Nunavut

I

Introduction

Nunavut, administrative region of Canada. Nunavut is located in the eastern Canadian Arctic and is Canada’s largest and newest territory, making up nearly 20 percent of the country. This territory was created on April 1, 1999, when the Northwest Territories was split into a western part, still known as the Northwest Territories, and an eastern part, known as the Territory of Nunavut.

Nunavut is the native homeland of the Inuit, who make up nearly 85 percent of the total population. The word Nunavut means “our land” in Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit. The Inuit have high expectations that the new Nunavut government will encourage Inuit cultural development, including making Inuktitut a working language among public employees, and stimulate economic development.

Nunavut was created as part of a long process that originated with the Canadian government’s decision in the early 1970s to negotiate settlements with aboriginal groups that file land claims. The Inuit filed such a claim in 1976, and this led to an agreement between the federal government and the Inuit in 1993 called the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act. One aspect of the agreement committed the federal government to establish a new territory called Nunavut that would be a homeland for the Inuit. In 1993 the federal government passed the Nunavut Act, which lay the groundwork for a new territory. This same act also established the Nunavut Implementation Commission and assigned that commission the mandate to advise the federal government on matters pertaining to the creation of a new territory.

Nunavut is in the northeastern part of Canada; Greenland is to the east of it and the Northwest Territories to the west. The province of Manitoba forms its southern border, and Hudson Strait separates Nunavut from the province of Québec. Nunavut’s neighbor across the Arctic Ocean is Russia. Nearly 60 percent of Nunavut lies north of the Arctic Circle (latitude 66°30’ north). As one of the regions bordering on the Arctic Ocean, Nunavut belongs to the circumpolar world, or those areas surrounding the pole.

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Although Nunavut extends over a vast area—2,093,190 sq km (808,185 sq mi)—its population is quite small. Its capital and largest community is Iqaluit. Nunavut’s population in 2008 was just 31,400. This combination of large geographic size and small population makes the territory the most sparsely populated area in Canada and one of the most sparsely populated areas in the world. Nunavut’s geography greatly limits its possibilities for economic growth.

The cold climate and permafrost (permanently frozen ground) in Nunavut prevent agricultural activities and make other economic activities very expensive. Another barrier to Nunavut’s economic development is its distance from world markets. In spite of these difficulties, Nunavut has natural resources that are attractive to large mining companies, and the Inuit expect resource development to improve Nunavut’s economy by generating jobs for residents. The Inuit have considerable control over Nunavut’s economy because the land claims agreement with the federal government gave the Inuit rights to subsurface minerals on lands selected by the Inuit.

Historically, the territory now known as Nunavut became part of Canada during the late 19th century. Before that time the land in northern Canada had been owned by Britain and controlled by the Hudson’s Bay Company. In 1870 part of the land known as Rupert’s Land was sold to Canada; the islands within the Arctic Ocean, collectively known as the Arctic Archipelago, were transferred to Canada by Britain in 1880. Most of the Arctic Archipelago now falls within the jurisdiction of Nunavut; the remainder is part of the Northwest Territories.

II

Physical Geography

Nunavut is the largest political unit in Canada and constitutes one-fifth of Canada’s total landmass. This large area has a rectangular shape that extends northward to about latitude 84° north. Nunavut stretches 2,572 km (1,598 mi) from north to south and 2,532 km (1,573 mi) from east to west. The Belcher Islands in Hudson Bay are the most southerly islands in Nunavut. Boothia Peninsula, which extends almost to the 75th parallel, marks the most northerly part of Nunavut’s mainland. The northernmost portion of land in Nunavut, and in Canada, is at the northern tip of Ellesmere Island.

As Canada’s most northern territory, Nunavut includes both an Arctic mainland and Arctic islands in the Arctic Ocean and Hudson Bay. The Arctic mainland is shaped like a triangle and includes 900,000 sq km (350,000 sq mi). It extends from the southern edge of the tundra to the shores of the Arctic Ocean and Hudson Bay.

