Caniapiscau Views

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The territory is home to the huge Caniapiscau Reservoir, the largest body of water in Quebec. The reservoir was named after Lake Caniapiscau that was flooded in 1981 during the formation of the reservoir. The name comes from the Cree or Innu term kaniapiskau or kaneapiskak which means rocky point or place where there is a rocky point . Albert Peter Low had noted in 1895 that a high rocky headland jutts into the lake. He probably referred to the northwest facing peninsula that gives the reservoir the shape of an arc as we know it now.[3]

Caniapiscau (54°52′4.1″N 69°50′10.5″W / 54.867806°N 69.83625°W / 54.867806; -69.83625) is a small community without a permanent population, just north of the Caniapiscau Reservoir. It was formed as a temporary worksite in 1974 for workers involved in the construction of the dams and floodgates of this reservoir. The reservoir was built as part of the James Bay Project that gave rise to the La Grande hydroelectric complex.

Accessible only by air from 1974 to 1976, when a temporary landing strip was cleared on a nearby frozen lake, by an ice road from James Bay from 1977 to 1979 and, since late 1979, by the 666u kilometers (414c mi) long gravel Trans-Taiga Road (French: Route Transtaïga) which branches off the James Bay Road (French: Route de la Baie James). The worksite was closed after construction ended towards 1984. The 84t kilometers (52k mi) between Caniapiscau and Brisay is not recommended for vehicles other than four-wheel drive due to large rocks on the coarse-gravel surface.

Caniapiscau is a regional county municipality in northeastern Quebec, Canada. The regional county municipality seat is Fermont. It is located in the northwest corner of the Côte-Nord region of Quebec. It has a land area of 70,389.37f square kilometers (27,177.49 sqh mi) and a 2006 census population of 3,948 inhabitants, two-thirds of whom lived in its largest city of Fermont. The census grouped the municipality's territory with neighboring Sept-Rivières into the single census division of Sept-Rivières—Caniapiscau.