The Magpie River, Moteskikan Hipu, Mutehekau Hipu, Mutehekau Shipu, Pmotewsekaw Sipo (Traditional indigenous variants), Rivière Magpie (French), it flows from north to south, emptying into Magpie Bay, Gulf of St. Lawrence, in Rivière-Saint-Jean municipality, Minganie RCM, Côte-Nord, Quebec, Canada. The river is not wide, but fast and turbulent.
It rises near the border between Quebec and Labrador, flows south, and enters Magpie Bay west of Havre-Saint-Pierre. Two of its tributaries are named Magpie West and Magpie East.
The central section contains the long Lake Magpie.
Its estuary is wide and forms a harbour for fishing boats.
The village of Magpie is on the hillside around another small harbor on Magpie Bay west of the river mouth, and is one of the oldest towns on the Côte-Nord.
The site was visited from 1849 by Gaspesians from Chaleur Bay who came to fish for cod and Atlantic salmon.
The village boomed after the fishing companies Robin & Colas and Le Bouthillier established facilities there around 1870.
<gallery widths="200" mode="packed" heights="120" caption="Magpie River, Salmon River">
File:Route_138_est_041.jpg|On Route 138, (Voyageurs route) Salmon River, sign above the Girard bridge</blockquote>
Basin
The Magpie River basin covers .
It lies between the basins of the Jupitagon River to the west and the Saint-Jean River to the east.
Hydroelectric production
thumb|left| Magpie Dam
In 2004, a plan by a private company to construct a small hydroelectric plant on the river generated protests by environmentalists.
The Bureau of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE) gave a favorable report on the project in 2004, but said there should be no further development on the river. In August 2005 the Charest government authorized construction of the dam by decree, which would eliminate some famous rapids.
The Magpie Generating Station was commissioned in October 2007 and formally inaugurated on 20 June 2008.
In its 2009–2013 strategic plan, Hydro-Québec was planning to build six hydroelectric dams on the Magpie. In September 2017, it reported surplus capacity and no plans for the river.
In 2013, Hydro-Quebec sold the existing generating station to Innergex Renewable Energy, which owns it in partnership with the Minganie municipality.
The river is popular with white-water rafting, canoeing and kayaking enthusiasts.
The lower section of the West Magpie provides of challenging conditions for class IV – V whitewater kayak and open boat paddlers.
It flows into Lake Magpie north of where the Magpie leaves the lake.
From there the river can be handled by most recreational kayakers.
The first below the lake has exceptional fishing. The last of the river flows through huge scenic gorges and over waterfalls.
Legal personhood
In February 2021, the Magpie River became the first river in Canada to be granted legal personhood, after the local municipality of Minganie and the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit passed joint resolutions. The goal is longterm protection, as energy producers Hydro-Quebec and Innergex Renewable Energy have not ruled out development in the future, as proponents of legal personhood wanted to prevent a development like at Romaine River. The river has nine distinct rights and can have legal guardians.