Baker Lake, Nunavut

Baker Lake (Inuktitut syllabics: ᖃᒪᓂᑦᑐᐊᖅ 'big lake joined by a river at both ends', Inuktitut: Qamani'tuaq 'where the river widens') is a hamlet in the Kivalliq Region, in Nunavut on mainland Canada. Located on the shore of the namesake Baker Lake, it is notable for being Nunavut's sole inland community. The community was given its English name in 1761 from Captain William Christopher who named it after Sir William Baker, the 11th Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company.

History

The area was the traditional summer hunting and fishing grounds for the Inuit. In 1762, the lake was explored by Captain Christopher of the Hudson’s Bay Company, who sailed up Chesterfield Inlet.

File:Revillon Freres trading post. Baker Lake, N.W.T. with Warden Knox and Hjalinar Nelson in the background - N-1985-009-0014 141.jpg

Revillon Freres trading post, 1929

In 1916, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) established a trading post at Baker Lake, originally set up on Baker Island at the mouth of the Kazan River. It operated as an outpost of Chesterfield Inlet until it became a full post 2 years later. In 1925, the Revillon Frères company founded a competing trading post at the mouth of the Thelon River, prompting the HBC to move its post to the mouth of this river as well.

Anglican missionaries followed in 1927. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police had been in the area for fifteen years before establishing a post at Baker Lake in 1930. In 1936, Revillon Frères folded, and the HBC took over its buildings.

In 1946 the population was 32, of which 25 were Inuit. A small hospital was built in 1957, followed by a regional school the next year. During the 1950s, caribou were scarce and starvation threatened, prompting the government to relocate the Inuit from their inland camps to Baker Lake. By the mid-1960s, most of the nomadic Inuit from the Baker Lake, Kazan, Thelon, and Back River areas had settled in the community.

In 1959, the HBC post became part of its Northern Stores Department. HBC divested this department in 1987 to The North West Company, which still operates a Northern Store at Baker Lake.

In 1979 the Baker Lake Hunters and Trappers Association and the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITK) took the Canadian federal government to court for giving exploration licences to mining companies in areas where the Inuit hunt caribou. Judge Mahoney of the Federal Court of Canada, in Hamlet of Baker Lake v. Minister of Indian Affairs, recognized the existence of Aboriginal Title in Nunavut.Template:RpThe plaintiffs were concerned that "government-licensed exploration companies were interfering with their aboriginal rights, specifically, their right to hunt caribou."Template:Rp

Videos of elders sharing oral histories have been collected by Inuit students as part of the Nunavut Teacher Education Program.

Geography

Located Template:Cvt inland from Hudson Bay, it is near the nation's geographical centre. The hamlet is located at the mouth of the Thelon River on the shore of Baker Lake.

Climate

File:BakerLake2009.JPG

Baker Lake in autumn 2009

Baker Lake features a subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfc), bordering closely on a tundra climate, with short, cool summers and long, extremely cold winters. Winters run from October/November until April/May with temperatures averaging between Template:Cvt. In contrast to Fairbanks, Alaska on a similar parallel, May is a subfreezing month and June is chilly considering the long hours of daylight.

Summers are usually cool, short and rainy; but can be hot and sometimes humid; with a record high of Template:Cvt. Under the Nordenskjöld formula for distinguishing polar from non-polar climates, however, Baker Lake's climate is polar (Köppen ET) because with a coldest-month mean of Template:Cvt, the warmest-month mean would need be above Template:Cvt to keep Baker Lake out of the polar category, while Baker Lake's warmest-month mean is only Template:Cvt — the lack of trees at Baker Lake vindicates this judgement.

Wildlife

Baker Lake is host to a variety of wildlife including caribou, muskox, Arctic hares, wolves, wolverines, sik-siks, geese, and lake trout among others.

Demographics

In the 2021 Canadian census conducted by Statistics Canada, Baker Lake had a population of 2,061 living in 577 of its 661 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 2,069. With a land area of Template:Cvt, it had a population density of Template:Pop density in 2021.

Baker Lake is home to eleven Inuit groups:

• Ahiarmiut/Ihalmiut, originally from the north of Back River area, and from Ennadai Lake
• Akilinirmiut, originally from the Akiliniq Hills, Thelon River area of Beverly Lake, Dubawnt Lake, Aberdeen Lake
• Hanningajurmiut, originally from Garry Lake
• Harvaqtuurmiut, originally from the Kazan River area
• Hauniqturmiut, originally from Whale Cove's south, between Sandy Point and Arviat
• Iluilirmiut / Illuilirmiut, originally from Adelaide Peninsula (Iluilik), Chantrey Inlet area
• Kihlirnirmiut, originally from the Garry Lake area between Bathurst Inlet, Cambridge Bay
• Natsilingmiut, originally from Baker Lake area between Gjoa Haven, Taloyoak, Kugaaruk, Repulse Bay
• Padlermiut, originally from the Baker Lake to Arviat area
• Qaernermiut, originally from the lower Thelon River, Baker Lake, Chesterfield Inlet, Corbett Inlet areas, between Rankin Inlet and Whale Cove
• Utkuhiksalingmiut, originally from the Back River and Gjoa Haven/Wager Bay area

Panethnic groups in the Hamlet of Baker Lake (2001–2021)

