Introduction
Municipality in Quebec, CanadaL'Isle-aux-CoudresMunicipalityLocation within Charlevoix RCML'Isle-aux-CoudresLocation in central QuebecCoordinates: 47°24′N 70°23′W / 47.400°N 70.383°W / 47.400; -70.383CountryCanadaProvinceQuebecRegionCapitale-NationaleRCMCharlevoixSettled1728ConstitutedAugust 23, 2000Government • MayorChristyan Dufour • Federal ridingMontmorency—Charlevoix • Prov. ridingCharlevoix–Côte-de-BeaupréArea • Total100.96 km2 (38.98 sq mi) • Land29.46 km2 (11.37 sq mi)Population (2021) • Total1,116 • Density37.9/km2 (98/sq mi) • Pop (2016-21) 2.4% • Dwellings760Time zoneUTC−5 (EST) • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)Postal code(s)G0A 1X0Area codes418 and 581HighwaysNo major routesWebsitewww.municipaliteiac.ca
L'Isle-aux-Coudres (French pronunciation: [lil o kudʁ]), is a municipality located on island aux Coudres, in the St. Lawrence River, in Charlevoix Regional County Municipality, Capitale-Nationale region, Quebec, Canada.
Variations of the official name are: La Baleine, L'Île-aux-Coudres, Saint-Bernard-de-l'Île-aux-Coudres and Saint-Louis-de-l'Isle-aux-Coudres. Locally, the following variants are also noted: Île aux Coudriers, Île Elbow, Île aux Marsouins and Île aux Socles.
Whereas the modern French spelling for "island" is île, the municipality uses the old French spelling of Isle. Its population centres include La Baleine in the northeast, (Saint-Louis-de-)l'Isle-aux-Coudres in the south, and Saint-Bernard-sur-Mer in the northwest facing Baie-Saint-Paul.
Access to the island are by sea (ferry) and air (airport). The free ferry service connects Saint-Bernard-sur-Mer to Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive on the north shore of the gulf.
It was the setting for the classic 1963 National Film Board of Canada documentary Pour la suite du monde.
History
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On September 6, 1535, during his second voyage to North America, the navigator Jacques Cartier named the island "couldres", after a hazel tree (Corylus cornuta), a shrub abundant in the area. In 1928, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada erected a monument commemorating the anchorage of Cartier's 3 ships and the celebration of the first mass in the interior of Canada, at Saint-Bernard-sur-Mer.
Étienne de Lessart of Ste. Anne-de-Beaupré was granted title as the first Seigneur of l'Isle-aux-Coudres by Governor Buade de Frontenac on March 4, 1677. Due to a failure to develop the property to increase its value he was forced to sell the seigneurie on October 19, 1687, to the Séminaire de Québec who began to establish a monastery on the site.
On October 29, 1687, Governor Denonville and Intendant Champigny granted the island as a seignory to the Seminary of Quebec, an act that was ratified on March 1, 1688.
Plan of the island in 1751
In 1728, the first concessions of land were granted to settlers, and by 1741, the Parish of Saint-Louis-de-France was formed, soon after renamed to Saint-Louis-de-l'Isle-aux-Coudres. Named after Louis IX of France, it probably was also a tribute to Louis Chaumont (or Chaumonot) de La Jaunière (ca. 1700–1776), priest of Baie-Saint-Paul from 1736 to 1767. In 1845, the Parish Municipality of Saint-Louis-de-l'Isle-aux-Coudres was formed. In 1847, it was abolished, but reestablished in 1855, and would remain the only municipality covering the entire island for the next 80 years.
The community of Saint-Bernard-sur-Mer, first known as Pointe-des-Roches until 1936, only really developed from 1902 onward. The Parish of Saint-Bernard, named in honour of Bernard of Clairvaux (ca. 1090–1153), was officially founded in 1934 when it separated from the Parish of Saint-Louis, and was incorporated as the Municipality of Saint-Bernard-de-l'Île-aux-Coudres in 1936.
In 1951, the Municipality of La Baleine was incorporated, when it separated from Saint-Louis-de-l'Isle-aux-Coudres. It was named after an incident that had occurred in the late 18th century when the islanders found a carcass of a dead whale (in French: baleine) that had stranded on the island's flats. At this point, the island was divided into three municipal entities.
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On January 5, 1994, the Municipality of Saint-Bernard-de-l'Île-aux-Coudres and the Parish Municipality of Saint-Louis-de-l'Isle-aux-Coudres were merged and formed the Municipality of L'Île-aux-Coudres (new spelling). On August 23, 2000, this municipality and the Municipality of La Baleine were merged again to form the new Municipality of L'Isle-aux-Coudres (old spelling).
