Kamouraska (regional municipality of county)

The geophysical portrait

The regional municipality of county of Kamouraska 60 km extends on a long section from southern bank from the estuary from the Fleuve the St. Lawrence, with équidistance of the agglomerations of Quebec and Rimouski. The territory of the MRC is located at the Western limit of the Low-Saint-Laurent, area of which it forms part administratively. In spite of this membership bas-laurentienne, the MRC proves however frequently associated with the Coast-of-South, under-area which includes/understands several MRC close to the area the Boiler-Appalachian Mountains. The approximate surface of the territory is of 2.256 square kilometers. The islands close to the littoral, is the archipelagoes of the Pilgrims and Kamouraska, as well as the island with the Hares also form part of the MRC. The 23.215 citizens kamouraskois concentrate on the other hand on a reduced part of this vast space, that is to say within the municipalized territory confined almost exclusively in the north-western half of the territory. The remainder of the MRC, which includes/understands two not-organized territories to which part of the municipality of Mount-Carmel is added, remains practically uninhabited. Eighteen municipalities thus divide the ecumene. A little more half of the territory (51,9%) is under management private and had mainly by small holders; the remainder (48,1%), under public administration, is mainly made up of forests of the public domain.

Relief

The physiographical profile of the territory of the MRC of Kamouraska is related with that of the whole of the Coast-of-South. Geological base is made up of Appalachian formations of sedimentary rocks and metamorphic folded. The littoral part is presented in the form of a vast argillaceous plain located in the prolongation a length Estran muddy. This band in edge of the river reaches its maximum width with the height of River-Ouelle for then being closed again gradually at its north-eastern end. This zone was formerly a submerged batture; what explains its quasi horizontality (altitude from 0 to 20 m) and the low granulometry of the deposits of surface. The uniformity of this plain however is stopped here and there by projecting rock peaks called " monadnocks ". These linear monticules are composed of metamorphic rocks of higher hardness (quartz and sandstone); they are probably rock strata which knew to resist the glacial erosion more and which are probably remained emergent at the time of the invasion of the Mer of Goldthwait. When one penetrates somewhat inside the grounds, the plain is raised on several levels (terraces) which dominate the river from 20 to 130 meters: it is about the piedmont. This slightly corrugated surface proves enough parcelled out since it is intersected with imposing monadnocks reaching sometimes nearly 200 meters of altitude. With the foot of these masses of the levelling rocks, the sand mixed with small gravel is the type of sediments which prevails; its origin is explained owing to the fact that one found formerly at these places of the beaches of littoral. This staged plain leans then with one or more escarpments which mark the transition between the lowlands from the St. Lawrence and the massive Appalachien. The third sector, a little more broken than the two first, corresponds to an undulating plate which was intensely eroded during the glaciations. This first plate is located at an altitude rising gradually from 130 to 250 meters of the North-West towards south-east. Its ground is characterized by its thinness and its pierrosity; the small layer of Till which rests on the rock-mother has sometimes a rather coarse granulometry. Lastly, at a distance of approximately 15 km of the littoral, the plate gains more altitude until reaching tops from 400 to 700 Mr. This fourth sector, made up of Appalachian hills, covers the whole of the remaining territory of the MRC to the American border. The relief is definitely more broken there, this space being intersected with small valleys and lake depressions. The Till remains omnipresent in the hills though one finds certain deposits finer and more sorted near the rivers.

Hydrography

The territory of the MRC is divided into two great hydrographic subdivisions and six basins slopes. The rivers Midsummer's Day, Ouelle, Kamouraska, of the Wolf and Fouquette run towards the Fleuve the St. Lawrence while two branches of the Noire river and the lake of the East flow in the Rivière Midsummer's Day which moves towards the New Brunswick. The principal lakes feeding the network are the lakes Holy-Anne, of the East, Chaudière, with the Otters, Morin and Saint-Pierre. The flow of the rivers moving towards the river, like Ouelle and Kamouraska, varies largely during their way. These rivers circulate starting from the higher plate within narrow slightly boxed valleys. Thereafter, their valleys widen and their courses prove rather rectilinear. On their arrival in contact with the piedmont, their trajectory is very often diverted and they descend the slope in several falls and cascades. At the end of their tour, these rivers idly furrow the littoral plain according to a very sinuous course, the meanders many and being very arched.

