The search for development models for Northern Quebec
Northern Quebec has long been perceived as a reservoir of resources for the southern part of the province, whereby the Indigenous peoples inhabiting the North were often ignored. The Plan Nord, launched by Jean Charest in 2011, continues with this logic by focusing on the development of mining operations of the territory. However, since the 1970s, with Indigenous rights increasingly established, the northern regions have developed their own governance institutions that engaged in regional development, namely by attempting to redefine it. In this article, we compare the socio-economic conditions of different regions in northern Quebec, including their institutional development, and develop an analysis of the different development models for the North that are promoted by the various actors. This analysis is based on the nation-building approach developed by the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development.