Les îles de l'Atlantique

Grand Manan: garden of the sea

35 kilometres off the coast of New Brunswick, the island of Grand Manan forms a comma between Canada and the United States. Also known as the "Queen of the Fundy islands", its 34 kilometres by 18 are home to the greatest tidal range in the world.

Directed by: Julien Cadieux (season 1, Canada, 2016)

Lennox: towards a new spring

In Malpeque Bay, just off Prince Edward Island, the Lennox Island First Nation reserve covers 170 square kilometres. A community reborn, with the transmission of tradition and culture at its heart. After difficult times, a new breath of life has found in its roots the pride and inspiration to continue.

Directed by: Julien Cadieux (season 1, Canada, 2016)

Isle Madame: the Acadians of the coves

Named in honour of Madame de Maintenon, second wife of Louis XIV, Isle Madame is an archipelago of French-speaking communities that stretches over nearly 175 square kilometres, to the south-west of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Isle Madame: a story of language, of families and of traditions handed down...

Directed by: Julien Cadieux (season 1, Canada, 2016)

Saint Pierre: in search of a future

The only French territory in North America, the Saint Pierre and Miquelon archipelago lies just a few kilometres from Newfoundland. The 24 square kilometres of Saint Pierre are home to some 6,000 people, the majority of the population of this tiny corner of France in the midst of the Atlantic.

Directed by: Julien Cadieux (season 2, Canada, 2017)

Tancook: confronting the sea

Lying south of Nova Scotia, Mahone Bay shelters the island of Big Tancook where 125 residents share 6 square kilometres of total insularity, confronting both the elements and isolation. It takes just 40 minutes to reach the island by the passenger ferry that also serves its smaller sister, Little Tancook.

Directed by: Julien Cadieux (season 3, Canada, 2019)

Brier: a love of the wide-open sea

Shrouded in mist, Brier lies in the Bay of Fundy, south-west of Nova Scotia. Its 218 inhabitants have to catch two ferries to reach the mainland. The island lives from fishing and whale-watching tourism.

Directed by: Julien Cadieux (season 3, Canada, 2019)

Tusket: land of fishermen

To the west of Nova Scotia, the Tusket Islands are generally uninhabited. The archipelago provides a base for lobster fishing during the season. But as means evolve, practices change and the fishermen's shanty towns will soon be only a distant memory.

Directed by: Julien Cadieux (season 3, Canada, 2019)

Pictou: population 9

Pictou Island, between Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, is accessible by passenger ferry for its hundred or so summer holidaymakers. The rest of the year, the nine permanent residents face the island's singularity and challenges, safe in the knowledge that the practices of yesteryear are also those of tomorrow.

Directed by: Julien Cadieux (season 3, Canada, 2019)