Climate

the climate of the MRC of Kamouraska is characterized by a moderating effect generated by the imposing water mass which represents the Fleuve the St. Lawrence and by a disturbing effect resulting from a wind factor rather present. However, these climatic features vary largely according to altitude. At the station of Pocatière, located at a 30 meters height in the piedmont, the average temperature is of -11ºC in winter, of 18ºC in summer, and 4ºC annually. Annual precipitations are moderated, that is to say an average of 930 mm divided into 645 mm of rain and 285 cm of snow. The dominant winds are directed the river parallel to. The number of days free from freezing is of 170. With Saint-Bruno-with-Kamouraska, to 198 m on the plate, the average temperature is generally lower by a few degrees compared to the plain and with the piedmont, that is to say - 13ºC in winter, 17,8ºC in summer and 3,0ºC annually. Annual precipitations are there a little more abundant (1 010 mm), mainly in nival form: 330 cm. As for the winds, their directions are shared. The number of days free from freezing is less there, that is to say only 160 days. It is also interesting to stress that the littoral plain kamouraskoise profits from the one of the best statistics of insolation to the Quebec: one counts there on average nearly 2.000 hours of sunning per year.

Flora

The territory of the MRC is composed to 1,6% of water (lakes and rivers), to 20,0% of grounds not-foresters (arable lands, rock exposures, marsh,…) and to 78,4% of forest grounds. The insular medium, the estran and the bordering zone in the St. Lawrence present a typical flora of the littoral mediums such as the scirpe, the spartine and the alder. Vast organic mediums (peaty) also occupy a few hundred hectares of grounds with River-Ouelle and Saint-Alexandre-with-Kamouraska. As for the forest grounds, those cover in a very scattered way the plain, partially the piedmont, and almost entirely the plates inferior and superior. The Fir tree and the virginal account for 45% of the forest composition of the public grounds, compared to 20% for maple, 10% respectively for the Cèdre, the white birch and the yellow Bouleau, and to 5% for the Peuplier. The most favoured zones in term of ground and heat prove to be favourable with a vegetation dominated by the leafy trees, particularly inside the fields of the érablière to yellow Bouleau with Hêtre or Tilleul. A concentration of érablières with acéricole potential is located in the south-eastern end of the higher plate. Lastly, inside the agricultural plain, few spaces which remain under forest cover show rather particular characteristics: one finds within these wooded small islands of the boggy cédrières with fir tree, the pessières with black spruce and the fir plantations with thuja.

Fauna

Three principal species of big games live the territory of the MRC: the Moose, the Stag of Virginia and the black Bear. The structure of the settlements of the forest of the plate lends itself particularly well to vitality these species. The moose reaches a density from approximately 1,6 individual by ten square kilometers and the Chevreuil abounds particularly within the devastations of the sector of the Large-River. The multiplicity of the rivers, the presence of moist environments, fields and small wooded, as well as the extent of a river littoral, support the great concentrations of birds. The islands, the circumference of the St. Lawrence river and the mouth of the Ouelle river are particularly coveted by several species of ducks and migratory birds such as the Bernache of Canada, the Cormoran and the white Oie. The existence of cliffs is also an asset for the nesting of several winged species, inter alia the peregrine falcon. On the level of watery fauna, the territory is also not in remainder; species high-speed motorboats like the Beluga, the Eel, the Salmon of the Atlantic, the éperlan rainbow, the Herring, the Sturgeon, the Touladi and the Omble of fountain bring a certain notoriety to the territory. The richness of this halieutic fauna is explained by the co-education of the salinity of water of the river, by the existence of excellent spawning grounds in the rivers and by the water quality of the lakes of the plate.

