Kuujjuaq and Ungava Bay

Kuujjuaq, whose name literally means "great river" in Inuktitut in reference to the Koksoak River on which it is established, has emerged over the decades as the largest community in Nunavik and, in effect, as the administrative capital of this vast Arctic territory in Quebec, housing the offices of several major regional institutions, including the Kativik Regional Administration and Makivik Corporation, responsible for managing collective Inuit interests stemming from the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. Accessible exclusively by air from Montreal, like all fourteen northern villages in Nunavik each with their own airport, Kuujjuaq serves as the preferred entry point for most visitors wishing to explore this territory, offering regular air connections that make it an indispensable logistics hub before continuing to more remote destinations such as Pingualuit National Park or the communities along the Ungava Bay coast. The community, whose population today numbers several thousand residents, predominantly Inuit, offers visitors an authentic and accessible glimpse into contemporary life in Quebec's Arctic, where ancestral traditions—hunting, fishing, and sculpture craftsmanship in stone and bone—coexist with the modern infrastructure necessary to serve this isolated community. The proximity of Ungava Bay, whose icy waters border this northernmost portion of inhabited Quebec territory, gives Kuujjuaq a strategic geographic position for observing Arctic wildlife and exploring more deeply this region that remains largely unknown to most Quebecers themselves.