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Bic National Park is an 33.2-square-kilometre (8,200-acre) national park of Quebec, Canada, located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, near the villages of Le Bic and Saint-Fabien, southwest of Rimouski. It was founded on October 17, 1984, and is home to large populations of harbour seals and grey seals. Its highest point is Pic Champlain at 346 metres (1,135 ft). Slightly less than half of the park is a coastal marine environment.
Bic National Park is typical of the southern coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, containing several characteristics of this region:
Low-flow rivers (la rivière du Sud-Ouest)
Salt marshes (the marsh at Pointe-au-Spruce)
Rocky hills with a very steep northern slope and a relatively gentle southern slope (Pic Champlain, Citadelle, Cap-l'Orignal, etc.)
History
Human occupation of Bic dates back almost 7,000 years: the park interpretive centre displays tools from that time.
Battle at Baie de Bic
Waves crash on the coast at L'Anse à L'OrignalLow tide on Île aux AmoursPorcupine Near Wootton House
Jacques Cartier tells of the Battle of the Bay of Bic in the spring of 1534 when 100 Iroquois warriors massacred a group of 200 Mi'kmaq on what he called Massacre Island in the St. Lawrence River. The Bay of Bic was an annual gathering place for Mi'kmaq along the St. Lawrence. Mi'kmaq scouting parties warned of an impending Iroquois attack the night before the Iroquois arrival. The Mi'kmaq took away 30 of the sick and elderly, while about 200 Mi'kmaq left their encampment on the shore and retreated to the island in the bay. There they took cover in a cave, covering the entrance with branches. The Iroquois arrived in the morning. Finding the encampment deserted, they divided into search parties but failed to find the Mi'kmaq until the morning of the next day.
The Mi'kmaq warriors defended the tribe against the Iroquois assault. Initially, after many had been wounded on both sides, with the rising tide, the Mi'kmaq were able to repulse the assault and the Iroquois retreated to the mainland. The Mikmaq prepared a fortification on the island in preparation for the next assault at low tide. The Iroquois were again repulsed and retreated to the mainland with the rising tide. By the following morning, with low tide the Iroquois made their final approach. They had prepared burning arrows which burned down the fortification and wiped out the Mi'kmaq. Twenty Iroquois were killed and thirty wounded in the battle. The Iroquois divided into two companies to return to their canoes on the Bouabouscache River.[2][3]
No French seigneur settled in the area during the period of New France, but after the Battle of Quebec in 1759, an English lord named Campbell settled there.
In the decades that followed, a maritime pilot post was established at Bic Island, opposite the park. It remained there until 1905 when it was relocated to Pointe-au-Père. The pilots had meanwhile settled on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, where they undertook subsistence farming.
At the end of the 19th century, several English villagers built cottages and country houses in the area of the park. Many of these homes are still standing today, although ownership has passed to the park. Among them are the Lyman Cottage, Feindel Cottage, and Wootton House which are on the shores of Anse à l'Original (on le Chemin du Nord trail).
From the late 1970s, preparations began to allow the formal establishment of the park, in 1984. Management of the park was transferred to Société des établissements de plein air du Québec (SÉPAQ) in 1999, by the same act which established Bic as a National park.
