Canard River of the Minas Basin. The river was once tidal for most of its length but a series of dykes first built in the 1600s held back the tide which is now stopped near the river's mouth by the Wellington Dyke. The upper reaches of the river are often referred to by the dykes which once spanned the river - Upper Dyke and Middle Dyke. The Canard river was known to the Mi'kmaq people as Apocheechumochwakade meaning "home of the black duck". The Mi'kmaq also used the mouth of the river for shad fishing. Acadians settled along the river in the
Canard, Nova Scotia Acadian dykes and flooded the unoccupied farmlands. New England Planters took up the Acadian lands in 1760. They gradually repaired and expanded the old Acadian dykes. Today Canard consists mostly of large farms and several agricultural processing plants located between the village of Canning to the north and Starr's Point, Nova Scotia to the south. The federal government's Sheffield Research Farm is located in Upper Canard. Many acres of Canard farmland are protected by the Wellington Dyke, built by the Planters at the mouth of the Canard River in 1825. Canard, Nova Scotia Canard Street, also known as Route 341,