Archeologists believe that groups of Paleo-Eskimo, Dorset Eskimo, Thule and Inuit peoples progressively spread across Nunavik over the last 4,500 years. The Thule, who are the direct ancestors of the Inuit, arrived in the area around the year 1000 C.E. Effective survival techniques allowed them to thrive in the harsh Arctic climate. With a primarily nomadic lifestyle, the Thule lived along the coast and relied on hunting—and ingenuity—for their subsistence.

Contact between Inuit and European settlers began in the mid-19th century, though many Inuit continued to live as their ancestors did well into the 20th century. Missionaries and fur traders were the first southerners to venture into the North, bringing with them different values, new customs and excellent tools for hunting, fishing and trapping.

The James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement is the first modern-day land claim treaty in Canada, establishing Inuit ownership of land in Quebec’s Arctic as well as other rights. The Agreement protects traditional rights of Nunavik’s Inuit people and lays the groundwork for respectful relations between the Inuit and the Quebec and Canada governments. The Agreement covers a wide range of topics, including hunting, fishing, trapping, education, health, economic development and public administration.

The KRG, created in 1978, is a supramunicipal body, made up of representatives of each northern village, and which exercises its jurisdiction in various public administration fields, including economic development, transportation, police services, telecommunications and wildlife protection. As for the northern village corporations, they are administered by elected municipal councils, whose operation is similar to that of the municipalities in the southern part of the province.

The Québec Government and the KRG signed the Sivunirmut Agreement making it possible to combine a large portion of the funding from several departments and agencies into one large budget. Thirty years after the signing of the James Bay and Northern Québec Agreement, the Katimajiit meeting, which was held in Kuujjuaq in August 2007, made it possible to mobilize political decision-makers of all levels of government as well as Inuit leaders in order to open new socioeconomic horizons for Nunavik.

In December 2007, Québec, the Inuit and the Federal Government reached a memorandum of understanding which establishes the framework and the process whereby the future regional government of Nunavik can be created: this regional institution, which will evolve under Québec’s jurisdiction, will be public in nature and will come from the merger of the Kativik Regional Government, the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services and the Kativik School Board.

On June 11, 2008, in the Parliament of Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized on behalf of all Canadians for “the policy of assimilation” and the terrible suffering endured by aboriginal peoples, including Inuit, who attended Indian residential schools in Canada. The apology was one of the conditions of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, negotiated and approved by aboriginal organizations, the Canadian Government as well as churches involved in operating the schools.

On April 27, 2011, a referendum was held in Nunavik on the establishment of a regional government. This project was rejected by the population and negotiations have been on hold since that time. The government of Quebec remains open to further progress on this issue.