Pierre « Ti-Basse » St-Onge

Two place names—“Mont Ti-Basse,” a ski hill near Baie-Comeau, and “Rue Tibasse,” a street in Port-Cartier—would not exist today were it not for the chance encounter between the Innu Pierre “Ti-Basse” St-Onge and an American, Colonel Robert R. McCormick. The story begins on October 16, 1915, when McCormick decided to explore the first logging concession on Quebec’s North Shore. McCormick, his wife Amy Irwin, and their two guides travelled by boat up the Aux Rochers River.

When night fell and time came to set up camp, they were deep in the forest. With his two guides, McCormick decided to continue slightly further, but a powerful storm caught them by surprise. They soon found themselves lost, with limited supplies, and unable to find their way back.

Luckily, Pierre Ti-Basse St-Onge was in the area when McCormick’s team got lost. Ti-Basse was a skilled hunter and fisher who used his people’s ancestral knowledge to live off the land. He came to the rescue of the team, who were exhausted in the storm. That night, he welcomed them in his cabin. He offered his guests tea, game meat, and a place to warm up. In the early morning, he led them to safety. McCormick saw that Ti-Basse was an unequalled guide to the area’s forests.

To thank him for saving their lives, McCormick invited Ti-Basse to Chicago, where a photographer took his portrait. At Ti-Basse’s request, McCormick also agreed to send him near-unlimited supplies and ammunition. In this way, a chance meeting in the eye of a storm gave rise to a lasting friendship based on mutual respect. The portrait of Ti-Basse hung in the Colonel’s office until his death in 1955.

The fortuitous encounter also led to the construction of a port and the town known today as Shelter Bay. Ti-Basse possessed deep-rooted knowledge of the neighbouring forest and its inhabitants. He travelled extensively along the Aux Rochers River with his St-Onge family, and ventured far and wide to sell what he hunted at trading posts.

He knew the area like the back of his hand, making him the perfect guide for the engineers of the nascent forestry industry. That was how Ti-Basse met Paul Provencher, an employee of McCormick’s forestry company. One day, Ti-Basse impressed Provencher with a comprehensive inventory of the Aux Rochers River concession, enabling him to observe every potential trail and list all animal species in the area.

Pierre Ti-Basse St-Onge died in 1943 in Shelter Bay. His reputation as a celebrated regional pioneer had grown over the years. Today, his name is written on the wall of the Baie-Comeau paper mill, and his portrait is preserved and exhibited at the archives of the Société historique de la Côte-Nord. His many grandchildren and descendants mostly live in the Innu community of Innu Takuaikan Uashat mak Mani-utenam, on the North Shore.