Cultural diversity
Keeper of the Innu and North Shore culture, Sept-Îles is home to a multitude of artists and organizations contributing to the city’s incredible cultural diversity. Exhibitions, shows, festivals and many other cultural events are important benchmarks and a source of entertainment for locals and tourists alike. Sept-Îles also hosts the North Shore book fair, a very popular literary event in the region. Aware of the important role culture plays in the community, Sept-Îles adopted a cultural policy in 2004 in order to promote Sept-Îles’ art and heritage.
Several of the city’s events and exhibitions are dedicated to Innu culture. The Shaputuan museum, for example, offers an insight into the tangible and intangible heritage of our ancestors, the Mamu Art Symposium welcomes native and non-native artists from Québec and the Tshakapesh Institute highlights the language and culture of the Innu on the North Shore. For over thirty years, Sept-Îles has brought the different communities of Québec together through the Festival Innu Nikamu, one of the most important native art festivals in North America. But that’s not all; the city’s troupe Tam ti delam brings Québec’s folklore to dance shows in Sept-Îles and all over the world.
Main cultural events
Event |
Average number of visitors (per year) |
Innu Nikamu Festival |
14,000 |
Film Festival of Sept-Îles (Ciné7) |
8,000 |
Vieux-Quai en Fête de Sept-Îles |
25,000 |
North Shore Book Fair | 9,000 |
Museums in Sept-Îles
The Regional Museum of the North Shore
With its permanent exhibition the Regional Museum traces the rich history of Québec’s North Shore.
Old Trade Post of Sept-Îles
This recreation of the region’s first trade post brings the world of wood-runners and hunters in the Sept-Îles of 1842 to the present.
Shaputuan Museum
The Shaputuan museum holds the material and immaterial treasures of Innu culture; a legacy that dates back almost 8,000 years.
Interpretation Centre of Clarke City
The Interpretation Centre of Clarke City retraces the history of the first industrial city on the North Shore from its foundation to its economic boom.