What is "kawawachikamach"

Kawawachikamach (Naskapi village) may refer to two distinct and non-adjacent but conceptually connected places in Quebec:

• Kawawachikamach, a Naskapi reserved land, with a few hundred inhabitants
• Kawawachikamach, a Naskapi village municipality, with no resident population or residential infrastructure (dwellings) reported in the 2011 census or 2006 census or earlier, despite the formal legal status of "Naskapi village municipality" and formalities such as having a mayor

Somewhat confusingly, the Commission de toponymie du Québec refers to the Naskapi reserved lands as "Naskapi villages" (village naskapi), as distinct from the "Naskapi village municipalities" (municipalité de village naskapi). However, from a practical point of view this makes sense, since the "Naskapi villages" under this nomenclature are where the population resides in a small village-like community.

Note: there is in fact only one Naskapi reserved land and only one Naskapi village municipality in existence in Quebec. However, they have a separate legal status and categorization under relevant Quebec legislation.

Kawawachikamach is a Naskapi village municipality in the territory of the Kativik Regional Government in northern Quebec; in fact, it is the only Naskapi village municipality, but nevertheless has a distinct legal status and classification from other kinds of village municipalities in Quebec: Cree village municipalities, northern villages (Inuit communities), and ordinary villages.

There is a counterpart Naskapi reserved land of the same name: Kawawachikamach, located some distance to the south. Because the village municipality is north of the 55th parallel and the reserved land is south of it, they are actually in different administrative regions of Quebec: Nord-du-Québec (within Kativik) and Côte-Nord, respectively.

Despite the title of "village municipality" and the formalities that go along with it (for instance, having a mayor), this is actually an uninhabited area with no resident population: the Naskapi population all live on the reserved land, and the village municipality is for the exclusive use of Naskapis for hunting or other economic activities.