Human environment

The settlement

Before colonization, this territory constituted a medium favourable with fishing and hunting, at the same time for the white and the Amerindians. However, it would seem that the various people autochtones would have attended only sporadically this part of the Coast-of-South. Indeed, during the establishment of the first French colonists, only a few hundreds of wandering Amerindians visited the area. The colonization of the territory amorça towards the end of the XVIIe century. The first concessions seigneuriales were those of the Bottle-factory (River-Ouelle), of the Large-Handle (Pocatière) and Islets of the Bearing (Saint-Andrew) in 1672, of Kamouraska in 1674, and the stronghold of Saint-Denis in 1679. The first permanent establishments appeared about 1680. The newcomers cleared and were installed on the most fertile grounds of the territory, that is to say on the littoral plain. About 1790, approximately 1.500 people lived this space; Kamouraska then constituting the inhabited medium located more downstream from the river. The density of the population increasing, the original parishes of Holy-Anne-with-The-Pocatière (1678), River-Ouelle (1685) and Saint-Louis-of-Kamouraska (1714) were subdivided and cut down to give rise to the parishes of Saint-Andrew (1791), Saint-Pascal (1827) and Saint-Denis-of-the-Bottle-factory (1833). During first decades of the years 1800, colonization intensified on the littoral plain and extended gradually a little further inside the grounds, reaching the piedmont. This second wave of settlement is concluded by erection from new parishes like Sainte-Hélène (1846), Saint-Pacôme (1851) and Saint-Alexandre-with-Kamouraska (1851). In the cultural plan, the college of Holy-Anne-of-The-Pocatière, founded in 1827, emerged like the place of a intellectual expansion obtaining a national radiation. Space seigneurial became saturated in the middle of the XIXe century. Thus, a new colonial expansion was undertaken towards the plate. This Appalachian plate was subdivided to the American border in several cantons: Ixworth (1802), Woodbridge (1840), Bungay (1863), Chub (1863), Painchaud (1872), Parke (1920) and Chapais (1920). The colonization of this plate will prove very painful because of the limitations of the ground for agriculture and the problems of communication (roads not very suitable for motor vehicles). The new parishes, Saint-Onésime-with Ixworth (1858), Mount-Carmel (1867), Saint-Bruno-with-Kamouraska (1893), Saint-Joseph-with-Kamouraska (1922) and Saint-Gabriel-Lalemant (1938) thus remained relatively isolated at their beginning. In second half of XIXe like with the turning of the century, the exploitation of the forest, faunal and landscape resources intensified. The Holiday and tourism, which were started by the middle-class men of Montreal and Quebec, became very popular. The cut and the first transformation of wood, the tanning of leather and fishing with the porpoises were also added to agriculture like economic activities. The construction of the intercolonial railroad in 1856-57 generated important changes in the economic development and geographical of the territory. This last supported the establishment of multiple trade and manufacturing industries on its accesses, especially near the stations. The towns of Saint-Pascal and Pocatière as well as the villages of Saint-Pacôme, Saint-Philippe-with-Néri and Saint-Alexandre-with-Kamouraska profited particularly from its establishment. In spite of this effervescence, Kamouraska recorded an important fall of its population due to an exodus towards the the United States and to an emigration towards other areas of Quebec, mainly towards the remainder of the Low-Saint-Laurent and the Saguenay-Lake-Saint-Jean. By the means of this phenomenon, Kamouraska constituted to some extent the " cradle " settlement of several surrounding areas. A little after the first Great War, the number of citizens kamouraskois started again to grow until another movement of exodus, that one towards the cities, starts in the years' 50. After having colonized and having consolidated the territory, here that for a few decades this space has thus undergone a regression. But at all events, the vitality of Kamouraska remains constant; one has that to think of the factory of freight vehicles pertaining to Bombardier who occupies now nearly a thousand of workers.