Within the Arctic Ocean, there are many islands that are collectively known as the Arctic Archipelago, which covers about 1 million sq km (420,000 sq mi). Several of these treeless islands are among the largest in Canada; Baffin Island is the largest island in Canada and the fifth largest island in the world. Other large islands in the Arctic Archipelago are Ellesmere, Devon, and Axel Heiberg.

The region’s topography ranges from coastal plains to rugged mountains. Elevations within the territory rise from sea level to 2,616 m (8,583 ft) at Barbeau Peak on Ellesmere Island. Ice caps on Baffin, Devon, and Ellesmere islands are remnants of the last Ice Age, when the Wisconsin Ice Sheet covered the Nunavut area. Glaciers also carved deep fjords along the coasts of Ellesmere Island.

Because most of Nunavut lies beyond the Arctic Circle, the region is characterized by long nights during the winter and long days during the summer. This phenomenon is most pronounced north of the Arctic Circle, where the sun remains above the horizon for 24 hours on the summer solstice (usually June 21 or 22) and never rises above the horizon on the winter solstice (usually December 21 or 22). The number of days that the sun stays above (or below) the horizon increases in higher latitudes until, at the North Pole, the sun doesn’t set for six months and doesn’t rise for the other six months.

A

Permafrost

Permafrost is one reason why Nunavut has a cold environment. Found everywhere in Nunavut, permafrost is permanently frozen ground that maintains a temperature at or below the freezing point for at least two years. Permafrost developed long ago when an extremely cold climate caused the ground to freeze to great depths. During the summer, a thin layer of the surface known as the active layer may thaw, although the temperature of the ground beneath the active layer remains below freezing. Permafrost sometimes reaches depths of more than 500 meters (1,600 feet). Some scientists believe that global temperatures are increasing, resulting in warmer and longer summers. Such warming of Earth will increase the depth of the active layer and reduce the geographic extent of permafrost, perhaps even causing it to disappear. Construction in permafrost areas necessitates special precautions to avoid disturbing the frozen ground. Houses and buildings, for instance, are often built on piles so that an air space exists between the ground and the building, thus preventing warm air from reaching the ground.

B

Natural Regions

The major physiographic regions in Nunavut are the Canadian Shield and the Arctic Lands. The Canadian Shield, which extends across northeastern Canada, was formed 2.5 billion years ago as Earth’s crust solidified from a molten, or liquid, state. Scientists place the rocks that formed in this process in the oldest geological time period, known as Precambrian time. This ancient rock mass is exposed at the Earth’s surface. In most places, the Canadian Shield consists of rugged, rolling terrain. It reaches its highest elevations along the coastal fjords of Baffin Island.

The Arctic Lands is a complex geological area that is centered on the Arctic Ocean. It includes coastal plains, plateaus, and mountains. Coastal plains and plateaus are found in the western Northwest Territories section of the Arctic Lands, such as on Victoria Island, which is mostly a large, flat plateau. In striking contrast to these relatively gentle landscapes, the eastern Nunavut section of the Arctic Lands is dominated by a jagged chain of ice-covered mountains. The mountains on Ellesmere Island are shrouded in a layer of ice 2,000 m (6,500 ft) thick. The highest elevation in the Arctic Lands is at the summit of Barbeau Peak.

Glaciation has affected both physiographic regions. During the last ice age, known as the Wisconsin Ice Age, a thick sheet of ice covered Nunavut. As this ice sheet expanded 25,000 years ago, it slowly moved over the land, scraping and scratching the surface. By 18,000 years ago, the Wisconsin Ice Sheet covering Nunavut was 3 to 4 km (1 to 3 mi) thick. About 15,000 years ago, Earth’s climate began to warm and the southern edge of this huge ice sheet began to melt and retreat. By 6,000 years ago, Nunavut was free of ice cover except for a few ice caps in the Arctic Archipelago. The major remnants of this great ice sheet are found on Baffin, Devon, and Ellesmere islands. During the melting of the ice sheet, material contained in the ice was deposited on the ground; such deposits are known as glacial drift.

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