Kativik Regional Government calls for Quebec’s no-fault insurance scheme to apply to off-road vehicles in northern Quebec

The Kativik Regional Government (KRG), which delivers public services to the Kativik region in Quebec’s far north, is calling on Quebec’s no-fault insurance scheme to apply to off-road vehicle accidents in Nunavik.
Quebec’s automobile insurance act currently does not cover accidents on public roads that involve ATVs or snowmobiles. And Quebec law now bans off-road vehicles such as ATVs and snowmobiles from public roads.
But Nunatsiaq Online reports the law is not well enforced in far north communities such as Nunavik, where a public safety campaign is currently underway after eight reported ATV crashes during the first two weeks of June (including one fatality). The use of off-road vehicles is a fact of life in the Nunavik communities.
Nunatsiaq Online reports the KRG is concerned that the Quebec law banning the use of off road vehicles on public roads would effectively mean all ATV drivers in Nunavik are breaking the law, regardless of age, safety equipment worn and speed restrictions.
If people in Nunavik are to follow laws more appropriate to southern Quebec, then they should have access to the prevention services of the province’s insurer, la Société d’Assurance automobile du Québec, KRG has argued, as reported in Nunatsiaq Online.