View source for Pointe-au-Père, Quebec

{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
[[Image:Pointe-au-Père Lighthouse in 2007.jpg|thumb|200px|Pointe-au-Père Lighthouse]]
'''Pointe-au-Père''' ({{IPA|fr|pwɛ̃t o pɛʁ}}) is a district (''secteur'') of the city of [[Rimouski]], [[Quebec]], which is located in the central part of the [[Bas-Saint-Laurent]] region in eastern [[Quebec]] at the mouth of the [[St. Lawrence River]]. Its population was 4,240 in 2002, the year it merged with Rimouski. It is named after Father [[Henri Nouvel]], who celebrated the first mass there in 1663.<ref>{{cite news|title=Father Point |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2257056/henri_nouvel_ca_1621_ca_1701/|newspaper=Anderson Herald|date=September 18, 1958|page=2|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|accessdate = April 21, 2015 }} {{Open access}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=The First Mass |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2257085/henri_nouvel_ca_1621_ca_1701/|newspaper=The Ottawa Journal|date=April 5, 1955|page=5|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|accessdate = April 21, 2015 }} {{Open access}}</ref>

[[Pointe-au-Père lighthouse]] along with the [[Site historique maritime de la Pointe-au-Père]] museum are major regional tourist attractions.

Murderer [[Hawley Crippen|Dr Crippen]] was arrested when the steam ship {{SS|Montrose|1897|6}}, on which he was trying to escape with his mistress, who was disguised as his son, reached Pointe-au-Père.

[[Image:L’Empress of Ireland.jpg|thumb|150px|left|[[RMS Empress of Ireland (1906)|RMS ''Empress of Ireland'']]]]
On May 29, 1914, the [[RMS Empress of Ireland (1906)|RMS ''Empress of Ireland'']] sank in the Saint Lawrence River near this village, with a loss of 1,012 lives.

Pointe-au-Père tide station serves as the reference point for measuring mean sea level for the [[North American Vertical Datum of 1988]], which is the reference point for determining altitude in North America.<ref>{{cite web |title=North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) |url=https://www.ngs.noaa.gov/datums/vertical/north-american-vertical-datum-1988.shtml |website=National Geodetic Survey |access-date=11 June 2021}}</ref>

Since 1986, the [[Government of Canada]] officially created the [[Pointe-au-Père National Wildlife Area]], which houses a variety of fauna and flora, very popular for [[Birdwatching|birdwatchers]].<ref><sup>(fr)</sup> "[http://www.ec.gc.ca/ap-pa/default.asp?lang=Fr&n=E18DCC08-1 Réserve nationale de faune de Pointe-au-Père]" [https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ec.gc.ca%2Fap-pa%2Fdefault.asp%3Flang%3DFr%26n%3DE18DCC08-1 archive], on ''Environment Canada'' (consulted on October 13th, 2012)

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==Notes==
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==External links==
* [http://www.shmp.qc.ca/ Site  historique maritime de la Pointe-au-Père]
* [http://www.ville.rimouski.qc.ca/ Ville de Rimouski]

{{coord|display=title|name=Pointe-au-Père, Quebec|48|31|N|68|28|W|region:CA_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki}}
{{Administrative divisions of Quebec region|Bas-Saint-Laurent}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pointe-au-Pere, Quebec}}
[[Category:Former municipalities in Quebec]]
[[Category:Communities in Bas-Saint-Laurent]]
[[Category:Rimouski]]
[[Category:1663 establishments in the French colonial empire]]
[[Category:Populated places disestablished in 2002]]


{{BasSaintLaurent-geo-stub}}