MARITIME SERIES
Presented by the Port of Montreal
IN COLLABORATION WITH
The St. Lawrence River holds a special place in Quebec. Since 2018, with the support of the Port of Montreal, the Blue Metropolis Foundation has been organizing workshops designed for young people in the Contrecœur region to help them learn more about this river, its shores, and its flora and its fauna.
Over the years, these activities have taken various forms: storytime sessions with storytellers Mme Chose and Anne-Marie Aubin; poetry workshops led in turn by Caroline Barber, Jeanne Painchaud, Fabienne Gagnon, and, most recently, Martine Richard; meetings with biologists from the Port of Montreal who presented models of swallow nesting boxes and bat shelters; and presentations of the writings, drawings, and crafts made by program participants, primarily at the Contrecoeur library.
These activities were originally intended for elementary school students. However, in an effort to reach new audiences, the program was offered in summer 2026 to forty girls from the Colonie Sainte-Jeanne d’Arc. The girls were able to enjoy the activities out in the sunshine and in the relaxed atmosphere of their summer camp. An exhibition featuring photos and poems from this edition of the series will be presented at the Contrecoeur library this fall.
This project is part of the TD-Blue Metropolis Children’s Festival. We would like to highlight that TD Bank Group is the main partner of the youth sector of the Blue Metropolis Foundation.
EXPOSITION PHOTO DES ATELIERS DE LA SÉRIE MARITIME 2025-2026
PHOTO EXHIBIT OF THE 2024-2025 MARITIME SERIES WORKSHOPS
DISCOVER THE PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS AND ORGANIZATIONS
2026 EDITION
Colonie Sainte-Jeanne d’arc (Contrecœur)
The Colonie Sainte-Jeanne d’Arc summer camp was founded by Father Adélard Desrosiers in 1928. He purchased the land, had the first buildings constructed, and sold the entire property for one dollar to the Federation of French-Canadian Christian Charities. In 1969, the Saint-Laurent Kiwanis Club adopted the camp as its primary charity and registered it as a nonprofit organization.
Over time, the activities offered and the length of stays have changed, but the camp remains a summer camp for girls ages 8 to 13. Among other things, it offers a financial assistance program to accommodate girls from low-income families.
2025 EDITION
École Cœur-Vaillant (Contrecœur)
Located in Contrecœur, the École des Cœurs-Vaillants has, since September 2014, welcomed 437 pupils in groups from pre-school to the sixth year of primary school. The teaching staff is made up of 22 permanent teachers as well as three physical educators, two English teachers and one music teacher.The school’s various staff members (principal, teachers, psychologist, psychoeducator, specialised technicians, speech therapist, speech therapists, daycare technician, daycare educators, lunch supervisors, handicapped student attendant, social worker and nurse) are committed to providing a quality service that fosters the academic and social development of their pupils. The school team is committed to the academic success of its students and works together to create a stimulating and harmonious learning environment.
MEET THE PROJECT FACILITATORS
MARTINE RICHARD
A CALQ fellow in 2026, Martine Richard began publishing in 2001 while teaching French and literature at the high school level. That year saw the publication of her novels Dans la tête d’Anouk (Les Intouchables) and Aquarine a-t-elle perdu la boule? (Éditions de la paix, children’s literature). Since then, she has served as coordinator of the Association des auteurs de la Montérégie, sat on various juries, and led several writing workshops. From picture books (her latest, L’étoile et le pélican, was published by Soulières in 2024) to novels, Martine Richard has also explored the world of adolescence with the publication of Papillons with Leméac in 2021.
CAROLINE BARBER
Since 2012, Caroline Barber has published many titles for young audience, both in France and in Quebec, taking it upon herself to breathe a poetic sensibility into the everyday under the guise of l’empoétineuse (“the impoetor”). With that in mind, she brings digital artworks, boxes of poems, and phrase poems on the urban landscape into public spaces. Caroline divides her time between artmaking, creative writing workshop facilitation, and author residencies. Words are icebergs for her; 90% of their significance is invisible. It is the emotional mark words leave on each reader that Caroline Barber hopes to affect.
