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Opitciwan in 1933

A group of people are standing on a beach. Behind them are modest wooden houses across the land.

BAnQ – Québec, Ministère de l’Environnement et de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques Fonds, E57,S44,SS1,PY-1146

Located upstream of the Gouin Dam, the Atikamekw village of Opitciwan was flooded during the construction of this structure at the start of the 20th century. Starting in 1916, this dam created a reservoir of 8.5 billion cubic metres of water.

As a result, the Opitciwan village had to move to higher ground. The flooding also left its mark on the Indigenous community, who lost its traditional hunting territory and had to leave its ancestral way of life behind.