• There are approximately 10,000 Inuit in the territory of Nunavik, living in 15 villages along the Ungava Bay, Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay coasts. All but three of the communities have fewer than 1,000 inhabitants. The largest communities are Kuujjuaq, Puvirnituq, and Inukjuak.



• The Nunavik Marine Region (NMR) is an area of great socio-economic importance to Nunavik Inuit as it provides 85 percent of their subsistence harvesting. The NMR consists of the offshore islands, intervening waters and ice separating them, the intertidal zones and the ocean bed along the north coast of James Bay, Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, Ungava Bay. The NMR covers over 250,000 km2 and is totally within the jurisdiction of Canada and Nunavut.



• Nunavik Inuit are represented in their land claim negotiations by Makivik Corporation (Makivik). Makivik was formed in 1978, pursuant to the signing of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA), and is the recognized Inuit party to the Agreement.



• Signed in 1975, the JBNQA dealt with the comprehensive land claims of Nunavik Inuit and the Quebec Cree within Quebec. Signatories to this Agreement were the Nunavik Inuit, the Quebec Cree, the Government of Canada, the Quebec Government, Hydro-Québec, the James Bay Development Corporation and the James Bay Energy Corporation.



• Makivik's mandate is to oversee the implementation of the JBNQA and ensure its integrity. Makivik plays a central role in the political, social and economic development of the Nunavik Territory.



• The JBNQA covers the inland area of Nunavik, but not the offshore region. After the new federal comprehensive land claims policy of 1986 made it possible to negotiate maritime areas, Makivik Corporation submitted a new claim to the offshore region on the north side of James Bay, in Hudson Bay and in the Hudson Strait, in Ungava Bay and on the northern portion of Labrador onshore and offshore. The Nunavut portion was accepted in 1992; the Labrador portion was accepted in 1993.



• The Nunavik Inuit Marine Region Agreement-in-Principle (AIP) addresses the Nunavut portion of the Nunavik Inuit comprehensive land claim. The Labrador portion of the claim will be dealt with at a later date.
  

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