James Bay

James Bay area, 800 km (about 500 mi) north of Montreal, encompasses a territory of more than 350 thousand km² (more than 135 mi²) between the 49th and 55th parallels.

It extends from Ontario in the west to the Otish Mountains in the east and from Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region in the south to Nunavik in the north. Officially catalogued as a municipality of James Bay, this territory is included in the North-of-Quebec administrative region.

We, however, chose to dedicate a separate section to James Bay, the largest municipality in the world with a territory as big as Germany. Visitors to the area experience extreme ranges of temperature and marvel at endless expanses of snow and the sky streaked with the magic shimmer of northern lights.

The tourists are also attracted by the largest herds of caribou in the world that migrate across the region’s frozen inland seas and defy terrible red-eye wolves whose monstrous howls blend into the gusting wind… (well, actually, wolves may not have red eyes, but visitors are welcome to come here and discover the truth by themselves).

This section provides adventurers with all the necessary information about James Bay.

A reminder: there are two major points of access to the region. Highway 109 enters the Bay James territory from the west and leads to Matagami. Highway 167, on the other hand, enters the region from the east and leads to the Chibougamau-Chapais zone and to Lebel-sur-Quevillon via Highway 113.

There are three interior roads here: the James Bay road, 645-km-long and paved, connecting Matagami to Radisson; the Northern gravel road, 407-km-long, linking the James Bay Highway and Chibougamau; and the Transtaiga road, 688-km-long. This road connects Hydro-Quebec’s power stations all the way to Caniapiscau dam.

Photo of Mosquito river copyright Provincequebec.com