May’s Reckoning: Saint-Castin’s Earth Month and the Echoes of a Buried Village

As the calendar turned to June, the Neugraviat of Saint-Castin concluded its annual Earth Month observance—a period marked by reflection, education, and a deepened commitment to understanding the land beneath its feet. This year's commemoration was particularly poignant, coinciding with the 54th anniversary of the catastrophic landslide that obliterated the village of Saint-Jean-Vianney in 1971.

Throughout May, residents engaged in a series of events designed to honour the past and prepare for a more resilient future. From community workshops on soil stability to art installations crafted from local clay, the month served as a living memorial to the lives lost and a testament to the community's enduring spirit. Unlike typical commemorations that dwell solely on tragedy, Earth Month in Saint-Castin bridges the gap between remembrance and action, placing equal weight on mourning, education, and sustainable planning.

A Tragedy That Shaped a Community

On the night of May 4, 1971, Saint-Jean-Vianney, a village of approximately 1,300 residents, was swallowed by the earth. Built atop Leda clay—a type of quick clay known for its instability—the village succumbed to a massive landslide following weeks of heavy rainfall. The ground liquefied, engulfing 41 homes and claiming 31 lives. The disaster left a crater spanning over 32 hectares, with depths reaching up to 30 metres.

Investigations later revealed that the area had experienced a similar landslide roughly five centuries earlier. However, the signs leading up to the 1971 event—sinking tools, cracked terrain, waterlogging—were either dismissed or underestimated. The tragedy prompted the permanent evacuation of the village and catalyzed a re-evaluation of land-use policies throughout Quebec and the greater Saguenay region.

The Saint-Jean-Vianney catastrophe remains one of Canada’s most sobering natural disasters, a stark reminder that geological memory can stretch far deeper than human recollection. Today, it informs everything from emergency planning to zoning bylaws in Saint-Castin, where historical awareness is interwoven with governance.

Earth Month: A Living Memorial

In response to this painful history, the regional government established Earth Month as a time to honour the past and educate for the future. This month-long observance combines educational programming, community rituals, and creative expression. Local museums host exhibitions featuring soil samples, oral histories, and archival photographs; and residents gather for guided walks across former fault lines now stabilized by reforestation efforts.

Artists play a central role in this commemorative landscape. Working with natural materials such as clay, moss, and stone, they create temporary installations on historical sites. These works are both ephemeral and evocative—they disappear with the season, but leave behind impressions that linger in collective memory. This year, an exhibit entitled "Sediments of Memory" attracted widespread attention with its participatory clay wall that invited visitors to inscribe the names of affected families, lost streets, and vanished landmarks.

Public readings, outdoor documentaries, and panel discussions featuring engineers, First Nations elders, and environmental activists enriched the month’s itinerary, ensuring that Earth Month remained a platform for dialogue as much as remembrance.

The Science Beneath the Surface

The Saint-Jean-Vianney disaster spotlighted the risks of building atop Leda clay, a substance that behaves like solid ground under dry conditions but becomes dangerously fluid under stress. Known as soil liquefaction, this process can cause massive ground shifts with little warning. When saturated by water, the bonds between clay particles weaken, leading to collapse under even minor pressure.

Since the 1970s, geologists and urban planners have worked to map regions with Leda clay deposits across eastern Canada. Today, these zones are subject to rigorous environmental assessments, and construction is often restricted or prohibited outright. The provincial government’s database of at-risk areas has become a foundational tool for municipalities and insurers.

Liquor bottles shattered in a Saguenay store after the 1988 earthquake, which disrupted businesses across the region.

In addition to the 1971 landslide, two other natural disasters have left lasting scars in the memory of the region. In November 1988, the Saguenay region was rocked by an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale—the strongest ever recorded in eastern Canada since 1925. Though damage was limited due to the earthquake’s depth and distance from population centres, it served as a sharp reminder that seismic risks remain real even in areas not usually associated with tectonic volatility. The quake's epicentre near Saint-Honoré led to renewed studies on the fault lines running under the Saguenay Graben, prompting updates to building codes.

