JBNQA Frequently Asked Questions

A1: No. An Inuit beneficiary who has maintained his residence outside the Territory for ten (10) or more consecutive years is not entitled to exercise rights or receive benefits under the JBNQA. The person remains a Beneficiary of the JBNQA but his name is transferred to the List of Inuit Beneficiaries Living Outside the Territory for Ten (10) or More Continuous Years, sometimes referred to as the “Inactive Beneficiaries List”.

His rights and privileges under the JBNQA are suspended until such time the residence is re-established in the Territory. In this case, a Re-establishment of Residence in Nunavik Application Form (Form D) must be sent to the Community Enrolment Committee of the community of affiliation that must make a decision about the request.

A2: No. A person entitled to be enrolled as an Inuit beneficiary may not be so enrolled if the person is already enrolled under any other Canadian aboriginal land claims agreement or treaty unless the person demonstrates that he has abandoned the prior Enrolment.

There is an exception if it is an agreement or treaty related to Nunavik Inuit rights, notably an agreement or treaty relating to the Nunavik Marine Region surrounding Québec and to Labrador and the Labrador offshore area.

A3: No.  A beneficiary may not be affiliated simultaneously with more than one Inuit community.  However, a beneficiary may apply to the community enrolment committee of an Inuit community other than that with which he is affiliated and obtain its consent to become affiliated with that other community.

A4: Yes, if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person no longer has sufficient connection with an Inuit community following a divorce, a legal separation, a de facto separation or the death of the person’s spouse having occurred on May 1st, 2006 or after that date.

Then, the local Community Enrolment Committee is responsible to decide, upon its own motion or upon the request of a beneficiary, whether that person meets the eligibility requirements under the new Regime.

A5: The new regime does not affect the rights already acquired under the old Regime.

Under the old Regime it was possible to enrol as a beneficiary by marriage to an eligible Inuit beneficiary. With the new Regime (since May 1st, 2006), a person that marries an Inuit beneficiary no longer automatically obtains the status of beneficiary.

As of May 1st, 2006, all persons will have to submit an Enrolment Nunavik Inuit Beneficiary (Adult) Application Form (Form A) to the local enrolment committee requesting to be enrolled as an Inuit beneficiary.

A6: Where a Landholding Corporation has been established in accordance with the Act respecting the land regime in the James Bay and New Québec territories: The Community Enrolment Committee is composed of the members of the Board of Directors of the Landholding Corporation and one (1) elder appointed via resolution by the Landholding Corporation, for a two-year renewable term period; and

In Puvirnituq (where non-existing Landholding Corporation): The members of the Puvirnituq Enrolment Committee are, by way of resolution of the Northern Village of Puvirnituq, the local councilors who are considered to be elected to also form part of the local enrolment committee.

A7: To enrol as a Nunavik Inuit Beneficiary, you must complete and sign Form A (Enrolment Nunavik Inuit Beneficiary (Adult) Application Form) or in the case of a child, Form B (Enrolment Nunavik Inuit Beneficiary (Child) Application Form.

Once completed and signed, you must send it to the Community Enrolment Committee you wish to be affiliated with.

Do not forget to attach all supportive documents to your application form (birth certificate – marriage certificate – death certificate, etc.).

A8: The Nunavik Enrolment Office issues Nunavik Inuit Beneficiary Cards with photo to Inuit beneficiaries enrolled on the Inuit beneficiaries Register.

The following form must be completed and sent to the Nunavik Enrolment Office: Form H: Nunavik Inuit Beneficiary Card with Photo Application Form (Adult) and/or Form I: Nunavik Inuit Beneficiary Card with Photo Application Form (Child aged under 18 years old).

A9: The Nunavik Enrolment Review Committee has been created with the function to decide applications for review made by persons who are dissatisfied with a Decision of a Community Enrolment committee.

A Request to Review a Decision Application Form (Form F) must be presented to the Nunavik Enrolment Office within twelve (12) months of the date of the Decision made by the Community Enrolment Committee.

The Decisions of the Nunavik Enrolment Review Committee are final and binding.

For additional information, we invite you to view the Nunavik Enrolment Review Committee Guideline and Policies.

• In English
• In Inuktitut

A10: To enrol an adopted Inuit child as a Nunavik Inuit Beneficiary, one Declaration of Inuit Customary Adoption (Form G) must be completed and signed by the biological parents, the adoptive parents, the Mayor (or the Secretary-treasurer) of the Community Northern Village, and the President of the Inuit Landholding Corporation for the community, along with the Enrolment Nunavik Inuit Beneficiary Application Form (Child under 18 years old) (Form B).

While bearing all requested signatures on one document, the “Declaration of Inuit Customary Adoption Form” must be sent then to the Nunavik Enrolment Office who will then send the Declaration to Québec’s Civil Status Registrar.  The name and surname of the child given at birth will then be modified as declared in the Declaration.

It is important to note that non-Inuit parent(s) cannot adopt under the auspices of the Nunavik Inuit Customary Adoption a child of Inuit ancestries.

