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
Marius Canard with the 16th Chasseurs à cheval Regiment stationed at Beaune, and was decorated with the "Croix de Guerre" with a silver star. After the war, he went to Morocco, where he perfected his knowledge of Arabic. In 1920 he returned to Lyon, where he taught in the "Lycée du Parc". In order to further his language skills, he re-entered the local university's Faculty of Letters to learn Sanskrit. Canard then visited the "École des Langues Orientales" (now known as INALCO) in Paris, where he came to know both William Marçais (1872–1956), and Georges Marçais (1876–1962). The latter convinced Canard to