Speakers – Port de Montréal
ANDRÉE-ANNE DROUIN
Environmental Consultant – Contrecœur project
Andrée-Anne Drouin holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in environmental studies. For more than twenty-five years, she has worked in the heavy industry and mining sectors, where she has developed expertise in environmental management, particularly in the areas of water quality, air emissions, greenhouse gases, and regulatory compliance. Her professional career has been marked by a sustained interest in environmental issues associated with large-scale projects and major organizations. Since joining the Port of Montreal in 2024, she has been responsible for offset plans as well as certain monitoring programs related to the Contrecœur project.
PABLO DEWEZ
Director – Community Relations – Contrecœur project
Pablo Dewez studied communications and urbanism, specializing in prevention and dispute resolution. His professional interests center public participation in the planning of infrastructure projects. Over the last 20 years, he contributed to the planning and implementation of a wide variety of public works and major projects around the world. A member of the Port de Montréal team since 2021, Pablo leads community relations for the Contrecœur project. As part of the Maritime Series, Pablo leads themed workshops with the participation of his colleagues from the Port of Montreal.
THE PORT OF MONTREAL AND THE MARITIME SERIES
Operated by the Montreal Port Authority (MPA), the Port of Montreal is the second largest port in Canada, a diversified transshipment centre that handles all types of cargo—containerized and non-containerized, liquid bulk, and dry bulk. The only container port in Quebec, Montreal is a destination served by the world’s largest shipping lines. It is also an intermodal hub, with unique service offerings in North America, including a dedicated rail line directly on the docks linked to the two Canada-wide networks. The MPA also operates a cruise terminal and an interpretation centre.
The MPA has been a partner of the Blue Metropolis Foundation since 2017. Through its involvement in the creation of the Maritime Series, the MPA wishes to increase public awareness around the importance of protecting the Saint Lawrence River ecosystem.
Port of Montreal Contrecœur expansion project
The Montreal Port Authority (MPA) is currently planning the development of a new container terminal in the Contrecoeur industrial zone. The Contrecoeur land reserve, which was acquired by the MPA over 30 years ago, has been the subject of rigorous, concerted planning to support the development of logistical networks in Quebec and Eastern Canada. With the support of its partners, the Port of Montreal plans to build a new state-of-the-art container terminal to handle 1.15 million TEU containers in the future.
Several conditions of completion are required by the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change of Canada to allow the expansion project to proceed, including various environmental measures and monitoring programs to ensure that the new terminal is well integrated into its environment. Among these initiatives, the MPA is building swallow and bat boxes, which demonstrates a concern for biodiversity preservation.
Bank swallow nesting boxes
Credit: Montreal Port Authority
The Montreal Port Authority (MPA) recently installed swallow boxes on its Contrecoeur expansion site.
The bank swallows in this area are identified as a species at risk. This initiative seeks to recreate developments to recreate their natural habitat, which consists of burrows dug into the sandy banks in which they nest. This approach has been borne out elsewhere, including near Port of Montreal facilities.
Contrecoeur has a potential habitat of 1,200 burrows. The nesting boxes are intended to replace natural habitat on the site of the future container terminal. Following the construction of three nesting boxes in 2019 and three more in 2020, the use of the burrows by swallows has increased every year. In 2021, a decrease in the use of the natural banks at the site of the future terminal was even noted in favour of the human-made boxes.
The nesting boxes are monitored each year to document bank swallow behaviour, assess nesting box use, and ensure burrow quality.
Credits : Patrick Lauzon
Recreating bank swallow habitat: Find out more with Julie Bastien and Nicolas Bérubé (IN FRENCH)
Bat condos and nesting boxes
Credit: Montreal Port Authority
The Montreal Port Authority (MPA) has installed three bat condos and standard bat nesting boxes on the Contrecoeur expansion site, which allow bats to rest and also serve as breeding sites. There are various types of walls inside the boxes that bats cling to.
Bat condos can accommodate thousands of bats, while nesting boxes are designed to accommodate a few hundred. Bat condos allow for better temperature control, which increases their use by the animals.
Acoustic monitoring (listening to the sounds bats make) and field monitoring are carried out annually to check whether the condos and nesting boxes are being used, and the sites are also maintained each year. Six species of bats with precarious conservation status are found on the Contrecoeur site.
