Description
The Route bleue of Greater Montreal is part of a pan-provincial project, called the St. Lawrence water trail. A water trail is a network of launches, safe shelters, rest areas, lodging and food services, as well as rustic or commercial campsites. Because the St. Lawrence river is so long, the water trail is separated in many smaller segment called Route Bleue. There are 4 functional Route Bleue in the St. Lawrence water trail.
The St. Lawrence water trail aim to encourage small hand propelled embarkation, such as sea kayak, to use the St. Lawrence by creating and distributing informative tools, such as the guide bleu and maps displaying a network of sites that can be use by its members. The project promotes water-security, respect for shoreline properties and nature protection.
Recents studies, undertaken by three grass-root organisation, have identified the potential for the creation of the Route bleue of Greater Montreal (RBGB), which covers more than 500 km of shoreline.
Organisations |
Km |
Area |
Comité ZIP Ville-Marie |
190 km |
South shore, from Hudson (MRC Vaudreuil-Soulanges) to Sorel (MRC du Bas-Richelieu), including the islands of Boucherville and Île-Perrot. The project includes 25 municipalities and the Kahnawake territory. |
Comité ZIP Ville-Marie and Comité ZIP Jacques-Cartier |
150 km |
The island of Montreal, including the associated islands, such as île Dorval and île Bizard. |
Éco-Nature |
180 km |
North and South shore of Thousand-Islands River, from Saint-André d'Argenteuil to Repentigny; South shore of river des Prairies (Laval side). |
Press release (in French)
Press review (in French)
Feasibility study
The feasability study was completed in march 2009 by selecting and mapping the potential sites of the Route bleue. The Comité ZIP Ville-Marie is proud of the accomplished task that was done in concertation with its partners and volunteers.
These studies revealed that the RBGM has the potential to offer many itineraries to adepts of sea kayaking. However, the presence of many obstacles, such as the Lachine rapids, the St. Lawrence Seaway and the electric dam of île-de-la-Visitation, will prevent the RBGM to be linear like the other Routes bleues that already exist in the St.Lawrence golf and estuary. The RBGM will rather be developped along itineraries that will take into account these obstacles, users' security and the protection of natural habitats.
Negotiations with shoreline owners are underway to secure access to their properties for the users of the RBGM. to this point, there are 42 sites that have been authorised for the south shore and 22 for the West Island.
The next step is the creation and official kick-off of the maps of the RBGM. It is the Conseil Régional des Élus de Montréal that offers the financial support to accomplish these task for the itineraries along the island of Montreal. We beleive that other partners will join the initiative during the year to complete this step for the itineraries of the South Shore. We aim to publish the maps for the island of Montreal during fall 2010.
Partners - Creation et kick off for the official maps
Montreal island
The realisation of the maps and official kick-off for the island of Montreal was made possible with the financial contribution of the Conseil Régional des Élus de Montréal.
Partners - feasability studies
The realisation of the feasibility study for the south shore and the west island was made possible with the financial contribution of the program Interactions communautaires, a joint program linked to the Saint-Laurent Plan for a sustainnable development, between Environnent Canada et the ministère du Développement durable, de l’Environnement et des Parcs of Québec.
Many other partners also contributed financially and in nature to this initiative.
South shore
• Conférences régionales des élus de la Montérégie Est, de Longueuil et de la Vallée du Haut-Saint-Laurent :
• Fédération québécoise du canot et du kayak (FQCK) ;
• Aventures H2O ;
• Conseil régional de l’environnement (CRE) de la Montérégie ;
• Croisières Navark inc. ;
• Résidants Verts ;
• Éco-Nature ;
• Comité ZIP Jacques-Cartier ;
• Comité ZIP du Haut Saint-Laurent
• Corporation de Gestion de la Voie Maritime du Saint-Laurent
• MRC de Roussillon
• MRC Pierre-De Saurel
West Island of Montreal
• CRÉ de Montréal ;
• Municipalité de Beaconsfield ;
• Ville de Montréal
• Éco-Nature
• Fédération québécoise du canot et du kayak (FQCK)
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