Matagami (, ) is a small town in Quebec, Canada. It is located north of Amos, on Matagami Lake, at the northern terminus of

Route 109 Route 109 or Highway 109 can refer to multiple roads: Canada * New Brunswick Route 109 * Prince Edward Island Route 109 * Quebec Route 109 China * China National Highway 109 Costa Rica * National Route 109 India * National Highway 1 ...

and the start of the James Bay Road (French: ''Route de la Baie James''). It is enclaved within the local municipality of Eeyou Istchee James Bay Regional Government, but administratively independent of it. The town had a population of 1,526 as of the Canada 2011 Census.

History

Matagami was founded in 1963 with the development of mining in the area. Previously, it existed only as a very small prospecting camp accessible only by float plane, but after a viable mineral deposit was found in the late 1950s a permanent settlement began to be established. In 1962, the Quebec Toponomy Commission attempted to name the new community Mazenod after Charles-Joseph-Eugène de Mazenod, the founder of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, but after a public outcry by local residents the community was named after Matagami Lake. The name Matagami means "the confluence of waters" in the

Cree language Cree (also known as Cree– Montagnais–Naskapi) is a dialect continuum of Algonquian languages spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories to Alberta to Labrador. If considered one language, it is th ...

. The first church service in Matagami was held on 17 April 1962.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The