Why so few reports from Quebec?

Possible sasquatch photographed in Quebec. more

The province of Quebec has similar land mass, population, and environmental conditions as Ontario. Yet there is remarkably few reports that are from Quebec. The BFRO lists 64 sightings in Ontario and only 4 from Quebec. The excellent website ontariosasquatch.com has documented over 70 sightings in Ontario and the sightings map shows at least a dozen of these sighting occur close to the Ontario-Quebec border. Mangani's Bigfoot Maps show incredible density of sightings in the north-east USA but very sparse sightings in Quebec.

How is it possible that so few sighting come from Quebec?

Hypothesis #1
People in Quebec speak predominantly French, therefore the sightings never get picked up by organisations like the BFRO due to language. Sightings are happening but they are not being reported.

• No central French language database or researcher in Quebec. Researcher Alexandre Bilodeau has recorded 6 sighting and 6 possible sighting in Quebec. Another bilingual paranormal organisation in Quebec has never received a report in Quebec. There are a few more forum posts and similar reports in French that can be found. Overall, the total amount of reports online is remarkably low.
• However, New Brunswick is a much smaller province but also largely Francophone has 7 reports from on the BFRO while Quebec only has 4. Remarkably, Malaysia has 36 and China 11 reports on the BFRO.  This suggests that language itself is not the problem. 

Hypothesis #2
Sasquatch is a myth. It has propagated in English speaking North Americans but has been incorporated to a much lesser degree in Francophone culture.

• It seems that sasquatch is present in modern Quebec culture. Many sasquatch/bigfoot documentaries have been translated into French. There was a minor league basketball team called the Montreal Sasquatch. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that Quebec residents have knowledge of sasquatch, they must associate a hairy human-like creature walking in the woods with the word "bigfoot" or "sasquatch." This hypothesis doesn't really work either.

Hypothesis #3
There are environmental characteristics that cause sasquatch to be less prevalent in Quebec.

• I am not familiar with any differences but it is possible.
• I would actually expect Quebec to be better than Ontario because of more coastal areas with salmon rivers. Dr. Bindernagel has stated that sasquatch food sources probably include clams and salmon. 

This seems really bizarre. The truth might be some combination of all factors. For example, greater knowledge of sasquatch in English speaking regions leads to more "false" reports combined with real sightings going undocumented.

Popular evidence form Quebec: Possible photo, casts, Great North figure

The Five Gait Patterns of Sasquatch

Firstly I want to draw attention to the work done by the Facebook Find Bigfoot crew. Without their countless hours of compiling data, analysis like this would not be possible.

There are five gait patterns seen in the record of Sasquatch motion pictures:

1. Walking with small vertical displacement of the centre of gravity
2. Walking with large vertical displacement of the centre of gravity
3. Biped Jog/trot
4. Biped Sprinting/running
5. Quadruped running

Walking with small vertical displacement of the centre of gravity

• Main characteristics: Very stable torso while walking, the head and shoulders move up and down less than typical human walking. The Sasquatch seems to glide or float. They move swiftly and fluidly. Fast or brisk walk. Fast cadence of footsteps.
• Examples: Patteson-Gimlin Film, White Bigfoot in Soybean Field Ohio, Minnesota Auburn, Harlan Ford, ... 
• Possible Explanations #1: Heelstrike walking with compliant gait. Dr. Jeff Meldrum has examined hundreds of footprints collected across North America and has come up with a theory of mid-tarsal break. Bipedal walking with a mid-tarsal break foot suggests "compliant gait" meaning that the knees are bent throughout the entire step cycle. This is mainly due to the decreased moment of inertia (torque) around the ankle joint that accompanies mid-tarsal break (difficult to explain, I will attempt to do this in another video or article). Basically, this type of walking is consistent with the footprint evidence.
• Possible Explanation #2: Patterson-Gimlin Film is a hoax and since then many hoaxers have attempted to copy the gait in the PGF.
• Final Word: This type of walking is probably the fast walking mode of the Sasquatch. Probably walk like this on flat terrain where footing is good.