A11: Yes.  For reimbursement, you need to transmit without delay the receipt of your purchase to the following address (Rights and Benefits under JBNQA (d)):

Non-Insured Health Benefits Nunavik
RRSS Nunavik RBHSS
P.O. Box 900
Kuujjuaq, Qc   J0M 1C0
Toll Free 1-866-686-7262
and in Kuujjuaq 819-964-2222
Fax:  (514) 486-5527

A12: You must complete Form E Removal from Nunavik Inuit Beneficiaries Register Application Form and send it to the Community Enrolment Office.

A13: Yes, but conditional that:

(a) 12 months have elapsed since the first community enrolment committee’s decision to refuse the application;

(b) the person waives the right to apply to the Nunavik enrolment Review Committee for a review of the first community enrolment committee’s decision; or

(c) the Nunavik enrolment Review Committee has rendered a decision upholding the refusal of the first community enrolment committee.

A14: The functions of a Community Enrolment Committee are to make decision, upon its own motion or not depending on the cases in presence, on requests of various nature relating to the status of Inuit beneficiary of the JBNQA.

Meetings are held a minimum of once every three (3) months and more often if deemed necessary by the Community Enrolment Committee, and they will ensure that all applications forms are dealt with properly, efficiently and expeditiously.

For additional information, we invite you to view the Community Enrolment Committee Guidelines and Policies of your community of affiliation.

• Akulivik Guidelines
• Aupaluk Guidelines
• Chisasibi Guidelines
• Inukjuak Guidelines
• Ivujivik Guidelines
• Kangiqsualujjuaq Guidelines
• Kangiqsujuaq Guidelines
• Kangirsuk Guidelines
• Killiniq Guidelines
• Kuujjuaq Guidelines
• Kuujjuaraapik Guidelines
• Puvirnituq Guidelines (English)
• Puvirnituq Guidelines (Inuktitut)
• Quaqtaq Guidelines
• Salluit Guidelines
• Tasiujaq Guidelines
• Umiujaq Guidelines

Inuktitut Blank Guidelines

A15: There is 5 mandatory criteria under the new Regime, which have all to be present for having positively received one application for enrolment:

1. is alive; and
2. is a Canadian citizen; and
3. is an Inuk, as determined in accordance with Inuit customs and traditions: and
4. identifies himself/herself as an Inuk; and
5. is associated with an Inuit community (through family, residential, historical, cultural or social connections with such a community).

It is important to note that all persons, of Inuit ancestry or not, must apply and will be entitled to be enrolled as a beneficiary under the Agreement if she or he meets all enrolment criteria.

A16: The principles guiding the entitlement to exercise rights and receive benefits under the JBNQA are if a person:

• has maintained his residence in the Territory.
• has established his/her residence outside the territory during ten (10) or more years for purposes related to education, health or employment with an organization whose mandate is to promote the welfare of Inuit Territory (Rights and Benefits under JBNQA (c)).
• has his residence re-established in the Nunavik Territory (Rights and Benefits under JBNQA (a));

Inuit beneficiaries normally residing outside the Nunavik territory are serviced by Health Canada for health considerations and have to apply to Health Canada to obtain a client identification number which begins with the letter “N” and followed by eight digits.

In order to obtain an “N” number, Inuit beneficiaries must contact Health Canada (Québec region):

Health Canada
Telephone (toll-free): 1-877-483-5501
Telephone (Montreal Region): 514-283-5501

A17: The Complementary Agreement No. 18 signed on January 27, 2005, is an amendment to the JBNQA regarding eligibility of Inuit beneficiaries.

This Agreement brings eligibility criteria and the definition of who is an Inuk into the hands of the Inuit themselves whom are best able:

• to define who is an Inuk and who is therefore entitled to be enrolled under the JBNQA, and
• to be recognized according to their own understanding of themselves, of their culture and traditions; and
• to be just and equitable for the determination and decision process of who is an Inuk for the purposes of the JBNQA are.

For additional information, we invite you to view the Enrolment Program for Nunavik Inuit Beneficiaries of the James Bay and Northern Québec Agreement Guidelines and Policies adopted by the Board of Directors of Makivvik on June 1st, 2010.

• In English
• In Inuktitut

A18: The composition of the Review Committee consists of a standing list of six (6) members appointed via resolution by Makivvik among eligible Nunavik Inuit beneficiaries and coming, in equal numbers, from the Ungava region, the Hudson Strait region and the Hudson region.

When notified by the Nunavik Enrolment Office of an application for review, the members of the standing list designate three (3) members from among themselves to form the Review Committee.  Each of the three (3) regions of Nunavik must be represented on the Review Committee.

A review by the Review Committee shall be by way of a re-hearing, and the Review Committee may agree to consider documents, information and further evidence other than those contained in the initial Forms submitted to the Community Enrolment Committee.  Furthermore, it shall provide the interested parties an opportunity to make direct representations.

A19: The Nunavik Inuit Beneficiaries Register is composed of the two (2) following lists, maintained and updated by the Nunavik Enrolment Office on a computerized database, in accordance with the decisions of the Community Enrolment Committees and of the Nunavik Enrolment Review Committee:

• Nunavik Inuit Beneficiaries List; and
• List of Nunavik Inuit Beneficiaries who have resided Outside the Territory for Ten (10) or more continuous years (referred also as “inactive list”.)

