Nouveau-Québec

Largest subdivision of the province of Québec, covering an area of 780,000 sq km/300,000 sq mi. Nouveau-Québec is bounded on the south by the Eastmain River, on the west by James and Hudson bays, on the east by Labrador, and on the north by the Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay. The region was formerly part of the Northwest Territories, but was annexed by Québec in 1912.

Nouveau-Québec is only very sparsely populated. Along the north and west coasts, there are a number of Inuit and Cree communities, while elsewhere, economic activities have drawn temporary residents to the region. Mining takes place along the Labrador border at Schefferville, and there are major hydroelectric schemes in progress on the rivers flowing into James Bay, especially the La Grande (the ‘James Bay Project’). These engineering works have been the focus of conflict over environmental damage and native rights. In the 1980s, much of the area was designated as the Inuit ‘sociocultural’ region of Nunavik. The Québec–Labrador boundary was the subject of bitter dispute between the francophone Province and Newfoundland until it was settled by a government boundary commission in 1927.