In 1935, the Canadian Malartic Gold Mines began operation, employing people from all over the province, Canada, and several east European countries.

But newly arriving workers were not permitted to settle near the mines and would build a squatter camp on Crown land about 4 km (2+1⁄2 miles) north of Malartic, that became the community of Roc d'Or.

[1][7][8] In 1939, the Town of Malartic was incorporated under the auspices of the Quebec Ministry of Mines, in an attempt to halt the proliferation of squatter camps in the Abitibi region.

The Canadian Malartic Corporation received approval from the government of Quebec to launch what would become Canada's largest ever open pit gold mine.

As of late 2009, most of the relocation work had been completed, and this, before the end of public consultations by Quebec's Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks.

[3] Federally, Malartic is located in the electoral district of Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, currently represented in the House of Commons of Canada by Sylvie Bérubé of the Bloc Québécois.