After having traveled the islands of the Gulf of St. Lawrence aboard a sailboat to document and characterize plastic pollution, the Expedition Bleue team will return to Montreal to conclude its journey on another island: Lapierre Island, an area of great biodiversity in the heart of the Rivière des Prairies.
From Sept-Îles to Mingan, via Anticosti Island, Expedition Bleue 4 brought together a crew of nine people from varied backgrounds and disciplines. This diversity made it possible to combine perspectives and approaches to explore the territory, observe its realities and document the presence of plastic pollution on the remote shores of the islands of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A final stop to share the results of Expedition Bleue 4On Sunday, September 20, 2026, Organization Bleue and IDYLLE invite the Montreal community to take part in a shoreline cleanup on Lapierre Island. The activity will mark the end of this fourth expedition and is part of the global clean-up weekend: an international movement which aims to mobilize people all over the planet to participate in riverbank cleaning activities before the arrival of fall.
From 12 p.m., a speech by the Expedition Bleue crew kicks off the activity. The team will take this opportunity to present the first results and findings from Expedition Bleue 4. Citizens will then be invited to participate in the cleanup until 3 p.m. The materials collected will be characterized and documented in order to contribute to the monitoring of plastic pollution in the region.
“After having traveled the Gulf islands and documented plastic pollution directly on the ground, returning to Montreal to end the expedition with citizen action on Lapierre Island seemed only natural to us. Waste and currents do not stop at the borders between territories: what is found in our waterways is part of the same system which is evacuated towards the Atlantic Ocean.
The data collected as part of the Blue Expedition contributes to the study of the portrait of plastic pollution, presented on the Plastic Pollution Portal in Coastal Areas of Eastern Canada, a platform that centralizes and makes accessible data on plastic pollution collected on the territory. Its interactive map allows you to view the sites identified and consult the results of characterization activities.