Metis Wharf and Harbour

For decades local politicians and a handful of summer residents lobbied to obtain a proper wharf for Metis. Wharfs and harbours were dispensed by the federal government. Their distribution was rife with patronage and their construction often the result of years of lobbying by local leaders, businessmen and clergy. More often than not, politicians seeking election made them a key campaign promise.

Metis waged a battle to obtain a wharf in the 1870s and again in the 1890s. On both occasions, the lobbying efforts came up short. Metis never had political representation in either Quebec City or Ottawa. The neighbouring towns of Rimouski and Matane were larger and had more political clout.

Truth be told, Metis was also not an easy place for an anchorage. If wrecks arrived regularly on the rock outcrops or in the bay, it was because Metis did not offer the best conditions to moor vessels. The lighthouse warned off ships precisely because the long tail of the rocky outcrop was dangerous and mostly invisible at high tide. The wharf at Grand-Metis was not much better. It too could only be reached at high tide and the shipping channel regularly silted up with sediment.

In the end, it was Father Point (Pointe-au-Père) that won out. A wharf was built there to accommodate the boat that took the pilot to vessels travelling upstream. The wharf’s proximity to the rail line also meant that the postal bags could be swiftly transferred to a waiting train for their rapid delivery to Montreal.

Metis never got its wharf. A failure of political leadership, lack of effort or just a question of geography?