The Baillie Islands (

Inuvialuktun Inuvialuktun (part of ''Western Canadian Inuit/Inuktitut/Inuktut/Inuktun'') comprises several Inuit language varieties spoken in the northern Northwest Territories by Canadian Inuit who call themselves ''Inuvialuit''. Some dialects and sub-dialec ...

: ''Utkraluk'') are located off the north coast of

Cape Bathurst Cape Bathurst (Inuit: ''Awaq'') is a cape and a peninsula located on the northern coast of the Northwest Territories in Canada. Cape Bathurst is the northernmost point of mainland Northwest Territories and one of the few peninsulas in mainland Nor ...

in the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

, Canada. The islands formed part of the area used by the Avvaqmiut who are a branch of the

Inuvialuit The Inuvialuit (sing. Inuvialuk; ''the real people'') or Western Canadian Inuit are Inuit who live in the western Canadian Arctic region. They, like all other Inuit, are descendants of the Thule who migrated eastward from Alaska Alask ...

(Mackenzie Inuit). A rare

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

plant known as hairy rockcress or hairy braya (''

Braya pilosa ''Braya pilosa'' is a long-lived perennial flowering plant of the mustard family known by the common name hairy braya. It has one to many stems 4–12 cm long, erect to ascending to almost prostrate and moderately to densely hairy, and can ...

'', genus

Braya ''Braya'' is a genus of plants in the family Brassicaceae. *'' Braya alpina'' Sternb. & Hoppe *'' Braya fernaldii'' Abbe *'' Braya forrestii'' W.W.Sm. *'' Braya glabella'' Richardson *'' Braya humilis'' (C.A. Mey.) B.L. Rob. *'' Braya linearis'' ...

of family

Brassicaceae Brassicaceae () or (the older) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some are shrubs. The le ...

) is known to grow in five locations on the Baillie Islands as well as the nearby Cape Bathurst. The plant is listed by the Northwest Territories Species at Risk Committee as threatened and by the

Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC, French: Comité sur la situation des espèces en péril au Canada, COSEPAC) is an independent committee of wildlife experts and scientists whose "raison d'être is to identify s ...

as endangered.Hairy Braya NWT Species Status Report
/ref>

History

The first European to visit the area was John Richardson in 1826, who also named it. It was again visited by Richardson and John Rae, while searching the

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arct ...

for

Franklin's lost expedition Franklin's lost expedition was a failed British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain Sir John Franklin that departed England in 1845 aboard two ships, and , and was assigned to traverse the last unnavigated sections of the Northwest ...

. In 1915, the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

established a

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...

on the island. While the post was being set up, it was visited by competing trader

Christian Theodore Pedersen Christian Theodore Pedersen (23 December 1876 – 20 June 1969) was a Norwegian-American seaman, whaling captain and fur trader active in Alaska, Canada, and the northern Pacific from the 1890s to the 1930s. He was called "one of the canniest old sk ...

. By the 1920s, the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

had established a detachment on the island. It was at Baillie Island, in 1928, after returning from

Cambridge Bay Cambridge Bay (Inuinnaqtun: ''Iqaluktuuttiaq'' Inuktitut: ᐃᖃᓗᒃᑑᑦᑎᐊᖅ; 2021 population 1,760; population centre 1,403) is a hamlet located on Victoria Island in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, Canada. It is the largest settl ...

that Inspector Kemp, the Commanding Officer for the Western

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

, appointed Henry Larsen captain of the ''

St. Roch Roch (lived c. 1348 – 15/16 August 1376/79 (traditionally c. 1295 – 16 August 1327, also called Rock in English, is a Catholic saint, a confessor whose death is commemorated on 16 August and 9 September in Italy; he is especially invoked a ...

''.Dangerous Passage: Issues in the Arctic

References

{{Beaufort Sea Islands Uninhabited islands of the Northwest Territories History of the Northwest Territories Hudson's Bay Company trading posts Islands of the Beaufort Sea Former populated places in the Inuvik Region