Stéphane Roy

The Quebec media are reporting that a search continues for businessman and greenhouse grower Stéphane Roy, whose helicopter did not return from a fishing trip on Thursday, July 11. He is well-known for his greenhouse tomatoes under the Sagami and Savoura brands.

Four people — Roy and his son in a helicopter and two others in a seaplane — travelled to a northern Quebec chalet 400 kilometres north of Montreal for a few days. The plane returned as scheduled but the helicopter did not.

Roy has been described as an experienced pilot. The travel time between Lac-De La Bidière and Sainte-Sophie, the small Laurentians community where Roy lives and his company is based, is about 90 minutes.

According to the company website, Sagami was founded by Stéphane Roy in 1995. It was in 2000 that Serres Nouvelles Cultures named its production of tomatoes “Sagami” after acquiring Serres Sagami in Saguenay. The name Sagami is a contraction of two words:  Saguenay and Piékouagami, which comes from “piékoua” and “gami” meaning flat lake, as it was named by the nation of Amerindians who lived on its shores.

The history behind the company reflects a man who cared about origins and provenance of his produce. 

Sources: CBC.ca/La Presse