The Municipality of Baie-James (french: Municipalité de Baie-James) was a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in northern

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada, which existed from 1971 to 2012. Located to the east of

James Bay James Bay (french: Baie James; cr, ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, Wînipekw, dirty water) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean, of which James Bay is the southernmost par ...

, Baie-James covered of land, making it the largest incorporated municipality in Canada — only eight unorganized territories were larger. Its territory almost entirely (about 98%) covered the administrative region of

Jamésie Jamésie is a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) of Nord-du-Québec, Canada. Its geographical code is 991 and together with Kativik TE and Eeyou Istchee TE it forms the administrative région and census division (CD ...

, although it contained less than five percent of the population. Essentially, it was the remainder of the Jamésie Territory's land after all of the major population centres were removed. On July 24, 2012, the Quebec government signed an accord with the

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

that would result in the abolition of Baie-James and the creation of a regional government known as

Eeyou Istchee James Bay Territory Eeyou Istchee James Bay Regional Government (french: Gouvernement régional d’Eeyou Istchee Baie-James, cr, ᐄᔨᔨᐤ ᐊᔅᒌ ᒉᐃᒥᔅ ᐯᐃ ᐊᔅᒌᐤ ᑎᐹᔨᐦᒋᒑᐎᓐ, italic=no ) is a local municipality in the (TE) in ...

. The hydroelectric power plants of the La Grande Complex were all located within the municipal boundaries of Baie-James, making the municipality strategically important to Quebec's

energy policy Energy policy is the manner in which a given entity (often governmental) has decided to address issues of energy development including energy conversion, distribution and use as well as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in order to contri ...

. Other important economic sectors are mining, softwood logging, forestry, and tourism.

History

The municipality was created in 1971 and was run by the board of directors of the ''Société de développement de la Baie James''. It managed the territory of the ''

James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement The James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (french: Convention de la Baie-James et du Nord québécois) is an Aboriginal land claim settlement, approved in 1975 by the Cree and Inuit of northern Quebec, and later slightly modified in 1978 by th ...

'' between the 49th and 55th parallel, with the exception of the

Category 1 lands and the

enclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

s of Chapais,

Chibougamau Chibougamau () is the largest town in Nord-du-Québec, central Quebec, Canada. Located on Lake Gilman it has a population of 7,504 people (2016 Canadian Census). Chibougamau is surrounded by, but not part of, the local municipality of Eeyou Istc ...

Lebel-sur-Quévillon Lebel-sur-Quévillon is a city in the Canadian province of Quebec, located on Route 113 in the Jamésie region. It is located approximately 88 kilometres north of Senneterre and approximately 200 kilometres southwest of Chibougamau. It is surroun ...

and

Matagami Matagami (, ) is a small town in Quebec, Canada. It is located north of Amos, on Matagami Lake, at the northern terminus of Route 109 and the start of the James Bay Road (French: ''Route de la Baie James''). It is enclaved within the local mu ...

. In December 2001, the municipal council was reformed. It became a municipality of a special type directed by the mayors of the four enclave towns, as well as the chairpersons of the local community councils of

Radisson Radisson Hotels is an international hotel chain headquartered in the United States. A division of the Radisson Hotel Group, it operates the brands Radisson Blu, Radisson RED, Radisson Collection, Country Inn & Suites, and Park Inn by Radisso ...

, Valcanton and

Villebois Villebois () is a commune in the Ain department in eastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Ain department The following is a list of the 393 communes of the Ain department of France. The communes cooperate in the follow ...

. An eighth seat is reserved for a representative coming from the non-urban territory. The municipality gained additional authority and can exert certain powers as a regional county. Under the terms of the Agreement on Governance in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay Territory of July 24, 2012, the municipality ceased to exist and was replaced by a new regional government called

Communities in Baie-James

* Beaucanton *Desmaraisville * Joutel *Miquelon *

- northernmost non-native town in Quebec. *

Val-Paradis Val-Paradis is an unconstituted locality within the municipality of Baie-James in the Nord-du-Québec region of Quebec, Canada. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french ...

*Valcanton *

Demographics

Transportation

The primary roads to and within Baie-James are: * Route 109 - provincial highway to Matagami * Route 113 - provincial highway from Val-d'Or to Chibougamau * Route 393 - regional highway to Val-Paradis *

James Bay Road The James Bay Road (french: Route de la Baie James), officially the Route Billy-Diamond Highway, is a remote wilderness highway winding its way through the Canadian Shield in northwestern Quebec and reaches into the James Bay region. It starts in ...

- road from Matagami to Radisson * North Road *

Trans-Taiga Road The Trans-Taiga Road (french: Route Transtaïga) is an extremely remote wilderness road in northern Quebec, Canada. It is long to Centrale Brisay and another along the Caniapiscau Reservoir, all of it unpaved. Description The road's northeast ...

- access road to hydro-electric stations of the

James Bay Project The James Bay Project (french: projet de la Baie-James) refers to the construction of a series of hydroelectric power stations on the La Grande River in northwestern Quebec, Canada by state-owned utility Hydro-Québec, and the diversion of neigh ...

Air transportation is through the

La Grande Rivière Airport La Grande Rivière Airport is an airfield location about south southwest of Radisson, Quebec, Canada. It is used mostly to shuttle Hydro-Québec personnel between Radisson and the larger cities in Quebec, but it is also served by regular sc ...

near Radisson, which provides scheduled air service to Montreal and

Puvirnituq Puvirnituq ( iu, ᐳᕕᕐᓂᑐᖅ) is a northern village (Inuit community) in Nunavik, on the Povungnituk River near its mouth on Hudson Bay in northern Quebec, Canada. Its population was 2,128 as of the 2021 Canadian census. Of all oth ...

Geography

Nearby lakes include

Lake Naococane Lake Naococane is a lake in northern Quebec, Canada. It is located in the eastern part of the municipality of Baie-James The Municipality of Baie-James (french: Municipalité de Baie-James) was a municipality in northern Quebec, Canada, which ...

References

External links

Website of the Eeyou Istchee James Bay Regional Government

Grand Council of the Crees

Cree Tourism

Municipality of Baie-JamesHuman Environment of the James Bay region
(Detailed map of the James Bay region)
Map of Baie-James
{{Subdivisions of Quebec Former municipalities in Quebec James Bay Populated places established in 1971 Populated places disestablished in 2012 1971 establishments in Quebec 2012 disestablishments in Quebec de:Baie-James