Land for sale in Côte-Nord, Quebec

About Côte-Nord

The area

The Côte-Nord follows the north shore of the St. Lawrence estuary and gulf and reaches far inland to Fermont and Schefferville, near the Labrador border. It had about 88,500 people in 2021 on roughly 234,000 km² of land, in six MRCs: La Haute-Côte-Nord, Manicouagan, Sept-Rivières, Caniapiscau, Minganie and Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent. Sept-Îles (about 24,600 in 2021) and Baie-Comeau (about 20,700) are the main towns, followed by Port-Cartier (about 6,500). In Manicouagan, all eight municipalities sit on the coast along Route 138, and the unorganized territory behind them covers about 95% of the MRC.

History

This is the land of the Innu, who hunted, fished and later trapped for the fur trade here; seven Innu communities lie on the North Shore, from Essipit and Pessamit to Uashat mak Mani-utenam, Mingan, Nutashkuan, La Romaine and Pakua Shipu, with Matimekush-Lac John near Schefferville. Kawawachikamach, 12 km from Schefferville, is Quebec's only Naskapi community. Twentieth-century industry built the towns: Baie-Comeau was founded in 1937 around a paper mill supplying the Chicago Tribune, Schefferville in 1955 and Fermont in 1974 grew out of iron ore mining, and a railway of more than 500 km links Schefferville to Sept-Îles.

Services and access

Hôpital Le Royer in Baie-Comeau is the region's primary trauma centre, and the Hôpital de Sept-Îles also has an emergency department; smaller ones are in Les Escoumins, Forestville, Port-Cartier, Havre-Saint-Pierre, Fermont and Blanc-Sablon. Route 138 is the coastal highway and ends at Kegaska. Route 389 runs about 570 km from Baie-Comeau past Hydro-Québec's Manic-2, Manic-3 and Manic-5 sites to the Newfoundland and Labrador border near Fermont. Sept-Îles airport, owned by Transport Canada, is served by several airlines. In Manicouagan, health care and social services employ the most people, and manufacturing, including primary metal processing, and utilities lead the goods side.

Land and climate

East of Kegaska, about 400 km of the Lower North Shore has no road link to the rest of Quebec; people rely on boat and air service, plus a snowmobile trail in winter, so check access before buying there.

Before you buy

The MRC sets the land use plan (schéma d'aménagement), and the local municipality issues building permits and zoning. In unorganized territory the MRC acts as the municipality and issues permits itself; in La Haute-Côte-Nord's, permanent use of public land also needs the MRC's authorization. La Haute-Côte-Nord has regional bylaws on building in landslide and bank erosion zones, on shorelines and floodplains, and on the agricultural zone. In an agricultural zone, a house or other non-farm use, or splitting off part of a lot, needs authorization from the CPTAQ.

Sources

• Statistics Canada, 2021 Census population and dwelling counts (table 98-10-0002)
• Services Québec, 2021 Census socioeconomic portrait of the MRC de Manicouagan
• Gouvernement du Québec, Innu nation profile
• MRC de Caniapiscau, the territory
• Ville de Baie-Comeau, about
• Santé Québec Côte-Nord, emergency departments
• Transports Québec, Route 138 extension on the Lower North Shore
• Transports Québec, Route 389 improvement program
• Transport Canada, Sept-Îles Airport
• MRC de La Haute-Côte-Nord, land use plan and regional bylaws
• MRC de La Haute-Côte-Nord, unorganized territory of Lac-au-Brochet
• CPTAQ, why request an authorization

Written by AcreScout from the sources listed; facts checked October 1, 2026. Rules change: confirm anything that matters with the municipality.