Kitikmeot Region
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Kitikmeot Region (Template:IPAc-en;[1] Inuktitut: Qitirmiut Script error: No such module "Lang". Template:Pronunciation-needed) is an administrative region of Nunavut, Canada. It consists of the southern and eastern parts of Victoria Island with the adjacent part of the mainland as far as the Boothia Peninsula, together with King William Island and the southern portion of Prince of Wales Island. The regional centre is Cambridge Bay (population 1,760[2]).
Before 1999, Kitikmeot Region existed under slightly different boundaries as Kitikmeot Region, Northwest Territories.
Transportation
Access to the territorial capital of Iqaluit is difficult and expensive as there are no direct flights from Kitikmeot Region communities to Iqaluit. For example, Iqaluit is approximately Template:Cvt from Kugaaruk, the closest Kitikmeot community. A one-way flight to the capital costs between $3,000 and $4,000 (as of April 2025)[3] and involves flying to, along with an overnight stay in, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, approximately Template:Cvt southwest of Kugaaruk—in total, a trip of about Template:Cvt.
As is the case for the rest of Nunavut, there is no road access to the region and all places are fly-in. All five hamlets have certified airports: Cambridge Bay Airport, Gjoa Haven Airport, Kugaaruk Airport, Kugluktuk Airport and Taloyoak Airport, with scheduled flights by Canadian North.[4]
There are also four registered aerodromes in the region. Cambridge Bay Water Aerodrome is a floatplane base open in the summer only. George Lake Aerodrome, an ice runway is only open from January to April, and serves the Back River Gold Project. Goose Lake Aerodrome also serves the Back River Gold Project and has both ice and gravel runways. Hope Bay Aerodrome serves the Hope Bay mine site and is a gravel runway. The former Doris Lake Aerodrome, was a Template:Convert ice runway, and was the longest in the region, it served the Doris Lake mine.[4]
Climate
The Kitikmeot Region has a harsh subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification Dfc) and a tundra climate (Dfc) with long, very cold winters and short, cool summers.
Template:Cambridge Bay weatherbox
Politics
The region is home to the only two communities in Nunavut that voted "no" in the 1982 division plebiscite: Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk.[5]
The region has four electoral districts;
- Cambridge Bay, which covers Bathurst Inlet, Cambridge Bay and Umingmaktok. The seat is held by Pamela Gross.
- Gjoa Haven, which covers the community of Gjoa Haven and is held by Tony Akoak.
- Kugluktuk, which covers Kugluktuk. The seat is currently held by Bobby Anavilok.
- Netsilik, which covers Taloyoak and Kugaaruk. The seat is held by Inagayuk Quqqiaq.
Former districts include Akulliq, which covered Kugaaruk and Naujaat in the Kivalliq Region. It was the only electoral district in Nunavut to cross two regions. Nattilik, which covered Gjoa Haven and Taloyoak was held between 2004 and 2008 by Leona Aglukkaq, who went on to win the 2008 Canadian federal election for the electoral district of Nunavut and became the Minister of Health and then the Minister of Environment in the federal government.
In 2007 at their AGM, Bobby Lyall, a board member of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association and younger brother of Bill Lyall, suggested the formation of a political party called the Bloc Kitikmeot to run in the next general election and to advocate for a separate Kitikmeot Territory. Bobby Lyall, along with his brother Kitikmeot Corporation president, Charlie Lyall and delegates Martina and Connie Kapolak, argued that the Government of Nunavut had spent most of the infrastructure money available from the federal government in the Baffin Region (Qikiqtaaluk Region).[6] However, the party was not formed and consequently no members ran for a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut which continues to run as a consensus government.
Communities
Hamlets
There are five hamlets in the region:[2]Template:Div col
- Cambridge Bay population: 1,760
- Gjoa Haven population: 1,349
- Kugaaruk population: 1,033
- Kugluktuk population: 1,382
- Taloyoak population: 934
Other
There are three other census subdivisions in the Kitikmeot:[7]Template:Div col
- Bathurst Inlet population: 0
- Umingmaktok population: 0
- Kitikmeot, Unorganized population: 0
Protected areas
- Ovayok Territorial Park
- Northwest Passage Territorial Park
- Kugluk/Bloody Falls Territorial Park
- Queen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary
- Wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror National Historic Site
Demographics
In the 2021 Canadian census conducted by Statistics Canada, the Kitikmeot Region had a population of 6,458 living in 1,677 of its 1,954 total private dwellings, a change of Script error: No such module "Percentage". from its 2016 population of 6,543. With a land area of Template:Cvt, it had a population density of Template:Pop density in 2021.[8]
The Kitikmeot Region also doubles as one of three census divisions in Nunavut, the others being the Kivalliq[8] (also known as the Keewatin) and the Qikiqtaaluk[8] (formerly known as the Baffin) regions. Of the three the Kitikmeot is the smallest in size being Template:Cvt smaller than the Kivalliq.[8] It has the smallest population and is the least densely populated of the three. The population is predominantly Inuit (89.3%) with 0.5% other Indigenous peoples, 0.2% North American Indian and 0.3% Métis, and 10.2% non-Indigenous.[8]
Notes
References
Further reading
- Bromley, Robert Graham H., and Bruce D. McLean. [ Raptor Surveys in the Kitikmeot and Baffin Regions, Northwest Territories, 1983 and 1984]. Yellowknife, NWT: Dept. of Renewable Resources, Govt. of the Northwest Territories, 1986.
- Gunn, A. Polar Bear Denning Surveys in the Kitikmeot Region, 1977–86. Coppermine, NWT: Dept. of Renewable Resources, Govt. of the Northwest Territories, 1991.
- Inuit Gallery of Vancouver. Kitikmeot Land of the Spirits. Vancouver: Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, 1991. Template:ISBN
- Kassam, K.-A. S. 2002. "Thunder on the Tundra: Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit of the Bathurst Caribou, by Natasha Thorpe, Naikak Hakongak, Sandra Eyegetok, and the Kitikmeot Elders". Arctic. 55: 395.
- Kitikmeot Education Resource Centre. Living and Teaching in the Kitikmeot Region. [Cambridge Bay, N.W.T.]: Kitikmeot Education Resource Centre, 1984.
- Kitikmeot Inuit Association. Central Arctic Regional Land Claims Proposal for Social, Education Self-Determination. [Cambridge Bay, N.W.T.?]: Kitikmeot Inuit Association, 1979.
- Northwest Territories. Economic Facts, Kitikmeot Region. [Yellowknife]: N.W.T. Dept. of Economic Development & Tourism, 1989.
- Northwest Territories. Kitikmeot Health Care. [Yellowknife]: Northwest Territories Health, 1982.
- Sato, Riki. The Directory of Community Groups, Inuvik and Kitikmeot Regions. Inuvik, N.W.T.: NOGAP Steering Committee, 1988.
- Todd, John. North Slave Kitikmeot Mineral Development. Yellowknife, N.W.T.: Govt. of the N.W.T.], 1993.
- West Kitikmeot Slave Study Society. West Kitikmeot Slave study. Yellowknife: West Kitikmeot Slave Study Society, 2002.
External links
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- Kitikmeot Region information at Explore Nunavut Template:Webarchive
- Kitikmeot Heritage Society
- Kitikmeot Inuit Association
- Kitikmeot Corporation, economic development
- Kitikmeot School Operations
Template:Geographic location Template:Subdivisions of Nunavut Template:Authority control Template:Coord
- ↑ Kitikmeot Students Thank You 2013 (February 22, 2013).
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Google - Canadian North
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