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for the electoral district of the same name see Nunavut (electoral district)
Nunavut is the newest and largest of the territories of Canada: it was split off
officially from the vast Northwest Territories on
April 1, 1999 via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims
Agreement Act , though the actual boundaries
were established as early as 1993. It is now a separate territory.
The capital of Nunavut is Iqaluit (formerly Frobisher Bay) on Baffin Island in the east. Other major communities include Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay. Nunavut also includes Ellesmere Island in the north and the east of Victoria Island in the west. Nunavut is the least populated and also the largest of the provinces and
territorities of Canada: a population of only about 28,000 (Nunavumiut, sg. Nunavumiuq) spread over an area the
size of Western Europe. If Nunavut were a sovereign nation, it would be the least densely populated in the world; for comparison,
nearby Greenland has almost the same area and twice the population.
Nunavut means our land in Inuktitut, the language of the
Inuit.
History
The region now known as Nunavut has supported a continuous population for approximately 4000 years. Most historians also
identify the coast of Baffin Island with the Helluland described in Norse sagas, so it is possible that the inhabitants of the region had occasional
contact with Norse sailors. For more information on the earliest inhabitants and
explorers of Nunavut, see Paleoeskimo, Neoeskimo and Helluland.
The recorded history of Nunavut began in 1576. Martin Frobisher, while leading an expedition to find the Northwest Passage, thought he had discovered gold ore in what is
now known as Frobisher Bay on the coast of Baffin Island. The ore turned out to be worthless, but Frobisher made the first recorded European
contact with the Inuit. The contact was hostile, with Frobisher capturing four Inuit
people and bringing them back to England, where they quickly perished.
Other explorers in search of the elusive Northwest Passage
followed in the 17th century, including Henry Hudson, William Baffin and Robert Bylot.
(and there were quite a few more after that. More needs to be said about various explorers and colonial history in
Nunavut. But for now, let's make a jump into recent history)
In 1976, negotiations for a land claim agreement and the new territory between the
Inuit
Tapirisat of Canada and the federal government began. In April 1982, a majority of
Northwest Territories residents voted in favour of a division, and the federal government gave a conditional agreement seven
months later. A land claims agreement was reached in September, 1992 and ratified by nearly
85% of the voters in Nunavut. In June 1993 the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act and the Nunavut Act were passed by the Canadian Parliament, and the transition was completed on April 1, 1999.
People
Nunavut has a population of approximately 27,000, of whom around 85% are native peoples.
Geography
The territory covers approximately 1.9 million square kilometers of land and water including part of the mainland, most of the
Arctic Islands, and all of the islands in
Hudson Bay, James Bay, and
Ungava Bay (including the Belcher Islands) which were formerly attached to the Northwest
Territories.
The creation of Nunavut created Canada's only "four corners," at the intersection of the boundaries of Nunavut, the Northwest
Territories, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, at 60°00' north, 102°00' west, on the southern shore of Kasba Lake. This is not the tourist spot it
might be, as it is extremely remote and inaccessible, although there is a marker (albeit an out of date one) at the point, and
some have made the trek.
Regions of Nunavut
Some Canadians believed that Nunavut was some of the NWT districts that got separate in entirety. This is not true at all, as
the new Nunavut border does not match any district's, and only intersect rarely. Three of the five NWT districts are partially
integrated into Nunavut:
- Kitikmeot is mostly in Nunavut, except two southwestern areas.
- Keewatin is largely in Nunavut, except a southwestern rectangle.
- A small right triangle of Fort Smith District is in Nunavut now.
Inuvik is the only district that does not have its areas divided into Nunavut. Baffin Districts (the high Arctic islands) are
entirely in Nunavut now.
Therefore, the current regions (districts) of Nunavut are as follows:
See List of communities in
Nunavut.
Economy
Government
Nunavut's head of state is a Commissioner appointed by the federal
Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs. As in the other territories, the
commissioner's role is symbolic and is analogous to that of a lieutenant-governor. While the Commissioner is not formally a representative of the Queen of Canada the role of respresenting the crown has accrued to the
position. The head of government is the premier. The members of the unicameral legislative assembly are elected individually;
there are no parties and the legislature is
consensus-based.
The territory's first parliament was dissolved on January 16, 2004, with elections scheduled for February 16.
See Nunavut general election,
2004.
See also
External links
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