Quebec earthquake ‘lightly felt’ in New Brunswick

The location of a 4.4 magnitude earthquake in the vicinity of Mont-Joli, Quebec, on June 18, 2026. (Source: Earthquakes Canada)

A 4.4 magnitude earthquake in Quebec was “lightly felt” in New Brunswick Thursday morning.

The earthquake occurred in the vicinity of Mont-Joli at 11:21 a.m.

Details on the earthquake can be found here.

Shaking from the earthquake was felt and reported in Baie Comeau, Saguenay and Riviere-du-Loup in Quebec as well as in Campbellton and Bathurst in New Brunswick.

The earthquake occurred at a depth of 25 km, which makes it a “shallow” earthquake by seismological standards.

That part of Quebec is a active seismic zone known as the Charlevoix zone. It is the most seismically-active region of eastern Canada. Earthquake activity in the zone is largely driven by rift faults. Rift faults are a fracture of the outermost part of the Earth where tension works to pull the rift apart.

In available history, the area has produced five earthquakes of magnitude 6 or larger. The strongest is estimated to be a magnitude 7 earthquake that occurred on Feb. 5, 1663. Historical accounts don’t link any loss of life to that earthquake, but it did trigger massive landslides along the Saint-Maurice, Batiscan and St. Lawrence Rivers. Shaking attributed to that earthquake was felt as far away as Massachusetts Bay.

The most recent magnitude 6 or higher earthquake in the area was on Feb. 28, 1925. It was a magnitude 6.2 with damage reported in Quebec City and Shawinigan. Damage was mostly reported as being to chimneys and unreinforced masonry buildings.

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