Cap-aux-Meules

47°22′55″N 61°51′40″W / 47.38194°N 61.86111°W / 47.38194; -61.86111 (Cap-aux-Meules, Quebec)[1]

Map of Cap-aux-Meules (near the centre of the image where the blue ferry lines converge).
The MV Lucy Maud Montgomery ferry,[2][3] approaching the Cap-aux-Meules ferry terminal

Cap-aux-Meules (Grindstone) is a former village, now a sector of the municipality of Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec. It is located on Cap aux Meules Island (Grindstone Island), part of the Magdalen Islands archipelago, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Quebec, Canada.

The sheltered port of Cap-aux-Meules is an important fishing harbour, as well as a commercial cargo and ferry terminal. The ferry company, Coopérative de Transport Maritime et Aérien (CTMA), operates a ferry service to Souris, Prince Edward Island, as well as a year-round cargo service to Matane and Montreal, Quebec.

The village is home to the government services offices of Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), Transports Quebec, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MAMH), the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPAQ) and the Ministry of the Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change (MELCCFP), also, Parks Canada, Transport Canada, Canadian Coast Guard, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.[4]

Located on île du Cap aux Meules (Grindstone Island) the site was settled as early as the 19th century. Before the 2002 amalgamation, it was the Magdalen Islands' smallest community in land area, but because of its location at the centre of the archipelago, it has become the most important business centre of the islands and, as such, was named "Capital of the Islands". The ferry servicing Cap-aux-Meules to Souris, Prince Edward Island constitutes the archipelago's only port of entry by sea.[5][6]

The name of the community is associated to the grindstone quarry located on the island. Its population was as of, 2006, 1,685.

  1. ^ "Cap-aux-Meules". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada.
  2. ^ "Lucy Maud Montgomery ferry" (in French). Centre d'archives régional des Iles. 1998-04-22. Retrieved 25 March 2024. This ferry can take 60 cars instead of the Manic's 45 and is better equipped to weather the storms of the Gulf of St. Lawrence
  3. ^ "The MV Lucy Maud Montgomery". Marine Atlantic. The Journey. 2014-12-11. Retrieved 27 March 2024. Vessel named in honour of the famous Prince Edward Island writer who is best known as the author of the "Anne of Green Gables" book series
  4. ^ "Special Urban Planning Program, Downtown Cap-aux-Meules" (PDF) (in French). Les îles-de-la-Madeleine, Maritime community. March 2023. pp. 10 of 51. Retrieved 28 March 2024. The heart of Cap-aux-Meules represent a major importance, through its port and its institutional and commercial activities
  5. ^ "Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine". Commission de toponymie Quebec (in French). Government of Quebec. 2002-01-24. Retrieved 4 March 2024. On January 1, 2002, the municipality of Îles-de-la-Madeleine was created.
  6. ^ Stéphanie Arseneau Bussière; Hélène Chevrier (2012-02-08). "Socio-economic profile of the Magdalen Islands' English-speaking community" (PDF). Centre de recherche sur les milieux insulaires et maritimes (CERMIM). pp. 12 of 90. Retrieved 28 March 2024. Merchants, also mostly English-speaking, prefer to be near their markets (the harbours) and even more so their customers,