| Kegaska | |
| Settlement Type: | Unconstituted locality |
| Pushpin Map: | Canada Quebec |
| Pushpin Mapsize: | 197 |
| Coordinates: | 50.1836°N -61.2725°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Canada |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Quebec |
| Subdivision Type2: | Region |
| Subdivision Name2: | Côte-Nord |
| Subdivision Type3: | RCM |
| Subdivision Name3: | Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent |
| Subdivision Type4: | Municipality |
| Subdivision Name4: | Côte-Nord-du-Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent |
| Leader Title1: | Federal riding |
| Leader Name1: | Manicouagan |
| Leader Title2: | Prov. riding |
| Leader Name2: | Duplessis |
| Area Land Km2: | 4.10 |
| Population Total: | 138 |
| Population As Of: | 2011 |
| Population Density Km2: | 33.7 |
| Population Blank1 Title: | Change (2006–11) |
| Population Blank1: | 1.5% |
| Population Blank2 Title: | Dwellings |
| Population Blank2: | 68 |
| Timezone: | AST |
| Utc Offset: | −04:00 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code(s) |
| Postal Code: | G0G 1S0 |
| Area Code: | 418 and 581 |
Kegaska, population 138 (as of the 2011 census), is the easternmost point in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada to be reachable by road without passing through Newfoundland and Labrador. Quebec Route 138 reached the community on September 26, 2013, with the inauguration of a bridge across the Natashquan River.
An unconstituted locality (as defined by Statistics Canada in the Canada 2011 Census) within the municipality of Côte-Nord-du-Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent.
Kegaska village is located about 60 km (40 miles) east of the town of Natashquan and 47 km (30 miles) (in direct line) west of the town of La Romaine. Kegaska is built on a point of land between two bays (Muddy Bay and Kegaska Bay). Located opposite of the village, the Black Isle (Île Noire, in French) is connected to the mainland by a bridge. This island has an old lighthouse used for navigation.
Natashquan River forms the western boundary of the municipality of Côte-Nord-du-Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent. Between that river and the village of Kegaska, we find there (from West to East):
The east side, between the Kegaska village and the Musquaro River, there is situated (from West to East):
The lake Kegaska (length of 11.7 km; miles) is located 16 km (10 miles) northwest of the town of Kegaska and its mouth is in the south of the lake. It empties into the Kegaska river (20 km; 12 miles long) flowing at first on 7.7 km (miles) to the southwest; and 5.3 km (miles) to the east; and finally a segment of 7 km (miles) to the south, ending in a bay of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, at 7.2 km (miles) west of the village of Kegaska.
Kegaska village is the current eastern end of an over-1400 km (870 mile) segment of route 138 which starts south of Montreal at the Quebec-New York State border. The road reached the village on September 26, 2013, following the inauguration of a bridge across the Natashquan River.[1] It is currently not possible to drive beyond Kegaska by road; the between Kegaska and Old Fort (Vieux-Fort) is accessible by a weekly coastal ferry which runs from Rimouski.[2]
Its name derives from the Innu word quegasca, first recorded on Franquelin's map of 1685.[3] This place name is also used to refer to a river, a lake, an island, a haven, a tip, a bay and a canton (township).
In 1831, Kegaska was the site of a Hudson's Bay Company trading post, but the actual settlement was formed in 1852 when Acadian settlers came from the Magdalen Islands. They abandoned the place in 1871-1873 to settle at Betchewun (now Betchouane between Havre-Saint-Pierre and Baie-Johan-Beetz) and were replaced by Newfoundland fishermen, almost all of Irish origin. They in turn left around 1887-1888, leaving the place completely deserted by 1890. Yet in 1898, a few families relocated from Perth, Ontario, whose descendants now populate the area.[3]
At the end of the 19th century, predominantly English-speaking settlers came from the Anticosti Island to settle in Kegaska.
Victor-Alphonse Huard wrote this description in 1897 of the region: At Kégashka begins a long trail of islands, which continues to near the entrance to the Strait of Belle Isle. There are large, but most are only islands that crowd in several rows along the coast and sometimes up to twelve or fifteen miles offshore. Listed on the map this dust accumulated islands to the north coast, it looks like the scum of the Gulf that the fury of the winds from the southwest would have rejected his rivage.[4]
In 1976, Le Brion, a cargo ship from Magdalen Islands wrecked on a shoal near Kegaska. The remains of the wreck are still visible from the village.[5]
Fishing, especially the crab industry, serves as one of the main community's primary economic activities.[6]
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Kegashka had a population of 124 living in 58 of its 72 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 95. With a land area of, it had a population density of in 2021.[7]
Commission scolaire du Littoral operates Kegaska School (anglophone).[8]