The Great Whale River is a river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 in Nunavik

Nunavik

Nunavik comprises the northern third of the province of Quebec, Canada. Covering a land area of 443,684.71 km² north of the 55th parallel, it is the homeland of the Inuit of Quebec...

, Quebec, Canada. It flows from Lac Saint-Luson through Lac Bienville

Lac Bienville

Lac Bienville is a lake in western central Quebec in Canada. The lake was named after Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the younger brother of Sieur d'Iberville. Great Whale River flows through this lake on its way to Hudson Bay.- External links :*...

 west to Hudson Bay. While lower section of the river (after Lac Bienville) has very powerful current, with many waterfalls (up to 15 metres (49.2 ft) or 20 metres (65.6 ft) in height) and rapids

Whitewater

Whitewater is formed in a rapid, when a river's gradient increases enough to disturb its laminar flow and create turbulence, i.e. form a bubbly, or aerated and unstable current; the frothy water appears white...

, upper section consists of series of lakes interconnected by steep rapids and ledges.

Great Whale River has also the branch originating from Caniapiscau Reservoir

Caniapiscau Reservoir

The Caniapiscau Reservoir is a reservoir on the upper Caniapiscau River in the Côte-Nord administrative region of the Canadian province of Quebec...

. For canoeists

Canoe camping

Canoe camping is a combination of canoeing and camping. It is similar to backpacking, but canoe campers travel by canoes or kayaks...

, this is the easiest access (bridge on Trans-Taiga Road

Route Transtaïga

The Trans-Taiga Road is an extremely remote wilderness road in northern Quebec, Canada. It is long to Centrale Brisay and another along the Caniapiscau Reservoir, all of it unpaved....

 at Lac Montausier 54°43′53.41"N 70°11′45.24"W).

Both the northern village of Kuujjuarapik

Kuujjuarapik, Quebec

Kuujjuarapik is the southernmost Inuit village at the mouth of the Great Whale River on the coast of Hudson Bay in Nunavik, Quebec, Canada. About 800 people, mostly Cree, live in the adjacent village of Whapmagoostui. The community is only accessible by air and, in late summer, by boat...

, whose inhabitants are mostly Inuit

Inuit

The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...

, and the Cree

Cree

The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...

 village of Whapmagoostui

Whapmagoostui, Quebec

Whapmagoostui |beluga]]") is the northernmost Cree village in Quebec, located at the mouth of the Great Whale River on the coast of Hudson Bay in Nunavik, Quebec, Canada. About 500 people, mostly Inuit, live in the neighbouring northern village of Kuujjuarapik. The community is only accessible by...

 are situated at the mouth of the river, near the site of the former RCAF Station Great Whale River. The villages were formerly known collectively as "Great Whale River" and "Poste-de-la-Baleine."

The portion between Lake Bienville and the mouth of the Coats River has also been called Abchigamich River, but this name was dropped in 1946 by the Commission de géographie du Québec. Also, the name has often been wrongly translated into French as Rivière de la Grande Baleine (not until 1962 did the Commission de géographie du Québec officially adopt the current Grande rivière de la Baleine).

History

The Great Whale River was a place favored by the Cree and Inuit for hunting beluga long before the arrival of Europeans. Even though both were nomadic, the mouth of the river was often an encampment site and served as unofficial border.

The name of the river was recorded in 1744 in the logbook

Logbook

A logbook was originally a book for recording readings from the chip log, and is used to determine the distance a ship traveled within a certain amount of time...

s of Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

 employees Thomas Mitchell and John Longland, while exploring the bay's coast. The entry for July 25 made the first mention of the "Great White Whail [sic] River". It may have come from the Cree Whapmagoostui, meaning River of the Whale, and referring to the hunting of white whale or beluga there.

In the early 1970s, the state-owned power utility Hydro-Québec

Hydro-Québec

Hydro-Québec is a government-owned public utility established in 1944 by the Government of Quebec. Based in Montreal, the company is in charge of the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity across Quebec....

 planned to construct three hydroelectric

Hydroelectricity

Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...

 power stations on the Great Whale River as a part of the James Bay Project. Although detailed planning for the project was only begun in 1986, opposition from Crees, Inuit, environmental organizations like Greenpeace

Greenpeace

Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...

 and the Friends of the Earth

Friends of the Earth

Friends of the Earth International is an international network of environmental organizations in 76 countries.FOEI is assisted by a small secretariat which provides support for the network and its agreed major campaigns...

 and other activists led the Premier

Premier

Premier is a title for the head of government in some countries and states.-Examples by country:In many nations, "premier" is used interchangeably with "prime minister"...

 of Quebec, Jacques Parizeau

Jacques Parizeau

Jacques Parizeau, is an economist and noted Quebec sovereignist who was the 26th Premier of the Canadian province of Quebec from September 26, 1994 to January 29, 1996.-Early life and career:...

, to announce in November 1994, that the project was suspended indefinitely. However, the project may still be revived in the future.

List of lakes on the upper section

Lac Saint-Luson

Lac Girauday

Lac Lamberville

Lac Gournay

Lac Prieur

Lac Cognac

Lac Roman

Lac Poncy

Lac Molleville

Lac Chastenay

Lac Turreau

Lac Naudin

Lac Raguideau

Lac Bourgtalon

Lac Bouvante

Lac Novereau

Lac Decoigne

Lac Jacquemont

Lac Delaroche

Lac Sanchagrin

Lac Danneville

Lac Sablons

Lac Maravat

Lac Ducasse

Lac Laurac

Lac Chastenet

Lac Magne

Lac Maurel

Lac Louet

Lac Wasatimis

Lac Bienville

Lac Paimpoint

See also

• List of longest rivers of Canada
• Little Whale River
  Little Whale River
  The Little Whale River is a river in Nunavik, Quebec, Canada. With an area of , it is ranked as the 35th largest river basin in Quebec....
  
   - running parallel to the Great Whale River about 100 km north
• List of Quebec rivers

External links

• The Atlas of Canada - Rivers
• General description, map and images
• Hydro-Québec and the Great Whale Project. Environmental/development negotiations; stakeholder analysis.
• The Great Whale River Expedition 1988
• The Great Whale River Expedition 1991
• The Great Whale River Expedition 1997
• The Great Whale River Expedition 1997 (images)
• Mojo Men of the Great Whale