Regional culture

The population of Kamouraska is to 97% of descent and French language as well as Catholic religion. Agriculture still marks manners and values of the kamouraskois. The heritage in this field remains tangible, in particular thanks to the existence of the agricultural Institute of Technology of Pocatière. Lastly, landscape of Kamouraska where converges the sea, the plain and the mountain; is source of a quality of life higher than saying citizens. This uniformity and cultural stability result thus by a strong feeling of membership and an attachment major with the natural heritage, frame and social. Efforts of safeguarding of the environment and development of the old buildings, as well as the existence of several centers of interpretation in historical matter testify some.

The pattern of the settlement

Almost the totality of the 23.215 citizens kamouraskois listed into 1996 concentrates in the under-areas of the littoral plain, the piedmont and the first plate. This ecumene covers thus approximately 700 km ², that is to say a little less third of the total surface area of the MRC. On this space, the average density of population is at the neighborhoods of 33 inhabitants to the square kilometer. This density proves rather representative of an agricultural rural environment. This distribution of the population is not uniform. The communities of Pocatière (city and parish Holy-Anne) and of Saint-Pascal (city and parish) gather alone about half (46%) of the total population of the MRC.

Population trends

Contrary to several rural MRC of the Low-Saint-Laurent which saw their population starting to fall dramatically between 1961 and 1981, Kamouraska knew to maintain its population for this period. This demographic stability had primarily with vitality of the municipalities of the multipurpose piedmont, more particularly of Pocatière and Saint-Pascal, which gained nearly 2000 inhabitants, while the other municipalities of the territory lost as much of it. Since 1991, however, the MRC started to lose its population at intervals close to that observed in the other rural MRC of the Low-Saint-Laurent. Paradoxically, whereas one observes a relative demographic stability in the municipalities of the agricultural littoral plain, it is now in the municipalities of the multipurpose piedmont that the most important losses in term of population are observed.

Sources: censuses of Canada

Economic portrait

The economic base of the MRC is centered almost primarily on a activity-resource: agriculture. By adding to it fishing, the exploitation of the woody resource and the extraction of the peat, one realizes quickly that the primary activities have a great importance in Kamouraska. This sector as a whole accounts for 13,8% of the uses compared to 10,4% for the Low-Saint-Laurent and with 3,7% for all Quebec. The manufacturing sector, with 24,0% of manpower, occupies as for him a place comparable with that presents on a provincial scale (22,0%) and a situation higher than that noted with the regional scales (18,0%). The sector under-represented thus proves the tertiary sector by gathering only 62,2% of employment. It is about a representation definitely lower than those of the Low-Saint-Laurent (71,6%) and Quebec (74,3%). With the local scales, one notices a certain specialization in term of categories of employment. The municipalities of the littoral plain make primary activities the angular stone of their economy, the municipalities of the piedmont are more directed towards the activities of trade and services. Lastly, the communities of the plate are particularly specialized in the processing and manufacture, leaving a very mean place to the tertiary sector.

Bio-food industry

Formerly the attic of the News-France, Kamouraska always enjoys a strong dynamism and profits from an excellent reputation on the level from its agricultural production. Nothing of surprising since 42.710 ha of grounds profit from a potential of class 1,2 and 3 (classification Mailloux-Late-Dubé); what makes some one of the most favorable zones in all is of Quebec. Approximately 16% of the territory are cultivated either 36.295 hectares. The argillaceous plain and the first terraces of the piedmont are characterized by a higher production and agricultural incomes thanks to a better intrinsic value from the grounds. The primary agricultural activity generates beyond 1000 employment in the MRC, accounting for 21% of regional agricultural employment. The MRC counted, in 1995,499 agricultural producers. For this same year, it is estimated that these producers generate a gross income total superior to 56 million dollars. The dairy production is by far the most important agricultural sector with 313 farms generating a turnover of 37,7 million dollars. The bovine breeding, the porcine breeding and the ovine production follow in the order. The acériculture is also very important with its 244 producers. As for the establishments of transformation and distribution of agricultural produce, one counted 14 in 1996 of them, generating 286 employment.

