Editing Bas-Saint-Laurent (section)

=== Contemporary period ===
In reaction to this rural flight, the federal and provincial governments establish in the 1960s, a test program of spatial planning in the regions of  Gaspésie and Bas-Saint-Laurent. The Bureau d'aménagement de l'Est du Québec (BAEQ) is created in 1963 and the planners work for three years on a plan to raise the quality of life of the population by notably improving the mobility and formation of the [[workforce]]. The second part of the plan is the closure of villages in the hinterland of Bas-Saint-Laurent and the relocation of thousands inhabitants.{{sfn|Fortin|Lechasseur|1993|pp=703–704}}

A movement of protest, the [[Opérations Dignité]], are organized between 1970 and 1972 in the communities affected by the plan by the priests of their respective parishes. The first of these operations takes place in the hinterland of Matane and in the Matapédia Valley, followed by a second in the hinterland of Rimouski and in Témiscouata and a third in the east end of Gaspésie. In response to these protests the governments reconsiders the plan and cancels the closure of these villages.{{sfn|Fortin|Lechasseur|1993|pp=703–704}}

In the early 1980s, the [[government of Quebec]] decentralizes its spatial planning and grants to the regions a part of the responsibility in the management policies of their territory. The old county councils created after the abolition of the seigniorial system, in 1855, are turned into [[Regional county municipality|regional county municipalities]] (RCM) in 1982 and are granted the responsabilité of the spatial planning of the territory.<ref name="RCMRN">{{cite book |date= 2009 |title= Schéma d'aménagement et de développement révisé |url= http://www.mrcrimouskineigette.qc.ca/service/amenagement/amenagement/schema_amenagement_nov2009.pdf |location= Rimouski |publisher= MRC de Rimouski-Neigette |access-date= 28 December 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160303204932/http://www.mrcrimouskineigette.qc.ca/service/amenagement/amenagement/schema_amenagement_nov2009.pdf |archive-date= 3 March 2016 |url-status= dead }}</ref>

Noting the failure of a forced merger of the two regions in the 1960s, the administrative region of Bas-Saint-Laurent-Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine is divided by the government in December 1987.{{sfn|Portrait régional|2010|pp=3, 36}} The new administrative region of Bas-Saint-Laurent keeps roughly the eastern border that was created in 1788 during the first carving of the territory for administrative purposes. In this new region, the [[Kamouraska Regional County Municipality|RCM of Kamouraska]] becomes the eighth RCM of the region.{{sfn|Fortin|Lechasseur|1993|p=16}}

In 2012, the region contains 130 municipalities of which 114 belong to the administrative class of  [[List of local municipalities of Bas-Saint-Laurent|local municipalities]] grouped in eight RCM.<ref name="SC2011"/> the number of municipalities has been in a constant drop for 25 years. It went from 145 in 1986 to 135 in 1996.<ref name="SC2011"/> Six of these RCM have direct access to the estuary of the Saint Lawrence de ces MRC, the two others ([[La Matapédia Regional County Municipality|La Matapédia]] and [[Témiscouata Regional County Municipality|Témiscouata]]) are entirely landlocked.{{sfn|Portrait régional|2010|p=37}}

Fourteen [[unorganized area]]s,{{sfn|Institut de la statistique du Québec|2012|p=2}} most of which are uninhabited, do not belong to any municipality. These areas, which contain 37% of the land area of the region,{{sfn|Portrait régional|2010|p=38}} are administered by the RCM which are responsible of the local services.

There also exist two [[Indian reserve]]s under the jurisdiction of the [[Maliseet]] First Nation of Viger. The bureau of the community stands on an area of 0.17 hectare, located alongside the river [[Cacouna Indian Reserve No. 22|Cacouna]], while an area of {{convert|161|ha|abbr=on}}, located along the [[Quebec Route 185|route 185]] in a forested area of the canton of [[Kataskomiq]], holds the function of a meeting point for the community.{{sfn|Portrait régional|2010|p=38}} The two territories do not possess any permanent inhabitants.