Then came the devastating Saguenay Flood of 1996. Over three days in July, more than 280 millimetres of rain fell, overwhelming rivers and drainage systems. The Rivière-à-Mars burst its banks, submerging entire neighbourhoods, sweeping away bridges, and displacing over 16,000 people. Dozens of municipalities declared states of emergency. For Saint-Castin, the flood wasn’t only a humanitarian crisis; it became a turning point in how the region approached stormwater infrastructure and civil protection. Retention basins were expanded, riverbeds reinforced, and a regional emergency response plan was formalized.

The flood's legacy is preserved each May in a symbolic ceremony held at the reinforced embankments of Rivière-à-Mars. Schoolchildren place wreaths of native plants into the current as a ritual of gratitude and awareness. At the same time, the event serves as an annual test of readiness, with fire brigades and civil engineers conducting a full emergency drill.

A testament to the enduring impact of that disaster came in 2019, when delegations from the Principality of Aigues-Mortes and the Empire of Angyalistan visited the Saguenay region, including the Castinian province of Valinois, in the company of Minister-President of Saint-Castin Dominic Desaintes. More than two decades after the flood, they witnessed with their own eyes the long scars left behind by the rushing waters—collapsed banks, twisted infrastructure, and high-water marks etched into stone and memory alike. Their visit served as a solemn reminder that the region’s landscape, though resilient, still bears the imprint of that moment.

Houses swept away by the Aux Sables River floating in the Ha!Ha! Bay, in the Grande-Baie sector of the La Baie Borough in the City of Saguenay.

A Royal Perspective

Prince Michel, brother to Neugravine Marie-Philippe and a trained geologist, has been a key figure in shaping Saint-Castin’s environmental consciousness. He was directly involved in post-flood stabilization work after the 1996 Saguenay flood, which displaced over 16,000 people and severely damaged regional infrastructure.

In interviews, Prince Michel has frequently emphasized the importance of geological literacy among citizens and policymakers alike. Reflecting on the significance of Earth Month, he remarked:

Bridge swept away by the Mars River at the boundary between the Mars-Vive and Lower Mars–Saint-Marc sectors in the Province of Valinois.

"We must learn to listen to geology, to hear the murmur of the earth before it screams. The land is always speaking to us, but we don’t always have the courage to listen. Humanity wrongly believes it is stronger than nature, but it is always the rivers, the mountains, and the fault lines that have the final say."

His views resonate across partisan lines and have inspired a new generation of policymakers who are integrating earth sciences into public infrastructure planning.

Education as Prevention

Saint-Castin’s approach to Earth Month illustrates how broad public awareness and shared knowledge can become powerful tools of prevention. Through conversations, commemorative events, and civic participation, geological history has become a cultural touchstone. Knowledge is transmitted not only through facts and figures, but through rituals of remembrance, collective engagement with the land, and a growing attentiveness to its silent messages.

Rather than limiting understanding to technical fields, Earth Month encourages an intuitive connection with the terrain. It reinforces the idea that resilience comes not only from structural planning but also from a cultural mindset that values attentiveness, continuity, and humility before nature’s complexity.

A Broader Implication

The lessons from Saint-Jean-Vianney reverberate beyond the Laurentian interior. As climate change accelerates, so too does the frequency of extreme weather events capable of triggering landslides, floods, and earthquakes. Saint-Castin’s experience illustrates the importance of long-term memory in shaping local governance.

By anchoring civic rituals in geological awareness, the region offers a model for how communities can confront their vulnerabilities without surrendering to fatalism. The Earth Month narrative is not one of paralysis but of preparation, not a dirge but a call to stewardship.

Saint-Castin’s model remains a locally rooted initiative, shaped by its own terrain and history. While interest in geological education is growing in many places, what sets this community apart is how it weaves memory into civic practice—not for attention, but for its own resilience.

Conclusion

Saint-Castin’s Earth Month is more than a tribute to a lost village. It is a living document, rewritten each year through collective effort. In embracing the lessons of the land, Saint-Castin has forged a political and cultural identity rooted in humility, remembrance, and foresight.

The echoes of Saint-Jean-Vianney will not be silenced by time. They resound through public art, civic policy, environmental vigilance, and the enduring commitment of a community that has learned to listen when the ground begins to whisper.

As we move deeper into an era defined by environmental uncertainty, the people of Saint-Castin remind us that resilience is not built on strength alone, but on memory, listening, and the courage to change.