Anticosti: the Jupiter, a playground for wealthy fishermen

Only the wealthiest have access to one of the most beautiful rivers in Quebec, which is located on public land in Anticosti, where they fish salmon for $1,500 a day.

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“It’s one of the rare places where you can clearly see the salmon in the water rushing on the fly,” comments Michel Bureau, a fisherman from Sherbrooke who adopted the Jupiter a few years ago and who no longer wants to go somewhere else.

We understand why by looking at the postcard landscape around us. Limestone cliffs topped by dense forests that flow into emerald water so clear you can see schools of fish – sea trout and salmon – battling the current.

Nicknamed the “queen of the island’s rivers” by Saumon Québec because of its beauty and its geographical location in the very center of Anticosti, the Jupiter seduced the founder of the village, Henri Menier, 128 years ago. One of his assistants had caught 52 salmon alone in one day.

Although there are fewer salmon these days – only 450 were counted during the summer migration, whereas there were five times as many 20 years ago – it is still spectacular to see them. from the top of the bridge which spans the Jupiter at the thirtieth kilometer.

For the rich

Fishing here is not within everyone’s reach. For five nights at Sépaq’s Jupiter 12 pavilion – a comfortable inn offering accommodation and three daily meals (the only place where you can stay along the Jupiter) – the rate is $6550 before taxes. Not to mention air travel (at least $800 for the round trip from Montreal).

In principle, the rivers belong to all Quebecers since the government attacked private hunting and fishing clubs in the 1970s. But some salmon rivers retain vestiges of this era, such as the Jupiter.

“The principle of outfitters is contrary to the philosophy of universal accessibility, but we have to live with this reality,” explains Myriam Bergeron, Executive Director of the Quebec Atlantic Salmon Federation.

While most fishing access is managed by drawing lots, some twenty salmon rivers in Quebec, including the Jupiter, offer à la carte services instead. As they are managed by outfitters, they are the ones who set prices and access.

Among the wealthy who have access to it: the Desmarais family, who have acquired rights to the first reservation since the sale of the island (see other text). Paul Desmarais, who took over as head of Power Corporation in 1968, long considered the Jupiter his playground, welcoming friends and colleagues there to introduce them to salmon fishing. The tradition was continued after his death.

“The Desmarais come here to fish for salmon every July. Their private jet lands at Port-Menier airport, and they are transported by helicopter with their guests to Camp 12,” says fishing guide Raymond Lemelin, on the banks of the Jupiter River.

The man from Limoilou, a neighborhood in downtown Quebec, says his uncle Roger Lemelin loved the Jupiter River so much that he used it as the setting for a scene in his bestselling novel. The Plouffespublished in 1948.

THE SÉPAQ “OUTFITTER”

It is the Society of Outdoor Establishments of Quebec (Sépaq) which manages the fishing packages on the 24 salmon rivers of the island, including the Jupiter. According to its spokesperson Simon Boivin, the status of Sépaq is different in Anticosti, since it is the only place in the entire Quebec network where it exercises “outfitter” functions. Access is therefore different from other sites managed by the organization, where a draw allows everyone access to the best fishing sites.

Here, a customer who renews his reservation year after year has the first choice on the reservation of the following year. This is the case for the oldest customers of Camp 12, the only accommodation at Jupiter.

Translation of the English term outfitter, the word outfitter is a Quebecism that designates commercial businesses related to hunting and fishing. There are currently 300 outfitters in Quebec.

Anticosti almost became a federal park

It is on the shores of the Jupiter River that an important chapter in the history of Anticosti Island took place: its failed purchase by Ottawa.

Private property for a century, the island belonged to the paper company Consolidated Bathurst (CB) when the Quebec government acquired it in 1974.

Everything is played first on the banks of the Jupiter, where ministers of the government of Pierre Elliott Trudeau come to stay, at the invitation of the CEO of Power Corporation, the late Paul Desmarais, who loves the place. Former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien was among the press mogul’s distinguished guests in 1972.

Owner of the multinational which owns CB, Mr. Desmarais finds that the paper company does not do good business with the cutting of wood and he wants to sell Anticosti, he says in Robert Bourassa and us (Éditions de l’Homme, 2019). “The federal government could buy the island to make it a national park,” suggested Jean Chrétien, then Minister of Indian Affairs in the federal government.

Mr. Desmarais likes the idea, but he is annoyed because he does a lot of business in Quebec and does not want to offend the elected members of the National Assembly. He suggests putting Robert Bourassa, then Premier of Quebec, in the know. Still according to the book, Bourassa immediately showed interest and offered the boss to match Ottawa’s offer.

Paul Desmarais accepts, but things drag on and nothing is settled two years later. Mr. Chrétien returns to the charge and agrees with the businessman.

Bourassa talks

The deal is virtually done when Mr. Trudeau is informed. Also according to the book, he forces his minister to inform the Premier of Quebec of the impending transaction. Mr. Chrétien complies.

“Robert, I want to inform you that the federal government is buying Anticosti Island for the sum of 25 million. We will announce it tomorrow,” he told her over the phone. Mr. Bourassa was then in Sweden, where he was on a business trip.

After hanging up, the Premier of Quebec maneuvers all night to match Trudeau’s sum. In the morning, it is Quebec that concludes the agreement… The island will be expropriated to make it Quebec property.

A new species of plant discovered on the island

A dandelion-like plant that had never been observed in Quebec has just been discovered on the banks of the Jupiter River, on Anticosti Island, by Quebec botanist Richard Boivin.

“I am very proud of my discovery, which picks up in a way where Brother Marie-Victorin [fondateur du Jardin botanique de Montréal] left in the last century,” explains the community relations advisor for Rio Tinto Alcan in Havre-Saint-Pierre.

The plant called “liondent hispide” (Leontodon hispidus L, from its scientific name) is not new to science, since it exists in Europe. But his observation in a place as isolated as Anticosti surprised botanist Étienne Léveillé, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Montreal and responsible for the Marie-Victorin Herbarium. “As it is an introduced species, one would have expected it to have been introduced around major urban centres,” he explains.

In the footsteps of the brother

If, for the general public, this liondent may seem identical to dandelions on the lawns, it is not so for an expert. “The shape of the leaves under the capitulum and the presence of hairs indicate that we are dealing with a totally distinct species”, maintains Mr. Léveillé.

For 10 years, Richard Boivin has been following in the footsteps of the founder of the Montreal Botanical Garden who, he recalls, is the author of an imposing volume, the Flora of Anticosti-Minganie. In the 1920s, the brother of the Christian schools planted on the island and hypothesized that the vegetation of the island and that of the North Shore (Minganie) were complementary.

Officially, Mr. Boivin is an amateur botanist, because he does not earn his living as a biologist. But he received a university education in biology and even studied with Pierre Dansereau, the father of Quebec ecology. Harvested last year, its plant has been authenticated in recent months by experts from the Plant Biology Research Institute.

“Brother Marie-Victorin described the island as a paradise for botanists. I think he was right,” he comments.