Grosse Ile

A history lesson, a spectacular cruise, and a day to reflect on how fortunate we are to be living in this time, in this land! We wanted a St Lawrence cruise experience, to view Quebec City from the river the way so many historical figures have first seen it, and to visit the site that Marlene’s grandparents most likely past through when they immigrated to Canada before WW1, so we are traveling with Croisieres Coudrier to Grosse Ile.
The boat we’re cruising in is like a large covered zodiac that carries up to 125 passengers although today it is not totally full. The boat departs at 10 am from the Old Port of Quebec and goes first to Ile d’Orleans, a large beautiful island: it has been farmed for four centuries, was the home of many seafaring people, and is now a summer residence for many Quebecers as the island was connected to the mainland by a bridge in 1935. We drop off and pick up passengers then travel another hour to Grosse Ile, one of 21 islands in the Ile-de-Grues archipelago.
Grosse Ile is a National Historic site that pays tribute to the role the island played , from 1832 to 1937, as the quarantine station for the port of Quebec. More than 4 million immigrants came to Canada and the USA through the principal gateway of the port of Quebec and all of them passed through this quarantine station that has been preserved and restored by Parks Canada. It is a haunting place but the island is so lovely on this sunny day that we feel the echoes of promise and hope, that brought so many immigrants to Canada. The history of Grosse Ile is fascinatingly presented by Parks Canada staff, some of them costumed and playing the roles of both immigrant and quarantine station staff, and by many informative murals, diagrams, and photographs, as well as, the buildings themselves. The four hours we are on the island speed by with barely enough time to eat our picnic lunch.
Grosse Ile also commemorates the tragic experience of many Irish immigrants to Canada especially during 1847, when due to the ongoing potato famine and political hardship in Ireland, almost 100,000 Irish tried to immigrate to Canada and were stricken by a typhus epidemic. More than 5,000 Irish immigrants are buried on Grosse Ile, and most of them died in 1847. There is an impressive Celtic Cross on a headland in the harbour that has served as an Irish Memorial for the last 100 years to these poor souls who died so far from their green homeland. There are also monuments that recognize the medical staff and religious orders that worked with sick immigrants, often contracting and often dying from diseases they came in contact with.
The disinfecting sheds make us shudder and we wonder what it must have been like to finally step onto land after so many days on a crowded ship and have to go through such an ordeal. Marlene remembers her grandfather talking about the sorrow and frustration he experienced when Canadian immigration officials anglicized his surname but, like many immigrants who survived and eventually prospered in Canada, he chose not to talk about the hardships he had endured to get here.
The sombre aspect of this place is balanced by its incredible beauty today on this river that looks like a sea. We enjoy our return cruise even more than the choppy outward trip as the river is very calm and there is much boat traffic, both commercial and recreational. We are not disappointed by our view of Quebec City from the river! The way back to our hotel is uphill and we are tired but we wind through the heritage that this city preserves and are so thankful that it has been preserved so well.