A20: ”Complementary Agreement No. 18” (CA18) came into force on May 1st, 2006, a very important date not to forget because, as of this date, new Inuit eligibility criteria and Enrolment procedures took effect.

Decision-making power regarding enrolment of Inuit beneficiaries is certainly one of the major changes under the new Regime. While under the old Section 3 of the JBNQA, the decision making power was in the hands of the Secretary-general who, as a civil servant from the Quebec ministry of Health and Social services, was applying the conditions for eligibility contained at the old regime (Inuit ancestry and birth, adoption, marriage), since May 1st 2006, the decision making power is devolved in the hands of the Community Enrolment Committees who have now the responsibility to decide upon their own community beneficiaries’ list via the work of their Community Enrolment Committee.

The Community Enrolment Committees apply their discretion in implementing the criteria listed at the CA18, in order to take a decision on the application presented by an individual, or his/her legal representative for minors.

The Community Enrolment Committees must render decisions diligently by implementing the criteria set out in CA18 in an informed, fair and consistent manner.

A21: This form, to be sent to the Community Enrolment Committee, is to be used whenever a person of 18 years old and over, wishes to be enrolled to the Nunavik Inuit Beneficiaries Register.

Please click here to download the Form A.

A22: This form, to be sent to the Community Enrolment Committee, is to be used whenever a person wishes to have a child aged less than 18 years old, enrolled to the Nunavik Inuit Beneficiaries Register.

Please click here to download the Form B.

A23: This form, to be sent to the Community Enrolment Committee, is to be used whenever a person wishes to make a change or correction contained in the Nunavik Inuit Beneficiaries Register.

Please click here to download the Form C.

A24: This form, to be sent to the Community Enrolment Committee, is to be used whenever a person residing outside Nunavik for 10 or more consecutive years wishes to re-establish his/her residence in the territory.

Please click here to download the Form D.

A25: This form, to be sent to the Community Enrolment Committee, is to be used whenever a person enrolled to the Nunavik Inuit Beneficiaries Register wishes to be removed from the Nunavik Inuit Beneficiaries Lists.

Please click here to download the Form E.

A26: This form, to be sent to the Nunavik Enrolment Office, is to be used whenever a person is asking for a review of a Decision rendered by a Community Enrolment Committee.

Please click here to download the Form F.

A27: This form is to be used whenever an Inuit child is adopted by Nunavik Inuit adoptive parents pursuant to the Nunavik Inuit Customary Adoption.

Please click here to download the Form G.

A28: This form, to be sent to the Nunavik Enrolment Office, is to be used whenever a person aged 18 years old and over, wishes to obtain a Nunavik Inuit Beneficiary Card with photo issued by the Nunavik Enrolment Office.

Please click here to download the Form H.

A29: This form, to be sent to the Nunavik Enrolment Office, is to be used whenever a person aged under 18 years old, wishes to obtain a Nunavik Inuit Beneficiary Card with photo issued by the Nunavik Enrolment Office.

Note that for children under 12 years old, no photo will appear on the beneficiary card.

Please click here to download the Form I.

A30: This form, to be sent to the Nunavik Enrolment Office, is to be used whenever a person and/or an organization wish to obtain information contained in the Nunavik Inuit Beneficiaries Register.

Please click here to download the Form J.

A31: A community enrolment committee has been created for each Inuit community.  There are a total of sixteen (16) Community Enrolment Committees:

Kangiqsualujjuaq, Kuujjuaq, Tasiujaq, Aupaluk, Kangirsuk, Quaqtaq,
Kangiqsujuaq, Salluit, Ivujivik, Akulivik, Puvirnituq, Inukjuak, Umiujaq, Kuujjuaraapik, Chisasibi and Killiniq
(Community Enrolment Committees)

A32: It is the responsibility of the Nunavik Enrolment Office created within the Makivvik constituted by the Act respecting the Makivvik (chapter S-18.1). The Nunavik Enrolment Office is located at:

Nunavik Enrolment Office
P.O. Box 179
Kuujjuaq, Qc, J0M 1C0
Tel: 819-964-2925
Fax: 819-964-0458
Email: nunavikenrolmentoffice@makivik.org

No discretion is devolved to the Nunavik Enrolment Office regarding eligibility and Enrolment as an Inuit beneficiary. It provides support and coordination services for the Community Enrolment Committees and the Nunavik Enrolment Review Committee to exercise their responsibilities for Enrolment of beneficiaries.

It is crucial for the Nunavik Enrolment Office to have an accurate, up-to-date of the Nunavik Inuit Beneficiaries Register which data is used to prepare voters lists for elections; define and deliver Inuit specific programming; etc.

Note: It is the responsibility of a person enrolled as a Nunavik Inuit Beneficiary to inform his/her Community Enrolment Committee of affiliation whenever occurs a name change and/or any other modification to the information contained in the enrolment records, on the Lists and on the beneficiary card.

If residing outside territory, don’t forget to send to the Nunavik Enrolment Office a change of address notification when moving (Notice Change of Address when Residing Outside Territory).