Established in January 1982, the Mékinac RCM is made up of 10 or 11 municipalities depending on the source, Saint-Tite is the most populous city, four unorganized territories occupying two-thirds of its surface area.

As part of the Mauricie administrative region, it is divided into two provincial electoral districts; Portneuf and Laviolette, while the federal riding is Champlain.

The Mauricie region river's Saint-Maurice, Batiscan, Sainte-Anne (Les Chenaux) and their tributaries cross the territory of Mékinac RCM Mékinak, (Algonquin).

In his lexicon of the Algonquin language, Father Cuoq translates Micinimakina as "big turtle" and brings this word of mici which would have lengthened in micini, and mikinak.

—Translate from french, source: Publications de la Société du Parler français au Canada 1906[7] The Algonquin Mikinak means turtle.

The Laurentide hinterland is developed for hunting and fishing; it includes, among others, the Tawachiche, Gros-Brochet and Chapeau-de-Paille zecs, as well as the Saint-Maurice Wildlife Reserve[3]

Statistics Canada reports that in 2011, 88.5% of the population was aged 15 and over, meanings 11,430 individuals (including 5700 men and 5730 women), divided into 3,940 private households.