I would like to share a brief description of our designated territory, the territory of Eeyou Istchee James Bay. As you probably know, it's within the federal ridings of Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou and Abitibi—Témiscamingue.
The territory covers a large portion of northern Quebec, which is between the 49th and 55th parallel in Quebec. It's approximately 277,000 square kilometres if you include all the category III lands of our territory. Of course, that excludes category I and II lands, as well as the municipal territories. We have four municipalities and nine Cree communities.
Overall, we're looking at a territory that represents approximately 17% of the territory of Quebec. We are considered the largest municipality in the world. If we look at the population density, that represents approximately 0.05 inhabitants per square kilometre. The estimated population is approximately 20,000 Cree and 17,000 Jamesians.
If we look at the composition of our local governance, Eeyou Istchee James Bay Regional Government local governance is carried out by way of the council of the regional government, which for its first 10 years is to be composed of 11 Cree representatives, 11 Jamesian representatives and one non-voting representative that is appointed by the Gouvernement du Québec.
The Cree representatives consist of the grand chief and the deputy grand chief of the Grand Council of the Crees and the Cree Nation Government, and nine members that are chiefs of the Cree communities elected by the board council of the Grand Council and the Cree Nation Government.
As for the Jamesian representatives, they consist of elected members of the local municipal councils, the majority of which are mayors, and of course, some of the councillors of Chapais, Chibougamau, Lebel-sur-Quévillon, and Matagami, as well as the non-Crees in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay territory.
If you look at the governance model and the concept of the regional government, our regional government is subject to Quebec's Cities and Towns Act, which in this case is pertinent today as it requires a public call-for-tenders process for all our professional services.
The chairman of the council is designated in alternation by representatives of the Cree and the representatives of the Jamesians for a two-year mandate, so they alternate every two years.
A minimum of six regular council meetings are held per year. Our council meetings are held at various locations throughout our territory, including the Jamesian municipalities, as well as our nine Cree communities. The locations of our council meetings are held in an alternate manner, which means a Jamesian municipality followed by a Cree community, and so on, which represents three regular council meetings in Cree communities and three regular council meetings held in one of our four municipalities.
Also, what's interesting here is that our council members may participate by telephone conference call for a maximum of once per year should they be unable to attend in person.
The documents tabled at council meetings and presentations are made available in French and English, and provided two weeks in advance whenever possible. We have an in-house translator who translates from English and French and vice versa.
Our simultaneous translation services are provided in English, French, and Cree during council meetings. Our council meetings are also broadcast live through live streaming, and broadcast live through Cree radio broadcasting in the Cree communities whenever possible.