Marguerite and Moisie rivers, Sept-Îles lies on the shore of a deep-water bay fronted by a seven-island archipelago, about 230 kilometres east of Baie-Comeau. The bay constitutes a 45 km² natural harbour.

The seven islands are named:

• La Grosse Boule ("the big ball")
• La Petite Boule ("the small ball")
• La Grande Basque ("the large Basque", named after the visiting Basque 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 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

Climate data for Sept-Îles
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Source: Environment Canada

Media

Radio

• FM 90.1 - CKAU-FM-1, First Nations community radio (rebroadcasts CKAU-FM Maliotenam)
• FM 94.1 - CKCN-FM, contemporary hit radio
• FM 96.1 - CBRX-FM-2, Espace musique
• FM 96.9 - CBSE-FM, CBC Radio One
• FM 98.1 - CBSI-FM, Première Chaîne

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.

As of current, no digital signals are in operation on these stations.

• Channel 3 / DT 14 - CBSET, CBC Television (rebroadcasts CBMT Montreal)
• Channel 5 / DT 20 - CFER-TV-2, TVA (rebroadcasts CFER-TV Rimouski)
• Channel 7 / DT 32 - CFTF-TV-7, V (rebroadcasts CFTF-TV Rivière-du-Loup)
• Channel 9 / DT 18 - CIVG-TV, Télé-Québec (rebroadcasts CIVM-TV Montreal)
• Channel 13 / DT 35 - CBST, Radio-Canada (rebroadcasts CJBR-TV Rimouski)

Economy

Prior to its disestablishment, Air Gaspé was headquartered in Sept-Îles.

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

• Template:Fr Ville de Sept-Îles