Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou

The largest federal riding in any Canadian province, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou encompassed more than half of Quebec's total landmass, stretching from the gold-mining towns of the Abitibi region in the south to the Inuit communities of Nunavik on the shores of Hudson Bay and Ungava Bay in the far north. Despite its enormous geographic footprint, the riding had a population of about 89,000, with nearly forty percent identifying as Indigenous.

Candidates

Romeo Saganash (NDP) — Born in Waswanipi, a Cree community southeast of James Bay, Saganash earned his law degree from the Université du Québec à Montréal in 1989, becoming the first Cree person in Quebec to obtain an undergraduate law degree. He served as deputy grand chief of the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) from 1990 to 1993, then as the Council's director of Quebec and international relations from 1995 to 2011. He chaired the James Bay Advisory Committee on the Environment from 1997 to 2000 and was involved in negotiations leading to the Paix des Braves agreement of 2002 between the Quebec government and the Grand Council of the Crees. He also spent over two decades helping to negotiate the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Jean-Maurice Matte (Conservative) — Matte ran as the Conservative candidate in the riding.

Yvon Lévesque (Bloc Québécois) — A former electrician, foreman, and labour relations consultant, Lévesque had spent fifteen years as a union representative for the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ) in the James Bay and northwestern Quebec region. First elected in 2004 by a margin of fewer than 600 votes, he was re-elected in 2006 and 2008 and served as the Bloc's deputy speaker on Indigenous affairs and the Canadian North.

Léandre Gervais (Liberal) — Gervais ran as the Liberal candidate in the riding.

Johnny Kasudluak ran for the Green Party.

About the Riding

The riding's vast territory encompassed radically different landscapes and communities. In the south, the Vallée-de-l'Or regional county municipality anchored the riding's most populated area, centred on Val-d'Or — a city founded during the gold rush of the 1930s that remained a hub for mining exploration and services. The Abitibi Gold Belt, one of the most prolific gold-producing regions in the world, had yielded over 200 million ounces of gold since mining began. Chibougamau, further north, had been built as a company town around copper mining beginning in 1949 and had diversified into forestry and sawmilling.

The vast middle of the riding was dominated by the James Bay hydroelectric project, one of the largest hydroelectric systems in the world. The La Grande Complex and its massive reservoirs provided a significant share of Quebec's electricity supply. The territory of Eeyou Istchee James Bay was home to Cree communities including Chisasibi, Wemindji, Eastmain, Waskaganish, and Mistissini, whose relationship with the Quebec and federal governments had been shaped by the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement of 1975 and the Paix des Braves of 2002.

In the far north, Nunavik's fourteen Inuit communities — including Kuujjuaq, Puvirnituq, and Inukjuak — were accessible only by air. Federal issues of acute concern included housing shortages in Indigenous communities, healthcare access, resource revenue sharing, infrastructure for remote communities, and the implementation of Indigenous rights agreements.