Forest industry

The MRC of Kamouraska is slightly represented in primary education term of forest employment (activities of cut) compared to the other MRC of the Low-Saint-Laurent; that is to say 120 employment accounting for only 3% of regional forest employment. The transformation of wood (secondary industry) occupies nearly 420 people.

Manufacturing industry

In term of employment and turnover, manufacturing industry is largely dominated by the presence of the multinational Bombardier with Pocatière. This one employs nearly 1.000 workers in normal weather. It manufactures freight vehicles, more particularly train and coach of subway. Its importance is not justified only by its size, but also by the whole of the activities which it generates in term of satellite and complementary companies. Always in the field of the production of machineries, there exists with Saint-Pascal a company of manufacture of vehicles and accessory equipments or agricultural. Another sector enough dominating is the transformation of the leather, which roughly gets 250 employment in the MRC. Mainly located at Saint-Pascal, they are a half-dozen of companies to improve the tanning and to make various leather articles. In all, the production of means of transport and the transformation of leather alone represent the three quarters of manufacturing employment others that food and forest. There thus exists a very weak diversification of this type of industry.

The industry of the trade and the services

The weakness of the tertiary sector of Kamouraska origin probably owing to the fact that the territory of the MRC is wedged between two urban poles with strong radiation: Quebec and River-of-Wolf. There thus exists of important escapes on the levels of the supply of services specialized and the consumption of goods and services. Pocatière plays however a part of pole of sous-régional service. The municipality serves one inportant basin of population and preserves an institutional vocation since one finds there: CEGEP, College Holy-Anne, Institute of technology agricultural, general-purpose, hospital, évêché and governmental offices. The town of Saint-Pascal also dissociates like an important pole of trade and services in the middle of Kamouraska. Just like Pocatière, one finds there many retail businesses as well as public corporations: general-purpose, CLSC, head office of the MRC, posts safety of Quebec, roadway system of the MTQ, etc

Tourism industry

Tourism constitutes an angular stone of the economic development of Kamouraska. The flow of travellers crossing the territory of the MRC during one year is estimated at approximately 450.000 people. Of this number, about 250.000 remain or at the very least stop for an activity inside the limits of the MRC. The dynamism of this industry is ascribable to the pastoral character of this medium where natural and culture are in harmony. This potential supports the arrival of avid estival customers of panoramas, activities of outdoor and regional history. Several headlands, view-points and halts make it possible to people to admire the agrarian and maritime landscapes territory. Various natural sites are intensely attended by the lovers of nature: the banks of the St. Lawrence river are appraisals by the holiday makers and the campers, the Ouelle river and the lakes of the plate make the happiness of the amateurs of fishing and immense forest space is appreciated followers of hunting or ecotourism. The richness of the old built framework and the presence of many museums and centers of interpretation make of Kamouraska a cultural destination appraisal. Lastly, of the hikes, of bicycles, and motoneiges, most of the territory furrow. Although not easily quantifiable, the recreation and tourism thus occupy together an important place in the economy of the MRC of Kamouraska.

Municipalities composing this MRC

Cities

Municipalities

Kamouraska
Mount-Carmel
River-Ouelle
Saint-Alexandre-with-Kamouraska
Saint-Andrew
Saint-Bruno-with-Kamouraska
Saint-Gabriel-Lalemant
Saint-Pacôme

Municipalities of parishes

Saint-Denis
Saint-Germain
Saint-Joseph-with-Kamouraska
Saint-Onésime-in Ixworth
Saint-Philippe-with-Néri
Holy-Anne-with-the-Pocatière
Grey waxbill

Not organized territories

External bond

Official site Kamouraska

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