This text is part of the special issue Climate Issues section
For several years, the snowmobile trail known as the Route Blanche on the Lower North Shore has only been open sporadically and rarely over its entire length, even though it is the main link between communities during the cold months. And this is just one of the consequences of the climate changes that are disrupting the territory, and on which the Professor in the Department of geography from UQAM Laurie Guimond and her team are leaning in.
Without a road that covers the entire territory of the Lower North Shore, residents are subject to the vagaries of the climate during their travels. “Our daily transportation is dictated by the weather,” says Karine Monger, general manager of the MRC du Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent. Fog, wind, and the absence of snow and ice complicate transportation for residents of the Lower North Shore on a daily basis. And in recent years, climate change has had increasingly visible consequences that extend well beyond the transportation of goods and people.
With the support of the MRC du Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent, the team of Laurie Guimond, holder of the Canada Research Chair with Northern Living Environments, set up the community research project Living with climate change on a daily basis in the Lower North Shore yesterday, today and tomorrow. “We want to document how climate change is transforming daily life in the Lower North Shore, from travel to cultural and social practices,” she summarizes.
The team traveled for 6 weeks in the winter of 2024, to the 15 communities of the Lower North Shore. They conducted qualitative interviews, focus groups and participatory mapping workshops. “We wanted to identify sensitive locations: places where people harvested wood or berries, islands where they used to go in winter thanks to the ice, but where it is no longer possible,” continues M.me Guimond. North Shore residents who could not be there in person could also fill out an online questionnaire. Photo and video archives were collected and video clips were filmed: “they tell the story of the territory and put a face to the phenomenon,” she emphasizes.
Document to raise awareness
The research team spent the summer analyzing the data collected. Already, some trends—regional, but also local—are emerging. “This confirms that climate change affects everyday life in every way, but it is not experienced in the same way, depending on where we live,” notes Laurie Guimond. Thus, while in Kegaska and Chevery, shoreline erosion is a concern, it is the quality of the ice that is of particular concern to the communities of Harrington Harbour, Saint-Augustin, and Pakua Shipu.
“Everywhere, there is mention of the increase in high winds and changes in their direction, as well as the presence of fog in all seasons,” adds the researcher. The condition of the Route Blanche, the main link that allows people to reach all the communities by snowmobile in winter, is deteriorating more and more. In addition to having an effect on transportation, these changes affect cultural practices and even the psychological health of the inhabitants. “We have collected poignant stories; people are disoriented in their daily lives,” says Mme Guimond: That’s without taking into account the safety issues and physical risks, as people venture onto thinning ice.
The research team wants to produce three narrative maps available free of charge online, which will report on past, present and anticipated trends in the region. These results will, it is hoped, help to raise awareness among the various stakeholders. “The tools developed support the fact that the organization of our transport deserves to be reviewed,” believes Karine Monger, and this, beyond the completion of the 138.
Studying river bank erosion to slow it down
This content was produced by the Special Publications Team of Dutyrelevant to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part in it.