Panethnic group	2021		2016		2011		2006		2001
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Indigenous	1,920		1,900		1,745		1,565		1,420
EuropeanTemplate:Efn	105		135		115		135		85
African	20		20		0		0		0
East AsianTemplate:Efn	10		0		0		0		0
Southeast AsianTemplate:Efn	0		10		0		0		0
Middle EasternTemplate:Efn	0		10		0		0		0
South Asian	0		0		0		20		0
Latin American	0		0		0		0		0
Other/multiracialTemplate:Efn	10		0		0		0		0
Total responses	2,055		2,050		1,865		1,720		1,505
Total population	2,061		2,069		1,872		1,728		1,507
Note: Totals greater than 100% due to multiple origin responses

Economy

Many of the town's residents work in the Meadowbank gold mine for Agnico Eagle Mines Limited. Much of the local infrastructure and logistics-related employment is based around aiding mineral exploration and mining efforts in the wider area. The main source of employment and growth in this sector is Canadian-based mining company Agnico Eagle Mines, which in 2010 began work at its Meadowbank mine site Template:Cvt north of Baker Lake by road. The construction of the mine employed over 1,000 workers, over 30% of whom were locals from the general area of the Kivalliq Region. Along with employing local people, the company helped build cellphone towers to get the community connected to Northwestel's cellphone service. The coming of workers from all across Canada also helped developing tourism in this community. There is also potential for a uranium mine, called the Kiggavik Project, approximately 80 km to the west, which is being proposed by Orano Canada.

Arts and culture

Baker Lake is known for its Inuit art, such as wall hangings, basalt stone sculptures and stone cut prints. The community has been home to internationally exhibited artists such as Matthew Agigaaq, Elizabeth Angrnaqquaq, Luke Anguhadluq, Barnabus Arnasungaaq, David Ikutaq, Toona Iquliq, Janet Nungnik, Jessie Oonark, Ruth Qaulluaryuk, Irene Avaalaaqiaq Tiktaalaaq, Simon Tookoome, Marion Tuu'luq, and Marie Kuunnuaq.

The Jessie Oonark Arts and Crafts Centre, which opened in 1992, is a work area for the community's artists. It provides space for carving, print making, sewing and jewellery making. It is also home to Jessie Oonark Crafts Ltd. a subsidiary of the Nunavut Development Corporation, a Government of Nunavut crown corporation.

Infrastructure

Transportation

File:Baker Lake airport 2014.jpg

Baker Lake airport

The settlement is served by Baker Lake Airport, linking it to the nearby coastal town of Rankin Inlet, about 35 minutes away by air. Calm Air serves the town with at least two flights daily. Every day there are connecting flights to Winnipeg.

While the local road network does not connect to another community, there is an approximately Template:Cvt all-weather gravel highway named Mine Road. It runs north, from the town to the Meadowbank Gold Mine and aerodrome. It was completed around 2019 and is among the longest highways in Nunavut. An Template:Cvt road runs east from the townsite to the Geographic Centre of Canada monument.

Broadband communications

The community has been served by the Qiniq network since 2005. Qiniq is a fixed wireless service to homes and businesses, connecting to the outside world via a satellite backbone. The Qiniq network is designed and operated by SSi Canada. In 2017, the network was upgraded to 4G LTE technology, and 2G-GSM for mobile voice.

Services

Baker Lake has a women's shelter, health centre (Baker Lake Health Centre), dental clinic, heritage centre, visitor's centre, counselling centre, elders' centre, three hotels (Baker Lake Lodge, Iglu Hotel and Nunamiut Lodge), swimming pool, library, primary and secondary school (Rachel Arngnammaktiq Elementary School and Jonah Amitnaaq Secondary School), and youth centre.

There are three churches in the community, Anglican (St. Aidan's), Catholic (St. Paul's) and Glad Tidings.

See also

• List of municipalities in Nunavut
• David Simailak
• Baker Lake Water Aerodrome
• Inuujarvik Territorial Park
• Glenn McLean
• William Noah
• Cosmos 954
• North-West Mounted Police in the Canadian north

Further reading

• Baker Lake Residents' Association, and Mary McCulloch. Baker Lake, N.W.T., 1870–1970. Baker Lake, N.W.T.: Baker Lake Residents' Association, 1971.
• Kardosh, Judy. Works on Cloth Imagery by Artists of Baker Lake, NunavutTemplate:Dead link. Vancouver: Marion Scott Gallery, 2002. Template:ISBN
• Klassen, R. A. Drift composition and glacial dispersal trains, Baker Lake area, District of Keewatin, northwest territories. Ottawa: Geological Survey of Canada, 1995. Template:ISBN
• Krebs, Charles J. The Lemming Cycle at Baker Lake, Northwest Territories, During 1959–62. 1964.
• Miller, A. R. Uranium Geology of the Eastern Baker Lake Basin, District of Keewatin, Northwest Territories. [Ottawa]: Energy, Mines, and Resources Canada, 1980. Template:ISBN
• Renewable Resources Consulting Services. Study of the Effects of Resource Exploration and Development on Hunting and Trapping on the Traditional Economy of the Inuit in the Baker Lake Area. Edmonton: Renewable Resources Consulting Services, 1977.

External links

• Template:Official website