Photo credit: Patrick Lauzon (bat condos), François Fabianek (bats)
Suggestions for further reading on swallows and bats from the Montreal Port Authority
If you’d like to find out more about bank swallows and bats, the habitat construction experts for the new Contrecoeur container terminal project recommend the following sources.
SWALLOWS / BIRDS
Les hirondelles, George Olios, Ed. Delachaux et Niestlé , coll. Oiseaux, 2020
Le grand voyage d’une hirondelle : journal d’un oiseau migrateur, Pavel Kvartalnov, Olga Ptashnik, ed. Rue du Monde, coll. Pas comme les autres, 2020
BATS
Le Livre de la chauve-souris, Charlotte Milner, éd. Grenouilles, coll. Le livre des animaux
Savais-tu… Les Chauves-souris #2 ?, Alain M. Bergeron, éd. Quintin Minchel , coll. Savais-tu?, 2021
DIY PROJECTS / ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
Les petits animaux d’ici, Valérie Desrochers, Karine Morneau, éd. MD, coll. Autour de toi, 2021
Nichoirs et mangeoires à construire, Michelle McKee-Orsini, éd. Modus Vivendi, 2022
Guide de poche Oiseaux du Québec et du Canada, David M. Bird, Samuel Denault, éd. Modus Vivendi, 2021
Attirer les oiseaux dans mon jardin, Hervé Millancourt, éd. Rustica Éditions , coll. J’agis pour la biodiversité, 2023
Les aventuriers au jardin bio accueillent les animaux, Clémence Sabbagh, Joanna Wiejak, éd. Terre vivante, 2019
Coccinelles, papillons et autres insectes, Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson, éd. Multimondes, 2021
PHOTO EXHIBIT FROM THE PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF THE MARITIME SERIES
READING SUGGESTIONS
ON THE THEME OF BATS, SWALLOWS, AND THE WILDLIFE OF QUEBEC
FOR THE CHILDREN
La chauve-souris, Élise Gravel, La courte échelle, 2016
Les chauves-souris, Alain M. Bergeron (texte) et Sampar (illustrations), Éditions Michel Quintin, 2012
Mes amies les chauves-souris, Faith McNulty, Éditions Scholastic, 2002
Lili la chauve-souris, Hélène Chetaud, Casterman, 2021
La chauve-souris qui a peur du noir, Valérie Gagné, Éditions Coup d’œil, 2022
Charlie à l’école des chauve-souris, Lucie Papineau (texte) et Yves Dumont (illustrations), Éditions Auzou, 2020
Où naîtront les hirondeaux?, Émilie Demers (texte) et Réjean Roy (illustrations), Éditions Bouton d’or d’Acadie, 2022
L’araignée et l’hirondelle, Annie-Claude Lebel, Éditions Envolée, 2022
L’hirondelle qui voulait voir l’hiver, Philip Giordano, Éditions Milan, 2017
Nos oiseaux, Éric Dupont (textes) et Mathilde Cinq-Mars (illustrations), Éditions Marchand de feuilles, 2020
FOR TEENS AND ADULTS
Les hirondelles, Jean O’Neil, Libre Expression, 1995
Le fleuve, Jean O’Neil, Éditions 10/10, 2009
L’hirondelle, Érick Sablé, disponible en édition numérique seulement
Poissons d’eau douce du Québec, Jean-François Desroches et Isabelle Picard, Éditions Michel Quintin, 2013
Guide de la vie marine des rivages du Québec et des Maritimes, Geneviève Simard et Jim Cornall, Éditions Multimondes, 2012
Les baleines et autres cétacés du St-Laurent, Jean-Pierre Sylvestre, Éditions GID, 2017
Le monde marin du St-Laurent, Cathy Faucher (textes et illustrations) Éditions Goélette, 2021
Chez les oiseaux, Pierre Morency, Éditions Multimondes, 2004
Le comportement des oiseaux du Québec, Suzanne Brûlotte, Éditions Broquet, 2019
ON THE THEME OF WATER
DOCUMENTARIES
Le Saint-Laurent, Jacques Pasquet, Bayard, 2017
L’eau, Pierre-Marie Valat, Gallimard, 2010
Les mystères de l’eau, Blaise Hoffman, Éditions Joie de lire, 2019
Fabuleux navires, Pommier, Gallimard, 2009
ALBUMS, TALES AND NOVELS
Le brunissement des baleines blanches, Boucar Diouf, éditions la Presse, 2020
Jo Groenland et la route du nord, Boucar Diouf, éditions la Presse 2020