Walking with large vertical displacement of the centre of gravity

• Main characteristics: Centre of gravity rises and falls with each step. Up and down movement of head and shoulders is greater than typical walking in humans. Forward movement almost stops with each step. Slow speed. Slow cadence of footsteps.
• Examples: Freeman Footage, Del Norte, Peguis Back Road, Backyard Bigfoot,  Kid films Sasquatch in profile N. IL, ...
• Possible Explanation #1: Forefoot strike walking. The creatures in this video are landing with the front part of the foot rather than the heel. This causes the characteristics discussed above. Apes with mid-tarsal break often walk like this and can even switch between heelstrike and forefoot strike walking (Dr. Aaron Filler, 7min mark). Consistent with footprint evidence, especially half-tracks found, because sometimes only the front part of the foot would contact ground.
• Possible Explanation #2: This type of walking is caused by persons in suits trying to take long strides. This explains the up and down movement with each step, and the near stop to the forward movement with each step. Trying to take big steps also causes an in-line trackway because the hips rotate to make the step longer.
• Final Word: This might be the method Sasquatch use for walking slowly. This method of walking is the most common in the video record. There is a problem with this type of walking: it is very inefficient. It takes a lot of energy to move the centre of gravity up and down with each step. Natural selection does not tolerate inefficiency. However, there might be a couple reasons to explain this: (1) improve traction. Humans do this when walking on hard slippery surfaces. (2) Stealth, perhaps it lets them step more softly and quietly. (3) depth perception, human move their head laterally (left/right) a few centimetres to change perspective slightly and gain a better depth perception. Perhaps Sasquatch necks cannot move this way because the head is set closer to the shoulder, they move vertically instead.

Biped Jog/trot

• Main characteristics: Slightly faster than walking, slightly faster cadence than walking. Elbows are flexed but very little arm movement. Short airborne phase (period of both feet off the ground). Mid-foot or forefoot landing. Similar to barefoot human running.
• Examples: To my knowledge the only example is the final seconds of the Soybean Ohio video
• Final Word: Theoretically possible for Sasquatch to bipedal jog. Not much else to say.

Biped Sprinting/running

• Main characteristics: Full run. Fast. Arms pumping. Long airborne phase (period of both feet off the ground). Long strides. Heelstrike landing. Torso rotation with each step.
• Examples: Memorial day, “Bigfoot in Backyard" by stream (somehow #17 of top 50 from FB/FB)
• Possible Explanation #1: Sasquatch bipedal run very similar to the way humans run when wearing shoes.
• Possible Explanation #2: Human in a suit.
• Final Word: These videos are probably hoaxes or mis-identification. This type of gait does not fit well with mid-tarsal break theory. It is my hypothesis that Sasquatch cannot run the way humans do. I will address this in more detail in another article. Briefly, the main reasons are: (1) Human barefoot runners do not run with the characteristics above. It is more of a trot or slow jog, strides are much shorter, and they land with the mid-foot or front part of the foot. (2) Sasquatch arms are too long to pump when running. (3) Foot anatomy of Sasquatch as inferred from footprints suggests a decreased speed advantage for angular velocity about the ankle joint. (4) Ligaments in the foot at the mid-tarsal break would not be able to support the forces of a 500+ lbs animal biped running.

Quadruped Running

• Main characteristics: Very fast. Running on all four limbs, similar to gorilla or chimpanzee.
• Examples: PEI, New York Quadruped
• Possible explanation #1: Sasquatch can quadruped run the same way Gorillas and Chimps do. Consistent with long arms observed in the best videos. Consistent with mid-tarsal break foot anatomy and function since Gorillas and Chimps have mid-tarsal break feet.
• Possible Explanation #2: Mis-identified bears.
• Final Word: This is probably the method Sasquatch use to sprint. This gait would be very difficult to fake. Some possibility the New York video is a bear, but it seems very unlikely that the PEI video could be a bear. 

Munns report shows Patterson-Gimlin subject walks with heelstrike gait pattern and shows toe movement.

Bill Munns has enhanced and analysed the Patterson-Gimlin Film his work can be found at themunnsreport.com. In one sequence of images Munns highlight the feet of the subject of the film. These images were used for the following analysis.

The heelstrike is interesting because this is how humans typically walk when wearing shoes. Mid-tarsal break theory allows for heelstrike and toestrike walking. Apes who have mid-tarsal break walk with both gait patterns (see 6 min mark of this video).

The extension of the toes is suggestive that this is something other than a man in a suit. It is conceivable that the man in the suit is wearing big floppy feet and centrifugal force is causing them to bend up just before heelstrike. There are two main problems with the floppy foot theory, the gait looks too natural/fluid to be wearing floppy feet, and the feet don't flop around at any other point in the film.