Welcome to Iqaluit, Nunavut!

(Ee-ka-loo-eet)

September 2004 Album -> Go to Page:   

  All Photos (3 Pages) 

[ First Page ]

May 2004 Album -> Go to Page:   

  All Photos (4 Pages) 

[ First Page ]

March 2003 Album -> Go to Page:   

0  1  2  3  4 

[ First Page ]

February 2001 Album -> Go to Page:  

0  1 

[ First Page ]

[ Return to Main Page ]

Iqaluit, formerly known as Frobisher Bay, is the capital of Canada's newest territory. In 1942, during the Second World War, the U.S. Air Force, with the blessing of the Canadian government, selected Iqaluit as an ideal site to build an airstrip. It was to be long enough to handle large aircraft transporting war materials from the United States to its European allies. During this time, many Inuit from surrounding hunting camps were recruited to help construct the airstrip, aircraft hangars and related buildings.
These hunters and their families began building year-round huts on the beaches of Koojesse Inlet, using wood discarded from the airbase and the local dump. The Inuit referred to the little village that grew here as Iqaluit, meaning "fish" (plural). Fish, especially arctic char, abound here in spring and summer, after their swim down the Sylvia Grinnell River.
Before long, the village, together with the airbase and Apex Hill (its previous name), appeared on official government maps as Frobisher Bay. And this is how it came to be known to the outside world. The name was in honor of Martin Frobisher, the English sailor who "discovered" the bay in 1576 while searching with his crew for the Northwest Passage to the Orient. The commmunity was rightfully renamed by it's people to Iqaluit in 1987.
The United States turned over its airbase to the Royal Canadian Air Force after the Second World War. By 1963, the Americans had gone, and Frobisher Bay was to become the Canadian government administration, communications and transportation centre for the eastern Arctic. This coincided with Canada's efforts, during these Cold War years, to claim sovereignty in the Canadian North.
An unrelated but interesting side industry is the southern movie business; actors and directors have dropped in to town from time to time to film authentic Arctic location shots. Iqaluit's population too is a mix: a mix of cultures (less than two-thirds of residents here are Inuit, compared to other communities that are more than 90 per cent Inuit) and languages.
The population as of 2003 is roughly 6,200 (Inuit: 61%, non-Inuit: 39%)

>> Click here to return to the ArcticCircle Main Page <<
Last Updated: November 7, 2004
Pictures Copyright 2001-2004 Vincent K. Chan
Questions? Comments? Email me at umchan95@hotmail.com