Un fantôme pour L’Empress, Mireille Noël, Québec Amérique, 2018
Piégés sur le bateau maudit, Hubert Ben Kemoun, Flammarion jeunesse, 2018
Une nuit, un capitaine, Denis Robitaille, Fides, 2015
Un grand fleuve si tranquille, Louise Turcot, Boréal, 2003
ON THE THEME OF NATURE
DOCUMENTARIES
Mon premier herbier des arbres du Québec, Stéphane Labbé et Iris Martinez (texte) et Laucolo (illustrations), Éditions Mammouth Rose, 2019
Petits animaux de la nuit, Anne Jankéliowitch (texte) et Delphine Chedru (illustrations), Éditions de la Martinière, 2016
100 infos insolites sur notre planète, Jérôme Martin et autres, Éditeur Usborne, 2020
Le livre des saisons, Sophie Coucharrière (texte) et Hervé Le Goff (illustrations), Père Castor Flammarion, 2023
Sous la terre, Sabine Boccador et Maud Bihan, Éditions Fleurus, 2020
ALBUMS, TALES AND NOVELS
Un jardin pour Tipiti le colibri, Lucie Papineau, Éditions de la Bagnole, 2020
De Jade Janvier à Dany Décembre, Bertrand Gauthier, Éditions de l’Isatis, 2019 :
La pluie, Catherine Leblanc, Éditions Mijade, 2008
Les redoutables croquins, Elisabeth Brisset des Nos, Éditions Cardinal, 2019
Mandarine et Kiwi : le temps des petits fruits, Laïla Héloua, Bayard, 2013
DISCOVER THE BOOKS OF THE PROJECT FACILITATORS
CAROLINE BARBER
Pome et Dina : Quatre saisons d’amitié, de Caroline Barber, éd. Les 400 coups, 2025
Contes culottés, de Caroline Barber, ill. par Élo, éd. Les 400 coups, 2022
Le vol, de Caroline Barber, ill. par Laura Giraud, éd. Les 400 coups, coll. Grimace, 2019
Gaivrotte, l’orgre végétarien, de Caroline Barber, éd. Bayard Canadam coll. Œil de Lynx, 2017
MARTINE RICHARD
L’Étoile et le pélican, Martine Richard, Soulières éditeur, 2024
Papillons, Martine Richard, Leméac, 2021
Le grand ménage d’Alice l’écrevisse, Martine Richard, Bouton d’or d’Acadie, 2012
Les sept vies de François Olivier, Martine Richard, éditions David, 2006
Chapeau, Camomille!, Martine Richard, éditions de la Paix, 2004
Tourlou, les troubadours!, Martine Richard, éditions de la Paix, 2002
Tas-de-plumes et les humains, Martine Richard, éditions de la Paix, 2001
Aquarine a-t-elle perdu la boule?, Martine Richard, éditions de la Paix, 2001
OTHER GREEN PROJECTS
WORDS BY THE WATER
The TD-Blue Metropolis Children’s Festival offered a series of three workshops with poet and cultural mediator Rachel McCrum, aimed at children aged 8 to 11 and their parents.
Words by the Water aimed to raise awareness about ecology through poetry, by the water’s edge. Water, plants, flowers, and the words to love and care for them!
discover OUR green montreal literary walking tour
Many projects around town prove it: a greener Montreal is emerging. What is green Montreal today? What will it be tomorrow?
This walking tour in podcast form proposes the perspectives of four Montreal writers on various places emblematic of the current state of green Montreal, including the Iberville Promenade of the Port of Montreal’s Grand Quay, the Échappée belle green alley, the Saint-Lawrence River, and the channels of the Boucherville Islands.
Each writer presented in this series has combined documentary research with a creative touch to explore one of these places in an original literary essay both informative and personal.
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE WITH OUR QUIZ l’EAU, LE FLEUVE , LA MER!
How well do you and your children know the St. Lawrence River? And the oceans? Do you know anything about maritime professions? About the different types of boats? Do you know what lives under the river? Test your knowledge with this little literary and educational quiz. You’ll be amazed by what you’ll learn!
(Quiz only available in French)
